Support this channel on Patreon to help me make this a full time job: https://www.patreon.com/whatdamath (Unreleased videos, extra footage, DMs, no ads)Alter…
Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.
Artificial neurons mimic complex brain abilities for next-generation
Researchers have created atomically thin artificial neurons capable of processing both light and electric signals for computing. The material enables the simultaneous existence of separate feedforward and feedback paths within a neural network, boosting the ability to solve complex problems.
For decades, scientists have been investigating how to recreate the versatile computational capabilities of biological neurons to develop faster and more energy-efficient machine learning systems. One promising approach involves the use of memristors: electronic components capable of storing a value by modifying their conductance and then utilising that value for in-memory processing.
However, a key challenge to replicating the complex processes of biological neurons and brains using memristors has been the difficulty in integrating both feedforward and feedback neuronal signals. These mechanisms underpin our cognitive ability to learn complex tasks, using rewards and errors.
Scientists outline how to control light at the atomic scale using polaritons
Controlling light at dimensions thousands of times smaller than the thickness of a human hair is one of the pillars of modern nanotechnology.
An international team led by the Quantum Nano-Optics Group of the University of Oviedo and the Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center (CINN/Principalty of Asturias-CSIC) has published a review article in Nature Nanotechnology detailing how to manipulate fundamental optical phenomena when light couples to matter in atomically thin materials.
The study focuses on polaritons, hybrid quasiparticles that emerge when light and matter interact intensely. By using low-symmetry materials, known as van der Waals materials, light ceases to propagate in a conventional way and instead travels along specific directions, a characteristic that gives rise to phenomena that challenge conventional optics.
“Zentropy Theory” May Unlock Previously Impossible Electronics Based on Transparent Ceramics
“There was no existing theory in the ferroelectrics community that could explain these results,” Liu explained.
Keeping Chaos at Bay with Small Amounts of Energy
To unlock the advanced material’s performance and open up potential commercial applications, Haixue Yan, a reader in materials science and engineering from Queen Mary University of London, explored several different ideas. That search effort led him to Liu’s relatively new zentropy theory idea. According to a statement announcing the new approach, zentropy theory suggests that systems trend towards disorder “if no energy is applied to keep the chaos at bay.”
Epistemological Fault Lines Between Human and Artificial Intelligence
Walter (Dated: December 22, 2025)
See… https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/c5gh8_v1
Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) are widely described as artificial intelligence, yet their epistemic profile diverges sharply from human cognition. Here we show that the apparent alignment between human and machine outputs conceals a deeper structural mismatch in how judgments are produced. Tracing the historical shift from symbolic AI and information filtering systems to large-scale generative transformers, we argue that LLMs are not epistemic agents but stochastic pattern-completion systems, formally describable as walks on high-dimensional graphs of linguistic transitions rather than as systems that form beliefs or models of the world. By systematically mapping human and artificial epistemic pipelines, we identify seven epistemic fault lines, divergences in grounding, parsing, experience, motivation, causal reasoning, metacognition, and value. We call the resulting condition Epistemia: a structural situation in which linguistic plausibility substitutes for epistemic evaluation, producing the feeling of knowing without the labor of judgment. We conclude by outlining consequences for evaluation, governance, and epistemic literacy in societies increasingly organizedaround generative.
Cc: ronald cicurel ernest davis amitā kapoor darius burschka william hsu moshe vardi luis lamb jelel ezzine amit sheth bernard W. kobes.
See…
