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Mar 8, 2023

A radical new theory about the origin of the universe may help explain our existence

Posted by in categories: alien life, physics

The deeper you get into physics, the simpler it becomes. The starting point of this wonderful book about Stephen Hawking’s ‘biggest legacy’ (which no one outside of physics has heard of) is the problem of our insignificance. Make a change in almost any of the slippery, basic physical properties of the universe and we’re toast – life would not be possible. If, for example, the universe had expanded even slightly more slowly than it did after the Big Bang it would have collapsed in on itself. Result? No us. A fraction faster and no galaxies would form, let alone habitable planets. In the incandescent beginning of the universe, each of these basic physical properties was as vacillating as a dream: they could have ended up being pretty much anything. How did they all, so sweetly, settle on the minuscule range of values that brought about us?

One answer is to say God did it. He deliberately selected our universe (and not one of the overwhelmingly more probable alternatives) to go forth and be fecund. Another suggestion is that all the possible universes that could exist do exist, now, at the same time – trillions and trillions of them, humming about like bees – and we’re just in one of the ones we could be in. This idea is called the multiverse. In a multiverse there’s nothing special about the incredible unlikeliness of being. Leibnitz came up with the proposal first, adding piously that God has placed us in the best universe of all possible universes. People have been making fun of that since Voltaire. Another idea is that new ‘worlds’ are being created endlessly, all equally real. Every time you make a cup of coffee, a multiplicity of alternative worlds splits off in which you made it with more milk, or added honey instead of sugar, or the coffee machine exploded and you didn’t make it at all.

Mar 8, 2023

Scientists Observe “Quasiparticles” in Classical Systems for the First Time

Posted by in categories: computing, particle physics, quantum physics, solar power, sustainability

Since the advent of quantum mechanics, the field of physics has been divided into two distinct areas: classical physics and quantum physics. Classical physics deals with the movements of everyday objects in the macroscopic world, while quantum physics explains the strange behaviors of tiny elementary particles in the microscopic world.

Many solids and liquids are made up of particles that interact with each other at close distances, leading to the creation of “quasiparticles.” Quasiparticles are stable excitations that act as weakly interacting particles. The concept of quasiparticles was introduced in 1941 by Soviet physicist Lev Landau and has since become a crucial tool in the study of quantum matter. Some well-known examples of quasiparticles include Bogoliubov quasiparticles in superconductivity, excitons in semiconductors.

Continue reading “Scientists Observe ‘Quasiparticles’ in Classical Systems for the First Time” »

Mar 8, 2023

Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, chemistry, computing, neuroscience

Recent advances in human stem cell-derived brain organoids promise to replicate critical molecular and cellular aspects of learning and memory and possibly aspects of cognition in vitro. Coining the term “organoid intelligence” (OI) to encompass these developments, we present a collaborative program to implement the vision of a multidisciplinary field of OI. This aims to establish OI as a form of genuine biological computing that harnesses brain organoids using scientific and bioengineering advances in an ethically responsible manner. Standardized, 3D, myelinated brain organoids can now be produced with high cell density and enriched levels of glial cells and gene expression critical for learning. Integrated microfluidic perfusion systems can support scalable and durable culturing, and spatiotemporal chemical signaling.

Mar 8, 2023

Tesla Delivers FATAL BLOW As Analysts RAISE Price Targets

Posted by in category: space

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Continue reading “Tesla Delivers FATAL BLOW As Analysts RAISE Price Targets” »

Mar 8, 2023

AI accurately identifies normal and abnormal chest X-rays

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

An artificial intelligence (AI) tool can accurately identify normal and abnormal chest X-rays in a clinical setting, according to a study published in Radiology.

Chest X-rays are used to diagnose a wide variety of conditions to do with the heart and lungs. An abnormal chest X-ray can be an indication of a range of conditions, including cancer and chronic lung diseases.

An AI tool that can accurately differentiate between normal and abnormal chest X-rays would greatly alleviate the heavy workload experienced by globally.

