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Aug 18, 2023

Genetic determinants of retinol circulation and their impact on health

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, health

In a recent pre-print study posted to the medRxiv* server, researchers conducted a comprehensive genome-wide association study (GWAS) to elucidate the genetic architecture of circulating retinol, identify its potential causal relationships with various clinical phenotypes, and evaluate its therapeutic or nutritional implications.

Study: Genetic influences on circulating retinol and its relationship to human health. Image Credit: SciePro/Shutterstock.com.

*Important notice: medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.

Aug 18, 2023

Elon Musk Says One Of The Most Difficult Choices He Ever Had To Make Was When He Had ‘Just $30 Million Left’

Posted by in categories: business, Elon Musk, robotics/AI, space travel

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, revealed that one of the toughest choices he’s had to make in his life was when he had “$30 million dollars left.”

Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX, revealed that choosing which company to invest his last $30 million in was tough.

Continue reading “Elon Musk Says One Of The Most Difficult Choices He Ever Had To Make Was When He Had ‘Just $30 Million Left’” »

Aug 18, 2023

Elon Musk’s Napoleon inspiration: How alike are they?

Posted by in category: Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s biography writer Walter Isaacson says that the billionaire has been motivated by French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Aug 18, 2023

We need more than ChatGPT to have “true AI.” It is merely the first ingredient in a complex recipe

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

For these reasons, and more, it seems unlikely to me that LLM technology alone will provide a route to “true AI.” LLMs are rather strange, disembodied entities. They don’t exist in our world in any real sense and aren’t aware of it. If you leave an LLM mid-conversation, and go on holiday for a week, it won’t wonder where you are. It isn’t aware of the passing of time or indeed aware of anything at all. It’s a computer program that is literally not doing anything until you type a prompt, and then simply computing a response to that prompt, at which point it again goes back to not doing anything. Their encyclopedic knowledge of the world, such as it is, is frozen at the point they were trained. They don’t know of anything after that.

And LLMs have never experienced anything. They are just programs that have ingested unimaginable amounts of text. LLMs might do a great job at describing the sensation of being drunk, but this is only because they have read a lot of descriptions of being drunk. They have not, and cannot, experience it themselves. They have no purpose other than to produce the best response to the prompt you give them.

This doesn’t mean they aren’t impressive (they are) or that they can’t be useful (they are). And I truly believe we are at a watershed moment in technology. But let’s not confuse these genuine achievements with “true AI.” LLMs might be one ingredient in the recipe for true AI, but they are surely not the whole recipe — and I suspect we don’t yet know what some of the other ingredients are.

Aug 18, 2023

The Four Fundamental Forces

Posted by in category: particle physics

Introducing the four fundamental forces of nature that describe (nearly) everything going on in our universe. This clip is taken from the Shots In The Quark T…

Aug 18, 2023

A simple mouth rinse could spot early heart disease risk

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, health

What if we could identify the earliest warning signs of cardiovascular disease from a simple saliva sample? Scientists think they have found a way to do so. Gum inflammation leads to periodontitis, which is linked with cardiovascular disease.

The team used a simple oral rinse to see if levels of —an indicator of —in the saliva of healthy adults could be linked to warning signs for cardiovascular disease. they found that high levels correlated with compromised flow-mediated dilation, an early indicator of poor arterial health.

“Even in young healthy adults, low levels of oral inflammatory load may have an impact on cardiovascular health—one of the leading causes of death in North America,” said Dr. Trevor King of Mount Royal University, corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Oral Health.

Aug 18, 2023

Amazon’s sends email scolding employees for not coming to the office—even though they did

Posted by in category: policy

In the latest development to Amazon’s RTO saga, the tech giant sent an email Wednesday scolding employees for not adhering to a new policy mandating they come into the office at least three days a week.

“We now have three months under our belt with a lot more people back in the office, and you can feel the surge in energy and collaboration happening among Amazonians and across teams,” the email reads. “We are reaching out as you are not currently meeting our expectation of joining your colleagues in the office at least three days a week, even though your assigned building is ready. We expect you to start coming into the office three or more days a week now.”

The only problem: Some of the employees who received the email say they’ve been coming in as requested, Insider first reported.

Aug 18, 2023

James Webb Space Telescope confirms ‘Maisie’s galaxy’ is one of the earliest ever seen

Posted by in category: space

The universe’s age when Maise’s galaxy was seen by the James Webb Space Telescope has been confirmed, showing it to be one of the earliest galaxies ever observed, and the only one named after a 9-year.

Aug 18, 2023

‘Brain-like’ Chip May Be the Future of Greener AI

Posted by in categories: mobile phones, robotics/AI

This post is also available in: he עברית (Hebrew)

With the rise of artificial intelligence technology, many experts raised their concerns regarding the emissions of warehouses full of the computers needed to power these AI systems. IBM’s new “brain-like” chip prototype could make artificial intelligence more energy efficient, since its efficiency, according to the company, comes from components that work in a similar way to connections in human brains.

Thanos Vasilopoulos, a scientist at IBM’s research lab spoke to BBC News, saying that compared to traditional computers, “the human brain is able to achieve remarkable performance while consuming little power.” This superior energy efficiency would mean large and more complex workloads could be executed in low-power or battery-constrained environments like cars, mobile phones, and cameras. “Additionally, cloud providers will be able to use these chips to reduce energy costs and their carbon footprint,” he added.

Aug 18, 2023

Why Many Researchers Now See the Brain as a Quantum System

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, quantum physics

😗😁 Year 2022


Quantum processes are helpful to know about when we hear a gimcrack new theory that dismisses or explains away human consciousness. We know it can’t just be that simple.

Continue reading “Why Many Researchers Now See the Brain as a Quantum System” »