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Blog – Page 3317

Circa 2020

Imagine a dressing that releases antibiotics on demand and absorbs excessive wound exudate at the same time. Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology hope to achieve just that, by developing a smart coating that actively releases and absorbs multiple fluids, triggered by a radio signal. This material is not only beneficial for the health care industry, it is also very promising in the field of robotics or even virtual reality.

TU/e-researcher Danqing Liu, from the Institute of Complex Molecular Systems and the lead author of this paper, and her PhD student Yuanyuan Zhan are inspired by the skins of living creatures. Human skin secretes oil to defend against bacteria and sweats to regulate the body temperature. A fish secretes mucus from its skin to reduce friction from the water to swim faster. Liu now presents an artificial skin: a smart surface that can actively and repeatedly release and reabsorb substances under environmental stimuli, in this case radio waves. And that is special, as in the field of smart materials, most approaches are limited to passive release.

Continue reading “Artificial skin heals wounds and makes robots sweat” | >

CEO Jensen Huang’s big bet on AI went from hand-delivering processors to Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2016 to joining today’s alpha pack of Silicon Valley. He is worth close to $40 billion.

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Nanoscientists have developed a wearable textile that can convert body movement into useable electricity and even store that energy. The fabric potentially has a wide range of applications from medical monitoring to assisting athletes and their coaches in tracking their performance, as well as smart displays on clothing.

The research team responsible for the describe how it works in a paper published in Nano Research Energy.

From smart watches to cordless headphones, people already have access to a wide range of wearable electronic devices. A range of health, sport and activity monitors are now integrated into smartphones.

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A joint research group led by Prof. Sheng Dong and Prof. Lu Zhengtian from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), investigated the coupling effect between neutron spin and gravitational force via employing a high-precision xenon isotope magnetometer. This work was published in Physical Review Letters.

This research aims to uncover the coupling strength between neutron spin and gravity by measuring the weight difference between the neutron’s spin-up and spin-down states. The experimental results revealed that the weight difference between these two states was less than two sextillionths (2×10-21), setting a new upper limit on the coupling strength of this effect.

An article titled “Testing Gravity’s Effect on Quantum Spins,” reported in Physics, highlights this precise measurement research as a novel exploration of the intersection of quantum theory and gravity.

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It seems that Google doesn’t trust any AI chatbot, including its own Bard AI bot. In an update to its security measures, Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company has asked its employees to keep sensitive data away from public AI chatbots, including their own Bard AI.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Alphabet Inc, the parent organisation of Google, is advising its employees to be cautious when using chatbots, including its own program called Bard, even as it continues to promote the software globally.

The company has updated a longstanding policy to protect confidential information, instructing employees not to input sensitive materials into AI chatbots. These chatbots, such as Bard… More.

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Current artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT do not have human-level intelligence and are not even as smart as a dog, Meta’s AI chief Yann LeCunn said. LeCun talked about the limitations of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, and said they are not very intelligent because they are solely trained on language.

Meta’s LeCun said that, in the future, there will be machines that are more intelligent than humans, which should not be seen as a threat.

Current artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT do not have human-level intelligence and are barely smarter than a dog, Meta’s AI chief said, as the debate over the dangers of the fast-growing technology rages on.

Meta’s AI chief said the company is working on training AI on video, rather than just on language, which is a tougher task.

Continue reading “Artificial intelligence is not yet as smart as a dog, Meta A.I. chief says” | >

While the U.K. and U.S. try to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision over concerns it will kill competition in games distribution, competition appears to be alive and well in another (smaller) area of gaming: modding and analytics.

Wargraphs, a one-man-band startup behind a popular companion app for League of Legends called Porofessor, which helps players track and improve their playing stats, is getting acquired for up to €50 million ($54 million), half up front and half based on meeting certain earnings and growth targets.

MOBA Networks, a company founded out of Sweden that buys, grows and runs online gaming communities (MOBA is short for “multiplayer online battle arena”), is buying the startup and its existing products. The plan is to expand them to more markets, in particular across Asia, and to build analytics for more titles.

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The 12-qubit device will go out to a few academic research labs.

Intel does a lot of things, but it’s mostly noted for making and shipping a lot of processors, many of which have been named after bodies of water. So, saying that the company is set to start sending out a processor called Tunnel Falls would seem unsurprising if it weren’t for some key details. Among them: The processor’s functional units are qubits, and you shouldn’t expect to be able to pick one up on New Egg. Ever.

Tunnel Falls appears to be named after a waterfall near Intel’s Oregon facility, where the company’s quantum research team does much of its work. It’s a 12-qubit chip, which places it well behind the qubit count of many of Intel’s competitors—all of which are making processors available via cloud services. But Jim Clarke, who heads Intel’s quantum efforts, said these differences were due to the company’s distinct approach to developing quantum computers.

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