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A new method in spectromicroscopy significantly improves the study of chemical reactions at the nanoscale, both on surfaces and inside layered materials. Scanning X-ray microscopy (SXM) at MAXYMUS beamline of BESSY II enables the investigation of chemical species adsorbed on the top layer (surface) or intercalated within the MXene electrode (bulk) with high chemical sensitivity. The method was developed by a HZB team led by Dr. Tristan Petit. The scientists demonstrated among others first SXM on MXene flakes, a material used as electrode in lithium-ion batteries.

Since their discovery in 2011, MXenes have gathered significant scientific interest due to their versatile tunable properties and diverse applications, from energy storage to electromagnetic shielding. Researchers have been working to decipher the complex chemistry of MXenes at the nanoscale.

The team of Dr. Tristan Petit now made a significant progress in MXene characterization, as described in their recent publication (Small Methods, “Nanoscale surface and bulk electronic properties of Ti 3 C 2 Tx MXene unraveled by multimodal X-ray spectromicroscopy”). They utilized SXM to investigate the chemical bonding of Ti 3 C 2 Tx MXenes, with Tx denoting the terminations (Tx=O, OH, F, Cl), with high spatial and spectral resolution. The novelty in this work is to combine simultaneously two detection modes, transmission and electron yield, enabling different probing depths.

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https://youtu.be/Op3zYytUDDs.

Using generative AI, this time lapse sequence shows how melanoma skin cancer develops over 10 years. Starting with normal skin, slow progression to stage 4 melanoma is shown.

Obviously, such a time lapse can not be realistically accomplished as there is no way to know if any given area of skin will turn into cancer. Obviously, somebody with such future knowledge would have to start taking such photos now in the same spot over next 10 years to watch it slowly turn into cancer.

Watch time lapse video of basal cell carcinoma: https://youtube.com/shorts/d_O5zHgKnP8

Continue reading “Melanoma Skin Cancer Development Time Lapse (Normal to Stage 4 Melanoma Over 10 Years)” | >

“Stellar-mass black holes, which contain up to about 30 solar masses, possess much smaller event horizons and stronger tidal forces, which can rip apart approaching objects before they get to the horizon.”

The simulated black hole is designed to imitate the supermassive one at the heart of our galaxy, which has a mass over 4.3 million times that of our Sun. That is almost unfathomably large: the distant view of it you see in the visualizer is from nearly 400 million miles away.

From the point of view of the doomed camera, falling into the event horizon would take three hours. To an outside observer, however, the camera would appear to freeze just before the threshold due to immense distortions in spacetime.

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LISTEN NOW I follow Ithell Colquhoun in describing myself as a Magician born of Nature, and although I reject the Theory of Supernatural Causation nevertheless many posthuman objectives and those of ancient…

Provided to YouTube by Ditto MusicThoth Djehuty’s Book of Magick · Steve NicholsThoth Djehuty’s Book of Magick℗ Steven Leslie NicholsReleased on: 2024–06-17A…

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From the article:

Longtermism asks fundamental questions and promotes the kind of consequentialism that should guide public policy.

Based on a talk delivered at the conference on Existential Threats and Other Disasters: How Should We Address Them? May 30–31, 2024 – Budva, Montenegro – sponsored by the Center for the Study of Bioethics, The Hastings Center, and The Oxford Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics.

For twenty years, I have been talking about old age dependency ratios as an argument for universal basic income and investing in anti-aging therapies to keep elders healthy longer. A declining number of young workers supporting a growing number of retirees is straining many welfare systems. Healthy seniors are less expensive and work longer. UBI is more intergenerationally equitable, especially if we face technological unemployment.

Continue reading “Are Children The Future?: Longtermism, Pronatalism, and Epistemic Discounting” | >

The efforts of Jeff Hawkins and Numenta to understand how the brain works started over 30 years ago and culminated in the last two years with the publication of the Thousand Brains Theory of Intelligence. Since then, we’ve been thinking about how to apply our insights about the neocortex to artificial intelligence. As described in this theory, it is clear that the brain works on principles fundamentally different from current AI systems. To build the kind of efficient and robust intelligence that we know humans are capable of, we need to design a new type of artificial intelligence. This is what the Thousand Brains Project is about.

In the past Numenta has been very open with their research, posting meeting recordings, making code open-source and building a large community around our algorithms. We are happy to announce that we are returning to this practice with the Thousand Brains Project. With funding from the Gates Foundation, among others, we are significantly expanding our internal research efforts and also calling for researchers around the world to follow, or even join this exciting project.

Today we are releasing a short technical document describing the core principles of the platform we are building. To be notified when the code and other resources are released, please sign up for the newsletter below. If you have a specific inquiry please send us an email to [email protected].

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