Friday - September 22 2023, 02:41 UTC - 1 year ago

MDMA, known as "ecstasy" or "molly", has been gaining acceptance in the clinical realm as a viable therapy drug as clinical trials in many countries have shown its effectiveness against severe mental trauma, such as PTSD. Although it is still listed as a Schedule 1 drug by the DEA, scientists are increasingly seeing its potential in helping to combat difficult mental problems, with progress being made towards potential rescheduling. The drug has a long checkered past, as it was initially developed in 1912 for controlling bleeding, but was soon eyed by maverick researchers who saw its potential in couples' therapy.

Thursday - September 21 2023, 21:47 UTC - 1 year ago

A team led by researchers at the University of Washington have developed a shape-changing smart speaker, which uses self-deploying microphones to divide rooms into speech zones and track the positions of individual speakers. This allows intruders to have enhanced audio control and privacy in busy settings, especially without the need of visual cues from cameras.

Thursday - September 21 2023, 17:27 UTC - 1 year ago

Nanoracks has announced its plans to build the world’s first free-flying commercial space station called Starlab in collaboration with Lockheed Martin and with funding from NASA. Starlab will be better able to avoid space debris and Hilton is partnering with the project to design a luxurious living space in the station. Lessons learned from the ISS will be taken into account as NASA is aiming to extend its lifespan beyond 2030 and plan for a new era of privatized space stations.

Thursday - September 21 2023, 13:08 UTC - 1 year ago

Kamilla Cziráki, a geophysics student at Eötvös Loránd University, is leading an initiative to study a novel approach to navigation for lunar surface expeditions using the methodology of the 800-year-old mathematician Fibonacci. This work was recently published in the journal Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica. The initiative uses a database of an existing potential surface, called the lunar selenoid, from which they took a height sample at evenly spaced points to find the parameters suitable for navigation. Their work is part of the preparations to return to the Moon after a half a century.

Thursday - September 21 2023, 08:56 UTC - 1 year ago

Copenhagen Atomics is developing a thorium based molten salt reactor which will deliver safer, cleaner, and cheaper 100 MW thermal energy. They are constructing a 1 MWth demo reactor to validate their design and are expecting an assembly line mass construction of shipping container sized waste burner molten salt reactors to be ready by 2028.

Thursday - September 21 2023, 04:17 UTC - 1 year ago

Businesses want to use AI systems that are complete and can be trained with just data.Tesla FSD V12 with end to end neural network enabled faster system improvement. Achieved this point with over a million training samples. For AI problem like jiu-jitsu, needs to reach Purple Belt level before switching to end-to-end system to improve by example to black belt levels. James provides diagrams of parts of the FSD AI and it is better than human coding.

Thursday - September 21 2023, 00:04 UTC - 1 year ago

A large prospective cohort study of 63,676 middle-aged nurses found that those with an evening chronotype had a 72% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This risk held true even after adjusting for lifestyle and sociodemographic factors. The authors suggest night shift work and circadian misalignment due to a mismatch between chronotype and work may also be potential mechanisms, and advise lifestyle modifications and health interventions for those of an evening chronotype to reduce their diabetes risk.

Wednesday - September 20 2023, 19:49 UTC - 1 year ago

A new study published in the journal Science has revealed that the fluctuation in atmospheric CO2 levels during pre-historic times and the subsequent changes in climate and vegetation were significant factors influence when and where early human species interbred. Using existing paleo-anthropological evidence, genetic data, and supercomputer simulations. It was concluded that interglacial warm periods increased the likelihood of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Denisovans and the Monroe Interglacial period of Earth (~400,000 years ago) was the optimal period for hominin expansion and interbreeding due to increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Wednesday - September 20 2023, 14:56 UTC - 1 year ago

A previously unknown species of small herbivorous dinosaur - Vectidromeus insularis - has been discovered on the Isle of Wight, making it the second member of the hypsilophodontids family to have been unearthed in this area. This new species is the seventh new species of dinosaur to be discovered on the island in the last four years, highlighting the rich fossil deposits found within the Cretaceous strata. Hypsilophodon and Vectidromeus shared physical characteristics such as small and thin bodies with bird-like hindlimbs. There is ongoing discussion within the scientific community regarding including certain species within the hypsilophodont family.

