Artemis II hit the ionosphere with a 3.7 TECU disturbance in 2026, yet GPS stayed online. See the real data, what it means for navigation, and why no outage followed.
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Exclusive: Meta buys AI startup and joins race to own coding in show of outsized ambition
Meta has acquired Conductor, an AI coding startup that lets software engineers manage multiple coding agents simultaneously, sources familiar with the deal tell Axios exclusively.
Why it matters: Meta is joining OpenAI and other AI giants in a race to own the tools developers use, as coding has become a crucial pathway to AI adoption and capturing enterprise spending.
State of play: The acquisition speaks to Meta’s continued AI ambitions and will lay the groundwork for the company’s models and ecosystem to compete for coders, the most important power users of AI.
All 5 genetic “letters” of DNA and RNA discovered in a 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid
Scientists have discovered all five essential nucleobases used in DNA and RNA in pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu, revealing that key ingredients for life existed in space billions of years ago. The remarkable finding adds to growing evidence from other asteroids and meteorites that these molecules were widespread throughout the early Solar System.
Melanie Mitchell on AI: Intelligence is a Complex Phenomenon
2020, two years before ChatGPT and long before “AGI next year” became its own LinkedIn post genre, I spent 90 minutes with Melanie Mitchell.
She is the Davis Professor of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute. Douglas Hofstadter was her PhD supervisor. And she wasn’t buying the hype.
Her line has stayed with me: intelligence is a very complex phenomenon, not the sum of a bunch of narrow intelligences but something much bigger.
Six years later, the #AI industry is betting trillions on close to the opposite assumption: scale it far enough and #AGI shows up on its own.
Maybe it will. But Melanie also told me about a fear Hofstadter had: that intelligence might turn out to be a set of “cheap tricks.”
So which would be the more unsettling outcome: that he was right, or that he was wrong?
2030: The Eye of the Needle: Autino, Adriano V., Cavallo, Alberto: 9798160568904: Amazon.com: Books
Dear SRI Friends and Supporters.
I am happy and proud to announce that my new book, “2030: The Eye of the Needle”, is now available on Amazon.
Will a conscious supermind be super-ethical?
The book includes a profound reflection on the evolution of artificial intelligence toward a conscious supermind. Will such a supermind be super-ethical, and will it help human evolution and expansion into space? And what is our responsibility in the process?
“The dangerous phase is now, precisely because today’s systems have no ethical agency of their own and are therefore fully hostage to the intentions of whoever trains and deploys them.”
A share of the author’s royalties from every copy is donated to Space Renaissance International to support its programs.
Take your copy! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HN86WR52/)?tag=lifeboatfound-20
Inhaling CO2 may rescue nerves’ ability to regrow
Breathing out after birth switches off the ability of tissues to regenerate, a study in mice suggests. But the pathway seems to be reversible
Huge Alzheimer’s study uncovers dozens of risk factors scientists hadn’t seen
Scientists have identified dozens of previously unknown genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease in one of the largest studies into the condition to date. The findings offer new clues about brain cells and biological processes that could contribute to the disease.
The study, which pooled data from 30 research groups, analyzed genetic data from approximately 2.8 million people, including 183,620 with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Researchers identified 127 regions in human DNA associated with the risk of developing the disease, 48 of which had not yet been discovered in this context.
One of the study’s authors, Emil Uffelmann of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, told Newsweek: We identified 48 new regions of the genome linked to Alzheimer’s disease risk, and our results point to microglia, the brain’s immune cells, as well as specific types of neurons. These findings provide clues about biological mechanisms that could become therapeutic targets.
Quiet-Time Equatorial Plasma Fountain Observed by ICON
This study’s main aim is to increase our understanding of how ICON could observe the signatures of forward fountain and reverse fountain at lower sunspot numbers within ICON’s observational capability and operational limitation. Multi-instrument and multi-point observations demonstrate the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) and the EIA’s breaking down, and the signatures of underlying forward fountain and reverse fountain seen in the radial and meridional ICON drift measurements. Driver mechanisms investigated include the 1) equatorial electrodynamic field-perpendicular (⊥) upward/downward (E × B)⊥ drift driving fountain-related vertical plasma flows over the dip equator where the angle of inclination (I) is zero and 2) mechanical total field-aligned (‖) upward/downward (VmechasinI)‖ drift driving field-aligned plasma diffusions near the dip equator. Jicamarca radar measurements taken over the dip equator and ∆H values computed for the Asian sector validated the (E × B)⊥ drift’s daily variation and the evening PRE. Total electron content maps verified the EIA’s spatial variation at ~350 km altitude. Results show that shortly before/after the PRE, the EIA appeared under stronger/weaker solar conditions as a two-peak/single-peak structure. Their underlying forward fountain signatures are demonstrated with the enhanced upward (E × B)⊥ drift measured within ±1.25˚ (dip) latitudes and with the decreased total downward (VmechasinI)‖ drift’s vertical and meridional drift components. Reverse fountain related signatures were demonstrated with the enhanced downward (E × B)⊥ drift measured within ±1.25˚ and with the total upward (VmechasinI)‖ drift’s vertical and meridional drift components. From these observational results we conclude that a ±1.25˚ (dip) latitude restriction should be applied to the ICON drift data to appropriately monitor the vertical (E × B)⊥ drift over the dip equator and to properly define the PRE.
EIA, Field-Perpendicular Electrodynamic E × B Drift, Field-Aligned Mechanical Drift, PRE, Forward Plasma Fountain, Reverse Plasma Fountain
Is There Anything Left in the Dream of Cold Fusion?
Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a thriving research program with exotic atoms that won’t solve the energy crisis but stretches the boundaries of physics.
Neurosurgery and the Brain-Computer Interface
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are devices that connect the human brain to an effector via a computer and electrode interface. BCIs may also transmit sensory data to the brain. We describe progress with the many types of surgically implanted BCIs, in which electrodes contact or penetrate the cerebral cortex. BCIs developed for restoration of movement in paralyzed limbs or control a robotic arm; restoration of somatic sensation, speech, vision, memory, hearing, and olfaction are also presented. Most devices remain experimental. Commercialization is costly, incurs financial risk, and is time consuming. There are many ethical principles that should be considered by neurosurgeons and by all those responsible for the care of people with serious neurological disability. These considerations are also paramount when the technology is used in for the purpose of enhancement of normal function and where commercial gain is a factor. A new regulatory and legislative framework is urgently required. The evolution of BCIs is occurring rapidly with advances in computer science, artificial intelligence, electronic engineering including wireless transmission, and materials science. The era of the brain-“cloud” interface is approaching.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence; BCIs; Bionics; Blindness; Disability; Neuro-prosthesis; Neuro-rights; Neuroethics; Neurosurgery; Paralysis.
© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.