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Jan 21, 2024

How does Gravity Slow Down Time?

Posted by in category: space

I’ve been diving into this cool concept called gravitational time dilation, and it’s like this mind-bending thing predicted by Albert Einstein in his theory of relativity. This concept highlights the actual difference in elapsed time between events observed by individuals situated at varying distances from a massive gravitational source.

If you’re hanging out close to a massive gravitational source, like a planet or star, time slows down for you. It’s like a cosmic slow-motion effect. But if you move away from it, time speeds up. This has been proven in experiments with atomic clocks placed at different heights — the closer to the Earth’s surface, the slower the clock ticks compared to those higher up.

Einstein first talked about this in 1907 when he was figuring out special relativity in speedy frames of reference. In general relativity, it’s like time is doing a dance based on where you are in space, as described by this thing called a metric tensor.

Jan 21, 2024

Self-assembling molecules have hidden neural network-like abilities

Posted by in categories: chemistry, robotics/AI

A new study by Dr Constantine Evans of Maynooth University and researchers at the University of Chicago and California Institute of Technology, published in Nature, shows how the molecules that build structures can do both the thinking and the doing.

We tend to separate the brain and muscle – the brain does the thinking; the muscle does the doing. The brain takes in complex information about the world, makes decisions, while muscle merely executes.

This brain-muscle separation has also shaped how we think about the working within a single cell; some molecules within cells are seen as ‘thinkers’ that take in information about the chemical environment and decide what the cell needs to do for survival; separately, other molecules are seen as the ‘muscle’, building structures needed for survival.

Jan 21, 2024

Breaking Down Life Into DNA

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

As one of the few schools on Long Island offering the AP Capstone program in their curricula, Patchogue-Medford High School provides various STEM opportunities for its students.

From Brookhaven National Laboratory to Stony Brook University right at our fingertips, the possibilities are endless. For instance, on December 8 th, four AP Research students joined Dr. Gatz in spending the day at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to conduct the necessary experiments for their research papers.

Senior, Carlo Costigliola, and Junior, Isaac Varghese, have decided to focus their research on DNA barcoding. According to International Barcode of Life, “DNA barcoding is a method of specimen identification using short, standardized segments of DNA.”

Jan 21, 2024

Old and new futurisms in Silicon Valley

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, quantum physics, robotics/AI, space, transhumanism

Natasha and Max also appear in a recent video titled “Transhumanism. What it is not” in conversation with David Wood and two representatives of the anti-transhumanist camp, Alexander Thomas and Émile Torres. I’m not familiar with the work of Thomas. I’m more familiar with the work of Torres. I very strongly disagree with most of what Torres says, but I must concede that Torres seems an intelligent and perceptive person, not without a certain endearing grace. However, BS is BS.

I’ve watched and listened again to the awesome conversation between Lex Fridman and Guillaume Verdon aka Beff Jezos, the founder of the movement called effective accelerationism (e/acc) and the company Extropic AI. This long conversation (almost 3 hours) touches a lot of things including physics, quantum, thermodynamics, Artificial Intelligence, LLMs, space, e/acc philosophy & metaphysics, and of course the meaning of life & all that. This is the most complete talk on e/acc so far and is likely to remain so for some time. Watch it all, and let’s accelerate the fuck away from mediocrity toward unlimited extropian and cosmist greatness.

Continue reading “Old and new futurisms in Silicon Valley” »

Jan 21, 2024

What was it like when the Universe formed the most stars?

Posted by in category: space

Today, the star-formation rate across the Universe is a mere trickle: just 3% of what it was at its peak. Here’s what it was like back then.

Jan 21, 2024

How many planets could be in the Kuiper Belt?

Posted by in category: space

A recent study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters investigates the potential existence of Mars-sized free-floating planets (FFPs)—also known as rogue planets, starless planets, and wandering planets—that could have been captured by our sun’s gravity long ago and orbit in the outer solar system approximately 1,400 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. For context, the farthest known planetary body in the solar system is Pluto, which orbits approximately 39 AU from the sun, and is also part of the Kuiper Belt, which scientists estimate extends as far out as 1,000 AU from the sun.

Jan 21, 2024

How Neuralink Will Change Humanity

Posted by in category: neuroscience

The potential applications of Neuralink are vast and could potentially change humanity in many ways. While there are potential drawbacks, the potential benefits make the development of this technology an exciting prospect.

Jan 21, 2024

How a Single Study Proved That Multiple Sclerosis Is Caused by a Virus

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

In 1,868, Jean-Martin Charcot, a neurologist at the Hôpital de Salpétrière in France, first coined the disease “la sclérose en plaques,” which means multiple sclerosis (MS) — to distinguish it from another type of movement disorder later known as Parkinson’s disease.

Though described in 1,868, the cause of MS puzzled scientists for more than a century. This is until a 2022 breakthrough study finally enlightens us that the cause is, oddly, the seemingly innocent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a common childhood virus that causes typical fever and sore throat.

Let’s see how one study single-handedly proves what we thought couldn’t be proved; how one study truly deserves to be called a breakthrough; and how thorough and near-perfect science is done.

Jan 21, 2024

K5 Fully autonomous outdoor security robot

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, security

The Knightscope K5 is our flagship fully autonomous security robot for both outdoor and indoor use. The K5 provides physical deterrence and perimeter protection in parking lots, parking structures, campus paths and large indoor spaces like malls and resorts.

Jan 21, 2024

Engineers Develop ‘Breakthrough’ Method for Creating Infinitesimally Small Objects Using the Power of Light

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology

The engineers believe that their method, referred to as superluminescent light projection, represents a breakthrough that could enable revolutionary technological advancements in a wide range of industrial, commercial, and scientific applications, including advances in nanotechnology.

Printing Infinitesimally Small Objects by Harnessing the Power of Light

As technologies continue to advance, scientists and engineers have developed an increasing need for objects printed at the nanoscale, meaning hundreds of times smaller than a human hair. This is especially true in extremely advanced nanotechnologies like power generation and sensing, as well as novel medical procedures that previously only existed in science fiction.

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