Lifeboat Foundation

Brian Keating is an experimental physicist at the UCSD, author of Losing the Nobel Prize, and host of the Into the Impossible podcast. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Brian’s Twitter: / drbriankeating.
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Books and resources mentioned:
Losing the Nobel Prize: https://amzn.to/3E6GSHI
Into the Impossible: https://amzn.to/3Fb6F2E

Continue reading “Losing the Nobel Prize” »

Humans are not yet done cooking. We’re continuing to evolve and adjust to the world around us, the records of our adaptations written in our bodies.

We know that there are some environments that can make us unwell. Mountain climbers often succumb to altitude sickness – the body’s reaction to a significant drop in atmospheric pressure which means less oxygen is taken in with each breath.

And yet, in high altitudes on the Tibetan Plateau, where oxygen levels in the air people breathe are notably lower than lower altitudes, human communities thrive.

A groundbreaking study has provided experimental evidence suggesting a quantum basis for consciousness.

By demonstrating that drugs affecting microtubules within neurons delay the onset of unconsciousness caused by anesthetic gases, the study supports the quantum model over traditional classical physics theories. This quantum perspective could revolutionize our understanding of consciousness and its broader implications, potentially impacting the treatment of mental illnesses and our understanding of human connection to the universe.

Demystifying the science of quantum physics.

Researchers have achieved a significant breakthrough in the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by developing a novel catalyst that allows for precise control over their atomic arrangement, known as chirality. This advancement paves the way for the creation of innovative semiconductor devices, addressing a challenge that has remained unresolved for over 30 years.

Kaiser, J., Xu, C., Eichler, A. et al. Sci Rep 14, 15,733 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-66263-y.

Pioneers of quantum computing have shared their dreams and skepticism about the fledgling industry, while Gov. JB Pritzker said he thinks it’s already attracting companies to Illinois.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have discovered an exoplanet orbiting Barnard’s star, the closest single star to our sun. On this newly discovered exoplanet, which has at least half the mass of Venus, a year lasts just over three Earth days. The team’s observations also hint at the existence of three more exoplanet candidates, in various orbits around the star.

Located just six light-years away, Barnard’s star is the second-closest stellar system—after Alpha Centauri’s three-star group—and the closest individual star to us. Owing to its proximity, it is a primary target in the search for Earth-like exoplanets. Despite a promising detection back in 2018, no planet orbiting Barnard’s star had been confirmed until now.

The discovery of this new exoplanet—announced in a paper published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics—is the result of observations made over the last five years with ESO’s VLT, located at Paranal Observatory in Chile. “Even if it took a long time, we were always confident that we could find something,” says Jonay González Hernández, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain, and lead author of the paper.

Now AI Agents can do low-level work on your laptop. Paper pushers are on notice: the bots are coming for your job.

Anthropic just showed off a new trick — its AI assistant Claude can now take over your computer’s mouse and keyboard, clicking and typing its way through tasks while you sit and watch. All you have to do is tell it what you want done.

Continue reading “Watch Claude AI take control of a computer and build its own website from scratch” »