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Can we study AI the same way we study lab rats? Researchers at DeepMind and Harvard University seem to think so. They built an AI-powered virtual rat that can carry out multiple complex tasks. Then, they used neuroscience techniques to understand how its artificial “brain” controls its movements.

Today’s most advanced AI is powered by artificial neural networks —machine learning algorithms made up of layers of interconnected components called “neurons” that are loosely inspired by the structure of the brain. While they operate in very different ways, a growing number of researchers believe drawing parallels between the two could both improve our understanding of neuroscience and make smarter AI.

Now the authors of a new paper due to be presented this week at the International Conference on Learning Representations have created a biologically accurate 3D model of a rat that can be controlled by a neural network in a simulated environment. They also showed that they could use neuroscience techniques for analyzing biological brain activity to understand how the neural net controlled the rat’s movements.

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Depending on who you ask and where you are, wearing a mask can be an important part of the strategy to stop the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

With the CDC recommending surgical and N95 masks should be kept for medical personnel on the front line, if you do want or need a mask, you should be purchasing or making a cloth one.

But when looking at cloth masks, which materials work best for keeping your germs in and other people’s germs out?

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Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) praised Monday’s release of the videos, but said more action is needed.

“I’m glad the Pentagon is finally releasing this footage, but it only scratches the surface of research and materials available,” he tweeted. “The U.S. needs to take a serious, scientific look at this and any potential national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed.”

The Pentagon on Monday officially released three videos of “unidentified” flying objects that have been previously leaked to the public.

The Department of Defense authorized the release of the three unclassified videos, including one recorded in November 2004 and two others captured in January 2015. The videos had been distributed in 2007 and 2017, the department noted in a statement.

Officials decided the official release of the videos would not reveal any “sensitive capabilities or systems” and would not impact investigations of unidentified flying objects.

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Around the world, scientists race to develop a vaccine or treatment against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Now, a team of researchers has found that a drug already available around the world can kill the coronavirus in a lab setting in just 48 hours.

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (green) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample. Image captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID.

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During the 1918 flu, San Francisco lifted its lockdown early — and paid a dire price.
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In US news and current events today, the coronavirus pandemic, the COVID-19 outbreak has had people around the world in lockdown. People in the United States and the world at large have had to quarantine and practice social distancing and self-isolation when necessary.

Some states, like Georgia, are beginning to reopen businesses, but history has shown us that lifting a lockdown too early can have dire consequences. Here’s how San Francisco’s early lifting of regulations during the 1918 flu, a strain of H1N1 virus also referred to as the Spanish flu, nearly doubled the death toll of the city.

#Coronavirus #Lockdown #SanFrancisco #Pandemic #Flu #News #NowThis #NowThisNews

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Built in about 24 hours, this robot is undergoing in-hospital testing for coronavirus disinfection.

UV disinfection is one of the few areas where autonomous robots can be immediately and uniquely helpful during the COVID pandemic. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of these robots to fulfill demand right now, and although companies are working hard to build them, it takes a substantial amount of time to develop the hardware, software, operational knowledge, and integration experience required to make a robotic disinfection system work in a hospital.

Conor McGinn, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Trinity College in Dublin and co-leader of the Robotics and Innovation Lab (RAIL), has pulled together a small team of hardware and software engineers who’ve managed to get a UV disinfection robot into hospital testing within a matter of just a few weeks. They made it happen in such a short amount of time by building on previous research, collaborating with hospitals directly, and leveraging a development platform: the TurtleBot 2.

Over the last few years, RAIL has been researching mobile social robots for elder care applications, and during their pilot testing, they came to understand how big of a problem infection can be in environments like nursing homes. This was well before COVID-19, but it was (and still is) one of the leading causes of hospitalization for nursing home residents. Most places just wipe down surfaces with disinfectant sometimes, but these facilities have many surfaces (like fabrics) that aren’t as easy to clean, and with people coming in and out all the time, anyone with a compromised immune system is always at risk.

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Researchers have demonstrated the world’s first metasurface laser that produces “super-chiral light”: light with ultra-high angular momentum. The light from this laser can be used as a type of “optical spanner” to or for encoding information in optical communications.

“Because can carry angular , it means that this can be transferred to matter. The more angular momentum light carries, the more it can transfer. So you can think of light as an ‘optical spanner’,” Professor Andrew Forbes from the School of Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa, who led the research. “Instead of using a physical spanner to twist things (like screwing nuts), you can now shine light on the nut and it will tighten itself.”

The new produces a new high purity “twisted light” not observed from lasers before, including the highest angular momentum reported from a laser. Simultaneously the researchers developed a nano-structured that has the largest phase gradient ever produced and allows for high power operation in a compact design. The implication is a world-first laser for producing exotic states of twisted structured light, on demand.

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