The rapid advancement of technology, specifically in the development of sex robots with AI capabilities, could potentially lead to the replacement of real-life partners and have a detrimental effect on meaningful romantic relationships.
Questions to inspire discussion.
How long have sex robots been around?
—Sex robots have been around for about 10 years, and despite their initial hilariously bad appearance, there is a market for them and people are buying them.
A collaborative study by researchers at Lancaster and Radboud universities has pioneered a method to generate and control spin waves at the nanoscale, offering a new, energy-efficient approach to quantum computing.
Researchers at Lancaster University and Radboud University Nijmegen have successfully produced propagating spin waves on the nanoscale, unveiling a new method to modulate and amplify these waves.
Their discovery, published in Nature, could pave the way for the development of dissipation-free quantum information technologies. As the spin waves do not involve electric currents these chips will be free from associated losses of energy.
Through the looking glass: Researchers now have a way to conduct experiments on biological neurons in vitro. These human brain organoids – there are 16 in total – are aimed at developing the world’s first living processor and can be accessed remotely through an online platform for $500 a month if you are a university or educational institution.
The platform was developed by FinalSpark, a Swiss biocomputing startup, which reports that three dozen universities have expressed interest in using their platform. FinalSpark highlights the significant energy savings it could offer in the training and operation of large artificial neural networks, such as those used in large language models. However, this achievement is still a ways off: the project is just in its beginning phases, and co-founder Fred Jordan states that such an ambitious goal can only be achieved through international collaboration.
The biological component uses forebrain organoids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. These organoids can survive for years and contain neurons, oligodendrocytes, and astrocytes characteristic of the forebrain region, according to a paper published in the scientific journal Frontiers.
An Israeli startup has developed a way to make lead acid batteries last four times longer, disrupting a multi-billion-dollar industry and potentially making them the rechargeable – and recyclable – energy storage method of choice around the world.
Lead acid is the second most common battery technology worldwide and the power cells are currently used as the starter batteries in cars, trucks and motorcycles.
The batteries have a positive plate made of lead dioxide on one end, and a spongy lead negative plate on the other end, with sulfuric acid flowing between them both to conduct the electricity.
For decades, the study of genetic disease was focused on genes that code for protein. But scientists have now identified a novel neurodevelopmental disorder that is caused by mutations in a gene that does not code for protein, called RNU4-2. These mutations lead to neurological symptoms that cause cognitive dysfunction, but have not previously been linked together as one disease. These findings have been reported in Nature Medicine.
In this work, the investigators analyzed whole-genome sequencing data from over 5,000 cases of intellectual disability and over 46,000 unaffected individuals. The research focused on unusual variations in the sequences of 41,132 genes that do not code for protein. The research revealed a gene that is apparently a common cause of neurodevleopmental problems. The scientists also determined that these mutations often arise spontaneously, and are not usually inherited from a parent.
Researchers at NCI and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that uses routine clinical data to predict whether someone’s cancer will respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy drug that helps immune cells kill cancer cells.
AI tool uses routine clinical data to predict whether someone’s cancer will respond to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
What makes PSR J1748–2446 famous for its weirdness? Easy. It is the celestial object that spins the fastest in the universe. It’s also a star whose surface is not just solid, but harder than a diamond. Compared to lead, its density is 50 trillion times higher. Compared to our Sun, its magnetic field sizzles a trillion times more intensely. It is, in essence, the most extreme form of neutron star.
When a heavy sun explodes in a supernova, the core of the sun, which has the mass of several million Earths, collapses into a tiny sphere and the rest of the sun shoots outward. This is how neutron stars are created. When this occurs, the inverse-square law of gravity goes into its demo-mode with a vengeance.
Explore the fascinating world of quantum teleportation. Discover its principles, applications, and the profound impact it could have on our future.
Introduction to Quantum Teleportation
Quantum teleportation, a term that sounds like it’s straight out of science fiction, is a very real and advancing field in quantum physics. This groundbreaking technology is not about transporting matter from one place to another but rather involves the transfer of information between quantum particles. This article delves into the science behind quantum teleportation, its potential applications, and the impact it could have on various aspects of our lives.
There’s a hot new BEC in town that has nothing to do with bacon, egg, and cheese. You won’t find it at your local bodega, but in the coldest place in New York: the lab of Columbia physicist Sebastian Will, whose experimental group specializes in pushing atoms and molecules to temperatures just fractions of a degree above absolute zero.
Converting CO2 into fuel and chemicals using electricity, also known as electrochemical conversion of CO2, is a promising way to reduce emissions. This process allows us to use carbon captured from industries and the atmosphere and turn it into resources that we usually get from fossil fuels.
