In a new experiment, physicists have replicated the famous Schrödinger’s cat experiment at hotter temperatures than ever before. The breakthrough is a small but significant step toward quantum computers that can work at normal temperatures.
Futuristic holograms you can manipulate have become a reality sooner than we thought, thanks to breakthrough display.
Google unveils Ironwood, its seventh-generation TPU chip delivering 42.5 exaflops of AI compute power — 24x more than the world’s fastest supercomputer — ushering in the “age of inference.”
Volcanic activity at Mount Spurr in Alaska is predicted to culminate in an explosive eruption in the coming months, potentially resulting in ashfall and disruptions to aviation operations in the greater Anchorage area. The stratovolcano, located in the Aleutian volcanic arc, lies around 129 km (80 miles) west of Anchorage on the western side of the Cook Inlet.
An uptick in low-level seismic activity and snow and ice melt has been occurring at the volcano since last year, indicating magmatic movements taking place under the surface; the alert level at the volcano was raised to yellow (the second lowest-level on a four-tier scale) in October 2024. Volcanic gas emissions have also been recorded, and the latest assessments indicate this activity will more likely end in an eruptive episode, rather than simmer down as it did in 2004–2006.
How will AI shape our understanding of our creativity and ourselves?
In February, artist and technologist K Allado-McDowell delivered a fascinating Long Now Talk that explored the dimensions of Neural Media — their term for an emerging set of creative forms that use artificial neural networks inspired by the connective design of the human brain.
Their Long Now Talk is a journey through the strange valleys and outcroppings of this age of neural media, telling a story involving statistical distributions, anti-aging influencers at war with death itself, and vast quantities of “AI Slop,” the low-quality, faintly surreal output of cheap, rapidly proliferating image models.
Yet even in this morass of slop Allado-McDowell sees reason for optimism. Referring to the title of their 2020 book Pharmako-AI, which was co-written with GPT-3, Allado-McDowell notes that the Greek word pharmakon could mean both drug and cure. What may seem poisonous or dangerous in this new paradigm of neural media could also unlock for us new and deeper ways of understanding ourselves, our planet, and all of the intelligent networks that live within it.
This talk was presented February 25, 02025 at the Cowell Theatre in San Francisco. The event livestream is here: https://www.youtube.com/live/AsCGRjl3zac?si=KBfIfkqatLwdMr8M
Episode notes: https://longnow.org/ideas/neural-media/
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VIDEO NOTES
Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its centre for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival. He is best known for his work on string theory, especially in his book “The Elegant Universe”, which turns 25 this year.
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Parul Sehgal of The New York Times stated “In these pieces, plucked from the last 20 years, Holt takes on infinity and the infinitesimal, the illusion of time, the birth of eugenics, the so-called new atheism, smartphones and distraction. It is an elegant history of recent ideas. There are a few historical correctives — he dismantles the notion that Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, was the first computer programmer. But he generally prefers to perch in the middle of a muddle — say, the string theory wars — and hear evidence from both sides without rushing to adjudication. The essays orbit around three chief concerns: How do we conceive of the world (metaphysics), how do we know what we know (epistemology) and how do we conduct ourselves (ethics)”. [ 6 ]
Steven Poole of The Wall Street Journal commented “…this collection of previously published essays by Jim Holt, who is one of the very best modern science writers”. [ 7 ]
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A highly automated form of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) has led to a successful birth, raising hopes that this approach could cut the risk of human error during such procedures.
One method of IVF is intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), where sperm is injected into eggs in a lab dish. This is commonly used in cases of male infertility, as the sperm don’t have to work to reach an egg. Any resulting embryos are then inserted into the uterus. IVF can also be done by mixing sperm and eggs in a lab dish in the hope that fertilisation will take place, which is generally less successful, but also requires less medical intervention.
Image: Conceivable Life Sciences
A baby has been born after being conceived via IVF performed by a machine, with a medical professional merely overseeing the process.
By Carissa Wong