The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments from TikTok and ByteDance, its China-based owner, on Friday. ByteDance is seeking an injunction against a bill signed by President Joe Biden that bans short-form video apps starting January 19 unless they are divested from ByteDance. TikTok argues that the sale would be impossible and is seeking an injunction to suspend the ban pending legal proceedings.
Over 170 million Americans use TikTok, and the company’s lawyers claim that banning the app violates the First Amendment rights of many users. Despite this argument, the federal appeals court upheld the ban in December. The bill received bipartisan support from Congress in April over concerns that China could spread propaganda through the app.
Starting on January 19, new users will be unable to download TikTok, and existing users will not be able to update the app. Lawmakers have instructed major app stores, like Apple Inc. and Google, to be prepared to remove TikTok from their platforms on that date.
TikTok’s 7,000 U.S. employees are uncertain about their future. Some new roles are still being advertised by the company, but there is pessimism among employees following the court’s decision to uphold the anti-sale law in December. Advertisers are also considering their options, with some planning to continue advertising on TikTok even after January 19.
TikTok has insisted that it cannot be sold, but potential buyers, like Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in acquiring the app. McCourt has secured commitments from investors for a bid and hopes to negotiate a sale with ByteDance.
State-level bans, like the one planned in Montana, have faced legal challenges. In China, a forced sale of TikTok may require approval from Beijing authorities, which could prove to be a significant hurdle.
Days before popular US social media app TikTok is proposed to be banned, Chinese social media app Red Note is seeing a flood of new users as the little-known company eases English language restrictions while strategically taking advantage of the sudden influx.
More than 50,000 users from the United States and China participated in a live chat dubbed “TikTok Refugees” on RedNote on Monday. Veteran Chinese users welcomed the American users, with some trepidation, and exchanged notes on topics such as food and youth unemployment, although at times the conversation delved into more sensitive subjects.
Such impromptu cultural exchanges were happening across Red Note, also known as “Xiaohongshu” in China, as it rose to the top of the US download rankings this week. Its popularity was boosted by social media users in the U.S. who had been searching for alternatives to ByteDance Inc.’s TikTok in the days before its impending ban.
RedNote, a venture capital-backed startup valued at $17 billion, allows users to curate photos, videos, and text to document their lives. With more than 300 million users relying on it for travel tips, anti-aging creams, and restaurant recommendations, the company is considered an IPO candidate in China.
In just two days, over 700,000 new users have joined Xiaohonshu, and Red Note downloads in the U.S. have increased significantly, according to estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower.
The surge in U.S. users comes ahead of a Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban on national security grounds. TikTok is currently used by about 170 million Americans, about half of the U.S. population, and is overwhelmingly popular with young people and advertisers.
Stella Kittrell, a 29-year-old content creator based in Baltimore, Maryland, expressed her support for Americans using Red Note as a response to concerns over business and privacy issues with the U.S. government. She joined RedNote in hopes of collaborating with Chinese companies and finding an alternative to other social media platforms.
Brian Atavansi, a 29-year-old business analyst and content creator from San Diego, California, noted that apps like Instagram and Facebook are not able to recreate the sense of community found on TikTok due to its organic nature.
“I achieved 40 seconds of uninterrupted concentration.”
Apparently, this is cause for celebration. For the past 10 minutes, I've been staring at my phone, trying to move a digital ball up a hill using only the power of my mind. The Mendi headset I wear analyzes my brain activity and reflects it in my games. The more you concentrate, the higher the ball will rise.
This exercise is thought to work your mental muscles, just like using weights to train your physical muscles, ultimately increasing your focus and reducing stress.
Like thousands of other people, I've been wearing smartwatches for years to help me track my fitness and improve my physical health. But the wearables industry has set its sights on a new target: mental health. We now have smart watches and brainwave-reading devices that not only analyze the state of our nervous systems, but perhaps intervene proactively to improve our well-being, and we now have mental health support. We're making it more accessible and wearable than ever before. “We're harnessing the brain's ability to rewire itself so that we can have more control over our emotions,” he says. Mustafa Hamada Mendi Chief Product and Scientific Officer.
As someone who suffers from stress and anxiety, I'm willing to try anything that helps me control it. But I have a background in neuroscience, so I’m wary of believing the hype. So I took a closer look at the growing number of devices targeting concentration, concentration, stress and anxiety to find out how they work and which ones actually make a difference…
CCenter staff at some of the world's biggest tech companies, including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Netflix, have all accused the employer of retaliating against union organizers, constantly monitoring staff and denying them even bathroom breaks.
In the United States or Europe, if you're looking for technical or customer support from a major technology company, you might end up talking to an employee at Tele Performance's call center in Greece.
Teleperformance, the world's largest call center operator, Approximately 12,000 workers Based in Greece, we serve over 140 markets around the world in 43 different languages and dialects. The company is 7 multilingual hubs In Greece, it takes place in Athens, Chania and Thessaloniki.
Workers in Greece who have been seeking a collective agreement with Teleperformance say that the company has recently retaliated Targeted firings of union leaders, etc.
they say wages have increased unchanged Since 2010, Greece has been hit by creditor austerity measures despite high inflation and rising costs of living in recent years.
