Yang Dan aims to elucidate the mechanisms in the mammalian brain that control sleep. Find out more about Dan’s research in this feature.
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Feb 27, 2024
White dwarf star has metal scar after gobbling planetary fragment
Posted by Shubham Ghosh Roy in category: cosmology
Astronomers have spotted an unusual sign that a dead star feasted on a fragment of a planet orbiting it: a metal scar on the star’s surface. The revelation sheds light on the dynamic nature of planetary systems even in the end stages of a star’s life cycle — and could foretell the eventual fate of our own solar system, according to the scientists.
Planets form from swirls of gas and dust called a protoplanetary disk that surrounds a newly formed star. But as the star ages and dies, the stellar object can consume the very planets and asteroids it helped create.
Astronomers observed a dead star, known as a white dwarf, located about 63 light-years away from Earth using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. The observation revealed a metallic feature on the star’s surface that the researchers determined was related to a change detected in the star’s magnetic field. A new study detailing the observation appeared Monday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Feb 27, 2024
Stem Cells Model of Early Human Central Nervous System Created
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience
Summary: Researchers have developed the first stem cell culture method that accurately models the early stages of the human central nervous system (CNS), marking a significant breakthrough in neuroscience. This 3D human organoid system simulates the development of the brain and spinal cord, offering new possibilities for studying human brain development and diseases.
By using patient-derived stem cells, the model can potentially lead to personalized treatment strategies for neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. The innovation opens new doors for understanding the intricacies of the human CNS and its disorders, surpassing the capabilities of previous models.
Feb 27, 2024
Gravitational anomalies reveal seamount 3 times the height of world’s tallest building
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: habitats
Researchers found and mapped four seamounts in the deep sea off the coast of Peru and Chile. The tallest of these new peaks rises around 1.5 miles above the seafloor.
Feb 27, 2024
SpaceX tests new emergency escape system to certify pad 40 at Cape Canaveral for astronaut missions
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space travel
The slide system differs notably from the slide wire basket system used over at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. NASA officials said pad 40 will be ready for astronaut launches thi.
Feb 27, 2024
James Webb Spots Cosmic Foundry Generating Pure Gold
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: cosmology
As Space.com reports, the uber-powerful James Webb Space Telescope and its predecessor, the Hubble, have observed a super-long gamma-ray burst (GRB) that occurred when two dense neutron stars collided millions of years ago — and the result, as the telescopes’ instruments detected, was quite literally pure gold.
Neutron stars are the rare result of supernovas, or the explosions associated with dying stars, that don’t turn into black holes. Earlier this week, in fact, the JWST was used to detect the neutron star at the heart of a well-known supernova that scientists believed existed but couldn’t see until now.
Because these bodies are, essentially, small and dense balls of mass, it’s not surprising that something huge happens when they collide. With the power of these two magnificent telescopes, scientists from the University of Rome were able to spot the bright shine, known as a kilonova, of the heavy elements like silver and gold created in the dead stars’ turbulent merger.
Feb 27, 2024
NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe wakes up after surviving close pass by the sun
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks
The probe “performed as predicted” during the first of seven close approaches to the sun on its way to Apophis, NASA said.
Feb 27, 2024
Accelerate Your Data: Edge Computing for Turbocharged Processing
Posted by Omuterema Akhahenda in category: computing
Edge computing is revolutionizing the way data is processed and analyzed.
Accelerate your data with edge computing for faster processing speeds & reduced latency. Discover the benefits & applications of this revolutionary technology. Click to learn more!
Feb 26, 2024
Paper page — MobileLLM: Optimizing Sub-billion Parameter Language Models for On-Device Use Cases
Posted by Cecile G. Tamura in category: futurism
Meta presents MobileLLM
Optimizing sub-billion parameter language models for on-device use cases.
Join the discussion on this paper page.
Feb 26, 2024
OpenAI’s Sora is slow enough to grab a snack while it generates your video
Posted by Dan Kummer in category: robotics/AI
OpenAI’s new text-to-video model, Sora, will likely remain in development for some time before a public release.
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI has not yet set an exact release schedule. There are two reasons for this: One is that OpenAI does not want to take any safety risks, given the number of elections this year. The second reason is that the model is not yet technically ready for release.
When OpenAI unveiled Sora, the company pointed out shortcomings in the model’s physical understanding and consistency. Bloomberg’s tests with two OpenAI-generated prompts confirmed these issues. For example, in the video below, the parrot turns into a monkey at the end.