Wednesday - September 20 2023, 10:27 UTC - 1 year ago

This month, a state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer was delivered to Planet for launch in early 2024, which will measure methane and carbon dioxide from space and be part of an effort by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper organization to collect data on greenhouse gas point-source emissions.

Wednesday - September 20 2023, 05:27 UTC - 1 year ago

The Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction (K-Pg) event was a major event which wiped out between 70-75% of species on Earth, including the non-avian dinosaurs. Although the majority of pre-K-Pg species went extinct, many families of angiosperms survived. How angiosperms thrived in different regions and the consequences of this on today’s species is a fascinating story.

Wednesday - September 20 2023, 00:35 UTC - 1 year ago

New research has shown that corporate insiders at multinationals make more money when trading stocks based on the information they gain on the job compared to those at domestic companies, due to the complexity of the information they can possess. Insiders may earn up to $170,000 more if they trade $1 million worth of stock over several months and the advantages can triple that of the typical stock market monthly gains. Companies should take regulation and other measures to level the playing field between insiders and ordinary investors in order to ensure trust in financial markets.

Tuesday - September 19 2023, 19:54 UTC - 1 year ago

The team from the University of Sydney analyzed 100 brain scans from the Human Connectome Project and found a mysterious spiraling wave activity pattern in the brain while at rest and when performing challenging cognitive tasks. By analyzing these spiral wave fingerprints, they could classify different stages of cognitive processing. This could be a step towards understanding the incredible engineering of our biological computing engines.

Tuesday - September 19 2023, 15:35 UTC - 1 year ago

Alexander Nwala, a professor of data science, has recently published a paper introducing BLOC, a universal language framework for modeling social media behaviors. Through this framework researchers can detect automated and coordinated behaviors that arise from malicious actors online. Ian MacDonald '25, technical director of the W&M DisinfoLab, is developing a BLOC-based website to be accessed by the public.

Tuesday - September 19 2023, 11:25 UTC - 1 year ago

Lab-based studies have revealed new insights into the central role of carbon atoms on interstellar ice grains in the production of complex organic compounds in the universe, which are essential for understanding the chemistry of the universe, as well as the origin of life on Earth and possibilities for life elsewhere.

Tuesday - September 19 2023, 06:32 UTC - 1 year ago

AI has the potential to be powerful, yet it can remain unexplainable and unpredictable. Trust in AI is hindered by its failure to adhere to ethical and normative expectations, as well as its lack of explainable decision-making processes. AI systems could be made more acceptable with more integrated moral reasoning and norms that provide explainable reasoning.

Tuesday - September 19 2023, 01:59 UTC - 1 year ago

The US Air Force wants to develop a fleet of at least 1,000 collaborative combat aircraft with autonomous capabilities to fly alongside their fighter systems. The Air Force plans to add autonomous code to six F-16s and also build on similar efforts such as Skyborg and the X-62A VISTA. They are continuing to test Skyborg software in XQ-58 Valkyrie drones.

Monday - September 18 2023, 21:14 UTC - 1 year ago

Reprogrammed stem cells, chemicals, and precise ratios were mixed and then observed for self-assembly. Results showed a structure resembling an embryo 1% of the time, being dependent on placenta cells. This can improve IVF success rates and test medicines during pregnancy, though improvements in the failure rate of the model must be made first.

Monday - September 18 2023, 16:51 UTC - 1 year ago

K2-18b is an exoplanet about 124 light-years from Earth, recently observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Scientists in the UK and US have detected chemical traces in the planet's atmosphere that suggest potential signs of life. Earth-based telescopes are now attempting to monitor the planets' atmospheres as it passes in front of its star in order to detect more signs of potential life.