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An Indian researcher led a team that developed a rice variety that takes up less arsenic and they’re now working on one that will generate less greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 140 million people in over 70 countries drink water containing the toxic element arsenic at levels above WHO guidelines and in the Indian subcontinent, contaminated water from the Himalayas flow down across multiple countries into farmlands and irrigation reservoirs, which are then absorbed by food crops like rice, the dominant dietary staple in the region.

Jauhar Ali, head of the Hybrid Rice Development Consortium (HRDC), at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) says that in 2012, he and his team identified that arsenic toxicity was a key rice production constraint in India and Bangladesh.

Computational linguistics focuses on developing advanced language models capable of understanding and generating human language. This dynamic field integrates the latest in machine learning and artificial intelligence, striving to create models that grasp the intricacies of language. A crucial aspect of this discipline is adapting these models to accommodate the ever-changing nature of language, influenced by cultural, social, and technological shifts.

One major issue in this area is the temporal misalignment between the data used to train language models and the ever-evolving nature of language. Over time, the language used in various domains can change significantly, which leads to the models trained on past data becoming less effective. This problem is compounded by the fact that acquiring and integrating new, relevant data into these models is often complex and resource-intensive.

Current methods to tackle this challenge primarily involve updating language models with new data as it becomes available. Techniques like dynamic evaluation and continuous pretraining keep these models relevant over time. However, these approaches have limitations, such as the risk of models forgetting previously learned information or requiring extensive new data for effective updating.

Quantum computers have the potential to outperform conventional computers on some tasks, including complex optimization problems. However, quantum computers are also vulnerable to noise, which can lead to computational errors.

Engineers have been trying to devise fault-tolerant quantum computing approaches that could be more resistant to noise and could thus be scaled up more robustly. One common approach to attain fault-tolerance is the preparation of magic states, which introduce so-called non-Clifford gates.

Researchers at University of Science and Technology of China, the Henan Key Laboratory of Quantum Information and Cryptography and the Hefei National Laboratory recently demonstrated the preparation of a logical magic state with fidelity beyond the distillation threshold on a superconducting quantum processor. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, outlines a viable and effective strategy to generate high-fidelity logical magic states, an approach to realize fault-tolerant quantum computing.

The distant galaxies we see in all directions are moving away from the Earth, as evidenced by their red shifts. Hubble’s law describes this expansion.

The Times said OpenAI and Microsoft are advancing their technology through the “unlawful use of The Times’s work to create artificial intelligence products that compete with it” and “threatens The Times’s ability to provide that service”

The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement on Wednesday, opening a new front in the increasingly intense legal battle over the unauthorized use of published work to train artificial intelligence technologies.

The Times is the first major American media organization to sue the companies, the creators of ChatGPT and other popular A.I. platforms, over copyright issues associated with its written works. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, contends that millions of articles published by The Times were used to train automated chatbots that now compete with the news outlet as a source of reliable information.

Continue reading “The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work” »

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Persistent chronic inflammation – also recognized as metaflammation or inflammaging – emerges as a consistent factor in ailing populations, in conditions correlated with age-related deterioration and even in ostensibly robust individuals. This phenomenon has been correlated with the onset of autoimmune disorders such as psoriasis and lupus, as well as chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, among others. Investigations have substantiated that environmental and lifestyle variables such as smoking, a poor diet, physical inactivity and lack of or poor quality sleep can contribute to the perpetuation of chronic underlying inflammation.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is a critical coenzyme; vital for the functionality of all living cells, the preservation of intracellular NAD+ pools plays a crucial role in supporting cellular and metabolic processes. Key among these processes is the production of cellular energy, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and DNA repair. Research indicates that a decrease in NAD+ levels is linked to compromised inflammatory responses and innate immune dysfunction. This implies that the levels of NAD+ may play a critical role in the operational efficacy of immune cells.

NR is an efficient NAD⁺ precursor; clinically proven to increase NAD⁺ safely and effectively it has become a popular supplement, and there is a growing body of clinical evidence demonstrating the anti-inflammatory effects of NR supplementation (either alone or in combination with other ingredients) for healthy, older adults, or those with inflammation-related disorders [4]. Indeed, NR supplementation has potential for more robust effects among the elderly and diseased populations as they tend to have compromised NAD⁺ and a higher inflammatory status.

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A team of scientists in Basel believes this will open up new lines of research.