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Nov 22, 2020

FPGAs could replace GPUs in many deep learning applications

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

GPUs face many challenges when running deep learning models in challenging environments. FPGAs can overcome many of these challenges.

Nov 22, 2020

Alien Worlds

Posted by in category: alien life

Applying the laws of life on Earth to the rest of the galaxy, a new series blends science fact and fiction to imagine alien life on other planets.

“Astronomers think it’s only a matter of time before some alien life forms are discovered,” says the narrator of Alien Worlds, which debuts exclusively on Netflix from 2nd December 2020.

But what might it look like, and how similar would it be to the animals and plants we are familiar with? The new show will attempt to answer that question as it features a dizzying variety of crawling, slithering, flying and swimming creatures depicted in gorgeous, high-quality CGI.

Nov 22, 2020

US Air Force’s New Flying Car Is Funny Looking

Posted by in category: military

Look at the US Airforce’s new flying car! 😃


The U.S. Air Force has shared images of its newest addition, a flying car, and it doesn’t quite fit the image that’s expected to scare off enemy lines. See for yourself.

Nov 22, 2020

Has Automation Gone Too Far? Netizens Have Thoughts About South Korea’s AI News Anchor

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

It looks like they’re replacing news anchors with AI in South Korea.


South Korean cable channel MBN has virtually replicated one of their news anchors with the power of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Continue reading “Has Automation Gone Too Far? Netizens Have Thoughts About South Korea’s AI News Anchor” »

Nov 22, 2020

Researchers improve neuronal reprogramming

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

The replacement of lost neurons is a holy grail for neuroscience. A new promising approach is the conversion of glial cells into new neurons. Improving the efficiency of this conversion or reprogramming after brain injury is an important step towards developing reliable regenerative medicine therapies. Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and Ludwig Maximilians University Munich (LMU) have identified a hurdle towards an efficient conversion: the cell metabolism. By expressing neuron-enriched mitochondrial proteins at an early stage of the direct reprogramming process, the researchers achieved a four times higher conversion rate and simultaneously increased the speed of reprogramming.

Neurons (nerve cells) have very important functions in the brain such as information processing. Many brain diseases, injuries and neurodegenerative processes, are characterized by the loss of neurons that are not replaced. Approaches in regenerative medicine therefore aim to reconstitute the neurons by transplantation, stem cell differentiation or direct conversion of endogenous non-neuronal cell types into functional neurons.

Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and LMU are pioneering the field of direct conversion of glial cells into neurons which they have originally discovered. Glia are the most abundant cell type in the brain and can proliferate upon injury. Currently, researchers are able to convert glia cells into neurons — but during the process many cells die. This means that only few glial cells convert into functional nerve cells, making the process inefficient.

Nov 21, 2020

Meet the All-Electric Elation Freedom Hypercar, a 1,400 HP Beast With a 400-Mile Range

Posted by in category: transportation

To be built in Northern California, the limited-edition vehicles will have a top speed of 260 mph and start at $2.3 million each.

Nov 21, 2020

Your pee could be the golden ticket to a greener world

Posted by in category: sustainability

While many of us simply flush and forget about it, our pee has the potential to be a valuable resource. As it’s currently managed, though, the world’s pee is not doing us nor the planet a service. That’s why momentum for recycling our own liquid gold is growing: upcycled pee could readily sub in for conventional fertilizers.

Nov 21, 2020

Astronaut Soichi Noguchi has now flown on 3 different spaceships. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is ‘the best,’ he said

Posted by in category: space travel

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi has ridden in three spaceships and spent more than 180 days in space. He said Crew Dragon is “fun to ride.”

Nov 21, 2020

Meteor enters our atmosphere as a blazing ball of fire near Australia

Posted by in category: mapping

Researchers mapping the seafloor off the coast of Tasmania captured the moment a meteor flew through the atmosphere as a fireball and then disintegrated over the ocean.

Nov 21, 2020

Hubble Captures a Black Hole’s ‘Shadow Beams’, Yawning Across Space

Posted by in categories: cosmology, materials

In images from the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have spotted an entirely new phenomenon. Reaching tens of thousands of light-years into the void of space, vast shadows stretch from the centre of the galaxy IC 5063, as though something is blocking the bright light from therein.

You’ve probably seen something very like it before – bright beams from the Sun when it’s just below the horizon and clouds or mountains only partially block its light, known as crepuscular rays. According to astronomers, the shadows from IC 5063 could be something very similar. They’re just a whole lot bigger – at least 36,000 light-years in each direction.

IC 5063, a galaxy 156 million light-years away, is a Seyfert galaxy. This means it has an active nucleus; the supermassive black hole at its centre is busily guzzling down material from a dense accretion disc and torus of dust and gas around it.