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Neural networks are one typical structure on which artificial intelligence can be based. The term “neural” describes their learning ability, which to some extent mimics the functioning of neurons in our brains. To be able to work, several key ingredients are required: one of them is an activation function which introduces nonlinearity into the structure.

A photonic activation function has important advantages for the implementation of optical based on light propagation. Researchers in the Stiller Research Group at the MPL and LUH in collaboration with MIT have now experimentally shown an all-optically controlled activation function based on traveling sound waves.

It is suitable for a wide range of optical neural network approaches and allows operation in the so-called synthetic frequency dimension. The work is published in the journal Nanophotonics.

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Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking passed away earlier this year, but his legacy to science will live on. His final theory on the origin of the universe has now been published, and it offers an interesting departure from earlier ideas about the nature of the “multiverse.”

Ideas about how the universe came to exist the way we see it today have been adapted and built on for decades. The new paper, authored by Hawking and Professor Thomas Hertog, adds to the literature with a new understanding of a theory known as eternal inflation.

After the Big Bang kickstarted the universe, it expanded exponentially for a brief fraction of a fraction of a second. When that inflationary period ended, the universe continued to expand at a much slower rate. But according to the eternal inflation model, quantum fluctuations mean that in some regions of the universe, that rapid inflation never stopped. That results in a gigantic “background” universe full of an infinite number of smaller pocket universes – including the one we live in.

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As the world races to move away from fossil fuels, new research has uncovered an extraordinary and nearly untapped energy source hiding in plain sight— ocean currents. According to a landmark study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), ocean currents can generate 2.5 times more power than wind farms. Even more stunning is their near-constant energy flow, making them one of the most reliable clean energy sources on Earth.

This isn’t a distant dream or a futuristic concept—it’s science-backed, data-verified, and happening now.

Ocean currents are massive, steady flows of water driven by a mix of wind, the Earth’s rotation, temperature gradients, and salinity differences. Unlike wind or solar energy, which vary with weather and daylight, ocean currents flow predictably and consistently year-round.

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