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Oct 2, 2023

Huang’s Law Is The Catalyst That Drove NVDIA’s 1000x Chip Speedup In Less Than A Decade

Posted by in categories: computing, futurism

NVIDIA “Huang’s Law” is the primary catalyst for driving chip performance and efficiency to over 1000x in less than a decade. For NVIDIA, Huang’s Law is the fundamental approach that moves beyond traditional chip speedup fundamentals such as Moore’s Law which had dominated the tech industry in the past.

Huang’s Law To Dominate The Future For NVIDIA, Chip Shrinking In No Way Defines The Increment in Performance

Continue reading “Huang’s Law Is The Catalyst That Drove NVDIA’s 1000x Chip Speedup In Less Than A Decade” »

Oct 2, 2023

Unity wants to rebuild trust, but one Runtime Fee claim doesn’t add up

Posted by in categories: finance, policy

Last week, Unity rolled out a new look version of its controversial Runtime Fee in the wake of a seismic backlash from developers who felt the original policy represented an egregious act of betrayal for a myriad of reasons.

While plenty of fury was aimed at how the fee might impact developers’ finances, some of that anger stemmed from Unity’s inability to effectively communicate its new policy and provide clear answers to pertinent questions.

The dust is now supposedly settled, but here’s one more thing: why doesn’t Unity’s explanation for its shifting answers about the Runtime Fee in relation to subscription services hold up to scrutiny?

Oct 2, 2023

‘Change The World’: Elon Musk Champions Recording Videos To Bolster On-The-Ground Reporting

Posted by in category: Elon Musk

Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly known as Twitter) called for more people to record what is happening in the world around them, saying it would “change the world.”

Musk has been a strong advocate for free speech; prior to buying Twitter, he tweeted, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle? The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”

Oct 2, 2023

An exabyte of disk storage at CERN

Posted by in categories: computing, physics

CERN’s data store has now crossed the remarkable capacity threshold of one exabyte, meaning that CERN has one million terabytes of disk space ready for data!

CERN’s data store not only serves LHC physics data, but also the whole spectrum of experiments and services needing online data management. This data capacity is provided using 111 000 devices, predominantly hard disks along with an increasing fraction of flash drives. Having such a large number of commodity devices means that component failures are common, so the store is built to be resilient, using different data replication methods. These disks, most of which are used to store physics data, are orchestrated by CERN’s open-source software solution, EOS, which was created to meet the LHC’s extreme computing requirements.

“We reached this new all-time record for CERN’s storage infrastructure after capacity extensions for the upcoming LHC heavy-ion run,” explains Andreas Peters, EOS project leader. “It is not just a celebration of data capacity, it is also a performance achievement, thanks to the reading rate of the combined data store crossing, for the first time, the one terabyte per second (1 TB/s) threshold.”

Oct 2, 2023

Deep learning enabled fast 3D brain MRI at 0.055 tesla

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

Large-scale 3T MRI data enables fast whole-brain scanning at 0.055T via deep learning super-resolution and image reconstruction.

Oct 2, 2023

Where Does Consciousness Start? Debate Is Heating Up Over Some of The Leading Theories

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Science is hard. The science of consciousness is particularly hard, beset with philosophical difficulties and a scarcity of experimental data.

So in June, when the results of a head-to-head experimental contest between two rival theories were announced at the 26th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness in New York City, they were met with some fanfare.

The results were inconclusive, with some favoring “integrated information theory” and others lending weight to the “global workspace theory”. The outcome was covered in both Science and Nature, as well as larger outlets including the New York Times and The Economist.

Oct 2, 2023

Simple Worms Might Experience Basic, Fear-Like Emotions

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Incredible though it may seem, a wriggly roundworm with no eyes, no spine, and no brain to speak of may still possess the most basic of animal emotions.

In recent research, the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, has shown a persistent negative reaction when given a quick electric zap. For many minutes after receiving the short and sharp shock, this species continued to ‘flee’ at high speeds in the laboratory.

Researchers from Nagoya City University in Japan and Northeastern University in the US say that the long-lasting response, which looks like the worm ‘running’ away, is indicative of a fear-like brain state.

Oct 2, 2023

AI Identifies Brain Signals Associated With Recovering From Depression

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

It could soon be possible to measure changes in depression levels like we can measure blood pressure or heart rate.

In a new study, 10 patients with depression that had resisted treatment were enrolled in a six-month course of deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy. Previous results from DBS have been mixed, but help from artificial intelligence could soon change that.

Success with DBS relies on stimulating the right tissue, which means getting accurate feedback. Currently, this is based on patients reporting their mood, which can be affected by stressful life events as much as it can be the result of neurological wiring.

Oct 2, 2023

The Ghostly Glow of a Nuclear Power Station Was Detected in Pure Water 150 Miles Away

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics, space

Back in 2018, a tank of the purest water, buried under kilometers of rock in Ontario, Canada, flashed as barely detectable particle slammed through its molecules.

It was the first time that water has been used to detect a particle known as an antineutrino, which originated from a nuclear reactor more than 240 kilometers (150 miles) away. This incredible breakthrough promises neutrino experiments and monitoring technology that use inexpensive, easily acquirable and safe materials.

As some of the most abundant particles in the Universe, neutrinos are odd little things with a lot of potential for revealing deeper insights into the Universe. Unfortunately they are almost massless, carry no charge, and barely interact with other particles at all. They mostly stream through space and rock alike, as though all matter was incorporeal. There’s a reason they’re known as ghost particles.

Oct 2, 2023

Scientists Discover Source of Mysterious Alignment of Stars Near the Galactic Center

Posted by in category: space

Scientists from The University of Manchester and the University of Hong Kong have found a source for the enigmatic alignment of stars close to the Galactic Center.

The initial discovery of the alignment of planetary nebulae was made a decade ago by Bryan Rees, a Manchester PhD student, but has remained unexplained.

New data obtained from the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope.