Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 2

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Log in for authorized contributors

New twist on BRCA1-mediated DNA recombination repair and tumor suppression

BRCA1-mediated DNA recombination repair and tumor suppression.

BRCA1 is dispensable for end resection at replication-coupled double-strand breaks (DSBs) but stimulates processing of replication-independent DSBs.

BRCA1 promotes RAD51 assembly downstream of end resection.

Canonical BRCA1/RAD51-dependent homologous recombination is essential for tumor suppression.

Loss of 53BP1 enables alternative BRCA1-independent RAD51 assembly.

Alternative BRCA1-independent RAD51 assembly supports tissue development but is not sufficient for tumor suppression. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/BRCA1-mediated-DNA-recombination-repair

Continue reading “New twist on BRCA1-mediated DNA recombination repair and tumor suppression” | >

Are your memories illusions? New study disentangles the Boltzmann brain paradox

In a recent paper, SFI Professor David Wolpert, SFI Fractal Faculty member Carlo Rovelli, and physicist Jordan Scharnhorst examine a longstanding, paradoxical thought experiment in statistical physics and cosmology known as the “Boltzmann brain” hypothesis—the possibility that our memories, perceptions, and observations could arise from random fluctuations in entropy rather than reflecting the universe’s actual past. The work is published in the journal Entropy.

The paradox arises from a tension at the heart of statistical physics. One of the central pillars of our understanding of the time-asymmetric second law of thermodynamics is Boltzmann’s H theorem, a fundamental concept in statistical mechanics. However, paradoxically, the H theorem is itself symmetric in time.

That time-symmetry implies that it is, formally speaking, far more likely for the structures of our memories, perceptions, and observations to arise from random fluctuations in the universe’s entropy than to represent genuine records of our actual external universe in the past. In other words, statistical physics seems to force us to conclude that our memories might be spurious—elaborate illusions produced by chance that tell us nothing about what we think they do. This is the Boltzmann brain hypothesis.

Unified framework sorts spacetime fluctuations for quantum-gravity experiments

A team of researchers led by the University of Warwick has developed the first unified framework for detecting “spacetime fluctuations”—tiny, random distortions in the fabric of spacetime that appear in many attempts to unite quantum physics and gravity.

These subtle fluctuations, first envisaged by physicist John Wheeler, are thought to arise naturally in several leading theories of quantum gravity. But because different models of gravity predict different forms of these fluctuations, experimental teams have until now lacked clear guidance on what to look for.

Too much entanglement? Quantum networks can suffer from ‘selfish routing,’ study shows

Quantum technologies, systems that process, transfer or store information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could tackle some real-world problems faster and more effectively than their classical counterparts. In recent years, some engineers have been focusing their efforts on the development of quantum communication systems, which could eventually enable the creation of a “quantum internet” (i.e., an equivalent of the internet in which information is shared via quantum physical effects).

Networks of quantum devices are typically established leveraging quantum entanglement, a correlation that ensures that the state of one particle or system instantly relates to the state of another distant particle or system. A key assumption in the field of quantum science is that greater entanglement would be linked to more reliable communications.

Researchers at Northwestern University recently published a paper in Physical Review Letters that challenges this assumption, showing that, in some realistic scenarios, more entanglement can adversely impact the quality of communications. Their study could inform efforts aimed at building reliable quantum communication networks, potentially also contributing to the future design of a quantum internet.

Bionic LiDAR system achieves beyond-retinal resolution through adaptive focusing

In a recent study, researchers from China have developed a chip-scale LiDAR system that mimics the human eye’s foveation by dynamically concentrating high-resolution sensing on regions of interest (ROIs) while maintaining broad awareness across the full field of view.

The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.

LiDAR systems power machine vision in self-driving cars, drones, and robots by firing laser beams to map 3D scenes with millimeter precision. The eye packs its densest sensors in the fovea (sharp central vision spot) and shifts gaze to what’s important. By contrast, most LiDARs use rigid parallel beams or scans that spread uniform (often coarse) resolution everywhere. Boosting detail means adding more channels uniformly, which explodes costs, power, and complexity.

Astronomers discover a companion cluster to Czernik 38

Astronomers from the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) in Cairo, Egypt, have investigated a young open cluster known as Czernik 38. As a result, they found a new open cluster, which turns out to be a companion to Czernik 38. The discovery was detailed in a paper published Jan. 14 on the arXiv pre-print server.

Open clusters (OCs), formed from the same giant molecular cloud, are groups of stars loosely gravitationally bound to each other. So far, more than 1,000 of them have been discovered in the Milky Way, and scientists are still looking for more, hoping to find a variety of these stellar groupings.

Massive black hole mystery unlocked by researchers

It’s one of astronomy’s great mysteries: how did black holes get so big, so massive, so quickly. An answer to this cosmic conundrum has now been provided by researchers at Ireland’s Maynooth University (MU) and reported today in Nature Astronomy.

“We found that the chaotic conditions that existed in the early universe triggered early, smaller black holes to grow into the super-massive black holes we see later following a feeding frenzy which devoured material all around them,” says Daxal Mehta, a Ph.D. candidate in Maynooth University’s Department of Physics, who led the research.

“We revealed, using state-of-the-art computer simulations, that the first generation of black holes—those born just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang—grew incredibly fast, into tens of thousands of times the size of our sun.”

New heat-shrinking method integrates electronic circuits on irregular shapes

Most electronics are built on flat, stiff boards, which makes it incredibly difficult to fit them onto curved and irregular shapes we find in the real world, such as human limbs or curved aircraft wings. While flexible electronics have made some progress, they are often not durable enough or are too complex to manufacture for everyday use.

Analog hardware may solve Internet of Things’ speed bumps and bottlenecks

The ubiquity of smart devices—not just phones and watches, but lights, refrigerators, doorbells and more, all constantly recording and transmitting data—is creating massive volumes of digital information that drain energy and slow data transmission speeds. With the rising use of artificial intelligence in industries ranging from health care and finance to transportation and manufacturing, addressing the issue is becoming more pressing.

A research team led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst aims to address the problem with new technology that uses old-school analog computing: an electrical component known as a memristor.

“Certainly, our society is more and more connected, and the number of those devices is increasing exponentially,” says Qiangfei Xia, the Dev and Linda Gupta professor in the Riccio College of Engineering at UMass Amherst. “If everyone is collecting and processing data the old way, the amount of data is going to be exploding. We cannot handle that anymore.”

To explain or not? Online dating experiment shows need for AI transparency depends on user expectation

Artificial intelligence (AI) is said to be a “black box,” with its logic obscured from human understanding—but how much does the average user actually care to know how AI works?

It depends on the extent to which a system meets users’ expectations, according to a new study by a team that includes Penn State researchers. Using a fabricated algorithm-driven dating website, the team found that whether the system met, exceeded or fell short of user expectations directly corresponded to how much the user trusted the AI and wanted to know about how it worked.

The findings are published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.

/* */