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The second law of thermodynamics is often considered to be one of only a few physical laws that is absolutely and unquestionably true. The law states that the amount of ‘entropy’—a physical property—of any closed system can never decrease. It adds an ‘arrow of time’ to everyday occurrences, determining which processes are reversible and which are not. It explains why an ice cube placed on a hot stove will always melt, and why compressed gas will always fly out of its container (and never back in) when a valve is opened to the atmosphere.

Only states of equal entropy and energy can be reversibly converted from one to the other. This reversibility condition led to the discovery of thermodynamic processes such as the (idealized) Carnot cycle, which poses an to how efficiently one can convert heat into work, or the other way around, by cycling a closed system through different temperatures and pressures. Our understanding of this process underpinned the rapid economic development during the Western Industrial Revolution.

The beauty of the is its applicability to any macroscopic system, regardless of the microscopic details. In , one of these details may be entanglement: a quantum connection that makes separated components of the system share properties. Intriguingly, shares many profound similarities with thermodynamics, even though quantum systems are mostly studied in the microscopic regime.

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Every spacecraft glitches occasionally, and even the most powerful space telescope ever launched isn’t immune.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or Webb) launched in December 2021 and has been conducting science observations since July 2022, stunning the world with its gorgeous images and revolutionary data. But on Jan. 15, JWST’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument “experienced a communications delay within the instrument, causing its flight software to time out,” according to a Jan. 24 statement (opens in new tab) from NASA. NIRISS can’t currently be used for science, the statement noted.

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Meteorites have told Imperial researchers the likely far-flung origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals, some of which form the building blocks of life.

They found that around half the Earth’s inventory of the volatile element came from asteroids originating in the outer solar system—the part beyond the that includes the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. This material is also expected to have supplied other important volatiles such as water.

Volatiles are elements or compounds that change from solid or into vapor at relatively low temperatures. They include the six most common elements found in living organisms, as well as water. As such, the addition of this material will have been important for the emergence of life on Earth.

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According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of people living in the U.S. are obese; and 43% of American women over the age of 60—long past menopause—are considered obese. A recent Johns Hopkins study showed that a drug first developed to treat Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and sickle cell disease could treat obesity and fatty liver and improve heart function—without changes in food intake or daily activity.

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CYBERNETIC THEORY: THE CODE OF REALITY & OUR FUTURE AS CYBERGODS: presenting my published works in a recent talk. Topics include evolutionary cybernetics, computational physics, consciousness, philosophy of mind, cybernetic theory, Omega Point cosmology, physics of time, simulation theory, Global Mind, AGI, VR, Metaverse, Cybernetic Singularity, transhumanism, posthumanism, cybernetic immortality, synthetic telepathy, mind-uploading, neurotechnologies, Fermi Paradox, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, the Argument for Cybertheism, and more.

The main 45-minute slide presentation is followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. This presentation is in Russian with slides and subtitles in English.

Russian-American futurist Alex M. Vikoulov presents his published works in a talk titled CYBERNETIC THEORY: THE CODE OF REALITY & OUR FUTURE AS CYBERGODS at the Rotary Club, The Grand Autograph Hotel, Novosibirsk, Russia, on July 19, 2022. The main 45-minute slide presentation is followed by a 15-minute Q&A session. This presentation is in Russian with slides and subtitles in English (for subtitles turn on caption in settings).

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The advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) has unleashed a torrent of possibilities for cutting-edge technology. These powerful computer programs, capable of processing vast amounts of human language data, have paved the way for revolutionary tools like advanced chatbots and voice-controlled devices.

Perhaps the most striking example of this technology in action is ChatGPT, one of today’s hottest internet sensations as of late. ChatGPT is an AI platform that represents the forefront of what we can achieve when we infuse natural language with AI.

But as humans continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, we are also turning our attention to another frontier: decoding the languages of animals. This article will explore the latest progress in this research, the potential opportunities it could unlock, and the possible risks it could unleash.

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They’re warning of a global AI-pocalypse.

While artificial intelligence systems might make lives exponentially easier, they could also have a sinister side effect — making us go extinct. That’s right, researchers are deeming rogue AI an “existential threat to humanity” that needs to be regulated like nuclear weapons if we are to survive.

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Last week Magnus Carlsen, the world chess champion, directly accused Hans Niemann, a U.S. grandmaster, of cheating during their game at the Sinquefield Cup, in St. Louis, Mo. He thus made plain an accusation he had been hinting at for weeks.

Carlsen has so far provided no evidence to back up his charge, nor has he specified how the cheating took place. Everyone agrees, however, that if there was cheating, then it must have involved computers, because nothing else could dismay Carlsen, whose rating of 2,856 is higher than that of any other player. And everyone seems to have chosen sides.

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