Lifeboat Foundation

Recently, human brain organoids have raised increasing interest from scholars of many fields and a dynamic discussion in bioethics is ongoing. There is a serious concern that these in vitro models of brain development based on innovative methods for three-dimensional stem cell culture might deserve a specific moral status [1, 2]. This would especially be the case if these small stem cell constructs were to develop physiological features of organisms endowed with nervous systems, suggesting that they may be able to feel pain or develop some form of sentience or consciousness. Whether one wants to envision or discard the possibility of conscious brain organoids and whether one wants to acknowledge or dispute its moral relevance, the notion of consciousness is a main pillar of this discussion (even if not the only issue involved [3]). However, consciousness is itself a difficult notion, its nature and definition having been discussed for decades [4, 5]. As a consequence, the ethical debate surrounding brain organoids is deeply entangled with epistemological uncertainty pertaining to the conceptual underpinnings of the science of consciousness and its empirical endeavor.

It has been argued that neuroethics should circumvent this fundamental uncertainty by adhering to a precautionary principle [6]. Even if we do not know with certainty at which point brain organoids could become conscious, following some experimental design principles would ensure that the research does not raise any ethically problematic features in the years to come. It has also been proposed to redirect the inquiry to the “what-kind” issue (rather than the “whether or not” issue) in order to rely on more graspable features for ethical assessment [7]. These strategies, however, make the epistemological issue even more relevant. The question of whether or not current and future organoids can develop a certain form of consciousness (without presupposing what these different forms of consciousness might be) and how to assess this potentiality in existing biological systems is bound to stay with the field of brain organoid technology for a certain time. Even if it is not for advancing ethical issues, there is a theoretical interest in determining the boundary conditions of consciousness and its potential emergence in artificial entities. Although the methodological and knowledge gap is still wide between the research community on cellular biology and stem cell culture on the one side and the research community on consciousness such as cognitive neuroscience on the other, there will be more and more circulation of ideas and methods in the coming years. The results of this scientific endeavor will, in turn, impact ethics.

In this article, I look back at the history of consciousness research to find new perspectives on this contemporary epistemological conundrum. In particular, I suggest the distinction between “global” theories of consciousness and “local” theories of consciousness as a thought-provoking one for those engaged in the difficult task of adapting models of consciousness to the biological reality of brain organoids. The first section introduces the consciousness assessment issue as a general framework and a challenge for any discussion related to the putative consciousness of brain organoids. In the second section, I describe and critically assess the main attempt, so far, at solving the consciousness assessment issue relying on integrated information theory. In the third section, I propose to rely on the distinction between local and global theories of consciousness as a tool to navigate the theoretical landscape, before turning to the analysis of a notable local theory of consciousness, Semir Zeki’s theory of microconsciousness, in the fourth section. I conclude by drawing the epistemological and ethical lessons from this theoretical exploration.

The standard model of cosmology says that the strength of dark energy should be constant, but tentative hints are emerging that it may have weakened recently.

By Leah Crane

WASHINGTON (AP) — On Sunday, the Earth sizzled to the hottest day ever measured by humans, yet another heat record shattered in the past couple of years, according to the European climate service Copernicus Tuesday.

Copernicus’ preliminary data shows that the global average temperature Sunday was 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit), beating the record set just last year on July 6, 2023 by .01 degrees Celsius (.02 degrees Fahrenheit). Both Sunday’s mark and last year’s record obliterate the previous record of 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit), which itself was only a few years old, set in 2016.

Without human-caused climate change, records would be broken nowhere near as frequently, and new cold records would be set as often as hot ones.

Though not a new technology, new advancements have progressed this field significantly.

Strange stars clustered near the Milky Way’s center are much younger than theory predicts is possible. New research suggests their youth could actually be eternal — and fueled by annihilating dark matter.

Propulsive motion in soft robotic systems requires the power amplification of stored energy. An accumulated strain energy-fracture power-amplification method is used to create light-driven soft robotic systems with a controlled launching ability.

Dimiter ostrev, davide orsucci, francisco lázaro, and balazs matuz.

Institute of Communications and Navigation, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 82,234 Weßling, Germany.

Get full text pdfRead on arXiv Vanity.

Working together, the University of Innsbruck and the spin-off AQT have integrated a quantum computer into a high-performance computing (HPC) environment for the first time in Austria. This hybrid infrastructure of supercomputer and quantum computer can now be used to solve complex problems in various fields such as chemistry, materials science or optimization.

Demand for computing power is constantly increasing and the consumption of resources to support these calculations is growing. Processor clock speeds in conventional computers, typically a few GHz, appear to have reached their limit.

Performance improvements over the last 10 years have focused primarily on the parallelization of tasks using multi-core systems, which are operated in HPC centers as fast networked multi-node computing clusters. However, computing power only increases approximately linearly with the number of nodes.

A new technique reveals high-speed trajectories of oscillating vortices and shows that they are 10,000 times lighter than expected.

In many superconductors, applying a sufficiently strong magnetic field causes superconducting electrons to create current vortices that can be drawn along with a steady electric current. To learn more about how these vortices move, researchers have now visualized their trajectories in a situation where they are driven to oscillate at near-terahertz frequencies [1]. They observed the vortex motion on picosecond timescales and found that, under these conditions, a vortex’s effective mass is 10,000 times less than expected. This result may be important for efforts to improve high-current superconducting devices.

Superconductors can only deliver current up to a certain maximum value before the superconductivity is destroyed, which is an important concern for the development of high-current devices. Many researchers consider vortices—which can form even in the absence of an external magnetic field—to be the source of this so-called current-induced quenching. But determining how vortices cause quenching requires better knowledge of vortices and thus better measurements of their motion.