Lifeboat Foundation

👋👋 ✍️ Fabio Remondino et al.

This paper presents a critical analysis of image-based 3D reconstruction using neural radiance fields (NeRFs), with a focus on quantitative comparisons with respect to traditional photogrammetry. The aim is, therefore, to objectively evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of NeRFs and provide insights into their applicability to different real-life scenarios, from small objects to heritage and industrial scenes. After a comprehensive overview of photogrammetry and NeRF methods, highlighting their respective advantages and disadvantages, various NeRF methods are compared using diverse objects with varying sizes and surface characteristics, including texture-less, metallic, translucent, and transparent surfaces. We evaluated the quality of the resulting 3D reconstructions using multiple criteria, such as noise level, geometric accuracy, and the number of required images (i.e.

Particles called neutrons are typically very content inside atoms. They stick around for billions of years and longer inside some of the atoms that make up matter in our universe. But when neutrons are free and floating alone outside of an atom, they start to decay into protons and other particles. Their lifetime is short, lasting only about 15 minutes.

Physicists have spent decades trying to measure the precise lifetime of a neutron using two techniques, one involving bottles and the other beams. But the results from the two methods have not matched: they differ by about 9 seconds, which is significant for a particle that only lives about 15 minutes.

Now, in a new study published in the journal Physical Review Letters, a team of scientists has made the most precise measurement yet of a neutron’s lifetime using the bottle technique. The experiment, known as UCNtau (for Ultra Cold Neutrons tau, where tau refers to the neutron lifetime), has revealed that the neutron lives 14.629 minutes with an uncertainty of 0.005 minutes. This is a factor of two more precise than previous measurements made using either of the methods. While the results do not solve the mystery of why the bottle and beam methods disagree, they bring scientists closer to an answer.

Blurry vision may not really be a problem with your eyes. It’s usually no big deal, but it could be a sign of a serious illness or medical emergency.

Memory impairment in autism goes beyond poor facial recognition, a Stanford Medicine team showed. The finding suggests a wide role for memory in the neurobiology of the disorder.

Using a groundbreaking new technique, researchers have unveiled the first detailed image of a photon — a single particle of light — ever taken.

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Researchers unveil Fas-p53 axis as a key regulator in adipocyte metabolism, linking it to obesity and insulin sensitivity through energy expenditure and inflammation pathways.

A team of planetary scientists and oceanographers from NOAA, the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services, and the University of Zagreb, has found an example of an exception to Ekman’s theory of wind-driven ocean currents—wind and surface flow in the Bay of Bengal.

In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group analyzed several years of data sent by a buoy in the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of India.

In 1905, a Swedish oceanographer named Vagn Walfrid Ekman found evidence showing that ocean currents that flow near the surface, which were known to be impacted by wind, were found to deflect to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. Work since that time has backed up the theory, which has come to be known as Ekman’s theory of wind-driven ocean currents.

For the first time, scientists have invented a liquid ink that doctors can print onto a patient’s scalp to measure brain activity. The technology, presented December 2 in the journal Cell Biomaterials, offers a promising alternative to the cumbersome process currently used for monitoring brainwaves and diagnosing neurological conditions. It also has the potential to enhance non-invasive brain-computer interface applications.

“Our innovations in sensor design, biocompatible ink, and high-speed printing pave the way for future on-body manufacturing of electronic tattoo sensors, with broad applications both within and beyond clinical settings,” says Nanshu Lu, the paper’s co-corresponding author at the University of Texas at Austin.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is an important tool for diagnosing a variety of neurological conditions, including seizures, brain tumors, epilepsy, and brain injuries. During a traditional EEG test, technicians measure the patient’s scalp with rulers and pencils, marking over a dozen spots where they will glue on electrodes, which are connected to a data-collection machine via long wires to monitor the patient’s brain activity. This setup is time consuming and cumbersome, and it can be uncomfortable for many patients, who must sit through the EEG test for hours.

In recent years, quantum physicists and engineers have been trying to develop quantum computer processors that perform better than classical computers on some tasks. Yet conclusive demonstrations proving that quantum systems perform better than their classical counterparts (i.e., realizations of a quantum advantage) remain scarce, due to various experimental challenges.

Researchers at Henan Key Laboratory of Quantum Information and Cryptography and the S. N. Bose National Center for Basic Sciences carried out an experiment aimed at establishing the quantum advantage of an elementary quantum system for information storage.

Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, demonstrates that a single qubit can outperform a classical bit in a communication task that does not involve any shared randomness (i.e., classically correlated random variables between communicating parties).