We are excited to announce the upcoming workshop, Episodic Memory: Uniquely Human?, to be held on 21–22 May 2024, at LSE’s Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences (CPNSS), and over Zoom.
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Mar 2, 2024
Graph states of atomic ensembles engineered by photon-mediated entanglement
Posted by Dan Breeden in categories: engineering, quantum physics
Photon-mediated entanglement in atomic ensembles coupled to cavities enables the engineering of quantum states with a graph-like entanglement structure. This offers potential advantages in quantum computation and metrology.
Mar 2, 2024
Suppressing strain propagation in ultrahigh-Ni cathodes during fast charging via epitaxial entropy-assisted coating
Posted by Dan Breeden in category: futurism
Layered Ni-rich oxide cathodes are susceptible to challenges with surface reconstruction and strain propagation, limiting their cyclability. The authors propose a solution involving oriented attachment-driven reactions, utilizing Wadsley–Roth nanocrystals and layered oxide to induce an epitaxial entropy-assisted coating, effectively addressing these issues.
Mar 2, 2024
Artificial Intelligence and the Significance Crisis
Posted by Dan Breeden in category: robotics/AI
Mar 2, 2024
Chemical etching method opens pores for fuel cells and more
Posted by Dan Breeden in categories: chemistry, climatology, economics, sustainability
A chemical etching method for widening the pores of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) could improve various applications of MOFs, including in fuel cells and as catalysts. Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan and East China Normal University in China developed the new method with collaborators elsewhere in Japan, Australia, and China, and their work was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
MOFs are porous materials composed of metal clusters or ions interconnected by carbon-based (organic) linker groups. Varying the metallic and organic components generates a variety of MOFs suitable for a wide range of applications, including catalysis, chemical separation, and gas storage.
Some MOFs have clear potential for catalyzing the chemical reactions inside fuel cells, which are being explored as the basis of renewable energy systems. Because they don’t use fossil fuels, fuel cells could play a key role in the transition to a low-or zero-emissions economy to combat climate change.
In the case of artificial intelligence, we have a problem. There is no clear, settled definition of natural intelligence. If we are not sure what the natural thing is, how can we know what the artificial thing ought to be?
In fact, I want to claim that intelligence is not a thing at all. It is an ongoing process. It is like science. You should not think of science as a body of absolute truth. Instead, think of the scientific method as a way of pursuing truth.
One should resist the temptation to think of intelligence as a huge lump of knowledge that an entity possesses. Memorizing the encyclopedia does not constitute intelligence.
Mar 2, 2024
Researchers develop ‘foundational tool’ for understanding behavior of hydride superconductors at high pressure
Posted by Dan Breeden in categories: particle physics, transportation
Hydrogen (like many of us) acts weird under pressure. Theory predicts that when crushed by the weight of more than a million times our atmosphere, this light, abundant, normally gaseous element first becomes a metal, and even more strangely, a superconductor—a material that conducts electricity with no resistance.
Scientists have been eager to understand and eventually harness superconducting hydrogen-rich compounds, called hydrides, for practical applications—from levitating trains to particle detectors. But studying the behavior of these and other materials under enormous, sustained pressures is anything but practical, and accurately measuring those behaviors ranges somewhere between a nightmare and impossible.
Like the calculator did for arithmetic, and ChatGPT has done for writing five-paragraph essays, Harvard researchers think they have a foundational tool for the thorny problem of how to measure and image the behavior of hydride superconductors at high pressure.
Mar 2, 2024
RNA interference in the era of nucleic acid therapeutics
Posted by Dan Breeden in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology
With six approved drugs, siRNA is now an established therapeutic modality poised for expansion.
Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4AkVj-qnJxNtKuz3rkq16A/joinDon’t forget to check out my companion channels TnT Omn…
Mar 1, 2024
Attitude Bias at Procrastination’s Root
Posted by Cecile G. Tamura in category: futurism
Do I want to do this now?
Summary: New research delves into how valence weighting bias—people’s tendency to prioritize negative or positive attitudes—plays a crucial role in procrastination. By studying individuals’ responses to tasks like tax filing and academic research participation, the researchers found a strong link between a negative-leaning attitude and the tendency to delay tasks.
Additionally, interventions that balanced participants’ valence weighting bias showed promise in reducing procrastination, suggesting that this psychological bias might be a key target for improving decision-making and task completion. This insight opens new avenues for addressing procrastination by adjusting how individuals weigh positive and negative signals when faced with decisions.