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Feb 9, 2023

Brain-inspired computing system based on skyrmions ‘reads’ handwriting

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

A computing device that uses tiny magnetic swirls to process data has been trained to recognize handwritten numbers. Developed by RIKEN researchers, the device shows that miniature magnetic whirlpools could be useful for realizing low-energy computing systems inspired by the brain.

Our brains contain complex networks of neurons that transmit and process . Artificial neural networks mimic this behavior, and are particularly adept at tasks such as .

But consume a lot of power when run on conventional silicon chips. So researchers are developing alternative platforms that are specially designed for brain-inspired computing, an approach known as neuromorphic computing.

Feb 9, 2023

Dr. Tim Wittig, Ph.D. — Applying Data & Intelligence To Defeat Global Wildlife Trafficking

Posted by in categories: climatology, finance, sustainability

(https://www.timothywittig.com/) is a conservationist, professor, and former defense intelligence analyst. He is a research fellow at Oxford University (Oxford Martin School), an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, and has served as Head of Intelligence for both the Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife Transport and Financial Taskforces (https://unitedforwildlife.org/), and the wildlife investigations charity Focused Conservation.

Dr. Wittig has lived in 8 countries on 3 continents and worked in nearly 50 different countries. His professional background is in research & development and applied sciences, intelligence-led targeting of illicit financial networks, and African and global security.

Continue reading “Dr. Tim Wittig, Ph.D. — Applying Data & Intelligence To Defeat Global Wildlife Trafficking” »

Feb 9, 2023

Sima, the 47 months-old Sprague Dawley rat — interview with Dr. Harold Katcher

Posted by in category: futurism

Dr. Harold Katcher, Cheif Scientific Officer of Yuvan Research Inc., is interviewed by Nicolás Cherñavsky and Nina Torres Zanvettor about the rat Sima, a Sprague Dawley rat that has lived for 47 months (exceeding the maximum lifespan of 45.5 months of this rat strain) thanks to a treatment with E5, a plasma-based therapeutic developed by Yuvan.

#Sima #SpragueDawley #47months #HaroldKatcher #Yuvan #E5 #plasma

Feb 9, 2023

Anti-ageing scientists extend lifespan of oldest living lab rat

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, life extension, neuroscience

The results from Katcher’s latest study will be written up when Sima dies, but data gathered so far suggests that eight rats that received placebo infusions of saline lived for 34 to 38 months, while eight that received a purified and concentrated form of blood plasma, called E5, lived for 38 to 47 months. They also had improved grip strength. Rats normally live for two to three years, though a contender for the oldest ever is a brown rat that survived on a restricted calorie diet for 4.6 years.

“The real point of our experiments is not so much to extend lifespan, but to extend youthspan, to rejuvenate people, to make their golden years really potentially golden years, instead of years of pain and decrepitude,” Katcher said. “But the fact is, if you manage to do that, you also manage to lengthen life and that’s not a bad side-effect.”

Results from such small studies are tentative at best, but some scientists believe the work, and similar efforts by others, has potential. A preliminary study from a collaboration between Katcher and experts at the University of California in Los Angeles found that infusions of young blood plasma wound back the biological clock on rat liver, blood, heart and a brain region called the hypothalamus. Commenting on the work in 2020, Prof David Sinclair, a leading expert on ageing at Harvard medical school, said if the finding held up, “rejuvenation of the body may become commonplace within our lifetimes”.

Feb 9, 2023

Video shows what will happen when the Milky Way collides with Andromeda in 5 billion years

Posted by in category: space

The Andromeda galaxy — the closest neighbour to our Milky Way galaxy — is on course to collide right into us. Great news, right? But since it won’t happen for the next four to five billion years, here’s a simulation of what that would look like:

Read more ❯.

Feb 9, 2023

Human CLONES purposely grown to give people ‘spare parts’ like hearts, lungs and livers could be the key to living forever, expert claims

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

EXCLUSIVE: Clones are the next step in extending human life, scientist believes The technique has proved successful in animals but not yet worked in people Dr Alex Zhavoronkov believes it will offer ‘spare’ organs for people as they age Regardless of the huge strides scientists have made towards reaching the elusive goal, immortality remains a pipedream.

Feb 9, 2023

New controversial theory: Past, present, future exist simultaneously

Posted by in category: futurism

Dr. Kristie Miller, co-director of the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney, explained that the block universe theory says that our universe could be seen as a big four-dimensional block of spacetime that holds everything that ever happens.

In the world of blocks, there is no “now” or “now.” Within the three directions of space and the one direction of time, all moments only exist in relation to each other. Your experience of the present is just a reflection of where you are in the block world at the time. The “past” is just a piece of the world at a different time. The “future,” on the other hand, is at a different time.

So, is time just a trick your mind plays on you? And, more importantly, is it possible to go back in time?

Feb 9, 2023

Meta to Tell Many Managers to Start Coding or Get Out

Posted by in category: futurism

Meta’s using a “flattening” tactic amid mass tech layoffs, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. See more details about how roles will change, here.

Feb 9, 2023

Why Giving Rights to Robots Might One Day Save Humans

Posted by in categories: biological, robotics/AI, singularity

Here’s my new article for Newsweek. Give it a read with an open mind! The day of superintelligence is coming, and we can attempt to make sure humans survive by being respectful to AI. This article explores some of my work at Oxford.


The discussion about giving rights to artificial intelligences and robots has evolved around whether they deserve or are entitled to them. Juxtapositions of this with women’s suffrage and racial injustices are often brought up in philosophy departments like the University of Oxford, where I’m a graduate student.

A survey concluded 90 percent of AI experts believe the singularity—a moment when AI becomes so smart, our biological brains can no longer understand it—will happen in this century. A trajectory of AI intelligence growth taken over 25 years and extended at the same rate 50 years forward would pinpoint AI becoming exponentially smarter than humans.

Continue reading “Why Giving Rights to Robots Might One Day Save Humans” »

Feb 9, 2023

New Prototype Device Generates Hydrogen From Untreated Seawater

Posted by in categories: chemistry, energy

Scientists have found a clever way to generate hydrogen straight from salty seawater. This could be another step towards a clean energy future, if renewables power the process.

The new device makes a few chemical modifications to existing technologies, making it possible to extract hydrogen from untreated, unpurified seawater – which could alleviate concerns about using precious water supplies.

“We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen… to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyzer,” explains chemical engineer Shizhang Qiao of the University of Adelaide in Australia.