“The 37’s” is the first episode of the second season, and seventeenth episode overall, of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. Due to differing release schedules, it was also released as the final episode of the first season in other countries. [5][6] The episode origina…
Two and a half months since Erik Verlinde submitted his entropic gravity paper, and all of physics and cosmology has turned into entropy. Well, I am exaggerating a bit, and perhaps more than just a bit. Yet, fact is that within two weeks of Erik’s publication a steady stream of ‘entropic everything’ papers has developed at a rate of close to one paper per day. Gravity, Einstein’s equations, cosmic expansion, dark energy, primordial inflation, dark mass: it’s all entropic. Chaos rules. Entropy is king!
Or is it?
Could it be that an ‘entropic bandwagon’ has started rolling? Is this all not just a fad appealing to scientist tired of string theory? What is this elusive entropic force anyway? Do these folks really believe bits of information attract each other?
Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have found a way to better detect all collisions of stellar-mass black holes in the universe.
Stellar-mass black holes are formed by the gravitational collapse of a star. Their collisions are some of the most violent events in the universe, creating gravitational waves or ripples in space-time.
These ripples are miniscule and detected using laser interferometers. Until now, many signals have been drowned out by so-called quantum noise on the laser light pushing the mirrors of the laser interferometer around—making the measurements fuzzy or imprecise.
Around the world, a movement is gaining momentum that grants legal rights to natural phenomena, including rivers, lakes and mountains. Robert Macfarlane investigates the rise of the new animism.
Microsoft and Warner Bros. have collaborated to successfully store and retrieve the entire 1978 iconic “Superman” movie on a piece of glass roughly the size of a drink coaster, 75 by 75 by 2 millimeters thick.
It was the first proof of concept test for Project Silica, a Microsoft Research project that uses recent discoveries in ultrafast laser optics and artificial intelligence to store data in quartz glass. A laser encodes data in glass by creating layers of three-dimensional nanoscale gratings and deformations at various depths and angles. Machine learning algorithms read the data back by decoding images and patterns that are created as polarized light shines through the glass.
The hard silica glass can withstand being boiled in hot water, baked in an oven, microwaved, flooded, scoured, demagnetized and other environmental threats that can destroy priceless historic archives or cultural treasures if things go wrong.
Diabetes is one of the leading health problems in our modern world and requires the careful management of a patient’s insulin levels. New research from Tufts University may make that process a little easier. In mouse tests, the team implanted beta cells that produce more insulin on demand, when they’re activated by blue light.
At the heart of both types of diabetes is insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels, allowing cells in the body to properly use it as energy. In type I diabetes, beta cells in the pancreas don’t produce enough insulin, sometimes because the immune system destroys those vital beta cells. In type II diabetes, a patient’s cells stop responding to insulin, or the pancreas can’t keep up with demand, meaning blood glucose levels spike to dangerous highs.
Managing the condition requires constant monitoring of blood sugar levels and boosting insulin levels as needed, either by directly injecting the hormone or through drugs that amplify the beta cells’ production of it.
The largest brain imaging meta-analysis of its kind may have found the reason why people with anxiety and mood disorders so often feel “locked in” to negative emotions.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the majority of people who have heart failure or experience their first stroke or heart attack have hypertension. Even a slight increase in your blood pressure can increase your risk for a stroke or heart attack, if it is persistent. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), indomethacin (Indocin) and piroxicam (Feldene), can increase your blood pressure whether or not you already have hypertension.
But the very features of AI that have allowed it to be so successful in other arenas also make it dangerous when applied to the financial world. These threats mirror the problems that created the last financial crisis — when complex derivatives and poorly understood subprime mortgages sent the world into a deep depression — and must be taken seriously.
As AI gains a foothold on Wall Street it could fundamentally change the way our financial system works. It could also cause financial chaos.
“There are a number of critical technologies that have to be assessed and tested before we go to Mars,” he told Quirks & Quarks host Bob McDonald.
His short-list includes reusable landers, new space suits, mining gear, water and fuel production plants and safe nuclear power sources that could be used to power habitats and equipment on the red planet.
Continue reading “How we’ll get to Mars — what’s the biggest challenge, money or technology?” »
