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Blog – Page 1693

Our H+ friend Rob Wilkes alerted me to this today!

March 20 (Reuters) — Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink livestreamed on Wednesday its first patient implanted with a chip using his mind to play online chess.

Noland Arbaugh, the 29-year-old patient who was paralyzed below the shoulder after a diving accident, played chess on his laptop and moved the cursor using the Neuralink device. The implant seeks to enable people to control a computer cursor or keyboard using only their thoughts.

Arbaugh had received an implant from the company in January and could control a computer mouse using his thoughts, Musk said last month.

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Research in mice shows limited intakes of one particular essential amino acid can slow the impacts of aging and even lengthen their lifespan.

Scientists are now wondering if these findings could help people improve their longevity and quality of life.

Isoleucine is one of three branched-chain amino acids we use to build proteins in our bodies. It is essential for our survival, but since our cells can’t produce it from scratch, we have to get it from sources like eggs, dairy, soy protein and meats.

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is remaining tight-lipped about the company’s secretive Q* project — even after admitting that his company is something of a leaky ship.

Even among those who followed along with OpenAI’s November massacre that saw Altman temporarily ousted, it’s easy to overlook the Q* (pronounced “queue-star”) of it all, particularly because nobody outside the company really knows what the heck it is.

The speculation-laden project was linked to the chaos at the firm in the aftermath of that failed coup, and at the end of 2023, OpenAI refused to answer any questions about it — a posture Altman continued in a new interview with tech podcaster Lex Fridman.

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Neuralink, Elon Musk ’s brain chip startup, released a video on Wednesday showing the company’s first patient using a laptop with just his mind.

The video, which was livestreamed on Neuralink’s account on X, showed 29-year-old Noland Arbaugh playing a game of chess on his laptop using Neuralink’s brain computer interface (BCI) technology. Arbaugh is paralyzed from the shoulders down due to what he describes as a “freak diving accident.”

“It’s all brain power there,” Arbaugh said, referring to his ability to use a mouse and keyboard unassisted. He later added, “Basically, it was like using the Force on the cursor and I could get it to move wherever I wanted.”

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Scientists from Massey University in New Zealand, the University of Mainz in Germany, Sorbonne University in France, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) discuss the limit of the periodic table and revising the concept of the “island of stability” with recent advances in superheavy element research. Their work first appeared in Nature Reviews Physics.

In addition to the Nature Reviews Physics, Physics Reports has published a review on the atomic electronic structure theory for superheavy elements.

What is the heaviest bound nucleus and the heaviest bound atom and what are their properties? The nuclei of chemical elements with more than 103 protons are labeled as “superheavy.” They are part of a vast unknown territory of these nuclei that scientists are trying to uncover. Exploring this uncharted territory provides prospects for discoveries that connect the broad areas of science.

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After setting a new world speed record for humanoid robots earlier this month, China’s Unitree is now claiming another. Its latest H1 bipedal takes the title for first to perform a standing backflip without the use of hydraulics.

Yes, humanoids like Boston Dynamics’ Atlas have been nailing backflips for a few years now but they make use of heavy, potentially leaky hydraulics to launch into the air, somersault backwards and then land on both feet.

Impressively, Unitree’s H1 relies on in-house M107 electric joint motors only, each of which boasts 360 Nm (265.5 lb.ft) of peak torque and can also be found on the company’s B2 quadruped. Each leg has three degrees of freedom at the hip plus one at the knee and another at the ankle, and all cabling is routed internally for snag-free clean lines.

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Think the Upside Down in Stranger Things is a work of fiction? Well, it is, but something eerily reminiscent of the Upside Down – dark matter, or a “dark mirror” universe – is being studied and taken very seriously by scientists.

So what exactly is dark matter? NASA explains, Like ordinary matter, dark matter takes up space and holds mass. But it doesn’t reflect, absorb, or radiate light – at least not enough for us to detect yet.

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