Lifeboat Foundation

Being able to erase bad memories and traumatic flashbacks could help in the treatment of a host of different mental health issues, and scientists have found a promising new approach to do just this: weakening negative memories by reactivating positive ones.

In an experiment covering several days, an international team of researchers asked 37 participants to associate random words with negative images, before attempting to reprogram half of those associations and ‘interfere’ with the bad memories.

“We found that this procedure weakened the recall of aversive memories and also increased involuntary intrusions of positive memories,” write the researchers in their published paper.

Artificial intelligence is moving from data centers to “the edge” as computer makers build the technology into laptops, robots, cars and more devices closer to home.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) gadget extravaganza that closed Friday was rife with PCs and other devices touting AI chips, making them more capable than ever and untethering them from the cloud.

Attention-grabbing stars included “AI PCs,” personal computers boasting chips that promised a level of performance once limited to muscular data centers.

An international team of astronomers, led by researchers from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Warsaw, have identified a new class of cosmic X-ray sources. The findings have been published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Most people encounter X-rays during medical visits where they are used to create images of bones or diagnose lung conditions. These X-rays are generated using artificial sources.

However, not everyone knows that celestial objects can also emit X-ray radiation. “Some cosmic phenomena produce X-rays naturally,” explains Dr. Przemek Mróz, the lead author of the study. “For example, X-rays may be produced by a hot gas falling onto compact objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes. X-rays can also be generated by decelerating charged particles, such as electrons.”

Large language models (LLMs), the most renowned of which is ChatGPT, have become increasingly better at processing and generating human language over the past few years. The extent to which these models emulate the neural processes supporting language processing by the human brain, however, has yet to be fully elucidated.

Researchers at Columbia University and Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Northwell Health recently carried out a study investigating the similarities between LLM representations on neural responses. Their findings, published in Nature Machine Intelligence, suggest that as LLMs become more advanced, they do not only perform better, but they also become more brain-like.

“Our original inspiration for this paper came from the recent explosion in the landscape of LLMs and neuro-AI research,” Gavin Mischler, first author of the paper, told Tech Xplore.

Over the last few years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been firmly in the world’s spotlight, and the rapidly advancing technology can often be a source of anxiety and even fear in some cases. But the evolution of AI doesn’t have to be an inherently scary thing — and there are plenty of ways that this emerging technology can be used for the benefit of humanity.

Writing in “AI for Good” (Wiley, 2024), Juan M. Lavista Ferres and William B. Weeks, both senior directors at Microsoft’s AI for Good Research Lab, reveal how beneficial AI is being used in dozens of projects across the world today. They explain how AI can improve society by, for example, being used in sustainability projects like using satellites to monitor whales from space, or by mapping glacial lakes. AI can also be used in the wake of natural disasters, like the devastating 2023 earthquake in Turkey, or for social good, like curbing the proliferation of misinformation online. In addition, there are significant health benefits to reap from AI, including studying the long-term effects of COVID-19, using AI to manage pancreatic cysts or detecting leprosy in vulnerable populations.

In this excerpt, the authors detail the recent rise of large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT or Claude 3 and how they have grown to become prominent in today’s AI landscape. They also discuss how these systems are already making a significant beneficial impact on the world.

Our neural network model of C. elegans contained 136 neurons that participated in sensory and locomotion functions, as indicated by published studies^{24,27,28,29,30,31}. To construct this model, we first collected the necessary data including neural morphology, ion channel models, electrophysiology of single neurons, connectome, connection models and network activities (Fig. 2a). Next, we constructed the individual neuron models and their connections (Fig. 2b). At this stage, the biophysically detailed model was only structurally accurate (Fig. 2c), without network-level realistic dynamics. Finally, we optimized the weights and polarities of the connections to obtain a model that reflected network-level realistic dynamics (Fig. 2d). An overview of the model construction is shown in Fig. 2.

To achieve a high level of biophysical and morphological realism in our model, we used multicompartment models to represent individual neurons. The morphologies of neuron models were constructed on the basis of published morphological data^9,32. Soma and neurite sections were further divided into several segments, where each segment was less than 2 μm in length. We integrated 14 established classes of ion channels (Supplementary Tables 1 and 2)³³ in neuron models and tuned the passive parameters and ion channel conductance densities for each neuron model using an optimization algorithm³⁴. This tuning was done to accurately reproduce the electrophysiological recordings obtained from patch-clamp experiments^35,36,37,38 at the single-neuron level. Based on the few available electrophysiological data, we digitally reconstructed models of five representative neurons: AWC, AIY, AVA, RIM and VD5.

DNA that can repair DNA similar to Digital Error Correction!

This could make human live longer!

Before the researchers sequenced the Greenland shark’s genome, only about 10 genomes were available for all elasmobranchs — a subclass of fish including sharks, rays and skates — said Dr. Nicole Phillips, an associate professor of ecology and organismal biology at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Phillips was not involved in the research conducted by Hoffman, Sahm and their team.

Continue reading “Scientists mapped the genome of a shark that can live 400 years. It could unlock new secrets to longevity” »

A shocking simulation reveals the internal mechanics of vomiting, and what it teaches about your body’s defenses.

At the conference, one speaker humorously suggested that we could soon see “AI Engineers’ Unions” to advocate for the rights of AI workers, underlining the monumental shift that AI’s involvement in engineering could bring. While this was clearly a playful exaggeration, it reflects the growing conversation about AI’s role in the workforce.

Challenges ahead.

Continue reading “Zuckerberg announces Meta plans to replace Mid-Level engineers with AIs this year” »