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Feb 21, 2024

A Boost in Dopamine During Adolescence Permanently Amplifies Impulsivity and Aggression

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Drugs blocking dopamine transporters may be harmful for healthy teens but helpful for those with pathological dopamine hypofunction.

In a breakthrough finding researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center identified a sensitive developmental period during adolescence that impacts adult impulsivity, aggression, and dopamine function in mice.

As organisms grow from embryo to adult, they pass through sensitive time periods where developmental trajectories are influenced by environmental factors. These windows of plasticity often allow organisms to adapt to their surroundings through evolutionarily selected mechanisms.

Feb 21, 2024

Challenging Traditional Theories — Physicists Develop New Method To Quantify Quantum Entanglement

Posted by in categories: computing, quantum physics

Entanglement is a phenomenon in quantum physics where two or more systems become interconnected in a manner that makes it impossible to describe their quantum states separately. When systems interact and become entangled, they exhibit strong correlations. This concept is crucial for quantum computing, as the degree of entanglement directly influences the optimization and efficiency of a quantum computer. The more entangled the systems are, the better the performance of the quantum computer.

A study conducted by researchers affiliated with the Department of Physics at São Paulo State University’s Institute of Geosciences and Exact Sciences (IGCE-UNESP) in Rio Claro, Brazil, tested a novel method of quantifying entanglement and the conditions for its maximization. Applications include optimizing the construction of a quantum computer.

An article on the study is published as a Letter in Physical Review B.

Feb 21, 2024

Orbital Magic: Japanese Scientists Pave the Way for Next-Gen Spintronics

Posted by in categories: materials, particle physics

Directing magnetization with a low electric field is crucial for advancing effective spintronic devices. In spintronics, the characteristics of an electron’s spin or magnetic moment are leveraged for information storage. By modifying orbital magnetic moments through strain, it’s possible to manipulate electron spins, leading to an enhanced magnetoelectric effect for superior performance.

Japanese researchers, including Jun Okabayashi from the University of Tokyo, revealed a strain-induced orbital control mechanism in interfacial multiferroics. In multiferroic material, the magnetic property can be controlled using an electric field—potentially leading to efficient spintronic devices. The interfacial multiferroics that Okabayashi and his colleagues studied consist of a junction between a ferromagnetic material and a piezoelectric material. The direction of magnetization in the material could be controlled by applying voltage.

Feb 21, 2024

NASA’s Next-Gen Exoplanet-Imaging Technology Advances Search for Extraterrestrial Life

Posted by in category: alien life

NASA ’s Roman Space Telescope ’s Coronagraph Instrument, designed to observe distant exoplanets by blocking stellar light, has passed essential tests, marking a significant advancement in space observation technology and the search for extraterrestrial life.

A cutting-edge tool to view planets outside our solar system has passed two key tests ahead of its launch as part of the agency’s Roman Space Telescope by 2027.

The Coronagraph Instrument on NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will demonstrate new technologies that could vastly increase the number of planets outside our solar system (exoplanets) that scientists can directly observe. Designed and built at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, it recently passed a series of critical tests ahead of launch. That includes tests to ensure the instrument’s electrical components don’t interfere with those on the rest of the observatory and vice versa.

Feb 21, 2024

Global Implications: More Aerosol Particles Than Thought Are Forming Over Siberia

Posted by in categories: climatology, particle physics

Recent research has discovered that, in contrast to earlier assumptions, substantial quantities of aerosol particles are generated across extensive regions of the West Siberian taiga during spring. These findings indicate that rising temperatures can greatly influence the climate due to this phenomenon.

Aerosol particles significantly contribute to the Earth’s cooling process. They can impact the amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface either directly or indirectly by aiding in cloud formation. These particles originate from various gas molecules and are found all over the planet.

To understand the circumstances in which these particles are formed, researchers conduct measurements in various environments all over the world. For example, the Finnish flagship station SMEAR II has conducted measurements in the boreal forest for 25 years.

Feb 21, 2024

Quantum dark states lead to an advantage in noise reduction

Posted by in categories: particle physics, quantum physics

While atomic clocks are already the most precise timekeeping devices in the universe, physicists are working hard to improve their accuracy even further. One way is by leveraging spin-squeezed states in clock atoms.

Spin-squeezed states are entangled states in which particles in the system conspire to cancel their intrinsic quantum noise. These states, therefore, offer great opportunities for quantum-enhanced metrology since they allow for more precise measurements. Yet, spin-squeezed states in the desired optical transitions with little outside noise have been hard to prepare and maintain.

One particular way to generate a spin-squeezed state, or squeezing, is by placing the clock atoms into an , a set of mirrors where light can bounce back and forth many times. In the cavity, atoms can synchronize their photon emissions and emit a burst of light far brighter than from any one atom alone, a phenomenon referred to as superradiance. Depending on how superradiance is used, it can lead to entanglement, or alternatively, it can instead disrupt the desired quantum state.

Feb 21, 2024

AI Generated Videos Just Changed Forever

Posted by in categories: food, robotics/AI

Reminder: It’s only been 1 YEAR since the Will Smith eating spaghetti videoOpenAI Sora: https://openai.com/sora#researchThumbnail character: BasedAFMKBHD Mer…

Feb 21, 2024

Predibase (Predibase)

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

LoRA Land: 25 fine-tuned #Mistral 7b #LLM that outperform #gpt4 on task-specific applications ranging from sentiment detection to question answering.


Predibase is the fastest way to productionize open-source AI. It enables easy fine-tuning and serving of LLM or deep learning models on cloud infrastructure, promising scalability and cost-effectiveness and is currently used by Fortune 500 and high-growth companies. Try for free: https://predibase.com/free-trial.

Feb 21, 2024

Apple Vision Pro review: Here’s what you need to know

Posted by in category: futurism

Joanna Stern, WSJ, joins ‘Squawk on the Street’ to discuss Apple’s latest large product launch, the Apple Vision Pro.

Feb 21, 2024

Ultra-high density hydrogen storage holds twice as much as liquid H2

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

A nanoporous material that holds hydrogen at twice the density of cryogenic liquid H2 could address the challenges of large-scale liquid and gas storage that have held this clean fuel back.

Hydrogen is finding plenty of applications as a clean fuel – in trucking and commercial vehicles, short range aviation and shipping, for example, where it carries considerably more energy per weight and volume than lithium batteries and can deliver superior range figures and quick refueling. You can burn it more or less like gasoline, or run it through a fuel cell to generate electric power.

It has the highest energy per mass of any fuel, but it’s a pain to store. Keep it in gas tanks and you’ll need some 700 atmospheres’ worth of compression. Keep it as a liquid, and you’ll need to maintain cryogenic temperatures just 20 degrees above absolute zero. And even when squashed into a supercooled liquid, it might be lightweight, but it takes up a surprising and inconvenient amount of volume, making it both energy-hungry and tough to package where space is an issue.