Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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In the past, traditional methods to understand the behavior of quantum interacting systems have worked well, but there are still many unsolved problems. To solve them, Giuseppe Carleo of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, used machine learning to form a variational approach to the quantum many-body problem.

Before digging deeper, let me tell you a little about the many-body problem. It deals with the difficulty of analyzing “multiple nontrivial relationships encoded in the exponential complexity of the many-body wave function.” In simpler language, it’s the study of interactions between many quantum particles.

If we take a look at our current computing power, modeling a wave function will need lot more powerful supercomputers. But, according to Carleo, the neural networks are pretty good at generalizing. Hence, they need only limited information to infer something. So, fiddling with this idea, Carleo and Matthias Troyer created a simple neural network to reconstruct such multi-body wave function.

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Interestingly, Seager, who studies bio signatures in exoplanet atmospheres, has suggested that two inhabited planets could reasonably turn up during the next decade, based on her modified version of the Drake equation, Space.com notes. Her equation focuses on the search for planets with biosignature gases — gases produced by life that can accumulate in a planet atmosphere to levels that can be detected with remote space telescopes.

Artist’s concept of exoplanet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our Sun. (credit: NASA Ames/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle)

NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 22, to present new findings on exoplanets — planets that orbit stars other than our sun. As of Feb. 21, NASA has discovered and confirmed 3,440 exoplanets.

The briefing participants are Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington; Michael Gillon, astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium; Sean Carey, manager of NASA’s Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC, Pasadena, California; Nikole Lewis, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Details of the findings are embargoed by the journal Nature until 1 p.m.

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NASA has enlisted a professor from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in order to find a way of 3D printing structures on Mars.

Pegasus Professor Sudipta Seal, interim chair of UCF’s Materials Science and Engineering program is looking at how metals can be extracted from Martian soil. Speaking about the project, Seal said,

It’s essentially using additive-manufacturing techniques to make constructible blocks. UCF is collaborating with NASA to understand the science behind it.

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Karl Schab

Pulling uranium out of seawater could be a cost-effective way to source nuclear fuel, scientists have found, and the technique could pave the way for coastal countries to switch to nuclear power.

With the International Atomic Energy Agency currently predicting an increase of up to 68 percent in nuclear power production over the next 15 years, finding a new, more environmentally friendly source of uranium — the most critical ingredient in nuclear power — could give this alternative to fossil fuels a boost.

Researchers from Stanford University in California have found a way to more efficiently extract the uranium dissolved in our oceans, which could one day help nations with plenty of ocean-front land and no uranium collect fuel for nuclear energy.

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We celebrate her birthday and life but what fun is there to living so long when aging takes its toll? Science is aiming to do better, find out how here!

Today, February 21, is the birthday of Jeanne Louise Calment – the oldest verified human being ever, who managed to live an amazing 122 years and 164 days!

Jeanne was an independent and positive person, and she managed to live all alone until aged 110. After a fire in her apartment she moved into a nursing home, but even there she was still able to take care of herself. However, shortly before her 115th birthday she fell down a stairway and never fully recovered her ability to walk.

Surprisingly, when Jeanne was 118 years old, cognitive tests revealed she scored within the normal range, without signs of dementia. However, by that time she was physically frail and required a wheelchair.

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