In biology, symmetry is typically the rule rather than the exception. Our bodies have left and right halves, starfish radiate from a central point and even trees, though not largely symmetrical, still produce symmetrical flowers. In fact, asymmetry in biology seems quite rare by comparison.
Does this mean that evolution has a preference for symmetry? In a new study, an international group of researchers, led by Iain Johnston, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Bergen in Norway, says it does.
Which, to me, sounds both unimaginably complex and sublimely simple.
Sort of like, perhaps, like our brains.
Building chips with analogs of biological neurons and dendrites and neural networks like our brains is also key to the massive efficiency gains Rain Neuromorphics is claiming: 1,000 times more efficient than existing digital chips from companies like Nvidia.
Artificial intelligence could help humanity solve many of the global issues in a positive way. See more about what AI-powered algorithms can do when influenced by human abuse.
Research On Humans Adapting, Living & Working In Space — Colonel (ret) Dr. Samantha Weeks, Ph.D., Polaris Dawn, Science & Research Director
Colonel (ret) Dr. Samantha “Combo” Weeks, Ph.D. is the Science & Research Director, of the Polaris Dawn Program (https://polarisprogram.com/dawn/), a planned private human spaceflight mission, operated by SpaceX on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, planned to launch using the Crew Dragon capsule.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris Program (https://polarisprogram.com/), which endeavors to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities by demonstrating new technologies and conducting extensive scientific research to expand our knowledge of humans adapting, living and working in space. Much of this research also has purpose and applicability to improve life here on Earth.
Colonel Dr. Weeks, is a retired United States Air Force Colonel, with over 2,200 hours flying the F-15C, F-16, and T-38, including 105 combat hours. She commanded at the squadron, group, and wing level in the Air Force, and today also serves a corporate Vice President at the Shift4 Payments company, focusing on transformation and change management. Her position as Science & Research Director with Polaris comes after two and a half decades of focus on human performance in aviation.
Colonel Dr. Weeks has a BS in Biology from the United States Air Force Academy, a Masters in Human Relations from University of Oklahoma, and a Ph.D. in Military Strategy / Leadership from the United States Air Force, Air University.
This disparity gets at the difference between one’s chronological age — how old they are in years — and their biological age, which is how their body has aged naturally and in response to its environment. The two can diverge in ways that are either blessings or curses. Hence why those who grow up under extreme stress or in polluted environments may look much older than they actually are.
And yellow-bellied marmots can tell us something about these two ages.
Yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) are no burrow-dwelling meteorologists like the groundhog. They may sound craven, but these quirky critters, also known as whistle pigs, make for fascinating subjects: the cat-sized rodents have a longer lifespan than expected for a mammal of their size. On average, marmots live 15 years.
An is an external information processing system that augments the brain’s biological high-level cognitive processes.
An individual’s would be comprised of external memory modules 0, processors 0, IO devices and software systems that would interact with, and augment, a person’s biological brain. Typically this interaction is described as being conducted through a direct brain-computer interface 0, making these extensions functionally part of the individual’s mind.
Individuals with significant exocortices can be classified as transhuman beings.
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Multifunctional and diverse artificial neural systems can incorporate multimodal plasticity, memory and supervised learning functions to assist neuromorphic computation. In a new report, Jinran Yu and a research team in nanoenergy, nanoscience and materials science in China and the US., presented a bioinspired mechano-photonic artificial synapse with synergistic mechanical and optical plasticity. The team used an optoelectronic transistor made of graphene/molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) heterostructure and an integrated triboelectric nanogenerator to compose the artificial synapse. They controlled the charge transfer/exchange in the heterostructure with triboelectric potential and modulated the optoelectronic synapse behaviors readily, including postsynaptic photocurrents, photosensitivity and photoconductivity. The mechano-photonic artificial synapse is a promising implementation to mimic the complex biological nervous system and promote the development of interactive artificial intelligence. The work is now published on Science Advances.
Brain-inspired neural networks.
The human brain can integrate cognition, learning and memory tasks via auditory, visual, olfactory and somatosensory interactions. This process is difficult to be mimicked using conventional von Neumann architectures that require additional sophisticated functions. Brain-inspired neural networks are made of various synaptic devices to transmit information and process using the synaptic weight. Emerging photonic synapse combine the optical and electric neuromorphic modulation and computation to offer a favorable option with high bandwidth, fast speed and low cross-talk to significantly reduce power consumption. Biomechanical motions including touch, eye blinking and arm waving are other ubiquitous triggers or interactive signals to operate electronics during artificial synapse plasticization. In this work, Yu et al. presented a mechano-photonic artificial synapse with synergistic mechanical and optical plasticity.
