Lifeboat Foundation

Arithmetic, rooted in our biological perception, is a natural consequence of how we perceive and organize the world around us. This connection between perception and mathematical truths suggests that mathematics is both a uniquely human invention and a universal discovery, highlighting a profound unity between the mind and the physical universe…

The concept that we are all computer-generated characters occupying a world as real as the ones gamers explore on their PlayStation consoles isn’t exactly a new one.

As far back as 1999, Morpheus was entering “The Matrix” to break Neo and a few other chosen few out of a simulated reality created by advanced machines in order to use humans as an energy source. But as the idea permeates not just the realm of science fiction and popular culture, but academia as well, every now and then a philosopher or physicist has something new to say about it.

That’s what happened this week when a physicist at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom proposed that a new law of physics could support the theory that what we see as our reality is in fact a complex virtual simulation running on a cosmic computer. The theory stems from previous research that Dr. Melvin Vopson has conducted looking into whether information has mass.

Exploring the interface between classical and quantum physics and where it breaks down to provide answers for some long-standing mysteries.

To understand the behavior of tiny, microscopic entities such as elementary particles, atoms, and even molecules, it is necessary to apply the mind-bending principles of quantum mechanics. In this realm, physics takes on bizarre properties necessary to unravel the perplexing behaviors of the Universe at this level.

In stark contrast, the macroscopic world we navigate daily adheres faithfully to the more comforting and intuitive laws of classical physics, which serve as approximations to much more complex quantum laws. These classical laws, while impressively accurate for our everyday experiences, merely graze the surface of the quantum mechanics that orchestrates the Universe at its smallest scales.

Researchers from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Kyoto University have proposed a strategy to grow “face-on” and “edge-on” conductive metal-organic frameworks (cMOF) nanofilms on substrates by controlling the “stand-up” behaviors of ligands on various surfaces to overcome the difficulty in the orientation control of such films.

They established operando characterization methodology using atomic force microscopy and X-ray to demonstrate the softness of the crystalline nanofilms and reveal their unique conductive functions. The study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Sept. 25.

CMOFs have great potential for use in modern electrical devices due to their porous nature and the ability to conduct charges in a regular network. cMOFs applied in electrical devices normally hybridize with other materials, especially substrates. Therefore, precisely controlling the interface between a cMOF and a substrate is crucial.

NEW YORK—David R. Liu, PhD, the genome editing pioneer whose Broad Institute lab developed both base editing and prime editing technologies over the past decade, told an audience of investors that prime editing is on track to join base editing in human clinical trials in less than a year.

From VR at the Las Vegas Sphere to AI trained on synthetic children’s stories, check out this week’s awesome tech stories from around the web.

The brain is an evolutionary marvel. By shifting the control of sensing and behavior to this central organ, animals (including us) are able to flexibly respond and flourish in unpredictable environments. One skill above all—learning—has proven key to the good life.

But what of all the organisms that lack this precious organ? From jellyfish and corals to our plant, fungi, and single-celled neighbors (such as bacteria), the pressure to live and reproduce is no less intense, and the value of learning is undiminished.

Recent research on the brainless has probed the murky origins and inner workings of cognition itself, and is forcing us to rethink what it means to learn.

On Monday, Waymo announced on X that it’s expanding its city-wide, fully autonomous robotaxi service to thousands more riders in San Francisco.

The company had been testing a service area of nearly the whole city (around 47 square miles) with employees and, later, a group of test riders. But most people using the service were precluded from riding in the city’s dense northeast corner, an area including Fisherman’s Wharf, the Embarcadero, and Chinatown.

Now, the full San Francisco service area will be available to all current Waymo One users—amounting to tens of thousands of people, according to TechCrunch. While it’s a significant increase, not just anyone can use Waymo in SF yet. The company has been growing the service by admitting new riders from a waitlist that numbered 100,000 in June.

From the vast expanse of galaxies that paint our night skies to the intricate neural networks within our brains, everything we know and see can trace its origins back to a singular moment: the Big Bang. It’s a concept that has not only reshaped our understanding of the universe but also offers profound insights into the interconnectedness of all existence.

Imagine, if you will, the entire universe compressed into an infinitesimally small point. This is not a realm of science fiction but the reality of our cosmic beginnings. Around 13.8 billion years ago, a singular explosion gave birth to time, space, matter, and energy. And in that magnificent burst of creation, the seeds for everything — galaxies, stars, planets, and even us — were sown.

But what if the Big Bang was not just a physical event? What if it also marked the birth of a universal consciousness? A consciousness that binds every particle, every star, and every living being in a cosmic tapestry of shared experience and memory.