Friday - December 15 2023, 06:52 UTC - 11 months ago

A compact robotic 3D printer will be used in the construction of a fire-resistant house in Walnut, California, early in 2023. This first-of-its-kind project is expected to set an example for the utility of 3D printing in areas severely impacted by wildfires. The fire-proof construction consists of concrete with light steel and sureboards and will use additional fire-resistant materials for vulnerable areas.

Friday - December 15 2023, 01:52 UTC - 11 months ago

2023 proved to be a big year in lunar exploration, with many discoveries being made. India's Chandrayaan-3 found sulfur near the lunar south pole, a potential resource. Meanwhile, NASA's Artemis program has gained 32 signatories of the Artemis Accords for peaceful space exploration. AI and space debris around Moon is also being monitored and showing signs of growth.

Thursday - December 14 2023, 21:13 UTC - 11 months ago

Two former staffers of the US agency responsible for advancing the technology argue that the profit-driven carbon removal industry’s focus on cleaning up corporate emissions will come at the expense of helping to pull the planet back from dangerous levels of warming. Existing efforts have largely been funded by companies voluntarily paying for them in the face of investor pressure. Researchers propose two alternative models that could help ensure the necessary annual investments for CDR are not dedicated to corporate clean-ups while these companies are polluting the planet in other ways.

Thursday - December 14 2023, 16:28 UTC - 11 months ago

A new study published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution has revealed that some genetic variants from Neanderthals may have influenced the circadian rhythms of modern humans. The researchers examined the differences in the circadian genes, using artificial intelligence methods to identify variants with altered gene expression between Neanderthals and modern humans. Data from the UK Biobank provided evidence that these variants allowed people with higher Neanderthal ancestry to better adjust their circadian clocks to the seasonal shifts in the environment.

Thursday - December 14 2023, 11:36 UTC - 11 months ago

Google has launched a new AI system called Gemini that can understand and respond to complex inputs and outputs. AI can use data from cars, computers, motion sensors, voice assistants, and other devices to learn new capabilities and act as a companion in everyday life. This will help doctors detect illnesses early on and even suggest improvements to our lifestyle.

Thursday - December 14 2023, 07:33 UTC - 11 months ago

Microsoft and the AFL-CIO have set a partnership with plans to train labor leaders and workers on how artificial intelligence works and to shape up policies regarding AI. Microsoft will make it easier for their staff to unionize thus differentiating itself from other tech giants that haven't shied from a more confrontational approach towards organized labor.

Thursday - December 14 2023, 02:38 UTC - 11 months ago

In December 2022, NASA's MAVEN mission observed the 'disappearance' of a stream of charged particles off the Sun, known as the solar wind. This provided an opportunity for scientists to understand Mars' behavior better, and the observations of the event revealed a transformation in the Martian atmosphere due to the rare void of low-density solar wind in its wake.

Wednesday - December 13 2023, 22:07 UTC - 11 months ago

New research suggests that elements essential for life, such as sulfur and nitrogen, were present on Earth from the very beginning, rather than arriving later from outer space. First-principles calculation allowed scientists to compare their predictions of isotope signatures for different chalcogens, depending on how the Earth formed, to actual measurements of chalcogen isotopes on Earth. It was found that while many volatiles evaporated during Earth’s formation, many more are still left over today, thus challenging the popularly held late veneer theory.

Wednesday - December 13 2023, 17:27 UTC - 11 months ago

Space is silent - for the most part - because there is no sound or echo in space due to the lack of atoms and molecules to carry sound. However, other events in space make sound waves, some of which have been recorded. On the closest planets to Earth, such as Mars and Venus, sound would sound quite different due to the atmosphere thickness of each planet.

Wednesday - December 13 2023, 12:33 UTC - 11 months ago

After my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer due to a gene mutation, I found out I was a carrier of the same gene mutation. I decided to take the precaution of prophylactic surgery to prevent the same tragedy from striking me. With scientific advances and increasingly accessible and affordable genetic testing, people can take steps to prevent ovarian cancer from hitting them and their families.

Wednesday - December 13 2023, 08:29 UTC - 11 months ago

PsiQuantum is a quantum computing development startup with a vision to create large scale quantum computing systems. PsiQuantum has raised about $665M and has a valuation of over $3B. They have automated much their workflow to estimate the resources to develop algorithms as well as partnered with the US Department of Energy and GlobalFoundries to deliver the first system in six years.

Wednesday - December 13 2023, 03:58 UTC - 11 months ago

Google's new Gemini AI system can understand and talk about almost any kind of prompt. AI uses data harvested on the internet and sensors to gain understandings and real-time information. AI can be used to improve traffic flow, recognize health and ailments, optimize home use, and make better decisions in daily life. With an understanding of the real world, AI can act as a companion to us in all kind of scenarios.

Tuesday - December 12 2023, 23:05 UTC - 11 months ago

On Christmas 2022, a startling and unexpected event occured in the Martian atmosphere; the solar wind briefly vanished. MAVEN observed a dramatic drop in the stream of charged particles on Mars which caused major changes in the planet's atmosphere. Analysis revealed the cause of this event to be a stream interaction region of faster-moving solar wind overtaking slower-moving solar wind. This led to a cascade of effects, including the expansion of the Martian atmosphere and magnetosphere by thousands of kilometers, offering invaluable insights into the intricate dynamics of the Martian atmosphere.

Tuesday - December 12 2023, 18:09 UTC - 11 months ago

European Union member states and lawmakers came to an agreement to draft "historic" rules regulating artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT after 36 hours of negotiations. The "AI Act" is a global first, and sets clear rules for the use of AI in the EU. Critics worry the technology can be misused, but senior EU figures are determined to ensure safety and fundamental rights for people and businesses.

Tuesday - December 12 2023, 13:40 UTC - 11 months ago

The US Space Force X-37B mission, announced by Elon Musk on Sunday, December 10, 2023, on X, should go ahead soon this evening, December 11th, 2021. It is set to launch on SpaceX's Falcon heavy and be the seventh mission for the X-37B space plane. It's objectives include operating in new orbital regimes, as it will be carried to a higher orbit farther from Earth than the previously used Atlas V and Falcon 9 rockets. It also carries an unclassified experiment known as Seed-2, which will test the effects of radiation and long-duration spaceflight on plant seeds.

Tuesday - December 12 2023, 08:43 UTC - 11 months ago

At 21 years old, a young woman underwent a surgery to implant electrodes into the thalamus to better control her cognitive symptoms from a severe brain injury due to a accident. After three months, her scores improved by up to 52%, far exceeding expectations. But the therapy still carries risk and requires brain surgery.

Tuesday - December 12 2023, 03:47 UTC - 11 months ago

Despite a low accuracy in speech recogntion of 78%, a new study published in Nature Electronics has found that brain organoids, kept alive by connecting them to a computer chip and an AI tool, can perform simple computational tasks.

Monday - December 11 2023, 23:20 UTC - 11 months ago

Baristas in specialty coffee shops in Philadelphia are the 'shock troops' of gentrification—contributing to often unwelcome economic and demographic change. Baristas in Philadelphia are either artistic baristas or coffee careerists, who both aim to lead a more relaxed lifestyle while being surrounded by art and music scenes. Both types of baristas have rejected middle-class jobs in favor of those in the coffee industry.

Monday - December 11 2023, 18:32 UTC - 11 months ago

A large-scale analysis of medical and genetic data by Stanford Medicine researchers and their collaborators has revealed that a specific gene variant (DR4) might provide resistance to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases in around 20% of the population. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.