Scientists have made a significant leap in developing lasers that use sound waves instead of light. These phonon lasers hold promise for advancements in medical imaging, deep-sea exploration, and other areas.
Research teams from Wuhan University and the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) have revealed new insights into the formation mechanism of nitrogen-vacancies (NV) centers in type-Ib diamonds, a phenomenon critical to quantum sensing and computing advancements. Using a novel irradiation and annealing method, the teams demonstrated how controlled temperature and orientation can significantly increase the density and depth of NV centers, paving the way for new applications in biological imaging and quantum technologies.
The origins of aptly named supermassive black holes—which can weigh in at more than a million times the mass of the sun and reside in the center of most galaxies—remain one of the great mysteries of the cosmos.
AI shines a new light on exoplanets
Posted in physics, robotics/AI, space
Researchers from LMU, the ORIGINS Excellence Cluster, the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), and the ORIGINS Data Science Lab (ODSL) have made an important breakthrough in the analysis of exoplanet atmospheres.
As Shumer told VentureBeat over DM: “I’ve been thinking about this idea for months now. LLMs hallucinate, but they can’t course-correct. What would happen if you taught an LLM how to recognize and fix its own mistakes?”
Hence the name, “Reflection” — a model that can reflect on its generated text and assess its accuracy before delivering it as outputs to the user.
The model’s advantage lies in a technique called reflection tuning, which allows it to detect errors in its own reasoning and correct them before finalizing a response.
Scientists have finally figured out a way to connect the dots between the macroscopic and the microscopic worlds. Their magical equation might provide us answers to questions like why black holes don’t collapse and how quantum gravity works.
Why a blog post and not a proper response in a philosophy journal? My very first journal submission is still in the review process, close to two months later, for one. Secondly, blogging allows me to be pedantic, to be human, that is, to express frustration, to show anger, to be candid; in other words, blogging allows me to be myself. Probably of highest priority is the fact that I do not want my first publication in the philosophy of mind to be a response. I want to eventually outline my own theory of consciousness, which is strongly hinted at here, and I prefer for that to be my first contribution to the philosophy of mind. I do not find panpsychism convincing and I think there is another theory of consciousness, similar to panpsychism in ways, that is much more cogent. I have outlined some qualms I have with panpsychism before; to people new to the blog, you can read here.
Researchers from the University of Pisa developed a quantum subroutine to improve matrix multiplication for AI and machine learning applications.
When you multiply two large matrices—this is a common task in fields like machine learning, but it can be time-consuming, even for powerful computers…
In a recent study published in IEEE Access, a team of researchers from the University of Pisa introduced a quantum subroutine designed to streamline matrix multiplication. This subroutine is a new feature in the toolbox of matrix multiplication that could improve computational efficiency, particularly in applications like machine learning and data processing.
It’s A Matrix World And We’re Just Living In It
Imagine you’re sitting across from a friend, having a conversation.
I’m a die-hard Beach Boys fan. In one of their most famous songs, they sing about “pickin’ up good vibrations” from a girl. We’ve all felt those “good vibes” when we’re connecting with someone new. I used to think that feeling was a mysterious, mystical experience — something I couldn’t fully explain that bonded me with some friends and strangers more easily than others.
It turns out that “good vibes” aren’t as mysterious as I thought.
Pioneering neuroscientists have begun investigating how the brain works when we are interact ing with others — a technique they call hyperscanning. Neuroscientists have been using existing scanning methods, like MRI and EEG, to monitor the brain activity of two or more people as they do something together: for example, performing music, learning a poem, or having a conversation.
Android users have been warned that a dangerous new hack attack uses optical character recognition to grab passphrases from your smartphone.