Lifeboat Foundation

The orbits of 27 stars orbiting closely around the black hole at the center of our Milky Way are so chaotic that researchers cannot predict with confidence where they will be in about 462 years. This finding emerges from simulations by three astronomers based in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The researchers have published their findings in two papers in the International Journal of Modern Physics D and in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Simulating 27 stars and their interactions with each other and with the black hole is easier said than done. For centuries, for example, it was impossible to predict the motions of more than two interacting stars, planets, rocks, or other objects. It was only in 2018 that Leiden researchers developed a computer program in which rounding errors no longer play a role in the calculations. With this, they were able to calculate the motions of three imaginary stars. Now the researchers have expanded their program to deal with 27 stars that, by astronomical standards, move close to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

The simulations of the 27 massive stars and the black hole resulted in a surprise. Although the stars remain in their orbits around the black hole, the interactions between the stars show that the orbits are chaotic. This means that small perturbations caused by the underlying interactions change the orbits of the stars. These changes grow exponentially and, in the long run, make the star orbits unpredictable.

Serious vision loss affects millions of Americans each year, and biological strategies are still decades away from restoring eyesight lost to macular degeneration. But University of Oregon researchers are looking to create an electronic solution — a bionic eye — that could restore people’s sight. They’re tapping into the world of fractal structures that will allow a retinal implant and a human brain to communicate with each other.

During a conference this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reiterated claims that the Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta is nearing higher levels of autonomy. The statements echo recent details learned from previews of a new Musk biography, highlighting the FSD system’s many developments in the last several months alone.

Musk was featured in an interview during the All-In Podcast’s 2023 Summit held on Wednesday, during which he discussed topics like Starlink, X, China, artificial intelligence, and more. Among the topics covered was a brief outro on the FSD beta, which he says is “very close” to becoming safer than a human driver without being monitored.

“Yeah, I think it’s getting very close to being in a situation where, even if there’s no human oversight or intervention, that the probability of a safe journey is higher with FSD and no supervision — like even if you’re asleep in the car — than if a person is driving. We’re very close to that,” Musk said on a video call into the summit.

Researchers unravel the mysteries of smell using machine learning. Their AI model has achieved human-level skill in describing how certain chemicals will smell, closing a critical gap in the scientific understanding of olfaction.

Beyond advancing our comprehension of smell, this technology could lead to breakthroughs in the fragrance and flavor industries, and even help create new functional scents like mosquito repellents. The study validates a first-of-its-kind data-driven map of human olfaction, which correlates chemical structure to odor perception.

Summary: Researchers unravel the mysteries of smell using machine learning. Their AI model has achieved human-level skill in describing how certain chemicals will smell, closing a critical gap in the scientific understanding of olfaction.

The building blocks of quantum computers are often thought to imitate the famous thought experiment known as Schrödinger’s cat, in which quantum physics essentially suspends a cat in a box in a nebulous state between life and death: The cat only definitely becomes alive or dead when someone looks in the box. Now, by mimicking Schrödinger’s cats as closely as possible, a French startup reveals it could help make extraordinarily powerful quantum computers a reality sooner than previously thought—a strategy Amazon is also pursuing.

Classical computers generally switch transistors either on or off to symbolize data as ones or zeroes. In contrast, quantum computers use quantum bits— qubits —that, because of the surreal nature of quantum physics, can exist in a state of superposition where they are both 1 and 0 at the same time. This essentially lets each qubit carry out two calculations simultaneously. The more qubits are quantum-mechanically linked, or entangled, the more calculations they can perform at once, to an exponential degree.

The new strategy depends on so-called “cat states,” pairs of very different quantum states as diametrically opposed to one another as the “alive” and “dead” feline once famously postulated by Erwin Schrödinger.

The humble neutrino, an elusive subatomic particle that passes effortlessly through normal matter, plays an outsized role among the particles that comprise our universe. To fully explain how our universe came to be, we need to know its mass. But, like so many of us, it avoids being weighed.

Now, an international team of researchers from the United States and Germany leading an ambitious quest called Project 8 reports that their distinctive strategy is a realistic contender to be the first to measure the neutrino mass. Once fully scaled up, Project 8 could help reveal how neutrinos influenced the early evolution of the universe as we know it.

In 2022, the KATRIN research team set an upper bound for how heavy the neutrino could possibly be. That milestone was a tour-de-force accomplishment that has been decades in the making. But these results simply narrow the search window. KATRIN will soon reach and may one day even exceed its targeted detection limits, but the featherweight neutrino might be lighter still, begging the question: “What’s next?”

Apple’s iPhone 15 launched at the company’s fall event today, and I got to spend some time with the new smartphone. It didn’t get the flashy new titanium of the iPhone 15 Pro that Brian checked out, but it does have a new design that includes softer, more rounded edges and the introduction the Dynamic Island to a non-Pro phone for the first time.

The iPhone 15 is actually very impressive in the looks department. Apple went into details about all the material science magic it put into the new colored glass and anodized aluminum used in the cases during its presentation. The ultimate effect, and all most people need to care about, is that they look really good, like candy-colored confections in muted but fun tones.

15 companies, ranging from Photoshop creator Adobe to ChatGPT maker OpenAI, have now taken the voluntary commitments.

Eight tech companies, including Salesforce and Nvidia, are signing on to the White House’s voluntary artificial intelligence pledge, joining a roster of prominent firms that have agreed to mitigate the risks of AI, as Washington policymakers continue to debate new regulation of the emerging technology.

Fifteen of the most influential companies in the United States have now taken the commitments, which include a promise to develop technology to identify AI-generated images and a vow to share data about safety with the government and academics.

Continue reading “Nvidia, Palantir and more companies join White House AI pledge” »

Elon Musk wrote “congrats to SpaceX” on completing the corrective actions required by the FAA to fly Starship again.

SpaceX is all set to launch its fully-stacked Starship rocket once again. The private space firm launched Starship for the first time on April 20 for a test flight that ended with the massive launch system spinning out of control and exploding after the ground team triggered a manual termination.

Since then, the US Federal Aviation Authority has conducted a mishap investigation into the first test flight that outlined 63 changes SpaceX must make to Starship and its launch infrastructure before it can fly again.

Continue reading “SpaceX’s second Starship test flight could be just days away” »