Lifeboat Foundation

Magnetic stimulation therapy could aid patients who don’t respond to antidepressants. Scientists from the University of Helsinki and Stanford University are refining techniques that may lead to personalized treatments in the future.

Not every patient with depression benefits from medication. Recent research highlights potential improvements in an alternative approach, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), for treating depression. TMS is distinct from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), another treatment option for depression.

Researchers from the University of Helsinki and Stanford University investigated which factors in targeting TMS influence the brain’s electrical responses. They examined the behavior of a specific electrophysiological marker. This marker could potentially be used as a biomarker in the future to measure the efficacy of TMS treatment and thus help target and tailor the therapy.

New research introduces a non-thermal method for magnetization using circularly polarized XUV light, which induces significant magnetization changes through the inverse Faraday effect, potentially transforming ultrafast data storage and spintronics.

Intense laser pulses can be used to manipulate or even switch the magnetization orientation of a material on extremely short time scales. Typically, such effects are thermally induced, as the absorbed laser energy heats up the material very rapidly, causing an ultrafast perturbation of the magnetic order.

Scientists from the Max Born Institute (MBI), in collaboration with an international team of researchers, have now demonstrated an effective non-thermal approach of generating large magnetization changes. By exposing a ferrimagnetic iron-gadolinium alloy to circularly polarized pulses of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation, they could reveal a particularly strong magnetic response depending on the handedness of the incoming XUV light burst (left-or right-circular polarization).

A freeform multimaterial assembly process (FMAP) is demonstrated, synchronizing laser induction with 3D printing for seamlessly integrating multimaterials into 3D objects, enabling streamlined, flexible, and precise electronic device fabrication.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists observed the region above Jupiter ’s iconic Great Red Spot to discover a range of previously unseen features. The region, previously believed to be unremarkable in nature, hosts a variety of intricate structures and activity.

Recent observations by Webb’s NIRSpec revealed surprising details about Jupiter’s upper atmosphere, particularly above the Great Red Spot, showing complex structures influenced by gravity waves. These findings, captured using Webb’s high-resolution capabilities, could support the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) mission, enhancing our understanding of Jupiter and its moons.

Unveiling Jupiter’s Atmosphere

A lot of additional research will need to be done on this subject, but it is always good to see new ideas being presented, especially when they challenge the accepted theories.

Very interesting theory, but…

I thought nothing could travel faster than light.

I used Adobe products for years, and even went to Adobe Seminars in Austin Texas.

Oh, you thought the possibilities of generative AI were already terrifying enough? Well, we’ve got some bad news for you. Adobe has just released a video showcasing its Adobe Firefly video model, and it comes with a whole host of unnerving generative AI tricks.

“Adobe is using the power of generative AI to deliver the most advanced and precise editing tools ever in Premiere Pro,” says the cheerful over-the-top narration, before showcasing how AI will soon be used to generate objects that weren’t there before, delete unwanted objects, extend scenes and create generated backdrops.

Continue reading “Adobe’s new generative AI tools for video are absolutely terrifying” »

Here’s another story on Adobe’s new AI tools.

Those third-party integrations aren’t guaranteed, though.

West Japan Railways (West JR), one of six companies that make up Japan Railways Group, has unveiled a giant “humanoid robot” to work on heavy machinery on its lines.

The as yet unnamed tool is described as “multifunctional railway heavy machinery for railway equipment maintenance” and is based off a prototype used by West JR to prove the concept of the odd-looking machine.

Lovely essay by Sara Walker on how tech is biology. She closely mirrors my own thinking on this. “The technologies we are and that we produce are part of the same ancient strand of information propagating through and structuring matter on our planet.”

Our best estimates place the origin of life on this planet at approximately 3.8 billion years ago. Biological beings alive today are part of a lineage of information that can be traced backward in time through genomes to the earliest life. But evolution produced information that is not just genomic. Evolution produced everything around us, including things not traditionally considered “life.” Human technology would not exist without humans, so it is therefore part of the same ancient lineage of information that emerged with the origin of life.

Technology, like biology, does not exist in the absence of evolution. Technology is not artificially replacing life — it is life.

Continue reading “AI Is Life” »