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Grants are for two years, in order to enable the grantees to submit a regular application to the next competition in their area of research. It is implemented within the framework of the regular BSF research grants program, i.e., it must exhibit scientific excellence, have a strong element of cooperation between Israeli and American scientists, and fall within the areas of research supported in that year by the BSF. In addition, at least one of the principal investigators should have attained his/her Ph.D., M.D. degree or equivalent, no more than ten years prior to submitting his/her proposal.

The University of Seville’s SMART tokamak has achieved a critical milestone by creating its first tokamak plasma.

Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter, along with solid, liquid, and gas. It is an ionized gas consisting of positive ions and free electrons. It was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s.

A study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that while the baboons noticed and responded to a laser mark shining on their arms, legs and hands, they did not react when they saw, via their mirror reflection, the laser on their faces and ears.

It was the first time a controlled laser mark test has been done on these animals in a wild setting and strengthens the evidence from other studies that monkeys don’t recognize their own reflection.

The researchers observed 120 Chacma in Tsaobis Nature Park, Namibia, between May and October 2021 to better understand among wild non-hominid primates, who have previously been tested almost exclusively in captivity.

Well, I find this a bit disappointing. I was hoping that the contest between global workspace theory (GWT) and integrated information theory (IIT) would be announced sometime this year. Apparently, I’m going to have to wait awhile:

Pitts describes the intention of this competition as “to kill one or both theories,” but adds that while he is unsure that either will be definitively disproved, both theories have a good chance of being critically challenged. It’s expected to take three years for the experiments to be conducted and the data to be analyzed before a verdict is reached.

Three years. And of course there remains no guarantee the results will be decisive. Sigh.

What if the future of tunnels wasn’t about digging? The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, the world’s largest immersed tunnel, is being built without a single tunnel boring machine. Instead, engineers are using a bold, unconventional method that’s faster, more precise, and environmentally conscious. Stretching 18 kilometers beneath the Baltic Sea, this $7 billion project is set to transform travel and trade in Europe.