Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Eerie similarities unite vastly different scientific ideas in sometimes utterly surprising ways. One of these similarities may have allowed scientists to recreate the expanding universe—on a countertop.

Researchers accomplished their feat using Bose-Einstein condensates, which are collections of certain atoms held to the near coldest-possible temperatures. Bose-Einstein condensates let scientists see teeny quantum mechanical effects on a much larger scale, and have been used to do lots and lots of wild physics. These scientists hope they can use its quirks to model the behavior of the far grander cosmos.

“It’s hard to test theories of cosmology,” study author Gretchen Campbell, from the University of Maryland’s Joint Quantum Institute, told Gizmodo. “Maybe we can actually find a way to study some cosmological models on the laboratory scale.”

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And, in addition to these heavy hitters, there are quite a few other companies offering tourists a chance to reach space, too. Some are farther along in development than others, and there are always reasons to be skeptical when talking about space tourism. We’ve seen plenty of similar ventures come and go over the years without making it to space. But we choose to remain optimistic. Here are the most recent commercial space programs that would love to take you out of this world—for a price.

orion span

An illustration of what the interior of Orion Span’s Aurora Station might look like.

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SAS® supports the creation of deep neural network models. Examples of these models include convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, feedforward neural networks and autoencoder neural networks. Let’s examine in more detail how SAS creates deep learning models using SAS® Visual Data Mining and Machine Learning.

Deep learning models with SAS Cloud Analytic Services

SAS Visual Mining and Machine Learning takes advantage of SAS Cloud Analytic Services (CAS) to perform what are referred to as CAS actions. You use CAS actions to load data, transform data, compute statistics, perform analytics and create output. Each action is configured by specifying a set of input parameters. Running a CAS action processes the action’s parameters and data, which creates an action result. CAS actions are grouped into CAS action sets.

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About a year ago, Apple made the bold proclamation that it was zeroing in on a future where iPhones and MacBooks were created wholly of recycled materials. It was, and still is, an ambitious thought. In a technologically-charged world, many forget that nearly 100 percent of e-waste is recyclable. Apple didn’t.

Named “Daisy,” Apple’s new robot builds on its previous iteration, Liam, which Apple used to disassemble unneeded iPhones in an attempt to scrap or reuse the materials. Like her predecessor, Daisy can successfully salvage a bulk of the material needed to create brand new iPhones. All told, the robot is capable of extracting parts from nine types of iPhone, and for every 100,000 devices it manages to recover 1,900 kg (4,188 pounds) of aluminum, 770 kg of cobalt, 710 kg of copper, and 11 kg of rare earth elements — which also happen to be some of the hardest and environmentally un-friendly materials required to build the devices.

In its latest environmental progress report, Apple noted:

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Researchers in artificial intelligence can stand to make a ton of money. But this week, we actually know just how much some A.I. experts are being paid — and it’s a lot, even at a nonprofit.

OpenAI, a nonprofit research lab, paid its lead A.I. expert, Ilya Sutskever, more than $1.9 million in 2016, according to a recent public tax filing. Another researcher, Ian Goodfellow, made more than $800,000 that year, even though he was only hired in March, the New York Times reported.

As the publication points out, the figures are eye-opening and offer a bit of insight on how much A.I. researchers are being paid across the globe. Normally, this kind of data isn’t readily accessible. But since OpenAI is a nonprofit organization, it’s required by law to make these figures public.

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The largest plane ever built – backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his company Vulcan Aerospace – is set to take full flight for the first time within months.

Known as Stratolaunch, the huge aircraft is so big that it requires two cockpits and six jet engines to take off.

The aircraft also has a wingspan of 385 feet, over a hundred more than the average football pitch.

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