Big News / Small Bytes2. 5. 21 Biological AI2. 5. 213BRAIN AG / FuturismIt's not unusual for artificial intelligence developers to take inspiration from the human brain when designing their algorithms or the circuitry they run on, but now a project is taking that biological inspiration a step further.Scientists from England's Aston University are physically integrating human brain stem cells into AI microchips, . The goal, the scientists say, is to push the boundaries of what AI can do by borrowing some of the human brain's processing capabilities.The project, dubbed Neu-ChiP, sounds like...…Big News / Small Bytes2. 5. 21 Biological AI2. 5. 213BRAIN AG / FuturismIt's not unusual for artificial intelligence developers to take inspiration from the human brain when designing their algorithms or the circuitry they run on, but now a project is taking that biological inspiration a step further.Scientists from England's Aston University are physically integrating human brain stem cells into AI microchips, . The goal, the scientists say, is to push the boundaries of what AI can do by borrowing some of the human brain's processing capabilities.The project, dubbed Neu-ChiP, sounds like...WW…

Big News / Small Bytes6. 11. 20 Life Form6. 11. 20Ames LaboratoryFor the first time, scientists have found that a bizarre subatomic "quasiparticle," called a skyrmion, that's capable of reproducing itself in an unusual way.A skyrmion is considered a quasiparticle because it acts like a subatomic particle in many ways, but doesn’t have any mass. In an experiment probing how skyrmions are formed that was NANO Letters, a team from the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory learned that they actually split in two and reproduce — not unlike a biological cell.Skyrmions are packets of...…Big News / Small Bytes6. 11. 20 Life Form6. 11. 20Ames LaboratoryFor the first time, scientists have found that a bizarre subatomic "quasiparticle," called a skyrmion, that's capable of reproducing itself in an unusual way.A skyrmion is considered a quasiparticle because it acts like a subatomic particle in many ways, but doesn’t have any mass. In an experiment probing how skyrmions are formed that was NANO Letters, a team from the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory learned that they actually split in two and reproduce — not unlike a biological cell.Skyrmions are packets of...WW…

Big News / Small Bytes9. 28. 20 Precision Tracking9. 28. 20FuturismThe U.S. Army has its eyes on SpaceX's Starlink constellation, which already has more than 700 satellites in orbit and has plans for many more.SpaceX launched Starlink with the goal of to the entire planet, but now the Army wants to tinker with the satellites and build in another purpose: to create a navigational network that's reportedly better and more secure than GPS, .A team of engineers at the University of Texas at Austin this week that describes a navigational system that's both 10 times as precise as GPS and less...…Big News / Small Bytes9. 28. 20 Precision Tracking9. 28. 20FuturismThe U.S. Army has its eyes on SpaceX's Starlink constellation, which already has more than 700 satellites in orbit and has plans for many more.SpaceX launched Starlink with the goal of to the entire planet, but now the Army wants to tinker with the satellites and build in another purpose: to create a navigational network that's reportedly better and more secure than GPS, .A team of engineers at the University of Texas at Austin this week that describes a navigational system that's both 10 times as precise as GPS and less...WW…

Big News / Small Bytes10. 5. 20 A/B Testing10. 5. 20Images via PixabayIt turns out that nuclear energy, which is a more feasible means of from fossil fuels than solar or wind, might not actually be up to the task.That's published Monday in the journal Nature Energy, which shows that countries that adopted nuclear energy didn't actually reduce their carbon emissions a significant amount — but that countries with renewable energy investments did. It's a compelling case that clean energy initiatives ought to focus on solar and wind, and perhaps skip nuclear as a stepping stone on the road to...…Big News / Small Bytes10. 5. 20 A/B Testing10. 5. 20Images via PixabayIt turns out that nuclear energy, which is a more feasible means of from fossil fuels than solar or wind, might not actually be up to the task.That's published Monday in the journal Nature Energy, which shows that countries that adopted nuclear energy didn't actually reduce their carbon emissions a significant amount — but that countries with renewable energy investments did. It's a compelling case that clean energy initiatives ought to focus on solar and wind, and perhaps skip nuclear as a stepping stone on the road to...WW…

Big News / Small Bytes9. 22. 20 Peace & Quiet9. 22. 20NASANASA and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) are launching a spacecraft to the far side of the Moon so that they can look back into the of the universe.In particular, the spacecraft DAPPER will hunt for radio signals given off during the "dark ages" of the universe, or the era 380,000 years after the Big Bang when there were no stars or galaxies to light up the universe, . If it finds them, DAPPER could give us a new level of understanding of how stars formed in the first place.Unfortunately, any ancient radio signals...…Big News / Small Bytes9. 22. 20 Peace & Quiet9. 22. 20NASANASA and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) are launching a spacecraft to the far side of the Moon so that they can look back into the of the universe.In particular, the spacecraft DAPPER will hunt for radio signals given off during the "dark ages" of the universe, or the era 380,000 years after the Big Bang when there were no stars or galaxies to light up the universe, . If it finds them, DAPPER could give us a new level of understanding of how stars formed in the first place.Unfortunately, any ancient radio signals...WW…

