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Caltech researchers have quantified the speed of human thought: a rate of 10 bits per second. However, our bodies’ sensory systems gather data about our environments at a rate of a trillion bits per second, which is 100 million times faster than our thought processes. This new study raises major new avenues of exploration for neuroscientists, in particular: Why can we only think one thing at a time while our sensory systems process thousands of inputs at once?

The research was conducted in the laboratory of Markus Meister, the Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences, and it was led by graduate student Jieyu Zheng. A paper describing the study appears in the journal Neuron.

A bit is a basic unit of information in computing. A typical Wi-Fi connection, for example, can process 50 million bits per second. In the new study, Zheng applied techniques from the field of information theory to a vast amount of scientific literature on human behaviors such as reading and writing, playing video games, and solving Rubik’s Cubes, to calculate that humans think at a speed of 10 bits per second.

Apple is reportedly developing a custom server processor to power its AI services. Codenamed “Project Baltra,” the initiative aims to bolster the AI capabilities integrated into Apple’s operating systems, with production expected to begin in 2026, according to The Information, which cites three unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

These sources indicate that Apple is partnering with semiconductor giant Broadcom for this endeavor. Apple now possesses a strong history and experience designing its own Arm-based silicon and already maintains an existing relationship with Broadcom in 5G component development.

While specific details remain scarce, it is speculated that Broadcom’s recent unveiling of its 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System in Package (3.5D XDSiP) technology could play a role in the project’s development.

As many as 296,000 Prometheus Node Exporter instances and 40,300 Prometheus servers have been estimated to be publicly accessible over the internet, making them a huge attack surface that could put data and services at risk.

The fact that sensitive information, such as credentials, passwords, authentication tokens, and API keys, could be leaked through internet-exposed Prometheus servers has been documented previously by JFrog in 2021 and Sysdig in 2022.

“Unauthenticated Prometheus servers enable direct querying of internal data, potentially exposing secrets that attackers can exploit to gain an initial foothold in various organizations,” the researchers said.

Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked the Viber encrypted messaging app, used by hundreds of millions worldwide, for violating the country’s legislation.

“Access to the Viber service is restricted due to the violation of the requirements of Russian legislation for organizers of information dissemination,” Russia’s internet regulator said in a press statement.

“Compliance with the requirements is necessary to prevent threats of using the messenger for terrorist and extremist purposes, recruiting citizens to commit them, selling drugs, as well as in connection with the posting of illegal information.”

“The next wave of AI will be able to augment people to become superhuman. Solutions will be at the ready for nearly all problems facing humanity.” ~Alex Bates.

Habits2Goals presents a powerful interview with Alex Bates, a phenomenal entrepreneur, inventor and bestselling author of Augmented Mind: AI Superhumans and the Next Economic Revolution.

When Alex was growing up in Portland, battling for computer time with his siblings, he developed an obsession with the emerging Internet and artificial neural networks.

Alex, fascinated by entrepreneurship, took his interest in AI and machine learning and in 2006 founded Mtelligence to harness the deluge of sensor data in the industrial IoT with the mission of creating a “world that doesn’t break down.”

Scientists have developed the first electrically pumped continuous-wave semiconductor laser composed exclusively of elements from the fourth group of the periodic table—the “silicon group.”

Built from stacked ultrathin layers of germanium-tin and germanium-tin, this new laser is the first of its kind directly grown on a silicon wafer, opening up new possibilities for on-chip integrated photonics. The findings have been published in Nature Communications. The team includes researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich, FZJ, the University of Stuttgart, and the Leibniz Institute for High Performance Microelectronics (IHP), together with their French partner CEA-Leti.

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things are driving the demand for increasingly powerful, energy-efficient hardware. Optical data transmission, with its ability to transfer vast amounts of data while minimizing , is already the preferred method for distances above 1 meter and is proving advantageous even for shorter distances. This development points towards future microchips featuring low-cost photonic integrated circuits (PICs), offering significant cost savings and improved performance.