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A new approach to streaming technology may significantly improve how users experience virtual reality and augmented reality environments, according to a study from NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

The research—presented in a paper at the 16th ACM Multimedia Systems Conference (ACM MMSys 2025) on April 1, 2025—describes a method for directly predicting visible content in immersive 3D environments, potentially reducing bandwidth requirements by up to 7-fold while maintaining visual quality.

The technology is being applied in an ongoing NYU Tandon project to bring point cloud video to dance education, making 3D dance instruction streamable on standard devices with lower bandwidth requirements.

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In a new experiment, physicists have replicated the famous Schrödinger’s cat experiment at hotter temperatures than ever before. The breakthrough is a small but significant step toward quantum computers that can work at normal temperatures.

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Volcanic activity at Mount Spurr in Alaska is predicted to culminate in an explosive eruption in the coming months, potentially resulting in ashfall and disruptions to aviation operations in the greater Anchorage area. The stratovolcano, located in the Aleutian volcanic arc, lies around 129 km (80 miles) west of Anchorage on the western side of the Cook Inlet.

An uptick in low-level seismic activity and snow and ice melt has been occurring at the volcano since last year, indicating magmatic movements taking place under the surface; the alert level at the volcano was raised to yellow (the second lowest-level on a four-tier scale) in October 2024. Volcanic gas emissions have also been recorded, and the latest assessments indicate this activity will more likely end in an eruptive episode, rather than simmer down as it did in 2004–2006.

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How will AI shape our understanding of our creativity and ourselves?

In February, artist and technologist K Allado-McDowell delivered a fascinating Long Now Talk that explored the dimensions of Neural Media — their term for an emerging set of creative forms that use artificial neural networks inspired by the connective design of the human brain.

Their Long Now Talk is a journey through the strange valleys and outcroppings of this age of neural media, telling a story involving statistical distributions, anti-aging influencers at war with death itself, and vast quantities of “AI Slop,” the low-quality, faintly surreal output of cheap, rapidly proliferating image models.

Yet even in this morass of slop Allado-McDowell sees reason for optimism. Referring to the title of their 2020 book Pharmako-AI, which was co-written with GPT-3, Allado-McDowell notes that the Greek word pharmakon could mean both drug and cure. What may seem poisonous or dangerous in this new paradigm of neural media could also unlock for us new and deeper ways of understanding ourselves, our planet, and all of the intelligent networks that live within it.

This talk was presented February 25, 02025 at the Cowell Theatre in San Francisco. The event livestream is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/AsCGRjl3zac?si=KBfIfkqatLwdMr8M

Episode notes: https://longnow.org/ideas/neural-media/

Continue reading “K Allado-McDowell | On Neural Media | Long Now Talks” | >

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VIDEO NOTES

Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its centre for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival. He is best known for his work on string theory, especially in his book “The Elegant Universe”, which turns 25 this year.

LINKS.

Continue reading “String Theory, Multiverse, and Divine Design — Brian Greene” | >