Lifeboat Foundation

One of the most successful theories of 20th century science is cosmic inflation, which preceded and set up the hot Big Bang. W e also know how quantum fields generally work, and if inflation is a quantum field (which we strongly suspect it is), then there will always be more “still-inflating” space out there. Whenever and wherever inflation ends, you get a hot Big Bang. If inflation and quantum field theory are both correct, a Multiverse is a must.

When we look out at the Universe today, it simultaneously tells us two stories about itself. One of those stories is written on the face of what the Universe looks like today, and includes the stars and galaxies we have, how they’re clustered and how they move, and what ingredients they’re made of. This is a relatively straightforward story, and one that we’ve learned simply by observing the Universe we see.

But the other story is how the Universe came to be the way it is today, and that’s a story that requires a little more work to uncover. Sure, we can look at objects at great distances, and that tells us what the Universe was like in the distant past: when the light that’s arriving today was first emitted. But we need to combine that with our theories of the Universe — the laws of physics within the framework of the Big Bang — to interpret what occurred in the past. When we do that, we see extraordinary evidence that our hot Big Bang was preceded and set up by a prior phase: cosmic inflation. But in order for inflation to give us a Universe consistent with what we observe, there’s an unsettling appendage that comes along for the ride: a multiverse. Here’s why physicists overwhelmingly claim that a multiverse must exist.

There are many ways to interpret quantum mechanics, each weirder than the last. Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll says that the most plausible is the Many-Worlds theory.

The idea that an infinite number of parallel worlds could exist alongside our own is hard to wrap the mind around, but a version of this so-called Many Worlds theory could provide an answer to the controversial idea of quantum mechanics and its many different interpretations.

Bill Poirier, a professor of physics at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, proposed a theory that not only assumes parallel worlds exist, but also says their interaction can explain all the quantum mechanics “weirdness” in the observable universe.

Quantum entanglement is the binding together of two particles or objects, even though they may be far apart – their respective properties are linked in a way that’s not possible under the rules of classical physics.

It’s a weird phenomenon that Einstein described as “spooky action at a distance”, but its weirdness is what makes it so fascinating to scientists. In a 2021 study, quantum entanglement was directly observed and recorded at the macroscopic scale – a scale much bigger than the subatomic particles normally associated with entanglement.

The dimensions involved are still very small from our perspective – the experiments involved two tiny aluminum drums one-fifth the width of a human hair – but in the realm of quantum physics they’re absolutely huge.

Dwarf galaxies are small, faint galaxies that are often found in or close to bigger galaxies or galaxy clusters. As a result, they could be impacted by their larger companions’ gravitational effects.

“We introduce an innovative way of testing the standard model based on how much dwarf galaxies are disturbed by gravitational tides’ from nearby larger galaxies,” said Elena Asencio, a Ph.D. student at the University of Bonn and the lead author of the story.

Tides occur when gravity from one body pulls on various areas of another body differently. These are comparable to tides on Earth, which form when the moon exerts a stronger pull on the side of the Earth that faces the moon.

Ilaria Pretelli and Sheina Lew-Levy from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Erik Ringen from Emory University report evidence to support a theory that the reason human beings have such a long developmental period is that it takes a long time to learn complex foraging skills. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

Scientists have long puzzled over the reason for the long human developmental period—it can take nearly two decades for humans to fully mature. Some researchers have suggested it is merely a byproduct of a long lifespan, while others have suggested it is more likely due to the steep learning curve involved in becoming proficient at foraging. In this new effort, the researchers suspected it was the latter and sought supporting evidence in past studies that focused on modern groups of people that still rely on foraging.

The groups studied by the researchers included Inuit, Cree, the Hadza and Martu. As part of their study, they first categorized the degree of difficulty in foraging based on the type of foraging done by the groups under study. It takes little time to learn how to identify and pick berries, for example, while many years are needed to learn how to hunt with a bow and arrow. They also noted that the types of foraging have different physical requirements. Digging for tubers, for example, requires a lot more effort than pulling fruit from a tree, though the latter may also require more height.

Neuroscience is contributing to an understanding of the biological bases of human intelligence differences. This work is principally being conducted along two empirical fronts: genetics—quantitative and molecular—and brain imaging. Quantitative genetic studies have established that there are additive genetic contributions to different aspects of cognitive ability—especially general intelligence—and how they change through the lifespan. Molecular genetic studies have yet to identify reliably reproducible contributions from individual genes. Structural and functional brain-imaging studies have identified differences in brain pathways, especially parieto-frontal pathways, that contribute to intelligence differences. There is also evidence that brain efficiency correlates positively with intelligence.

When Apple built crash detection into the iPhone 14, the company touted it as a life-saving feature. However, it’s causing some headaches for law enforcement, paramedics, and dispatchers who receive emergency calls informing them of a severe crash that never occurred.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqqraWbJWjA

According to The Wall Street Journal, a spate of these false positives have hit the Warren County Communications Center in Ohio since mid-September. In one such case, a King’s Island amusement park patron, 39-year-old Sarah White, rode the Mystic Timbers rollercoaster with her days-old iPhone 14 in her pocket. After the ride was over, her phone was flooded with notifications, missed calls, and voicemails from emergency services.

Continue reading “Your iPhone 14 May Call the Cops If You Ride a Rollercoaster” »

Your Face is the Future of Targeted Marketing. Here’s Why Businesses Should Use Facial Recognition.

Facial recognition technology compliant with global data privacy laws can open new doors for targeted marketing campaigns.

The microscopic world is filled with as much terror and delight as the one visible to our pedestrian eyes. And for 47 years, Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Competition has celebrated the tiny by showcasing some of the most memorable images taken under an optical microscope using a variety of different methods. Their latest annual selections were released this week.

The top winner is an incredibly detailed hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko in its embryonic stage of life—a feat that took many hundreds of photos to accomplish. Other images include the beginnings of a heart cell, a grotesquely beautiful slime mold, and an artfully posed daddy long legs.

Here are some of the top entries, along with honorable mentions.