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Rapidus becomes the first Japanese firm to announce 2nm trial production and integrate ASML’s EUV equipment, potentially gaining a place in NVIDIA’s supply chain.

Rapidus Announces 2nm Trial Production To Occur By 2025, Commercial Production Slated For 2027, Almost Two Years After TSMC

When you look at the general semiconductor dynamics, it won’t be wrong to say that TSMC has a wide lead, taking in orders from all the big tech giants out there. Competition from the likes of Intel Foundry and Samsung isn’t looking too good, given that both companies are witnessing organizational flaws, which has given TSMC a clear edge. However, Rapidus, which is said to be an emerging semiconductor player, has announced the integration of ASML’s EUV scanners in a facility in Japan and has also revealed that 2nm production is on track, ready to compete with TSMC.

WASHINGTON — Japanese lunar lander developer ispace has confirmed that its second mission to the moon will launch on the same SpaceX Falcon 9 as Firefly Aerospace’s first lunar lander.

In an online presentation late Dec. 17 to discuss preparations for its Resilience lander, Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace, said that his company’s mission would launch during a six-day window in mid-January on the same rocket launching Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 1 mission.

“The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will not only be carrying the ispace Resilience lander. Another private company’s lander aiming to reach the moon will also be riding on the same rocket as us,” he said. On-screen graphics stated that lander was Firefly’s Blue Ghost.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly useful for the prediction of emergency events such as heart attacks, natural disasters, and pipeline failures. This requires state-of-the-art technologies that can rapidly process data. In this regard, reservoir computing, specially designed for time-series data processing with low power consumption, is a promising option.

It can be implemented in various frameworks, among which physical reservoir computing (PRC) is the most popular. PRC with optoelectronic artificial synapses that mimic human synaptic elements are expected to have unparalleled recognition and real-time processing capabilities akin to the human visual system.

However, PRC based on existing self-powered optoelectronic synaptic devices cannot handle time-series data across multiple timescales, present in signals for monitoring infrastructure, natural environment, and health conditions.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll.
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/04/267-…f-reality/

In the 1860s, James Clerk Maxwell argued that light was a wave of electric and magnetic fields. But it took over four decades for physicists to put together the theory of special relativity, which correctly describes the symmetries underlying Maxwell’s theory. The delay came in part from the difficulty in accepting that light was a wave, but not a wave in any underlying “aether.” Today our most basic view of fundamental physics is found in quantum field theory, which posits that everything around us is a quantum version of a relativistic wave. I talk with physicist Matt Strassler about how we go from these interesting-but-intimidating concepts to the everyday world of tables, chairs, and ourselves.

Matt Strassler received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently a writer and a visiting researcher in physics at Harvard University. His research has ranged over a number of topics in theoretical high-energy physics, from the phenomenology of dark matter and the Higgs boson to dualities in gauge theory and string theory. He blogs at Of Particular Significance, and his new book is Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean.

Mindscape Podcast playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5x.

Researchers at UC San Diego have developed SMART, a software package capable of realistically simulating cell-signaling networks.

This tool, tested across various biological systems, enhances the understanding of cellular responses and aids in advancing research in fields like systems biology and pharmacology.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) have developed and tested a new software tool called Spatial Modeling Algorithms for Reactions and Transport (SMART). This innovative software can accurately simulate cell-signaling networks — the intricate systems of molecular interactions that enable cells to respond to signals from their environment. These networks are complex due to the many steps involved and the three-dimensional shapes of cells and their components, making them challenging to model with existing tools. SMART addresses these challenges, promising to accelerate research in fields such as systems biology, pharmacology, and biomedical engineering.

Has the decades-long mystery behind the strange star movements in Omega Centauri, the Milky Ways largest star cluster, finally been solved?

Omega Centauri has been studied to determine if its high star velocities are caused by an intermediate mass black hole or multiple smaller black holes. Recent data from pulsar accelerations suggest the latter, advancing our understanding of black hole formation.

Omega Centauri’s Mysteries