Friday - June 30 2023, 18:38 UTC - 1 year ago

U.S. airline passengers in early 2023 faced the highest rate of flight delays since 2014 due to an epic meltdown of Southwest Airlines, resulting in the Biden administration proposing new rules that would require airlines to provide compensation for delays and cancelations. Consumer advocates have long sought greater passenger rights for airline travelers, especially since the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act. Action groups such as the U.S. Division of Transportation, 23 airlines, and customer advocacy groups created the FlyersRights.org bill of rights, which provides protections for those affected by delays and cancellations. The Passenger Rights Regulation of the European Union requires two forms of compensation if flights are delayed or canceled, while JetBlue offers their own compensation.

Friday - June 30 2023, 13:42 UTC - 1 year ago

The new Disney-Pixar movie "Elemental" is enabled by ETH technology. The ETH technology uses AI to let animators control the appearance and structure of smoke, fire, and fluids. The technology was first used in the 2021 movie "Raya and the Last Dragon" and has been further developed for the recently released "Elemental" movie.

Friday - June 30 2023, 08:51 UTC - 1 year ago

Astronomers from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy have discovered a remarkable survivor of a catastrophic event caused by its sun. Using two Maunakea Observatories on Hawaiʻi Island, a team of astronomers led by Marc Hon, a NASA Hubble Fellow at IfA, discovered the planet Halla, which orbits the red giant star Baekdu and managed to persist in the immediate vicinity of a giant star that should have engulfed it. The observations from multiple telescopes on Maunakea were critical in this process. The theory of “planetary envelopment” suggests the planets may shrink radially but survive in their orbits like a shrunken, dense core.

Friday - June 30 2023, 04:48 UTC - 1 year ago

The M4 robot is a new autonomous robot designed by researchers at Caltech's Center for Autonomous Systems and Technologies (CAST). It can roll on four wheels, turn its wheels into rotors and fly, stand on two wheels to see over obstacles, use its wheels like feet to walk, use two rotors to add momentum while it rolls up inclines on two wheels, tumble, and more. It's AI enables it to autonomously decide which form of motion to use for navigating its environment, and it could be useful for search and rescue or exploration missions. The research was funded by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Science Foundation.

Friday - June 30 2023, 00:08 UTC - 1 year ago

Debi Gamber, manager of a TD Bank branch in Baltimore, noticed suspicious activity coming from a small TD ATM located in a nearby mall, the activity turning out to be an international church check depositing fraud facilitated by a customer service representative at the TD branch. TD contacted local and federal law enforcement, leading to nine of the conspirators' arrests. Drop accounts created by street gangs, hackers, and rings of friends are largely responsible for this rising type of crime, which can occur quickly and easily due to outdated security measures. To understand the growing phenomenon and its impact, the Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group at Georgia State University conducted a four-month investigation.

Thursday - June 29 2023, 20:04 UTC - 1 year ago

This study by the University of Illinois Chicago found that time-restricted eating (intermittent fasting) led to similar weight loss and improved insulin sensitivity as traditional calorie restriction among adults with obesity, although access to dieticians likely contributed to this effect. Further research is needed to understand individual responses to each dietary intervention.

Thursday - June 29 2023, 15:27 UTC - 1 year ago

LightNet is a deep learning architecture designed to revolutionize the agricultural sector. It provides an efficient and accurate solution for deep learning in real-world applications, improving crop management and food security. LightNet is half the size, double the efficiency, and three times faster than DenseNet.

Thursday - June 29 2023, 11:01 UTC - 1 year ago

Shein is a Chinese fast-fashion website that has been on the rise. To combat accusations of terrible labor conditions, the company is working with US influencers to showcase operations in China. The company is facing complexities with its business model and issues with transparency, and remains vulnerable to public outcry. To ensure success, Shein must invest in sustainable practices and transparently monitor supplier factories.

Thursday - June 29 2023, 06:40 UTC - 1 year ago

A 25-year-old wager on the source of consciousness between German-American computational neuroscientist Christof Koch and Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers has come to a close with the first one admitting defeat. Koch theorized that consciousness emerges from a posterior cortical hot zone whereas Chalmers famously divided consciousness into 'easy' and 'hard' problems. Based on a recent study, judges gave more points to Koch's theory but an answer on consciousness has yet to be found.

