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Astronomers Stunned by Black Hole Growing Beyond Known Limits

A black hole in a distant quasar is growing faster than the usual limit, according to Chandra observations. This may explain how the first supermassive black holes emerged. Astronomers have identified a black hole growing at one of the fastest rates ever observed. The finding, made with NASA’s Ch

“Something Extraordinary Was Happening” — Scientists Solve Quantum Metal Mystery

Japanese researchers have revealed how weak magnetic fields can instantly control the direction of electrical flow in quantum metals. Quantum metals are materials in which quantum effects, usually confined to the atomic scale, become strong enough to influence their large-scale electrical behavio

Signal adds new cryptographic defense against quantum attacks

Signal announced the introduction of Sparse Post-Quantum Ratchet (SPQR), a new cryptographic component designed to withstand quantum computing threats.

SPQR will serve as an advanced mechanism that continuously updates the encryption keys used in conversations and discarding the old ones.

Signal is a cross-platform, end-to-end encrypted messaging and calling app managed by the non-profit Signal Foundation, with an estimated monthly active user base of up to 100 million.

UMass Engineers Create First Artificial Neurons That Could Directly Communicate With Living Cells

A team of engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has announced the creation of an artificial neuron with electrical functions that closely mirror those of biological ones. Building on their previous groundbreaking work using protein nanowires synthesized from electricity-generating bacteria, the team’s discovery means that we could see immensely efficient computers built on biological principles which could interface directly with living cells.

“Our brain processes an enormous amount of data,” says Shuai Fu, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering at UMass Amherst and lead author of the study published in Nature Communications. “But its power usage is very, very low, especially compared to the amount of electricity it takes to run a Large Language Model, like ChatGPT.”

The human body is over 100 times more electrically efficient than a computer’s electrical circuit. The human brain is composed of billions of neurons, specialized cells that send and receive electrical impulses all over the body. While it takes only about 20 watts for your brain to, say, write a story, a LLM might consume well over a megawatt of electricity to do the same task.

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