A new study suggests the brain begins making decisions much earlier than scientists previously thought. Researchers found that even primary sensory regions are influenced by higher brain areas through rapid feedback loops, rather than simply passing information forward. This more dynamic view of brain function could help engineers design future AI systems that think more like biological brains while using far less power.
Year 2024 Marine fungus that eats plastic.
Plastic pollution in the marine realm is a severe environmental problem. Nevertheless, plastic may also serve as a potential carbon and energy source for microbes, yet the contribution of marine microbes, especially marine fungi to plastic degradation is not well constrained. We isolated the fungus Parengyodontium album from floating plastic debris in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre and measured fungal-mediated mineralization rates (conversion to CO2) of polyethylene (PE) by applying stable isotope probing assays with 13 C-PE over 9 days of incubation. When the PE was pretreated with UV light, the biodegradation rate of the initially added PE was 0.044%/day. Furthermore, we traced the incorporation of PE-derived 13 C carbon into P. album biomass using nanoSIMS and fatty acid analysis.
An incredible paper by Meng et al. showing how the fluorescence of the flavoproteins iLOV and cryptochrome can be modulated by RF signals when held under certain magnetic fields. This work may provide a foundation for more RF tools which allow manipulation of biological processes.
Radio waves are shown to modulate fluorescence and associate spin chemistry in proteins.
What makes information a real part of physics rather than just a way of describing the world?
Chiara Marletto explains how constructor theory grounds information in physical reality, why information is not merely a human concept, and how knowledge differs from information by possessing the ability to persist and shape the world around it.
0:00 Constructor Theory and the Physics of Information 1:49 Is Information Fundamental to Reality? 4:42 Constructor Theory Beyond Quantum Information 6:31 Information, Knowledge, and Resilience 10:17 Why Knowledge Emerges Above Fundamental Physics.
Chiara Marletto is a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. She holds degrees from the universities of Oxford and Turin. Her main research focus is in theoretical physics, and she also pursues interests in theoretical biology, epistemology, and Italian literature. The Science of Can and Can’t: A Physicist’s Journey Through the Land of Counterfactuals is her first trade book.
More from Chiara Marletto on Closer To Truth: Closer To Truth: The Podcast: • Closer To Truth: The Podcast Closer To Truth contributors: https://closertotruth.com/contributor… to Closer To Truth: / @closertotruthtv Join the Community:
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Closer To Truth, created and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence and sentience. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers. #CloserToTruth #Cosmos #ChiaraMarletto #InformationTheory #Knowledge.
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In the next decade, AI will likely undergo more significant changes than only becoming more independent; it will also grow more cognitive. AI systems will act as interconnected ecosystems that are capable of contextual awareness, cooperative reasoning, ongoing learning, and adaptive decision-making in almost every facet of society, rather than isolated applications.
Large language models of today are remarkable due to their ability to produce and anticipate information. Persistent memory, multimodal perception, long-term planning, causal reasoning, and self-directed learning within strictly regulated bounds will probably be characteristics of the AI of 2036. Similar to biological neural networks, millions of specialized AI agents will work together to create dynamic intelligence fabrics that continuously optimize national defense, manufacturing, transportation, financial markets, healthcare delivery, and energy grids.
The line between workforce and software will become increasingly hazy. Hundreds of thousands of AI agents working continuously alongside human employees may be employed by organizations as digital workforces. A customized constellation of AI advisers, researchers, legal assistants, financial analysts, engineers, and cybersecurity specialists working around the clock could be present for every knowledge worker. This shift signifies the emergence of an entirely new digital labor force in addition to automation.
Can a new framework for physics help evaluate competing interpretations of quantum mechanics?
Chiara Marletto examines Copenhagen, Bohmian mechanics, Many Worlds, collapse theories, QBism, relational quantum mechanics, and other approaches through the lens of constructor theory. Rather than choosing a winner, she asks which interpretations are compatible with deeper physical principles.
0:00 Constructor Theory as a Framework for Quantum Foundations.
1:25 Copenhagen and Bohmian Mechanics: Where Constructor Theory Parts Ways.
4:26 Many Worlds and Compatible Interpretations.
7:21 QBism, Relational Quantum Mechanics, and Superdeterminism.
13:14 Constructor Theory Beyond Quantum Interpretations.
Chiara Marletto is a Research Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford. She holds degrees from the universities of Oxford and Turin. Her main research focus is in theoretical physics, and she also pursues interests in theoretical biology, epistemology, and Italian literature. The Science of Can and Can’t was her first trade book.
More from Chiara Marletto on Closer To Truth:
Closer To Truth: The Podcast: • Closer To Truth: The Podcast.
Closer To Truth contributors: https://closertotruth.com/contributor… to Closer To Truth: / @closertotruthtv Join the Community:
Follow Us:
Closer To Truth, created and hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence and sentience. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers. #CloserToTruth #Cosmos #ChiaraMarletto #QuantumInterpretations #ConstructorTheory.
Spiking neural networks (SNNs) are artificial intelligence (AI) models inspired by how biological neurons communicate with each other. While biological neurons exchange information in the form of electrical impulses, SNNs rely on brief signals known as spikes.
SNNs have proved promising for reducing power consumption, as developers can ensure they do not process information continuously, but rather only when meaningful changes occur. This could be highly advantageous, as current AI systems are known to consume large amounts of energy.
While some SNNs introduced in the past achieved encouraging results, they typically struggle to retain useful information (i.e., context) for long periods. This was found to be particularly challenging when the models have only a limited amount of data storage available or are operating under energy constraints.
A newly developed framework for understanding the photoproperties of both natural organic matter and eumelanin, a natural pigment responsible for dark colors in organisms, may inspire advanced sustainable technologies, scientists say.
Although they are some of the most widespread substances on Earth, not much is known about eumelanin or natural organic matter (NOM)—a dark-colored substance formed by the decomposition of biological material. In humans, eumelanin is a vital pigment in skin and other tissues that protects cells from damage caused by ultraviolet radiation. In nature, NOM gives rivers and soils their color and affects light-driven reactions like photosynthesis.
Although these compounds have been studied individually for decades, researchers in a new study, by scrutinizing them alongside each other, have shown that eumelanin and NOM have common properties beyond their dark colors.