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Aug 14, 2023

The Heady Neuroscience Behind ‘Paying Attention’

Posted by in category: neuroscience

It’s easy to overlook blatant, glaring aspects to our surroundings when we’re hyper focused on a task. These neuroscience theories explain why.

Aug 14, 2023

A quantum leap in mechanical oscillator technology

Posted by in categories: computing, cosmology, quantum physics

Over the past decade, scientists have made tremendous progress in generating quantum phenomena in mechanical systems. What seemed impossible only fifteen years ago has now become a reality, as researchers successfully create quantum states in macroscopic mechanical objects.

By coupling these mechanical oscillators to light photons—known as “optomechanical systems”—scientists have been able to cool them down to their lowest energy level close to the , “squeeze them” to reduce their vibrations even further, and entangle them with each other. These advancements have opened up new opportunities in , compact storage in quantum computing, fundamental tests of quantum gravity, and even in the search for dark matter.

In order to efficiently operate optomechanical systems in the quantum regime, scientists face a dilemma. On one hand, the mechanical oscillators must be properly isolated from their environment to minimize ; on the other hand, they must be well-coupled to other such as electromagnetic resonators to control them.

Aug 14, 2023

Scientists Discover New Ecosystem Underneath Hydrothermal Vents

Posted by in category: habitats

International science team discovers deep-sea habitats, evidence of hydrothermal animals, in volcanic cavities beneath the ocean floor

Video and photos available here.

Continue reading “Scientists Discover New Ecosystem Underneath Hydrothermal Vents” »

Aug 13, 2023

AI fears overblown? Theoretical physicist calls chatbots ‘glorified tape recorders’

Posted by in categories: internet, robotics/AI

The public’s anxiety over new AI technology is misguided, according to theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, the futurologist said chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT will benefit society and increase productivity. But fear has driven people to largely focus on the negative implications of the programs, which he terms “glorified tape recorders.”

“It takes snippets of what’s on the web created by a human, splices them together and passes it off as if it created these things,” he said. “And people are saying, ‘Oh my God, it’s a human, it’s humanlike.’”

Aug 13, 2023

Physicists confirm the 67-year-old prediction of massless, neutral composite particle

Posted by in category: particle physics

Uisng a nonstandard experimental technique, physicists confirm 67-year-old prediction of massless, neutral composite particle called demon.

Aug 13, 2023

The AI Conference 2023 — Shaping The Future Of AI

Posted by in categories: ethics, robotics/AI

The AI Conference is a groundbreaking vendor-neutral event brought to you by the creators of MLconf and Ben Lorica, former Program Chair of The O’Reilly Artificial Intelligence Conference.

Whether you’re a researcher, engineer or entrepreneur, you’ll find opportunities to learn, collaborate, and network with some of the brightest minds in AI. Topics will span a wide range of AI fields, including AGI, Foundation Models and Large Language Models, Generative AI, Neural Architectures, AI Infrastructure, AI Use Cases, Ethics and Alignment, Data Management tools for AI, AI Startups and Investment and much more.

Aug 13, 2023

Jonathan, The World’s Oldest Land Animal, Celebrates His Official 190th Birthday

Posted by in category: futurism

Jonathan the tortoise became the oldest tortoise in human record in 2022, being granted the accolade by the Guinness World Records (who recently named the world’s oldest cat) after turning 190. It’s been accepted that he hatched in 1,832 based on photographic records, but it wasn’t until November of this year that he was finally granted an official birthday.

Jonathan’s birthday was declared to be December 4, 1832, by the governor of the British overseas territory Nigel Phillips, Guardian reports. It was celebrated with a three-day party at his home on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean and damn, that’s a party we wish we’d got an invite to.

Reptilian pals and local residents were invited to the soiree that was held at the governor’s house complete with a tortoise-friendly birthday cake. A fitting tribute to a creature that’s both the world’s oldest living animal, and the oldest tortoise on human record.

Aug 13, 2023

The Longest Living Animal On Earth Can Live For Over 2,000 Years

Posted by in category: life extension

The Greenland shark is the poster child for animals with extreme longevity – and with good reason. As the longest-living vertebrates on Earth, they develop incredibly slowly in their frosty Arctic home, but when it comes to the longest-living animals on Earth, they’re not all that.

The ocean quahog is a pretty unremarkable-looking clam, reaching around 5 centimeters (2 inches) in size, and yet it can take them over 200 years to get there. The oldest on record was 507 years old, topping the Greenland shark, and yet it still only makes it the oldest known non-colonial animal.

“Animals living longer than 500 years?!” I hear you cry? Yes siree Bob. Let’s take a look at some of Earth’s oldest animals.

Aug 13, 2023

Rethinking Sound in Space: Physicists Demonstrate How Sound Can Cross the Vacuum

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, physics, space

The iconic movie Alien once claimed: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” However, physicists Zhuoran Geng and Ilari Maasilta from the Nanoscience Center at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, beg to differ. Their recent research suggests that under specific conditions, sound can indeed be transmitted powerfully across a vacuum.

Their findings, published recently in the journal Communications Physics, reveal that in certain scenarios, sound waves can “tunnel” through a vacuum gap between two solid objects, provided those objects are piezoelectric. These particular materials generate an electrical response when subjected to sound waves or vibrations. Given that an electric field can be present in a vacuum, it can effectively carry these sound waves across.

The requirement is that the size of the gap is smaller than the wavelength of the sound wave. This effect works not only in the audio range of frequencies (Hz-kHz), but also in ultrasound (MHz) and hypersound (GHz) frequencies, as long as the vacuum gap is made smaller as the frequencies increase.

Aug 13, 2023

Luna-25: Russia starts processing data from moon lander hoping to make history

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space

Russian experts monitoring their moon-bound unmanned spacecraft Luna-25 have switched on its scientific equipment and started processing the first data.

Russia is aiming to become the first country to carry out a soft landing on the lunar south pole — a region thought to hold pockets of water ice.

Space agency Roscosmos said in a statement on Sunday: Luna-25 continues its flight to the Earth’s natural satellite — all systems of the automatic station are working properly, communication with it is stable, the energy balance is positive.