Thursday - June 29 2023, 01:55 UTC - 1 year ago

A new collaboration between IBM and UC Berkeley has shown that quantum computers may soon tackle problems that today’s powerful supercomputers couldn't, even with errors. The study suggests that corrections can be achieved by post-processing the results of quantum calculations. The team pitted IBM’s 127-qubit Eagle chip against supercomputers at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Purdue University for increasingly complex tasks and with easier calculations, the chip matched the supercomputers' results.

Wednesday - June 28 2023, 20:57 UTC - 1 year ago

Gemini is the latest AI project between Google's Brain AI lab and DeepMind. The project is set to revolutionize Artificial Intelligence technology, with a cost of hundreds of million of dollars. Gemini will enable machines to work faster and more precise, making accurate predictions with less data consumption, and will be used in robotics automation and research.

Wednesday - June 28 2023, 16:21 UTC - 1 year ago

People with trisomy 21, or Down Syndrome, have a remarkable increase in life expectancy during the 20th century, but they still experience increased risks of co-occurring conditions. A new study by scientists showed that the genes involved in controlling the immune system are critical to the development of the condition and suggest restoring immune balance could help improve people's quality of life. The four interferon receptor genes present in chromosome 21 are overproduced in people with Down Syndrome compared to the general population.

Wednesday - June 28 2023, 11:35 UTC - 1 year ago

The George Institute for Global Health has revealed data from the phase III INTERACT3 study, confirming that an innovative blend of treatments for stroke due to intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) considerably elevates survival rates. The INTERACT3 trial is the first-ever randomized controlled study that has presented a distinctly positive outcome, and the implementation of this new treatment procedure, known as a Care Bundle, focusing primarily on swiftly controlling high blood pressure, resulted in superior recovery, decreased mortality rates, and an overall enhancement in the quality of life of the patients suffering from this grave condition.

Wednesday - June 28 2023, 06:39 UTC - 1 year ago

Computer scientists from the University of Waterloo have identified a method that evades voice authentication systems with up to a 99% success rate after six attempts. By exploiting vulnerabilities in voice authentication systems and through the use of deepfake software, malicious actors can access sensitive data. Companies relying on voice authentication as their sole authentication factor should seriously consider additional measures.

Wednesday - June 28 2023, 02:02 UTC - 1 year ago

An American father and son duo have spent the last few years 3D printing and building a replica Lamborghini Aventador SV. Lamborghini donated some genuine parts to the project, and the car features a genuine Lamborghini Aventador steering wheel with badge. They utilized carbon fiber and rebuilt a 2005 Corvette engine to power the car. After completing necessary changes, they plan to exhibit the car at the Bandimere Speedway show in August.

Tuesday - June 27 2023, 21:43 UTC - 1 year ago

The University of Florida astronomers have found the first evidence of a violation of symmetry at the moment of the universe's creation. This discovery has two primary consequences, first, that this symmetry violation imprinted itself onto the future galaxies during a period of extreme inflation in the universe's early stages, and second, it helps to explain why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe. It was conducted with a high level of statistical confidence, and answers the big questions of 'why is there something rather than nothing?'.

Tuesday - June 27 2023, 17:07 UTC - 1 year ago

NASA has announced that astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have achieved a water recovery rate of 98 percent, thanks to their Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS). The system uses advanced dehumidifiers, as well as a Water Processor Assembly (WPA), a Urine Processor Assembly (UPA), and a Brine Processor Assembly (BPA), to collect water from sweat, urine, and the atmosphere, and process it into drinkable water for the ISS crew to use. This remarkable achievement is an important milestone in NASA's efforts to create a sustainable life-support system for astronauts on long-duration space missions.

Tuesday - June 27 2023, 12:08 UTC - 1 year ago

KAUST researchers have used two-dimensional materials to create a charge-trapping 'in-memory' sensor that is sensitive to visible light and can be programmed optically and erased electrically, and that can perform visual perception capabilities, such as scene recognition. Experiments indicate photo-generated charge can be trapped or stored with an extremely long-lived retention time, and the team was able to perform successful binary image recognition with an accuracy of 91%. The ultimate aim of the research is to create a single optoelectronic device that can perform optical sensing and storage with computing capabilities.

Tuesday - June 27 2023, 07:48 UTC - 1 year ago

A new study published by McKinsey estimates that generative AI has the potential to create up to $4.4 trillion worth of annual value in the global economy. This technology can automate and accelerate work currently done by humans, allowing us to get more work done with less time. Four job categories could especially benefit from generative AI: customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and research and development. However, re-skilling and investments in worker transitions will need to be managed carefully.