Lifeboat Foundation

Ed Dwight could have been the only black astronaut in the 1960s – but politics got in the way. In 2024, at the age of 90, he finally got his chance to go into orbit.

Humanity has entered a new age of space tourism. For a minimum of $450,000 (£360,000), people with deep pockets can claim the title “astronaut” after a short sub-orbital flight to the edge of space and back and up to 10 minutes experiencing weightlessness above the Earth.

On these near-spaceflights, currently offered by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, there is usually one member of the crew whose name and story captures the headlines – and often a free ride.

The robotics startup provides a modular cell-based matrix structure through which an AI-powered bot navigates to move materials.

The changes may help explain the link between maternal infection and autism, though more research is needed.

Read the article: https://www.thetransmitter.org/organo…

Continue reading “Immune molecule alters cellular makeup of human brain organoids” »

Renowned researchers David Chalmers and Anil Seth join Brian Greene to explore how far science and philosophy have gone toward explaining the greatest of all mysteries, consciousness–and whether artificially intelligent systems may one day possess it.

This program is part of the Big Ideas series, supported by the John Templeton Foundation.

Continue reading “What Creates Consciousness?” »

What is the nature of quantum physics? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice get quantum, exploring Schrodinger’s Cat, electrons, Hilbert Space, and the biggest ideas in the universe (in the smallest particles) with theoretical physicist Sean Carroll.

When did the idea of fields originate? Are fields even real or are they just mathematically convenient? We explore electrons, whether they are a field, and whether they exist at all. We also discuss the wave function, Hilbert Space, and what quantum mechanics really is. Do superpositions always exist?

Continue reading “Neil deGrasse Tyson and Sean Carroll Discuss Controversies in Quantum Mechanics” »

A cutting-edge theory of mind suggests a new type of doomsday scenario.

Imagine a world where machines not only understand our words, but grasp the nuances of our emotions, anticipate our needs, and even surpass our own intelligence. This is the dream, and perhaps the near reality, of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

For many years, the idea of achieving AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) has only existed in the realm of science fiction. It’s been seen as a futuristic utopia where machines can seamlessly integrate into our lives. However, this perception is changing. Advances in AI technology are blurring the lines between fiction and reality, leading to both excitement and apprehension regarding its potential impact on society.

Continue reading “Unlocking the Future: The Dawn of Artificial General Intelligence?” »

The discovery is the best candidate for a class of black holes astronomers have long believed to exist but have never found—intermediate-mass black holes formed in early stages of galaxy evolution.

Visible to the naked eye as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes, Omega Centauri is a magnificent collection of 10 million stars. Viewed through a small telescope, it resembles other globular clusters —a densely packed spherical assembly of stars where the core is so congested that individual stars blur into one another.

Continue reading “Discovery in Omega Centauri: The Missing Link to Massive Black Hole Formation” »