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Type: departments.

careers.

Harvard.

Cybersecurity.

internet.

law.

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Jonathan L. Zittrain wears many hats. An expert on the Internet, digital technology, law, and public policy, he regularly contributes to public discussions about what digital tech is doing to us and what we should do about it—most recently around the governance of AI and the incentives that shape major social media platforms.

He holds several roles, all at Harvard, reflecting his many converging interests. He is a professor of international law at Harvard Law School, a professor of public policy at its Kennedy School, and a professor of computer science at the university’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He’s also cofounder and faculty director of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.

In his various capacities, he has been tackling many sticky cyberpolicy issues over the past 25 years.

Continue reading “This Harvard Law Professor is an Expert on Digital Technology” | >

Introduction: Asthma as a chronic inflammatory disorder has been suggested as a risk factor for endothelial dysfunction (ED), but studies on the association between asthma and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk are limited. Background: We assessed associations of ED with the severity of asthma, eosinophilic inflammation, lung function, and asthma control. Methods: 52 young asthmatics (median age of 25.22 years) and 45 healthy individuals were included. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings were recorded. We evaluated microvascular responsiveness by recording the reactive hyperemia index (RHI) indicating post-occlusive peripheral endothelium-dependent changes in vascular tone using the Itamar Medical EndoPAT2000. VCAM-1, ADMA, high-sensitive CRP (hsCRP), and E-selectin were measured. Results: Asthmatics had considerably lower RHI values (p < 0.001) with a dynamic decreasing trend by asthma severity and higher hsCRP levels (p < 0.001). A substantial increase in hsCRP and E-selectin with asthma severity (p < 0.05) was also observed. We confirmed a higher body mass index (BMI) in asthmatics (p < 0.001), especially in women and in severe asthma. Conclusions: We demonstrated the progression of CVD in asthmatics and the association of the ongoing deterioration of ED with the inflammatory severity, suggesting that the increased risk of CVD in young asthmatics is dependent on disease severity. The underlying mechanisms of risk factors for CVD and disease control require further study.

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A video about the Webb telescope making it seem like there was no big bang. This is by Mikio Kaku.

We’ve always wondered about life out there. But what if we told you that the possibility of more lifeforms has become surer than ever? Six shocking galaxies have been discovered that defy all explanations. Join us as we discuss Michio Kaku breaking his silence on the James Webb telescope’s clearest image in history.

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The changes in the composition of joint lubricant may lead to osteoarthritis, a new study shows.

Osteoarthritis is a bone disease that primarily targets joints after the cushioning system between the ends of two bones suffers wear and tear. The rupture of the protective layer, known as the synovial joint, leads to the degeneration of the articular cartilage that forms the synovial joint.

The latest study has indicated that changes in the composition of the fluid present in the synovial joints, named synovial fluid, actually cause osteoarthritis. The study, published in Biointerphases, showed that changes in the composition of synovial fluid reduce its ability to lubricate the articulating cartilage tissue, thereby leading to cartilage damage.

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With Starlink now profitable, SpaceX’s need for launches is now virtually infinite. So they just got permission to create a fourth tower for Falcon 9 / Falcon Heavy which means that at least one more drone ship is under construction.

Col. Rob Long, Space Launch Delta 30 commander, signed a statement of support on April 21, 2023, granting SpaceX permission to lease Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) for Falcon rocket launches.

SLC-6 previously supported the Delta IV vehicle family and has remained vacant since the final Delta IV Heavy launch on Sept. 24, 2022.

The decision is the result of SLD 30’s launch pad allocation strategy, which is a process to evaluate the suitability of various launch sites for different types of rockets and payloads. The process is critical to ensuring that launches are safe, and that the selected launch site can accommodate the unique requirements of each mission. This was the first round of launch pad allocations, and additional rounds of allocations will occur in the future after further operational analysis.

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face_with_colon_three year 2012.

(Phys.org)—Both high-valued diamond and low-prized graphite consist of exactly the same carbon atoms. The subtle but nevertheless important difference between the two materials is the geometrical configuration of their building blocks, with large consequences for their properties. There is no way, any kind of matter could be diamond and graphite at the same time.

However, this limitation does not hold for quantum matter, as a team of the Quantum Many-Body Physics Division of Prof. Immanuel Bloch (Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) was now able to demonstrate in experiments with ultracold quantum gases. Under the influence of laser beams single atoms would arrange to clear geometrical structures (Nature, November 1st, 2012). But in contrast to classical crystals all possible configurations would exist at the same time, similar to the situation of Schrödinger’s cat which is in a superposition state of both “dead” and “alive”. The observation was made after transferring the particles to a highly excited so-called Rydberg-state. “Our experiment demonstrates the potential of Rydberg gases to realise exotic states of matter, thereby laying the basis for quantum simulations of, for example, quantum magnets,” Professor Immanuel Bloch points out.

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Very interesting piece.

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Free-to-use, exceptionally powerful artificial intelligences are available to more people than ever, seemingly making some kind of news every day. The problem is, the public doesn’t realize the problem in ascribing so much power to systems we don’t actually understand.

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Continue reading “The HUGE Problem with ChatGPT” | >

Keep your eye on the prize, but meanwhile don’t lose sight of other nifty opportunities too. What am I talking about? During the famous Gold Rush era, eager prospectors sought the dreamy riches of unearthed gold. Turns out that very few actually struck it rich by discovering those prized gold nuggets. You might be surprised to know that while panning for gold, there was a possibility of finding other precious metals. The erstwhile feverish desire to get gold would sometimes overpower the willingness to mine silver, mercury, and other ores that were readily seen while searching for gold.

It all has to do with data, particularly data mined or scanned from the Internet that is then used principally to data train generative AI apps.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its successor GPT-4 would not exist if it were not for all the data training undertaken to get the AI apps into shape for doing Natural Language Processing (NLP) and performing interactive conversations with humans. The data training entailed scanning various portions of the Internet, see my explanation at the link here. In the case of text-to-text or text-to-essay generative AI, the mainstay of ChatGPT, all kinds of text were scanned to ferret out patterns of how humans use words.

I’ll say more about this in a moment.

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