Year 2015 đ
The power of ratsâ and monkeysâ brains has been pooled by wiring them up. If we could do the same with humans, it could allow non-verbal collaboration.
Year 2018 đ
State-of-the-art software tools for neuronal network simulations scale to the largest computing systems available today and enable investigations of large-scale networks of up to 10% of the human cortex at a resolution of individual neurons and synapses. Due to an upper limit on the number of incoming connections of a single neuron, network connectivity becomes extremely sparse at this scale. To manage computational costs, simulation software ultimately targeting the brain scale needs to fully exploit this sparsity. Here we present a two-tier connection infrastructure and a framework for directed communication among compute nodes accounting for the sparsity of brain-scale networks. We demonstrate the feasibility of this approach by implementing the technology in the NEST simulation code and we investigate its performance in different scaling scenarios of typical network simulations. Our results show that the new data structures and communication scheme prepare the simulation kernel for post-petascale high-performance computing facilities without sacrificing performance in smaller systems.
Modern neuroscience has established numerical simulation as a third pillar supporting the investigation of the dynamics and function of neuronal networks, next to experimental and theoretical approaches. Simulation software reflects the diversity of modern neuroscientific research with tools ranging from the molecular scale to investigate processes at individual synapses (Wils and De Schutter, 2009) to whole-brain simulations at the population level that can be directly related to clinical measures (Sanz Leon et al., 2013). Most neuronal network simulation software, however, is based on the hypothesis that the main processes of brain function can be captured at the level of individual nerve cells and their interactions through electrical pulses. Since these pulses show little variation in shape, it is generally believed that they convey information only through their timing or rate of occurrence.
Year 2021 face_with_colon_three
Xenobots, a type of programmable organism made from frog cells, can replicate by spontaneously sweeping up loose stem cells, researchers say. This could have implications for regenerative medicine.
Researchers say they may have discovered the solution to a problem that has long hindered progress with a novel form of plasma propulsion that could one day carry humans to distant planets, and potentially launch a new era of space exploration.
The helicon double-layer thruster (HDLT) is a prototype plasma thruster propulsion system that works by injecting gas into an open-ended source tube, where radio frequency AC power produced by an antenna surrounding it electromagnetically ionizes the gas. Within this highly charged plasma, a low-frequency electromagnetic helicon wave is excited by the antennaâs electromagnetic field, further heating the plasma.
Such âmagnetic nozzleâ thrusters accelerate the plasma they produce to generate thrust for spacecraft, representing a form of electric propulsion with several potential applications in spacecraft design. However, while plasma flows that occur naturally within magnetic fields are often released or âdetachedââlike when coronal ejections erupt from the Sunâgetting plasmas to behave in the same way in the laboratory is more challenging.
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Australian artists say Lensa, the app that uses artificial intelligence to generate self-portraits, is stealing their content and are calling for stricter copyright laws that keep up with AI-generated art.
But the parent company behind the app has defended its use of images, saying Lensa learns to create portraits just as a human would â by learning different artistic styles.
The Odds of Life and Intelligence
Posted in alien life, evolution
If we re-ran Earthâs clock, would life arise again? Would another civilization eventually evolve? Astrobiology is faced with trying to contextualize our place in the Universe using just a single data point. But even a single data point contains information. The key to unlocking it is a careful understanding of the selection biases at play and intricacies of Bayesian statistics. Today, weâre thrilled to present to you our explainer video of a new research paper led by Prof David Kipping that provides a direct quantification of the odds of life and intelligence on Earth-like worlds, based on our own chronology. Presented & Written by Prof. David Kipping.
This video is based on research conducted at the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University, New York. You can now support our research program directly here: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support.
Previous episodes to catch up on:
âș âWatching the End of the Worldâ: https://youtu.be/p9e8qNNe3L0
âș âWhy We Could Be Aloneâ: https://youtu.be/PqEmYU8Y_rI
References:
âș Kipping, D. 2020, âAn Objective Bayesian Analysis of Lifeâs Early Start and Our Late Arrivalâ, PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/05/12/1921655117
âș Spiegel, D. & Turner, E., 2011, âBayesian analysis of the astrobiological implications of lifeâs early emergence on Earthâ, PNAS 109,395 https://arxiv.org/abs/1107.3835
âș Carter, B. 2007, âFive or six step scenario for evolution?â, Int. J. Astrobiology 7,177 : https://arxiv.org/abs/0711.1985
âș OâMalley-James, J. et al. 2013, âSwansong biospheres: refuges for life and novel microbial biospheres on terrestrial planets near the end of their habitable lifetimesâ Int. J. Astrobiology 12, 99: https://arxiv.org/abs/1210.5721
âș Bell, E. et al., 2015, âPotentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zirconâ, PNAS 112, 14518: https://www.pnas.org/content/112/47/14518
âș Smith, H. & SzathmĂĄry, E. 1995, âThe Major Transitions in Evolutionâ, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
âș Schopf, W. et al., 2018, âSIMS analyses of the oldest known assemblage of microfossils document their taxon-correlated carbon isotope compositionsâ, PNAS 115, 53: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/1/53
Video materials & graphics used:
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has today confirmed the achievement of âfusion ignitionâ at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) â a major scientific breakthrough, many decades in the making, which could pave the way to near-limitless clean power.
On 5th December, a team at LLNLâs National Ignition Facility (NIF) conducted the first controlled experiment in history to reach this milestone, also known as scientific energy breakeven, meaning it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it. This first-of-its-kind feat will provide invaluable insights into the fusion energy process, which scientists have been attempting to develop for nearly a century.
Inside the target chamber of LLNLâs National Ignition Facility, 192 laser beams delivered more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy to a tiny fuel pellet to create the fusion ignition. These lasers heated the capsule to 100,000,000°C â more than six times hotter than the Sunâs core, and compressed it to more than 100 billion times the pressure of Earthâs atmosphere. Under these unimaginable forces, the capsule would have imploded on itself, forcing its hydrogen atoms to fuse and release energy.
Nature uses 20 canonical amino acids as building blocks to make proteins, combining their sequences to create complex molecules that perform biological functions.
But what happens with the sequences not selected by nature? And what possibilities lie in constructing entirely new sequences to make novel (de novo) proteins bearing little resemblance to anything in nature?
Thatâs the terrain where Michael Hecht, professor of chemistry, works with his research group. Recently, their curiosity for designing their own sequences paid off.
The effort is the first to show that a cancer vaccine using messenger RNA may be effective.