Extremely short pulses of laser light with a peak power of 6 terawatts (6 trillion watts)—roughly equivalent to the power produced by 6,000 nuclear power plants—have been realized by two RIKEN physicists. This achievement will help further develop attosecond lasers, for which three researchers were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2023. The work is published in the journal Nature Photonics.
With the nature of the universe’s two most elusive components up for debate, physicists have proposed a radical idea: Invisible particles called tachyons, which break causality and move faster than light, may dominate the cosmos.
For centuries, goldsmiths have sought ways to flatten gold into ever finer forms. An approach based in modern chemistry has finally created a gold material that literally can’t get any thinner, consisting of a single layer of atoms.
Sticking to the naming conventions of materials science, researchers have named this new two-dimensional material ‘goldene’, and it has some interesting properties not seen in the three-dimensional form of gold.
“If you make a material extremely thin, something extraordinary happens – as with graphene,” explains materials scientist Shun Kashiwaya of Linköping University in Sweden.
What’s the optimal way to dose a longevity drug like rapamycin? Nils Osmar looks at some different studies that provide a possible answer:
It’s worth noting that mTORC2 is not directly inhibited by rapamycin under most circumstances, but can be under some. Some studies have found that after prolonged use, rapamycin can also begin inhibiting mTORC2 (see study: Alternative rapamycin treatment regimens mitigate the impact of rapamycin on glucose homeostasis and the immune system).
So taking breaks from rapamycin may also be beneficial.
Could taking some time off undermine rapamycin’s anti-aging benefits? It’s hard to know for sure, because people are so long-lived there’s no way to test its effects on human aging directly. But in mice, at least, it’s been found that administering rapamycin for two weeks out of every four can still significantly extend lifespan (see study: Alternative rapamycin treatment regimens mitigate the impact of rapamycin on glucose homeostasis and the immune system).
As an expert in network effects, the LinkedIn co-founder and now AI entrepreneur is only too happy to spread (mostly) good cheer about AI and its societal potential.
AngryGF offers a perpetually enraged chatbot intended to teach men better communication skills. WIRED took it for a spin.
Using lasers and metal powder, Australian scientists have created a super strong, super lightweight new — but they got the idea for this sci fi-sounding creation from plants.
The challenge: Materials that are strong yet lightweight, such as carbon fiber and graphene, are used to make everything from medical implants to airships, and developing ones with ever greater “strength-to-weight ratios” is the goal of many material scientists.
In pursuit of that goal, some have turned to nature, looking for ways to replicate in metal the hollow lattice structures, like those in the Victoria water lily, that make some plants remarkably strong.
Tesla’s aggressive push towards autonomy and the development of self-driving technology has the potential to drastically change the automotive industry and disrupt the competition.
Questions to inspire discussion.
What is Tesla’s shift in strategy?
—Tesla is undergoing a shift in strategy towards autonomy and self-driving technology, which may be seen as reactionary to current events but also part of the company’s long-term plan.
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Dense layer is commonly used layer in neural networks. Neurons of the this layer are connected to every neuron of its preceding layer.
