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Jun 28, 2023

Humans may be more likely to believe disinformation generated by AI

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The way AI models structure text may have something to do with it, according to the study authors.

Jun 28, 2023

Couple Turns Empty Land to Hub of Exotic Veggies, Delivers Produce in 4 Hrs Post Harvest

Posted by in category: sustainability

Jodhpur couple Rajnush and Vedika Agarwal have turned their ancestral land into an experiential farm named MharoKhet, where they not only grow several organic exotic vegetables, but also deliver the freshest produce within hours of harvest.

Jun 28, 2023

Neural wavefront shaping camera overcomes light scattering problem in optical imaging

Posted by in categories: electronics, neuroscience

Engineers from Rice University and the University of Maryland have created full-motion video technology that could potentially be used to make cameras that peer through fog, smoke, driving rain, murky water, skin, bone and other media that reflect scattered light and obscure objects from view.

“Imaging through scattering media is the ‘holy grail problem’ in at this point,” said Rice’s Ashok Veeraraghavan, co-corresponding author of an open-access study published today in Science Advances. “Scattering is what makes light—which has lower wavelength, and therefore gives much better spatial resolution—unusable in many, many scenarios. If you can undo the effects of scattering, then imaging just goes so much further.”

Continue reading “Neural wavefront shaping camera overcomes light scattering problem in optical imaging” »

Jun 28, 2023

Mathematicians Discover The Ninth Dedekind Number, After 32 Years of Searching

Posted by in categories: mathematics, supercomputing

Undeterred after three decades of looking, and with some assistance from a supercomputer, mathematicians have finally discovered a new example of a special integer called a Dedekind number.

Only the ninth of its kind, or D, it is calculated to equal 286 386 577 668 298 411 128 469 151 667 598 498 812 366, if you’re updating your own records. This 42 digit monster follows the 23-digit D discovered in 1991.

Grasping the concept of a Dedekind number is difficult for non-mathematicians, let alone working it out. In fact, the calculations involved are so complex and involve such huge numbers, it wasn’t certain that D would ever be discovered.

Jun 28, 2023

See SpaceX’s new Starship fire up in these stunning engine test photos

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

Monday’s test firing of Ship 25 seems to have gone resoundingly well. On Tuesday afternoon (June 27), SpaceX tweeted images from the previous day’s proceedings, and they highlight the sheer power generated by Starship’s engines. The smoke and dust from ignition managed to stay low enough to the ground, and diffuse enough, for Starship to remain perfectly in frame, engine fire imparting an orange glow to the black tiles of the vehicle’s heat shield.

Related: SpaceX fires up Starship spacecraft ahead of 2nd test flight (video)

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk also tweeted an image from the static-fire test early on Tuesday morning. This one, from an upward perspective, shows the extreme bright light emanating from the flames, with Starship centered in the shine.

Jun 28, 2023

How a robot fish “as silent as a spy” could help advance ocean science and protect “the lifeblood of Earth”

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, science

A robot fish named Belle could be the “spy on the marine life” that researchers have been looking for.

Jun 28, 2023

How to get your name engraved on a NASA spacecraft bound for Europa

Posted by in categories: media & arts, space travel

This isn’t the first time NASA has encouraged the public to add their names to objects bound for space, including those aboard Artemis I, as well the Preservation Rover and InSight on their multiple trips to Mars. In 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 both launched with gold-plated phonographic records aboard featuring 90 minutes of music, including a concerto by Bach and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

At the time of writing, over 305,000 people from nearly every nation across the world have already signed the Europa Clipper’s roster, and earthbound participants have until the end of 2023 to enter in their names. Until then, you can also tune into regular livestreams of the Europa Clipper’s construction and assembly.

Jun 28, 2023

Astrophotographer Captures Astronauts on a Spacewalk While the ISS Crosses the Sun

Posted by in categories: cosmology, solar power, sustainability

This photographer drove six hours from his home in order to find the perfect position for this event that would take place for less than a minute!

Jun 28, 2023

NASA experiment replicates life on Mars

Posted by in category: alien life

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKzqgmz_XKs

Four people were locked in a simulated mission to Mars.

Jun 28, 2023

Researchers uncover new CRISPR-like system in animals that can edit the human genome

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

A team of researchers led by Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT has uncovered the first programmable RNA-guided system in eukaryotes—organisms that include fungi, plants, and animals.

In a study published in Nature, the team describes how the system is based on a called Fanzor. They showed that Fanzor proteins use RNA as a guide to target DNA precisely, and that Fanzors can be reprogrammed to edit the of human cells. The compact Fanzor systems have the potential to be more easily delivered to cells and tissues as therapeutics than CRISPR/Cas systems, and further refinements to improve their targeting efficiency could make them a valuable new technology for editing.

CRISPR/Cas was first discovered in prokaryotes (bacteria and other single-cell organisms that lack nuclei) and scientists including Zhang’s lab have long wondered whether similar systems exist in eukaryotes. The new study demonstrates that RNA-guided DNA-cutting mechanisms are present across all kingdoms of life.