Mr. Nikos Spilleris, a call center worker at Teleperformance, Setep, The union representing teleperformance workers in Greece explained that its efforts began in early 2024 in response to years of no wage increases and increased production pressures placed on workers.
Setep Teleperformance call center employees go on strike in Greece. Photo: SETEP/Courtesy of SETEP
“They judge you on dozens of productivity metrics, and depending on the project, you have to be on the phone multiple times. Not being allowed to go to the bathroom even if you want to. is common,” Spilleris said. “If an employee is sick or absent for any reason, that is considered counterproductive and is grounds for renewing or not renewing the employee’s contract.”
Innovations in AI have come a long way since I first used ChatGPT to generate emails two years ago. Take Google’s experimental “AI research assistant,” notebook LM, for example. This tool goes beyond text prompts by allowing users to upload various types of content like videos, links, and PDFs. It organizes your original sources and notes, provides content overviews, answers questions, and even creates podcast-like summaries. As AI tools evolve, we can anticipate more advanced features integrated into everyday software. However, it’s crucial to remember to fact-check and verify the information generated by AI.
Escape Algorithmic Constraints
If you find yourself trapped in a repetitive cycle of music or TV recommendations, it’s time for a change. Platforms like Netflix offer options to reset your viewing history, allowing you to start fresh with new recommendations. Similarly, diversifying your listening habits on Spotify can broaden the range of choices offered to you. Utilize features like Private Session mode or Exclude from Preference Profile to customize your content recommendations based on your preferences.
Identifying AI-Generated Videos
As text-to-video tools become more prevalent, the rise of AI-manipulated videos, known as “deepfakes,” is inevitable. Keep an eye out for watermarks indicating AI generation and be cautious of anomalies like incorrect anatomy or physics in videos. Contextual clues are key in spotting AI-generated content, so stay alert for any content that seems too outlandish or suspicious.
Verify, Watch, and Backup
Incidents of “snatch theft” are on the rise, with thieves targeting mobile phones for resale overseas. While prevention is challenging, ensure to backup important data on your device to mitigate potential losses. Enable automatic syncing to cloud services or manually backup media files through device settings to safeguard your data. In the event of theft, having backup copies ensures that vital information is not lost.
High-resolution UAV-based aerial survey of the massive Bronze Age fortress Domanissis Gora in Georgia, South Caucasus, reveals the extent of a large external fortification system and settlements that are largely undocumented in the region. The exceptional size of D. gora helps add a new dimension to population assembly models in Eurasia and other regions.
Aerial photo of the Domanisis Gora ruins. It shows where two canyons meet. Excavation work on the inner fortress in 2023 is visible in the foreground. Image credit: Nathaniel Erb-Satullo.
Fortified settlements in the South Caucasus appeared between 1500 and 500 BC and represent an unprecedented development in the region’s prehistory.
Located on the border between Europe, the Eurasian steppe and the Middle East, the Caucasus region has a long history as a crossroads of cultures with a unique regional identity.
In a new study, archaeologists focused on Domanisis Gora, a 60-80 hectare fortified settlement in Georgia that is exceptional in its preservation and size.
Dr. Nathaniel Erb Satullo of the Cranfield Institute of Forensic Sciences at Cranfield University and his colleagues wrote: “The fortifications of Domanisis Gora consisted of a double-walled fortified core and a much larger outer shell with additional fortifications. “There is,” he said.
“Two steep-sided gorges, 60 meters deep in places, supplement the defensive walls.”
“Previous research had noted that the site had an unusually large walled enclosure, but the site had not been systematically mapped.”
The researchers used the DJI Phantom 4 RTK drone, which can provide less than 2 cm relative position accuracy and very high-resolution aerial imagery.
To obtain high-precision maps containing man-made features, each feature in the aerial images was carefully checked to confirm its identity.
To understand how the landscape at the site has evolved, the orthophotos were compared to 50-year-old photos taken by a Cold War-era reconnaissance satellite that was declassified in 2013.
This gave scientists much-needed insight into which features are recent and which are old.
The team was also able to assess which areas of the ancient settlement were damaged by modern agriculture.
All of these data sets were integrated into geographic information system (GIS) software to help identify patterns and changes in the landscape.
“The drone takes approximately 11,000 photos and uses advanced software to combine these photos with a high-resolution digital elevation model and orthophotos, which show every point as if looking directly down. We created a composite photo,” said Dr. Elvusaturo.
The researchers found that the Domanisis Gora ruins were more than 40 times larger than originally thought, and included a large outer settlement protected by a kilometer-long wall.
“Using a drone, we were able to understand the importance of the site and document it in a way that would not be possible on the ground,” said Dr. Herv Saturo.
“Domanisis Gora is not only an important discovery for the South Caucasus region, but also has broader significance for the diversity of large-scale settlement structures and their formation processes.”
“We hypothesize that Domanicis gora may have expanded through interaction with mobile pastoral groups, with large settlements outside it expanding and contracting seasonally.”
