Lifeboat Foundation

Dissipation affects the time asymmetry of fluctuations in systems out of thermodynamic equilibrium. A newly discovered inequality elucidates that connection.

The emergent field of stochastic thermodynamics uses random variables to investigate the dynamics of microscopic systems that operate out of thermodynamic equilibrium, such as active matter and metabolic pathways. Now Naruo Ohga and two colleagues at the University of Tokyo have applied tools from stochastic thermodynamics to uncover a universal law that could find broad applications in the description of active matter, cell metabolism, and other systems whose continuous supply of energy keeps them out of equilibrium [1] (Fig. 1.)

When a thermodynamic system is close to equilibrium, the fluxes of physical quantities, such as energy and electric charge, are linearly proportional to thermodynamic forces, such as temperature gradients and voltage differences. The coefficients connecting the fluxes and forces are symmetric, meaning that the one relating flux A to force B is the same as the one relating flux B to force A. Such symmetries are known as Onsager’s reciprocal relations [2]. At the microscopic level, their origin can be attributed to the time-reversal symmetry of the cross-correlation function between two physical quantities at equilibrium.

WASHINGTON — Russia’s first lunar mission in nearly half a century suffered an “emergency situation” during an attempted maneuver Aug. 19, putting plans for a landing into question.

In a brief statement posted to its channel on the social media service Telegram, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said that the Luna-25 spacecraft was commanded to perform a maneuver at 7:10 a.m. Eastern to place the spacecraft into a “pre-landing” orbit around the moon.

However, during the planned maneuver “an emergency situation occurred on board the automatic station, which did not allow the maneuver to be performed with the specified parameters,” according to a translation of the statement. “The management team is currently analyzing the situation.”

SINGAPORE, 14 April 2023 – A preclinical study using stem cells to produce progenitor photoreceptor cells—light-detecting cells found in the eye—and then transplanting these into experimental models of damaged retinas has resulted in significant vision recovery. This finding, by scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School, the Singapore Eye Research Institute and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, marks a first step towards potentially restoring vision in eye diseases characterised by photoreceptor loss.

Research reveals a promising stem cell approach to correct photoreceptor cell degeneration, which underlies several forms of visual decline and blindness.

People are having sex in the backseat while their driverless robotaxi is ferrying them to their final destination in San Francisco.

The universe is not only expanding but accelerating away from us. Now a new theory suggests all this could stop sooner than anyone imagined.

X-ray and optical imaging of the freezing of supercooled water droplets.

So if I understand this…send a bot to catch a bot?

Israeli tech start-up Cyabra, which worked with Elon Musk to evaluate the presence of bots on Twitter, released a new tool that can detect AI-generated text, images and profiles.

(Reuters) – Microsoft is planning to start selling a new version of Databricks software that helps customers make AI apps for their businesses, The Information reported on Thursday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plan.

Databricks – a data analytics platform that uses artificial intelligence, which Microsoft would sell through its Azure cloud-server unit – helps companies make AI models from scratch or repurpose open-source models as an alternative to licensing OpenAI’s proprietary ones, the report added.

Microsoft and Databricks did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

An ancient relative of modern seals—known as Potamotherium valletoni—that had an otter-like appearance and lived over 23 million years ago likely used its whiskers to forage for food and explore underwater environments, according to a new study in Communications Biology. The findings provide further insight into how ancient seals transitioned from life on land to life underwater.

Although modern seals live in marine environments and use their whiskers to locate food by sensing vibrations in the water, ancient seal relatives mostly lived on land or in freshwater environments. Some species used their forelimbs to explore their surroundings. Prior to this study, it was unclear when seals and their relatives began using their whiskers to forage.

Alexandra van der Geer and colleagues investigated the evolution of whisker-foraging behaviors in seals by comparing the brain structures of Potamotherium with those of six extinct and 31 living meat-eating mammals, including mustelids, bears, and seal relatives. Brain structures were inferred from casts taken from the inside of skulls.