Mar 8, 2023

Modifying messenger RNA may provide a new target for Alzheimer’s disease

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Reducing the methylation of a key messenger RNA can promote migration of macrophages into the brain and ameliorate symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in a mouse model, according to a new study publishing March 7 in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Rui Zhang of Air Force Medical University in Xian, Shaanxi, China. The results illuminate one pathway for entrance of peripheral immune cells into the brain, and may provide a new target for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

A presumed trigger for the development of Alzheimer’s disease is the accumulation of proteinaceous, extracellular amyloid-beta plaques in the brain. High levels of amyloid-beta in mice leads to neurodegeneration and cognitive symptoms reminiscent of human Alzheimer’s disease, and reduction of amyloid-beta is a major goal in development of new treatments.

One potential pathway for getting rid of amyloid-beta is the of blood-derived into the brain, and their maturation into macrophages, which, along with resident microglia, can consume amyloid-beta. That migration is a complex phenomenon controlled by multiple interacting players, but a potentially important one is the methylation of messenger RNA within the cells.

Mar 8, 2023

Strange rebels

Posted by in categories: cosmology, quantum physics, robotics/AI

I recently read an interesting book on reality, entitled The Fabric of Reality. In the book, David Deutsch constructs a unified theory of reality by combining four fundamental theories: 1. Quantum mechanics (multiverse interpretation). 2. Turing principle of computers and artificial intelligence. 3. Popperian epistemology. 4. Darwinian evolution. Deutsch says: In all cases the theory […].

Mar 8, 2023

First demonstration of universal control of encoded spin qubits

Posted by in categories: computing, information science, quantum physics

HRL Laboratories, LLC, has published the first demonstration of universal control of encoded spin qubits. This newly emerging approach to quantum computation uses a novel silicon-based qubit device architecture, fabricated in HRL’s Malibu cleanroom, to trap single electrons in quantum dots. Spins of three such single electrons host energy-degenerate qubit states, which are controlled by nearest-neighbor contact interactions that partially swap spin states with those of their neighbors.

Posted online ahead of publication in the journal Nature, the HRL experiment demonstrated universal control of their encoded qubits, which means the qubits can be used successfully for any kind of quantum computational algorithm implementation. The encoded silicon/silicon germanium quantum dot qubits use three electron spins and a control scheme whereby voltages applied to metal gates partially swap the directions of those electron-spins without ever aligning them in any particular direction. The demonstration involved applying thousands of these precisely calibrated voltage pulses in strict relation to one another over the course of a few millionths of a second. The article is entitled “Universal logic with encoded spin qubits in silicon.”

Continue reading “First demonstration of universal control of encoded spin qubits” »

Mar 8, 2023

Does Evolution Progress In A Straight Line?

Posted by in category: evolution

However, this picture, which depicts the evolution of man, may actually pose a danger to our general understanding of how evolution plays out on the planet. One might interpret the picture as: Evolution is a unidirectional, progressive process for the betterment of species. This, in fact could not be farther from the truth.

So, what is evolution exactly?

Mar 7, 2023

How high altitude changes your body’s metabolism

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Compared to those of us who live at sea level, the 2 million people worldwide who live above 4,500 meters (or 14,764 feet) of elevation—about the height of Mount Rainier, Mount Whitney, and many Colorado and Alaska peaks—have lower rates of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity.

Now, researchers at Gladstone Institutes have shed light on this phenomenon. They showed how chronically , such as those experienced at , rewire how mice burn sugars and fats. The work, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, not only helps explain the metabolic differences of people who live at high altitude, but could also lead to new treatments for metabolic disease.

“When an organism is exposed to chronically low levels of , we found that different organs reshuffle their fuel sources and their energy-producing pathways in various ways,” says Gladstone Assistant Investigator Isha Jain, Ph.D., senior author of the new study. “We hope these findings will help us identify metabolic switches that might be beneficial for metabolism even outside of low-oxygen environments.”