Big News / Small Bytes10. 7. 20 Time Loop10. 7. 20pxhere/Victor Tangermann Before the Big Bang, when our universe began to rapidly expand, there may have been a previous universe whose place we took.Sir Roger Penrose, a University of Oxford mathematician and physicist who just won the Nobel Prize for work in the field of black holes, suggested that our universe was not the first to exist, . And, he added, it won't be the last either.“The Big Bang was not the beginning," Penrose said, according to the paper. "There was something before the Big Bang and that something is what we will...…Big News / Small Bytes10. 7. 20 Time Loop10. 7. 20pxhere/Victor Tangermann Before the Big Bang, when our universe began to rapidly expand, there may have been a previous universe whose place we took.Sir Roger Penrose, a University of Oxford mathematician and physicist who just won the Nobel Prize for work in the field of black holes, suggested that our universe was not the first to exist, . And, he added, it won't be the last either.“The Big Bang was not the beginning," Penrose said, according to the paper. "There was something before the Big Bang and that something is what we will...WW…

Horrible Luck6. 2. 20  by 6. 2. 20  Researchers may have finally figured out why it's been so difficult to tell where the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 — which causes COVID-19 — came from within the animal kingdom.While most evidence suggests that the virus before infecting people, a genetic analysis of it never identified a perfect match among known bat diseases. Now, scientists think that's because SARS-CoV-2 is actually a genetic hybrid, : it seems to be the result of two separate viruses that swapped genes somewhere along the way.The surface of SARS-CoV-2 is dotted...…Horrible Luck6. 2. 20  by 6. 2. 20  Researchers may have finally figured out why it's been so difficult to tell where the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 — which causes COVID-19 — came from within the animal kingdom.While most evidence suggests that the virus before infecting people, a genetic analysis of it never identified a perfect match among known bat diseases. Now, scientists think that's because SARS-CoV-2 is actually a genetic hybrid, : it seems to be the result of two separate viruses that swapped genes somewhere along the way.The surface of SARS-CoV-2 is dotted...WW…

LiveMau59. 1. 20  by 9. 1. 20  The common bodybuilding supplement alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) seems to have a pronounced anti-aging effect on mice.The supplement — which is also produced naturally in mouse and human bodies — not only made the mice who ate it live longer, but it also for longer as well, .The Buck Institute for Research on Aging scientists behind the research found that female mice that were fed enough AKG to maintain a younger mouse's blood levels of the compound lived eight to 20 percent longer than the control group, published Tuesday in the...…LiveMau59. 1. 20  by 9. 1. 20  The common bodybuilding supplement alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) seems to have a pronounced anti-aging effect on mice.The supplement — which is also produced naturally in mouse and human bodies — not only made the mice who ate it live longer, but it also for longer as well, .The Buck Institute for Research on Aging scientists behind the research found that female mice that were fed enough AKG to maintain a younger mouse's blood levels of the compound lived eight to 20 percent longer than the control group, published Tuesday in the...WW…

Big News / Small Bytes7. 9. 20 Buried Treasure7. 9. 20NASANASA just awarded substantial funding to Pioneer Astronautics, a company that claims it can gather up lunar regolith and turn it into usable oxygen.Pioneer Astronautics is one of four companies to win funding through a newly-established of NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program, . The company will split the total $17 million pot with three other firms ­— though the exact breakdown hasn't been disclosed — because the space agency believes it could prove valuable to the .The plan — gathering up the Moon's loose rocks and...…Big News / Small Bytes7. 9. 20 Buried Treasure7. 9. 20NASANASA just awarded substantial funding to Pioneer Astronautics, a company that claims it can gather up lunar regolith and turn it into usable oxygen.Pioneer Astronautics is one of four companies to win funding through a newly-established of NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program, . The company will split the total $17 million pot with three other firms ­— though the exact breakdown hasn't been disclosed — because the space agency believes it could prove valuable to the .The plan — gathering up the Moon's loose rocks and...WW…

President Zuck6. 25. 20  President Zuck6. 25. 20  Image by White House/Victor TangermannFor years, Hany Farid has been warning Congress, the media, and anyone else who would listen that society is against disinformation online.With the rise of sophisticated, and other forms of manipulated media and the approaching 2020 presidential election, his warnings seem more prescient than ever. Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley's electrical engineering & computer science program, is among the foremost experts in digital forensics — the practice of...…President Zuck6. 25. 20  President Zuck6. 25. 20  Image by White House/Victor TangermannFor years, Hany Farid has been warning Congress, the media, and anyone else who would listen that society is against disinformation online.With the rise of sophisticated, and other forms of manipulated media and the approaching 2020 presidential election, his warnings seem more prescient than ever. Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley's electrical engineering & computer science program, is among the foremost experts in digital forensics — the practice of...WW…