Researchers have released a new open-access data set recorded from the visual cortex of macaque monkeys during rest state.
Summary: Researchers have released a new open-access data set recorded from the visual cortex of macaque monkeys during resting state.
Source: KNAW
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A Microsoft Research team has introduced a “simple yet effective” method that dramatically improves stability in transformer models with just a few lines of code change.
Large-scale transformers have achieved state-of-the-art performance on a wide range of natural language processing (NLP) tasks, and in recent years have also demonstrated their impressive few-shot and zero-shot learning capabilities, making them a popular architectural choice for machine learning researchers. However, despite soaring parameter counts that now reach billions and even trillions, the layer depth of transformers remains restricted by problems with training instability.
In their new paper DeepNet: Scaling Transformers to 1,000 Layers, the Microsoft team proposes DeepNorm, a novel normalization function that improves the stability of transformers to enable scaling that is an order of magnitude deeper (more than 1,000 layers) than previous deep transformers.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=M_p6Z_Qm1_s
Identifying the shape of massive astronomical object is not a simple task. Even with recent observations of gravitational waves the mass and angular momentum of the object remain known with large uncertainty. Moreover, it exists exotic objects, as wormholes who can mimic the shape of black holes for example. The gravitational spectrum of wormholes has a wide range of interpretations. A current challenge addressed by researcher R. A. Konoplya consists of mathematically describing wormholes in order to be able to eventually identify them in the space.
According to current theory a wormhole is a theoretical passage through space-time that could create shortcuts in the universe. The original wormhole solution was discovered by Einstein and Rosen (ER) in 1935 and later John Wheeler has shown their importance in quantum gravity. It was then discovered that it was possible to construct “traversable” wormhole solutions since the ER=EPR proposal. It also appears the quantum fluctuations of the space-time are such that a tiny wormhole could connect Planckian pixel with the entanglement mechanism of quantum space-time itself.
Time only moves forward—or does it?
Physicists refer to this idea as the “arrow of time,” and the idea of unidirectional time seems to hold true for life and objects on a human scale. But on a quantum scale, things seem to work differently, even strangely.
For physicists, the arrow of time is dictated by the second law of thermodynamics, which says that disorder (or entropy) increases over time. The transfer of heat is a perfect example of this. On a chilly day, you’d expect your coffee to get colder if the air around it is cooler. Heat scatters in the presence of lower temperatures; it doesn’t concentrate.
Approximately 11 weeks after the process began, SpaceX has finished stacking its newest Super Heavy booster prototype – the first of its kind intended to host 33 new Raptor V2 engines.
Designed to launch Starship’s massive, namesake upper stage part of the way to orbit, Super Heavy is in many ways simpler than Starship but just as complex and unprecedented in others. Ignoring SpaceX’s unusual plans to have boosters land on huge mechanical arms installed on a skyscraper-sized tower, Super Heavy is ‘merely’ a large vertical-launch, vertical-landing liquid rocket booster – the likes of which SpaceX already has extensive experience with through Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. What mainly sets Super Heavy apart is its sheer scale.
Measuring around 69 meters (~225 ft) from tip to tail, Super Heavy – just one of two Starship stages – is almost as tall as an entire two-stage Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket. At nine meters (~30 ft) wide, a single Super Heavy booster – effectively a giant steel tube – should be able to store at least six or seven times as much propellant as Falcon 9 and about two to three times as much as Falcon Heavy. Engine count and peak thrust are similarly staggering.
Companies are lining up to try to hire coders who have been caught up in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Some 2 million-plus Ukrainian citizens have been displaced in recent weeks, with some of them possessing in-demand technical skills.
Dozens of companies have posted over 500 job ads for tech roles on a website called Remote Ukraine that’s been set up to help firms around the world hire Ukrainians. The companies are mostly from Europe but some are also from the likes of U.S. and Canada.
There have been some other high profile hacks recently.
Ubisoft says it experienced a “cyber security incident” last week that temporarily disrupted some games, systems, and services. The company does not believe player personal information was exposed. An entity seemingly representing the hacking group LAPSUS$ is taking responsibility.
SpaceX has reflown a converted Falcon Heavy side booster just 37 days after its first mission as a Falcon 9 rocket, successfully delivering a batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) in the process.
Booster B1052 first flew in April 2019 as part of Falcon Heavy Block 5’s launch debut. The same side core was reused two and a half months later in June 2019 but was then unceremoniously ushered into an unknown warehouse. Despite earlier statements from CEO Elon Musk indicating that new Block 5 Falcon Heavy side boosters could be quickly and easily converted into Falcon 9 boosters, B1052 remained mothballed in storage for the better part of two and a half years. Only in December 2021 – almost 30 months after its last launch – did the former Falcon Heavy side core finally reappear in the form of a Falcon 9 booster.
A month and a half later, on January 31st, Falcon 9 B1052 debuted with the flawless launch of Italy’s CSG-2 Earth observation satellite, subsequently becoming the first SpaceX booster of any kind to complete three back-to-back ‘return-to-launch-site’ landings.
US airlines have begun to scale back the number of flights they are offering to customers, citing the skyrocketing cost of fuel that has been exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Alaska Air said it will reduce its offerings by as much as 5% in the first half of this year citing “the sharp rise in fuel costs.” Allegiant Airlines will cut flights by somewhere between 5% and 10% in the second quarter, the company’s chief financial officer said.
Allegiant’s financial chief said the company plans to scale back its flight schedule primarily during times of weaker demand. His comments were reported by Bloomberg News.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a new shock-absorbing material that is super lightweight, yet offers the protection of metal. The stuff could make for helmets, armor and vehicle parts that are lighter, stronger and, importantly, reusable.
The key to the new material is what are known as liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). These are networks of elastic polymers in a liquid crystalline phase that give them a useful combination of elasticity and stability. LCEs are normally used to make actuators and artificial muscles for robotics, but for the new study the researchers investigated the material’s ability to absorb energy.
The team created materials that consisted of tilted beams of LCE, sandwiched between stiff supporting structures. This basic unit was repeated over the material in multiple layers, so that they would buckle at different rates on impact, dissipating the energy effectively.
