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Apr 30, 2023

Anthropologist pair solve the mystery of Mayan 819-day count

Posted by in category: space

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A pair of anthropologists at Tulane University has solved the mystery of the Mayan 819-day count, a type of ancient Mesoamerican calendar system. In their paper published in the journal Ancient Mesoamerica, John Linden and Victoria Bricker suggest that the calendar might be representing a much longer timescale than others had considered.

In studying ancient Maya inscriptions, prior researchers had come across mention of a system they referred to as the 819-day count, which appeared to be in reference to a of some sort. But the had not left behind any other sort of definition or text describing how it might fit in with their regular calendar system. Prior researchers had found some evidence suggesting that it might be tied to the synodic period, the cyclic period that describes when a given planet will appear at a given point in the sky. They noted that for Mercury, the synod period is 117 days, which, when multiplied by seven, equals 819. Unfortunately, the same formulation did not work with the other , leaving the 819-day count a mystery—until now.

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Apr 30, 2023

ChatGPT beats doctors at answering online medical questions, study finds

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, robotics/AI

According to a recent study, ChatGPT surpasses the quality and empathy of physicians when responding to online queries. However, there are some caveats.

A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine reveals that ChatGPT surpasses physicians in terms of quality and empathy when responding to online queries. The study evaluated ChatGPT’s performance compared to physicians in answering patient questions from Reddit’s r/AskDocs forum.

The cross-sectional study involved 195 randomly selected questions and found that chatbot responses were preferred over physician responses. ChatGPT received significantly higher ratings for both quality and empathy.

Apr 30, 2023

Apple is sucking people in deeper with its Savings account

Posted by in category: futurism

Apple’s new high-yield savings account will get customers to stick around longer than a smartwatch.

Apr 30, 2023

Nature’s Hidden Code: The Surprising Universality of Computation

Posted by in categories: biological, computing, physics

Universal computation has significant real-world implications in fields such as computer science, physics, biology, and beyond. It is highly relevant to simulation metaphysics and its idea that the physical world could be a type of computer simulation.

Apr 30, 2023

Brain Drain: Measuring the Energy Consumption of Our Thinking Minds

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Summary: Our brain consumes a significant amount of energy, accounting for about 20% of the body’s total energy consumption. Most of this energy is used for information processing.

While research shows that increased mental activity does lead to slightly higher energy consumption, this increase is minimal, region-specific, and often offset by energy decreases in other areas.

Feeling exhausted after mental activity is likely due to mental stress rather than actual energy depletion. Pacing yourself can help avoid mental overload, stress, and fatigue.

Apr 30, 2023

MIT’s Tiny Terahertz Receiver Preserves IoT Battery Life

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, education, energy

Researchers demonstrate a low-power “wake-up” receiver one-tenth the size of other devices.

MIT

MIT is an acronym for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a prestigious private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts that was founded in 1861. It is organized into five Schools: architecture and planning; engineering; humanities, arts, and social sciences; management; and science. MIT’s impact includes many scientific breakthroughs and technological advances. Their stated goal is to make a better world through education, research, and innovation.

Apr 30, 2023

How quantum computing could transform everything everywhere, but not all at once

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics

What does quantum computing have in common with the Oscar-winning movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once”? One is a mind-blowing work of fiction, while the other is an emerging frontier in computer science — but both of them deal with rearrangements of particles in superposition that don’t match our usual view of reality.

Fortunately, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku has provided a guidebook to the real-life frontier, titled “Quantum Supremacy: How the Quantum Computer Revolution Will Change Everything.”

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Apr 30, 2023

A Bionic Eye That Could Restore Vision (and Put Humans in the Matrix?)

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, transhumanism

The Science Eye’s grand promise is to help restore vision. If it works, we might even be able to manipulate our own reality.

Apr 30, 2023

Egypt plans to build world’s longest artificial river: Report

Posted by in category: futurism

The new Egypt project is valued at 160 billion Egyptian pounds ($5.25 billion) Egypt plans to build world’s longest artificial river: Report artificial river, Construction, Egypt, river Construction.

Apr 30, 2023

‘Explosive’ growth means one in three new cars will be electric by 2030, IEA says

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

More than one in three new vehicles sold in 2030 will be electric thanks to “explosive” growth in the market, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The influential Paris-based group says electric cars are already on track to make up 18% of sales in 2023. With new policies driving growth in the US and the EU, the share of electric models in 2030 is now set to be more than double what it expected just two years ago.

The expansion means that the demand for oil-based fuels such as petrol and diesel in the road transport sector will start to decline within just two years. Around 5% of current oil demand will have been wiped out by 2030, it adds.