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Deepmind AI tool catapults materials science 800 years into the future

Prepare for a radical acceleration in technological development. A Google Deepmind AI has achieved “an order-of-magnitude expansion in stable materials known to humanity,” finding about 800 years’ worth of new materials with revolutionary potential.

The discovery of new materials with unusual properties can start technological snowballs rolling that eventually push society in new directions – but up to this point, it’s been a painstakingly slow process involving a lot of trial-and-error experimentation.

Inorganic crystal materials, for example, may show enormous promise once you first synthesize them, but all this potential could lead nowhere if the crystals don’t remain stable; it’s no good discovering that a new crystal could improve the performance of batteries or electronics if it’s going to fall apart and degrade.

New high school curriculum teaches color chemistry and AI simultaneously

North Carolina State University researchers have developed a weeklong high school curriculum that helps students quickly grasp concepts in both color chemistry and artificial intelligence—while sparking their curiosity about science and the world around them.

To test whether a short high school science module could effectively teach something about both chemistry—a notoriously thorny subject—and (AI), the researchers designed a relatively simple experiment involving pH levels, which reflect the acidity or alkalinity of a liquid solution.

When testing pH levels on a , color conversion charts provide a handy reference: more acidic solutions turn test strips red when a lot of acidity is present and turn test strips yellow and green as acid levels weaken. Test strips turn deep purple when liquids are highly alkaline and turn blue and dark green as alkaline levels decline.

Google Unveils Powerful New AI Said to Out-Think ChatGPT

Google on Wednesday infused its Bard chatbot with a new-generation artificial intelligence model called Gemini, which it touts as being able to reason better than ChatGPT and other rivals.

The search engine juggernaut is aiming to take the generative AI lead from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI as that company deals with the aftermath of a boardroom coup that saw chief executive Sam Altman fired and then rehired within a matter of days.

Google has for years discreetly developed AI powers but was caught off guard when OpenAI late last year released ChatGPT and teamed up with Microsoft to make its capabilities available to users worldwide.

AI opens a path to a better understanding of changes in the brain

Brain networks are often represented by graph models that incorporate neuroimaging data from MRI or CT scans to represent functional or structural connections within the brain. These brain graphs can be used to understand how the organ changes over time.

Traditionally, however, these models treat the brain graphs as static, which can miss or ignore underlying changes that could signal the onset of disease or neurological disorders.

A collaborative team of researchers led by Lifang He, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Lehigh University, recently received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, with $300,000 going to Lehigh, to develop new methods for modeling the dynamics of brain graphs using artificial intelligence that will generate more accurate, interpretable, and fair predictions when it comes to disease.

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