Lifeboat Foundation

Often labeled developmental dyscalculia and/or mathematical learning disability. In contrast, much less research is available on cognitive and neural correlates of gifted/excellent mathematical knowledge in adults and children. In order to facilitate further inquiry into this area, here we review 40 available studies, which examine the cognitive and neural basis of gifted mathematics. Studies associated a large number of cognitive factors with gifted mathematics, with spatial processing and working memory being the most frequently identified contributors. However, the current literature suffers from low statistical power, which most probably contributes to variability across findings. Other major shortcomings include failing to establish domain and stimulus specificity of findings, suggesting causation without sufficient evidence and the frequent use of invalid backward inference in neuro-imaging studies. Future studies must increase statistical power and neuro-imaging studies must rely on supporting behavioral data when interpreting findings. Studies should investigate the factors shown to correlate with math giftedness in a more specific manner and determine exactly how individual factors may contribute to gifted math ability.

A disproportionately large amount of scientific advancement throughout history has occurred due to cognitively gifted individuals. However, we know surprisingly little about the cognitive structure supporting gifted mathematics. The current understanding is that human mathematical ability builds on an extensive network of cognitive skills and mathematics-specific knowledge, which are supported by motivational factors (Ansari, 2008; Beilock, 2008; Fias et al., 2013; Szűcs et al., 2014; Szűcs, 2016). To date, most psychological and neuroscience studies have examined potentially important factors only in children and adults with normal mathematics as well as in children with poor mathematical abilities (e.g., in children with mathematical learning disability or developmental dyscalculia). In contrast, those with high levels of mathematical giftedness received relatively little attention.

DOI link for The Darwin Brain-Based Automata: Synthetic Neural Models and Real-World Devices.

The darwin brain-based automata: synthetic neural models and real-world devices.

What should we look for when trying to find life beyond Earth? Should it be the familiar green and blue colors that we see thriving on our small, blue planet, or something else entirely? This is what a recent study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how identifying purple colors on other worlds, as opposed to the aforementioned green and blue on Earth, could serve as an optimal method in the search for life beyond Earth since many bacteria exhibit purple pigmentation. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the criteria for identifying life beyond Earth, and specifically life as we don’t know it.

“Purple bacteria can thrive under a wide range of conditions, making it one of the primary contenders for life that could dominate a variety of worlds,” said Dr. Lígia Fonseca Coelho, a postdoctoral associate at the Carl Sagan Institute (CSI) and lead author of the study.

For the study, the researchers analyzed a myriad of purple sulfur and purple non-sulfur from various oxygenated and non-oxygenated environments with the goal of ascertaining how their physical properties compared with reflectance data derived from several Earth-sized exoplanets. In the end, they produced a data base that can be used to potentially locate purple-colored life on other worlds throughout the cosmos, including Earth analogs, water planets, frozen planets, and snowball planets. The goal of this data is to improve algorithms and additional search methods to identify purple colors instead of green, with the latter being the traditional search baseline.

In 2021, he heard about a trial of a visual prosthesis at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Researchers cautioned that the device was experimental and he shouldn’t expect to regain the level of vision he had before. Still, he was intrigued enough to sign up. Thanks to the chips in his brain, Bussard now has very limited artificial vision—what he describes as “blips on a radar screen.” With the implant, he can perceive people and objects represented in white and iridescent dots.

Bussard is one of a small number of blind individuals around the world who have risked brain surgery to get a visual prosthesis. In Spain, researchers at Miguel Hernández University have implanted four people with a similar system. The trials are the culmination of decades of research.

There’s interest from industry, too. California-based Cortigent is developing the Orion, which has been implanted in six volunteers. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is also working on a brain implant for vision. In an X post in March, Musk said Neuralink’s device, called Blindsight, is “already working in monkeys.” He added: “Resolution will be low at first, like early Nintendo graphics, but ultimately may exceed normal human vision.”

Summary: Researchers developed a groundbreaking pea-sized brain stimulator, the Digitally Programmable Over-brain Therapeutic (DOT), capable of wireless operation through magnetoelectric power transfer. This implantable device promises to revolutionize treatment for neurological and psychiatric disorders by enabling less invasive and more autonomous therapeutic options compared to traditional neurostimulation methods.

The DOT’s ability to stimulate the brain through the dura without implanted batteries represents a significant advancement in medical technology, offering potential treatments for conditions like drug-resistant depression directly from the comfort of one’s home. This innovation could change the landscape of how brain-related disorders are managed, emphasizing patient comfort and control.

An AI-driven supercomputer dubbed Earth’s ‘digital twin’ could help us avoid the worst impacts of climate catastrophes headed our way.

Jason Cassibry, Ph.D., explains his team’s research and experiments in the areas of fusion, warp drive and even a mention of antigravity propulsion. A mention is also made as to what happened to Ning Li (more on that in a subsequent video). This was a presentation to the Huntsville Alabama L5 Society, a chapter of the National Space Society. There is a lot of technical discussion with the audience who were almost all engineers and scientist.

GoldBacks from Galactic/Green Greg’s affiliate link:
https://www.defythegrid.com/goldbacks…
Use coupon code GreenGregs for 1% off.

Continue reading “Fusion to Warp Drive with a Hint of Antigravity” »

“Interfacing two key devices together is a crucial step forward in allowing quantum networking, and we are really excited to be the first team to have been able to demonstrate this,” said Dr. Sarah Thomas.

How close are we to making quantum computing a reality? This is what a recent study published in Science Advances hopes to address as an international team of researchers discuss recent progress in how quantum information is both stored and then transmitted over long distances using a quantum memory device, which scientists have attempted to develop for some time. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the processes responsible for not only making quantum computing a reality, but also enabling it to work as seamlessly as possible.

While traditional telecommunications technology uses “repeaters” to prevent the loss of information over long distances, quantum computing cannot use such technology since it will destroy quantum information along the way. While quantum computing uses photons (particles of light) to send information, storing the information using a quantum memory device for further dissemination has eluded researchers for some time. Therefore, to combat the problem of sending quantum information over long distances, two devices are required: the first will send the quantum information while the second will store them for later dissemination.

Continue reading “Quantum Systems: Potential Improvements and Future Developments” »

For the first time, scientists have managed to create sheets of gold only a single atom layer thick. The material has been termed goldene. According to researchers from Linköping University, Sweden, this has given the gold new properties that can make it suitable for use in applications such as carbon dioxide conversion, hydrogen production, and production of value-added chemicals. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Synthesis.

Scientists have long tried to make single-atom-thick sheets of gold but failed because the metal’s tendency to lump together. But researchers from Linköping University have now succeeded thanks to a hundred-year-old method used by Japanese smiths.

“If you make a material extremely thin, something extraordinary happens—as with graphene. The same thing happens with gold. As you know, gold is usually a metal, but if single-atom-layer thick, the gold can become a semiconductor instead,” says Shun Kashiwaya, researcher at the Materials Design Division at Linköping University.