Cases of the mosquito-borne disease have exceeded historical figures in the island, said Puerto Rico’s health secretary, while 3.5 million cases and over 1,000 deaths have been reported in Latin America.
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Fuel-cell train travels more than 1,700 miles on one tank of hydrogen
A hydrogen fuel-cell passenger train developed by Swiss rail vehicle maker Stadler Rail has achieved a new Guinness World Record, traveling for almost two days around the clock for a distance of 1,741.7 miles.
Efforts to clean up dirty trains are already well underway, with heavy investment in electrifying networks around the world as well as rolling out battery-electric locomotives such as the FLXDrive, the Blues train and the Flirt Akku.
That last example is made by Stadler Rail AG, and managed to achieve a Guinness World Record in 2021 for the longest per-charge battery-only journey of 224 km (~140 miles), on a route between Berlin and Warnemünde during a freezing local winter – not bad for a train that was designed with an operational per-charge range of 80 km.
AI-Powered “Family Guy” Stream Devolves Into Endless Screaming
An automated YouTube stream of an endless AI-generated “Family Guy” show called “AI Peter” has devolved into ear-bruising chaos, Kotaku reports, with some of your favorite characters of the sitcom blurting out gibberish — and screaming at the top of their lungs nonstop.
The stream, which started back in June of last year, relies on audience submissions to come up AI-generated scripts for back-t0-back “episodes” of the beloved animated series.
And, as Kotaku points out, moderation of these paid submissions doesn’t appear to be front of mind. Some users are misusing the generative AI tech to break the unsettling, 3D-animated characters in unusual ways.
Ben Azadi — Intermittent Fasting, Dr. Joseph Purita — Intermittent Hypoxia therapy, Bill Faloon ARU
Presents Intermittent FastingDr. Joseph Purita presents Intermittent Hypoxia therapy and mitochondrial healthOur founder Bill Faloon provides A New…
New deepfake demos show we can no longer trust online video
1/ Services like HeyGen and arcads.ai let you make “digital avatars” that can talk in sync with their lips, speak different languages, and move and gesture naturally.
2/ The high quality of these AI-made videos makes it hard for even supposed experts to tell fakes from real ones.
Just as AI-generated photos can look very realistic, there are now AI-generated videos that are almost indistinguishable from real video.
Meta is adding AI to its Ray-Ban smart glasses next month
AR-Smart glasses: 2029. Will look like just a normal pair of sunglasses. All normal smartphone type features. Built in AI systems. Set up for some VR stuff. An built in earbud / mic, for calls, music, talking to Ai, etc… May need a battery pack, we ll see in 2029.
The smart glasses will soon come with a built-in assistant.
Tardigrade Proteins in Human Cells: A Pathway to Slow Aging
How can the microscopic creatures, tardigrades, also called water bearers, help contribute to developing new medical treatments? This is what a recent study published in Protein Science hopes to address as a team of international researchers investigated how tardigrade proteins could replace certain medical treatments when refrigerating those treatments are unavailable, specifically regarding stem cell treatments, and could possibly slow the aging process.
One reason tardigrades are an intriguing option is due to their ability to start and stop suspended animation when presented with outside stressors. Now, researchers are attempting to introduce tardigrade proteins in human cells, and the researchers have found some surprising results.
“Amazingly, when we introduce these proteins into human cells, they gel and slow down metabolism, just like in tardigrades,” said Dr. Silvia Sanchez-Martinez, who is a Senior Research Scientist at University of Wyoming and lead author of the study. “Furthermore, just like tardigrades, when you put human cells that have these proteins into biostasis, they become more resistant to stresses, conferring some of the tardigrades’ abilities to the human cells.”
Google.org launches $20M generative AI accelerator program
Google.org, Google’s charitable wing, is launching a new program to help fund nonprofits developing tech that leverages generative AI.
Called Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI, the program is to be funded by $20 million in grants and include 21 nonprofits to start, including Quill.org, a company creating AI-powered tools for student writing feedback, and World Bank, which is building a generative AI app to make development research more accessible.
In addition to funding, nonprofits in the six-month accelerator program will get access to technical training, workshops, mentors and guidance from an “AI coach.” And, through Google.org’s fellowship program, teams of Google employees will work with three of the nonprofits — Tarjimly, Benefits Data Trust and mRelief — full-time for up to six months to help launch their proposed generative AI tools.