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The only total solar eclipse of 2020 dazzled spectators in South America, and some lucked out even as overcast skies threatened to put a damper on an incredible celestial event.

The so-called Southern Cone has now been treated to two total solar eclipses in back-to-back years. But each event was unique. Both eclipses were visible in Chile and Argentina, but the 2019 total solar eclipse happened in the wintertime for the Southern Hemisphere and in the late afternoon. This meant that the sun was low on the horizon, so the sky didn’t get as dark as it did this year.

Continue reading “Only total solar eclipse of 2020 thrills spectators in South America” | >

Put a robot in a tightly-controlled environment and it can quickly surpass human performance at complex tasks, from building cars to playing table tennis. But throw these machines a curve ball and they’re in trouble—just check out this compilation of some of the world’s most advanced robots coming unstuck in the face of notoriously challenging obstacles like sand, steps, and doorways.

The reason robots tend to be so fragile is that the algorithms that control them are often manually designed. If they encounter a situation the designer didn’t think of, which is almost inevitable in the chaotic real world, then they simply don’t have the tools to react.

Continue reading “New Deep Learning Method Helps Robots Become Jacks-of-all-Trades” | >

https://youtube.com/watch?v=B-Osn1gMNtw

Elon Musk has been a vocal critic of artificial intelligence, calling it an “existential threat to humanity”. He is wrong, right?

Musk is heavily invested in AI research himself through his OpenAI and NeuroLink ventures, and believes that the only safe road to AI involves planning, oversight & regulation. He recently summarized this, saying:

“My recommendation for the longest time has been consistent. I think we ought to have a government committee that starts off with insight, gaining insight… Then, based on that insight, comes up with rules in consultation with industry that give the highest probability for a safe advent of AI.”

Across dozens of media appearances, Musk’s message about AI has indeed been remarkably consistent. He says it’s dangerous, and says it needs regulation, or else “AI could turn humans into an endangered species”.

Read more | >

Continue reading “Elon Musk, Artificial Intelligence and OpenAI” | >

A bit of everything here from hallmarks of aging to epigenetic reprogramming(which effects telomeres, gene expression, etc) and even diet.

In this talk given at Ending Age-Related Diseases 2020, Dr. Kris Verburgh of the Free University of Brussels discusses the methods by which people might lead longer, healthier lives. While some of these methods involve the use of advanced rejuvenation biotechnology techniques, others are simpler to implement and require a minimum amount of technology, such as nutrition and exercise, along with health-monitoring technology that already exists in the public space.

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Continue reading “Kris Verburgh | How to Live Longer? High-Tech and Low-Tech Approaches” | >

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and University College London have rebuilt a human thymus, an essential organ in the immune system, using human stem cells and a bioengineered scaffold. Their work is an important step towards being able to build artificial thymi which could be used as transplants.

The thymus is an organ in the chest where T lymphocytes, which play a vital role in the immune system, mature. If the thymus does not work properly or does not form during foetal development in the womb, this can lead to diseases such as severe immunodeficiency, where the body cannot fight infectious diseases or , or autoimmunity, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the patient’s own healthy tissue.

In their proof-of-concept study, published in Nature Communications today, the scientists rebuilt thymi using taken from patients who had to have the organ removed during surgery. When transplanted into mice, the bioengineered thymi were able to support the development of mature and functional human T lymphocytes.

Continue reading “Scientists build whole functioning thymus from human cells” | >