Toggle light / dark theme

Researchers have come up with a new way to use 3D printing to make a new superalloy.

A group of researchers has developed a new superalloy resistant to high temperatures. This could if ever brought into production, prove revolutionary for the future of turbines.

This would increase its efficiency and decrease waste heat.


Craig Fritz/Sandia Labs.

At present, steam turbine blades, bearings, and seals are made of metal that tends to soften and elongate well before its melting point, which is one issue restricting the output of today’s power plants. If these issues are resolved, it is possible to increase the temperature of anything that uses a steam turbine to convert heat into electricity.

FRIDA can create finger paintings based on human inputs, photographs, and music.

“AI is the future!” is a statement of the past now, as AI is no longer the future but our present. After ChatGPT shocked the whole world with its abilities, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University created an AI-powered robot that could create exceptional artwork on physical canvas with the help of simple text prompts, according to a press release.

The FRIDA robot (the Framework and Robotics Initiative for Developing Arts) can create unique paintings using photographs, human inputs, or even music. The final result is somewhat a resemblance to a basic finger painting.


Carnegie Mellon University.

After ChatGPT shocked the whole world with its abilities, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University created an AI-powered robot that could create exceptional artwork on physical canvas with the help of simple text prompts, according to a press release.

A new literature review of papers on “common mycorrhizal networks” seems to indicate the science behind them is not as strong as once thought.

Akin to the Ents from “The Lord of the Rings,” there is an idea in modern botany that trees can “talk” to one another through a delicate web of fungus filaments that grows underground. The idea is so alluring that it has gained traction in popular culture and has even been termed the “wood-wide network.”

However, according to Justine Karst, associate professor from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agricultural, Life, and Environmental Sciences, it could all be nonsense.


Jacquesvandinteren/iStock.

“It’s great that CMN research has sparked interest in forest fungi, but it’s important for the public to understand that many popular ideas are ahead of the science,” says Karst.

The powerful flare caused a radio blackout over South America.

The Sun sent out a very powerful solar flare in the morning hours of Saturday EST time. NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory captured a video of the same.

Sunspots and solar flares.


Thomas Faull/iStock.

Solar flares are powerful eruptions of electromagnetic radiation from a region of the Sun with an intense magnetic field. This high-intensity magnetic field temporarily stops the convection process on the solar surface, which cools down the region. When observed from a distance, it appears darker than the solar disc and is known as a sunspot.

Meta is preparing a fresh round of job cuts, according to a report from the Financial Times. Two people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that there has been a lack of clarity around budgets and the future headcount at the company. The job cuts are expected to take place around March, but it’s unknown how people could be affected.

The lack of clarity has resulted in staff noting that not much work is getting done, as managers have been unable to plan ahead, the report says. Certain budgets that would normally be finalized by the end of the year still haven’t been finalized, and decisions that would usually take days to be signed off on are now taking a month in some cases.

Meta did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

You may not yet have tried Microsoft’s new Bing Chat search engine which uses a next-generation OpenAI model said to be more powerful than ChatGPT. There’s a waiting list to be granted access currently—however, one Stanford student has managed to gain more access than Microsoft or OpenAI developers intended. Using a method known as a prompt injection, Kevin Liu was able to encourage the ChatGPT-like bot to cough up its secrets.


How one student convinced the new ChatGPT-alike Bing Chat search to reveal its secrets.

Over the past decade, I’ve kept a close eye on the emergence of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Throughout, one truth remained constant: Despite all the hype, AI-focused startups and established tech companies alike have failed to move the needle on the nation’s overall health and medical costs.

Finally, after a decade of underperformance in AI-driven medicine, success is approaching faster than physicians and patients currently recognize.


The next version, ChatGPT4, is scheduled for release later this year, as is Google’s rival AI product. And, last week, Microsoft unveiled an AI-powered search engine and web browser in partnership with OpenAI, with other tech-industry competitors slated to join the fray.

It remains to be seen which company will ultimately win the generative-AI arms race. But regardless of who comes out on top, we’ve reached a tipping point.

In the same way the iPhone became an essential part of our lives in what seemed like no time, ChatGPT (or whatever generative AI tool leads the way) will alter medical practice in previously unimaginable ways.

Challenger search engine Neeva wants to replace the familiar “10 blue links” in search results with something more fitting for the modern AI age.

Back in December, Neeva co-founder and CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy, who previously spearheaded Google’s advertising tech business, teased new “cutting edge AI” and large language models (LLMs), positioning itself against the ChatGPT hype train.

“ChatGPT cannot give you real time data or fact verification,” Ramaswamy wrote at the time. “In our upcoming upgrades, Neeva can.”