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Oct 4, 2018
A rock used as a doorstop for the past 30 years turns out to be a meteorite valued at $100K
Posted by Michael Lance in categories: food, sustainability
“It’s the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically,” Sibescu said.
For double verification, a slice of it was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, which validated it was in fact a meteorite, according to the press release.
Oct 4, 2018
Artifical intelligence and personal assistants put to the test — BBC Click
Posted by Marco Monfils in category: robotics/AI
This is not the end of the world but the end of competition as we know it.
Click investigates the rise of the robot butler, looking at whether voice-controlled personal assistants live up to the hype and at the potential dangers of living in a world where all electronics are controlled by voice.
Continue reading “Artifical intelligence and personal assistants put to the test — BBC Click” »
Oct 4, 2018
New Weapon Against Gruesome Venomous Snakebites Is Invisible to the Eye
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: biotech/medical, health, nanotechnology
When it comes to venomous snake bites, time is tissue. Even non-fatal snake bites still rapidly kill skin and muscle in a gruesome process called necrosis, often leaving victims permanently disfigured. In an effort to help reduce the global health burden of these bites, a team of scientists has developed an antivenom cocktail that saves tissue after a snake bite, sparing survivors a lifetime of disability.
In a paper published Thursday in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, researchers demonstrate that their formula, when injected into mice that had been exposed to venom from a black-necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis), protected against any tissue-killing effects. What’s unique about their new treatment is that it’s not made up of any one substance but a mixture of nanoparticles, which can target the individual compounds that make up a snake’s poison.
“If this is achieved, then the progression of this local necrosis would be halted, and then the person can be transported to a health facility to receive the antivenom, but the local tissue damage would have been controlled and the frequency of permanent tissue damage and sequelae would be reduced,” José María Gutiérrez, Ph.D.. a senior professor of microbiology at Instituto Clodomiro Picado (the University of Costa Rica) and one of the paper’s authors, tells Inverse.
Continue reading “New Weapon Against Gruesome Venomous Snakebites Is Invisible to the Eye” »
Oct 4, 2018
A brief jog sharpens the mind, boosting attentional control and perceptual speed. Now researchers are figuring out why
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: health, neuroscience
By Christian Jarrett. The cognitive benefits of brief exercise seem to be due to how it makes us feel more energetic.
Oct 4, 2018
We’ve Just Found The Source of Some of The Most Powerful Light Beams Ever Detected
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: cosmology
Matter ejected from a spinning disc of doom surrounding a black hole a mere 15,000 light years away has produced some of the most energetic rays of light ever witnessed from an object of its kind.
The insanely powerful photons of gamma radiation were produced by a never-before-seen phenomenon surrounding a miniature quasar. The discovery could help us better understand what goes on deep in the chaotic heart of the Milky Way.
SS 433 is a smaller version of the kinds of maelstrom of death you’d find lurking at the core of most galaxies. It’s also in our neighbourhood, more or less, making it relatively easy to study.
Oct 4, 2018
The World’s Most Precise Clock Reveals the Nature of Time and the Universe
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: space
Physicist Jun Ye built the world’s most precise clock and is part of the group of scientists who changed our understanding of time itself.
Oct 4, 2018
Earth’s First Nuclear Reactor Is 1.7 Billion Years Old And Was Made Naturally
Posted by Genevieve Klien in categories: nuclear energy, space
Planets can ‘discover’ nuclear power on their own, naturally, without any intelligence. Earth did it 1.7 billion years before humans.
Oct 4, 2018
Steve Wozniak: Don’t worry, AI won’t kill us all
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: robotics/AI
Oct 4, 2018
Neuton: A new, disruptive neural network framework for AI applications
Posted by Genevieve Klien in category: robotics/AI
Deep learning neural networks are behind much of the progress in AI these days. Neuton is a new framework that claims to be much faster and compact, and it requires less skills and training than anything the AWSs, Googles, and Facebooks of the world have.