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Jan 23, 2020

Largest Brain Wiring Diagram to Date Is Published

Posted by in category: neuroscience

The partial fruit fly “connectome” contains approximately 25,000 neurons and 20 million synapses.

Jan 23, 2020

Trinitite: Trinitite

Posted by in categories: materials, military

, also known as atomsite or Alamogordo glass,[2] is the glassy residue left on the desert floor after the plutonium-based Trinity nuclear bomb test on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico. The glass is primarily composed of arkosic sand composed of quartz grains and feldspar (both microcline and smaller amount of plagioclase with small amount of calcite, hornblende and augite in a matrix of sandy clay)[3] that was melted by the atomic blast. It is usually a light green, although color can vary. It is mildly radioactive but safe to handle.[4][5][6]

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, samples were gathered and sold to mineral collectors as a novelty. Traces of the material may still be found at the Trinity Site as of 2019, although most of it was bulldozed and buried by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1953.[7] It is now illegal to take the remaining material from the site; however, material that was taken prior to this prohibition is still in the hands of collectors.

Jan 23, 2020

Gravitational wave echoes may confirm Stephen Hawking’s hypothesis of quantum black holes

Posted by in categories: cosmology, quantum physics

Echoes in gravitational wave signals suggest that the event horizon of a black hole may be more complicated than scientists currently think.

Research from the University of Waterloo reports the first tentative detection of these echoes, caused by a microscopic quantum “fuzz” that surrounds newly formed .

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time, caused by the collision of massive, compact objects in space, such as black holes or .

Jan 23, 2020

Bill Gates: We can end poverty by 2030

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

On Wednesday, he published an essay on the worldwide effort to end poverty by 2030, and he says that he’s very much a believer that it can be done.

“There is good reason for optimism about progress on reducing inequity,” he writes. He published the essay from Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum is taking place this week.

Gates points out that since the turn of the century, “Maternal deaths have almost halved; child mortality and malaria deaths have halved; extreme poverty has more than halved.” Plus, thanks to the Global Fund, a project supported by the Gates Foundation, 17 million lives have been saved from malaria, AIDS, and tuberculosis.

Jan 23, 2020

Robot maker Boston Dynamics replaces CEO to prepare for “new stage of growth”

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The founder of robot maker Boston Dynamics, Marc Raibert, is moving from CEO to chairman as the company prepares for a “new stage of growth.” The firm, well-known for its robotic creations, has been researching and developing its technology for decades, and it started leasing its first commercial robot, Spot, in 2019.

Jan 23, 2020

NeoHuman Podcast: Evolutionary Cybernetics, Computational Physics and Consciousness Discussed

Posted by in categories: augmented reality, cosmology, existential risks, physics, robotics/AI, transhumanism, virtual reality

Evolutionary cyberneticist and digital philosopher Alex M. Vikoulov, author of The Syntellect Hypothesis, is interviewed by Agah Bahari, host and producer of NeoHuman podcast.

On this recent podcast, Alex Vikoulov, author of The Syntellect Hypothesis, is interviewed by NeoHuman podcaster Agah Bahari. Topics include evolutionary cybernetics, computational physics, consciousness, the simulation theory, the transcension hypothesis, the Global mind, AGI, VR, AR, psychedelics, technological singularities, transhumanism, Fermi Paradox, Digital Physics, objective reality, philosophy of mind, the extended mind hypothesis, absolute idealism, physics of time, the Omega Point cosmology, mind-uploading, synthetic telepathy, and more.

Watch a short intro here ↴.

Jan 23, 2020

Dealing With Machine Intelligence Explosion

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Machines, especially through the power of AI, will surpass humans in Intelligence, effectiveness, and functionality.

Though there are some areas where humans will hold the dominance; mostly areas that require feeling and emotion.

But overall, machines will have capabilities that far surpass even the most Intelligent of humans.

Jan 23, 2020

This Google Scientist teaches AI to build better AI

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

TDS interviews AI visionary on her cutting-edge research at Google Brain, how Deep Reinforcement Learning works, and more.

Jan 23, 2020

Neanderthals may have climbed an active volcano soon after it erupted

Posted by in category: futurism

Footprints on an extinct Italian volcano suggest ancient humans were regular visitors, and the shapes of the tracks point to the identity of the trackmakers.

Jan 23, 2020

Google publishes largest ever high-resolution map of brain connectivity

Posted by in categories: mapping, neuroscience

Scientists from Google and the Janelia Research Campus in Virginia have published the largest high-resolution map of brain connectivity in any animal, sharing a 3D model that traces 20 million synapses connecting some 25,000 neurons in the brain of a fruit fly.

The model is a milestone in the field of connectomics, which uses detailed imaging techniques to map the physical pathways of the brain. This map, known as a “connectome,” covers roughly one-third of the fruit fly’s brain. To date, only a single organism, the roundworm C. elegans, has had its brain completely mapped in this way.

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