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Mar 22, 2024

1st Neuralink patient shown using brain chip to control computer and play chess in unexpected livestream

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, neuroscience

The first person with Neuralink’s computer-linked chip implanted in the surface of their brain showed off their “telekinetic” online chess-playing skills while discussing the “life-changing” procedure for the first time in a surprise livestream.

Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old with quadriplegia (or paralysis that affects the body from the neck down), volunteered to have the device implanted as part of Neuralink’s ongoing trial of the technology. Until now, his identity had remained a closely guarded secret.

Mar 22, 2024

Not Fit for Human Consumption

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Artificial Intelligence.

Ai’s superreality: not fit for human consumption.

Is AI’s brilliance pushing beyond human comprehension?

Mar 22, 2024

‘Singing’ red giant stars could offer another way to measure the universe’s expansion

Posted by in category: space

The highest rung on the ladder is studied by analyzing the redshifts of distant galaxies. This technique can be used to measure distances across of billions of light-years, by contrast.

Redshift occurs because, as objects race away from us due to the expansion of the universe, the light they emit that takes billions of years to travel to us has its wavelength stretched by this expansion. That lengthening reddens the light and even causes it to move to infrared wavelengths sometimes. This is actually why the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is highly sensitive to infrared light, is so adept and seeing galaxies in the early universe.

The cosmic distance ladder can help cosmologists measure the rate at which the universe is expanding, a value called the Hubble constant, named in honor of astronomer Edwin Hubble. This is because his observations of distant galaxies were key in overturning the idea that the universe exists in a steady state, neither growing nor shrinking.

Mar 22, 2024

Branched chemically modified poly(A) tails enhance the translation capacity of mRNA

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry

MRNA with engineered poly(A) tails produces prolonged higher levels of protein.

Mar 22, 2024

A Bacteria in the Mouth Might Speed Colon Cancers

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

THURSDAY, March 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) — A germ commonly found in the human mouth can travel to colon tumors and appears to speed their growth, new research shows.

The finding might lead to new insights into fighting colon cancer, which kills more than 52,000 Americans each year, according to the American Cancer Society.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle looked at levels of a particular oral bacterium, Fusobacterium nucleatum, in colon tumor tissues taken from 200 colon cancer patients.

Mar 22, 2024

Startup is building a giant sand battery in Finland

Posted by in categories: climatology, futurism

The big picture: Sand batteries might not be as efficient for generating electricity as they are for heating, but they could still have a huge impact on climate emissions — about 9% of the heat needed for buildings and industry comes from district heating systems, and 90% of those rely on fossil fuels.

We could then supplement the sand batteries with another alternative form of storage, such as flow batteries, to generate electricity from renewables year-round — completing the transition to a clean energy future.

Mar 22, 2024

Sam Altman hints at the future of AI and GPT-5 — and big things are coming

Posted by in categories: futurism, robotics/AI

GPT-5 on the horizon, as Altman drops hints.

Mar 22, 2024

A 2D ‘antenna’ boosts light emission from carbon nanotubes

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum physics

A flat sheet of atoms can act as a kind of antenna that absorbs light and funnels its energy into carbon nanotubes, making them glow brightly. This advance could aid the development of tiny future light-emitting devices that will exploit quantum effects.

Mar 22, 2024

Supercomputer simulations of super-diamond suggest a path to its creation

Posted by in categories: particle physics, space, supercomputing

Diamond is the strongest material known. However, another form of carbon has been predicted to be even tougher than diamond. The challenge is how to create it on Earth.

The eight-atom body-centered cubic (BC8) crystal is a distinct carbon phase: not diamond, but very similar. BC8 is predicted to be a stronger material, exhibiting a 30% greater resistance to compression than diamond. It is believed to be found in the center of carbon-rich exoplanets. If BC8 could be recovered under ambient conditions, it could be classified as a super-diamond.

This crystalline high-pressure phase of carbon is theoretically predicted to be the most stable phase of carbon under pressures surpassing 10 million atmospheres.

Mar 22, 2024

Northrop Grumman wins DARPA contract for a railway on the Moon

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, space

In preparation for a permanent human colony on the Moon, DARPA has awarded a contract to Northrop Grumman to develop a lunar railway concept, as part of the 10-year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study.

Running a train on the Moon may seem profoundly silly, but there is some very firm logic behind it. Even as the first astronauts were landing on the Sea of Tranquility in 1969, it was realized that a permanent human presence on Mars would require an infrastructure to maintain it. That includes mines for water ice, nuclear power plants, factories, and railways.

Though many people think the Moon is small, it is, in fact, a very large place with a surface area equivalent to that of Africa. Over such an expanse, even a limited presence would require some sort of a transport system to link various outposts and activities.

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