J.J. Thomson won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1906 showing that the electron is a particle: ironically, his son, G.P. Thomson, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1937 showing that it is not (or rather that the electron can also behave as a wave)
A tale of two Thomsons.
The brain-machine interface race is on. While Elon Musk’s Neuralink has garnered most of the headlines in this field, a new small and thin chip out of Switzerland makes it look downright clunky by comparison. It also works impressively well.
The chip has been developed by researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) and represents a leap forward in the sizzling space of brain-machine-interfaces (BMIs) – devices that are able to read activity in the brain and translate it into real-world output such as text on a screen. That’s because this particular device – known as a miniaturized brain-machine interface (MiBMI) – is extremely small, consisting of two thin chips measuring just 8 mm2 total. By comparison, Elon Musk’s Neuralink device clocks in at comparatively gargantuan size of about 23 × 8 mm (about 0.3 x .9 in).
Additionally, the EPFL chipset uses very little power, is reported to be minimally invasive, and consists of a fully integrated system that processes data in real time. That’s different from Neuralink, which requires the insertion of 64 electrodes into the brain and carries out its processing via an app located on a device outside of the brain.
Chinese electric car company Xpeng displays its mass-market Mona M03 coupe inside a headquarters’ showroom in Guangzhou, China, on Aug. 26, 2024.
CNBC | Evelyn Cheng.
BEIJING — Chinese electric car company Xpeng on Tuesday announced that its mass-market brand Mona will start selling some models for less than $17,000.
Scientists at Northwestern University say they’ve invented a goo — yes, a goo — that could open the door to regenerating human knee cartilage, a finding that could eventually lead to new clinical ways to rebuild knee joints and avoid invasive and expensive knee replacement surgeries.
Cartilage is the connective tissue that wraps around joints and bones, working to absorb shock, aid mobility, and protect against painful bone-on-bone friction. These are all tough — and important! — jobs, and yet cartilage doesn’t naturally regenerate on its own. As a result, those with worn-down or damaged cartilage often wind up turning to knee replacement surgery. While effective, that road can be expensive and generally requires a lengthy recovery period.
That’s where the goo might come in.
Posted in futurism
Dr. Peter Boghossian, Dr. James Lindsay, and Helen Pluckrose discuss Intersectionality, and whether or not it has taken on characteristics of religions. Filmed 2/19/2018 at Portland State University.
A few nutty professors have figured out a way to teach a smart gel how to play a video game, but can it clear Elden Ring?
The brain undergoes dynamic functional changes with age1,2,3.
Analyses of neuroimaging datasets from 5,306 participants across 15 countries found generally larger brain-age gaps in Latin American compared with non-Latin American populations, which were influenced by disparities in socioeconomic and health-related factors.
A fringe ideology on the far left has taken over academia, suppressing free speech and promoting grievance studies over evidence-based research, with the goal of controlling society and imposing its ideology on others.
Questions to inspire discussion.
What’s happening in American universities?
—A fringe ideology on the far left has taken over academia, suppressing free speech and promoting grievance studies over evidence-based research. This ideology aims to control society and impose its views on others. It’s spreading rapidly, metastasizing into other areas of society.
Posted in futurism
Jef Boeke and his team create intricate works of art on Petri dishes using a palette of yeast paints.
Certain fields of academia, particularly those influenced by postmodernism and critical theory, have become corrupted by a focus on ideology over truth, leading to a lack of intellectual rigor and a stifling of rational discourse.
Questions to inspire discussion.
What is the Sokal hoax?
—The Sokal hoax was a 1996 academic hoax where physicist Alan Sokal published a fake paper filled with nonsensical postmodern jargon in a Duke University journal to test if postmodern cultural critics would accept a nonsensical argument. The hoax exposed the abuse of scientific terminology to make political points in academia.
