Page 10696
Nov 7, 2016
Units of measure are getting a fundamental upgrade
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: cosmology
And a shifting speed of light could revise current views about the evolution of the infant universe. Scientists think that a period of inflation caused the newborn cosmos to expand extremely rapidly, creating a universe that is uniform across vast distances. That uniformity is in line with observations: The cosmic microwave background, light that emerged about 380,000 years after the Big Bang, is nearly the same temperature everywhere scientists look. But cosmologist João Magueijo of Imperial College London has a radical alternative to inflation: If light were speedier in the early universe, it could account for the universe’s homogeneity.
“As soon as you raise the speed limit in the early universe,” Magueijo says, “you start being able to work on explanations for why the universe is the way it is.”
A finely tuned universe.
Continue reading “Units of measure are getting a fundamental upgrade” »
Nov 7, 2016
Facebook Could Be Associated With a Longer Life, Study Finds
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: life extension
While the social media company cooperated with the research, it tracks other findings that social ties are linked to longevity.
Hundreds of researchers in a collaborative project called “It from Qubit” say space and time may spring up from the quantum entanglement of tiny bits of information.
Nov 7, 2016
Mapping the Genes that Increase Lifespan
Posted by Bryan Gatton in categories: biotech/medical, life extension
“Calorie restriction has been known to extend lifespan for a long time.” said Dr. Kennedy. “The DNA damage response is linked to aging as well. LOS1 may be connecting these different processes.”
A number of the age-extending genes the team identified are also found in C. elegans roundworms, indicating these mechanisms are conserved in higher organisms. In fact, many of the anti-aging pathways associated with yeast genes are maintained all the way to humans.
The research produced another positive result: exposing emerging scientists to advanced lab techniques, many for the first time.
Nov 7, 2016
Strange Pumping Effect above Asia Threatens the Ozone Layer — By Jane Qiu | Scientific American
Posted by Odette Bohr Dienel in category: environmental
“Until a few years ago “we thought human activities had little impact on the stratosphere,” says Jean-Paul Vernier, a remote-sensing expert at the NASA Langley Research Center.”
Nov 7, 2016
Robots being developed that have a ‘brain’ and can learn new things like a human child
Posted by Albert Sanchez in category: robotics/AI
RESEARCHERS are developing an artificially intelligent robot which will have a ‘brain’ and will learn like a human child.
Paramount provided this tease to let me announce on November 13, I’ll be in Japan for an exclusive trailer launch party for GHOST IN THE SHELL with director Rupert Sanders and stars Scarlett Johansson and Takeshi Kitano.
Nov 7, 2016
Can Quantum Physics Explain Consciousness?
Posted by Dan Kummer in categories: computing, neuroscience, particle physics, quantum physics
A new approach to a once-farfetched theory is making it plausible that the brain functions like a quantum computer.
The mere mention of “quantum consciousness” makes most physicists cringe, as the phrase seems to evoke the vague, insipid musings of a New Age guru. But if a new hypothesis proves to be correct, quantum effects might indeed play some role in human cognition. Matthew Fisher, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, raised eyebrows late last year when he published a paper in Annals of Physics proposing that the nuclear spins of phosphorus atoms could serve as rudimentary “qubits” in the brain—which would essentially enable the brain to function like a quantum computer.