“The site has now been extensively mapped and further research will be initiated to gain insight into areas such as population density and density, livestock movements and agricultural practices.”
The team’s paper was published in a magazine ancient.
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Nathaniel L. Erb-Saturo others. Megaforts of the South Caucasus: New data from southern Georgia. ancientpublished online on January 8, 2025. doi: 10.15184/aqy.2024.197
The company has collaborated closely with the UK government on artificial intelligence safety, the NHS, and education. They are also working on AI development for military drones.
Their defense industry partners note that Faculty AI has experience in developing and deploying AI models on UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles).
Faculty is one of the most active companies offering AI services in the UK. Unlike other companies like OpenAI and Deepmind, they do not develop their own models, focusing instead on reselling models from OpenAI and providing consulting services on their use in government and industry.
The company gained recognition in the UK for their work on data analysis during the Vote Leave campaign before the Brexit vote. This led to their involvement in government projects during the pandemic, with their CEO Mark Warner participating in meetings of the government’s scientific advisory committee.
Under former chancellor Rishi Sunak, Faculty Science has been testing AI models for the UK government’s AI Safety Institute (AISI), established in 2023.
Governments worldwide are racing to understand the safety implications of AI, particularly in the context of military applications such as equipping drones with AI for various purposes.
In a press release, British startup Hadean announced a partnership with Faculty AI to explore AI capabilities in defense, including subject identification, object movement tracking, and autonomous swarming.
Faculty’s work with Hadeen does not involve targeting weapons, according to their statements. They emphasize their expertise in AI safety and ethical application of AI technologies.
The company collaborates with AISI and government agencies on various projects, including investigating the use of large-scale language models for identifying undesirable conduct.
The Faculty, led by Chief Executive Mark Warner, continues to work closely with AISI. Photo: Al Tronto/Faculty AI
Faculty has incorporated models like ChatGPT, developed in collaboration with OpenAI, into their projects. Concerns have been raised about their collaborations with AISI and possible conflicts of interest.
The company stresses its commitment to AI safety and ethical deployment of AI technologies across various sectors, including defense.
They have secured contracts with multiple government departments, including the NHS, Department of Health and Social Care, Department for Education, and Department for Culture, Media and Sport, generating significant income.
Experts caution about the responsibility of technology companies in AI development and the importance of avoiding conflicts of interest in projects like AISI.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Technology has not provided specific details on commercial contracts with the company.
Meta has recently removed the Facebook and Instagram profiles of AI characters that were created over a year ago. This decision came after users rediscovered these profiles, joined conversations, and shared screenshots that went viral.
The company initially introduced these AI-powered profiles in September 2023 but retired most of them by the summer of 2024. However, following comments by Meta executive Connor Hayes, a few characters were kept and gained renewed interest. According to the Financial Times, Meta plans to roll out more AI character profiles soon.
Hayes stated, “We expect these AIs to eventually become permanent fixtures on our platform, similar to user accounts.” The AI profiles would post generated photos on Instagram and respond to messages from users on Messenger.
Conversations with Meta AI user-generated therapist chatbots. Photo: Instagram
The AI profiles included characters like Liv and Carter, who described themselves as a proud black queer mom and a dating expert, respectively. Despite being managed by Meta, these profiles interacted with users. In 2023, Meta released a total of 28 AI personas, all of which were deactivated last Friday.
Conversations with these characters took unexpected turns as users questioned the AI’s creators. In response to inquiries about the lack of diversity among the creator team, for example, Liv pointed out the absence of Black individuals. Shortly after these profiles gained attention, they started disappearing.
Instagram AI Studio for building chatbots. Photo: Instagram
Meta’s spokeswoman, Liz Sweeney, clarified that the accounts were part of an AI experiment conducted in 2023 and were managed by humans. After addressing a bug preventing users from blocking the accounts, Meta removed the profiles.
Regarding the recent confusion, Sweeney stated that the Financial Times article focused on Meta’s long-term vision for AI characters on its platform, not the introduction of a new product. The AI accounts were part of an experiment conducted in 2023 using Connect. Meta assured users that they are working to resolve the blocking issue.
Although the meta-generation accounts have been taken down, users can still create their own AI chatbots. These user-generated chatbots cover various roles and themes, such as therapists, loyal confidants, tutors, and relationship coaches.
The liability of chatbot creators for the content generated by their AI companions remains unaddressed. While US law protects social network creators from user-generated content liability, a lawsuit against Character.ai suggests potential legal issues with AI chatbots.
Refrigerators and freezers typically derive their cooling power from environmentally harmful liquids.
Mint Images Limited/Alamy
A new type of crystal could help refrigerators and air conditioners keep us cool without warming the planet.
Refrigerators and air conditioners obtain their cooling power by circulating liquid within the device. The liquid absorbs heat and causes cooling through cycles of evaporation and condensation. However, many such liquids contribute to the greenhouse effect and cause further warming if they leak. now, jenny pringle Researchers at Australia's Deakin University have created a climate-friendly alternative to these liquids using “plastic crystals” – crystals containing molecules that can move enough to make them flexible. Developed.
If enough pressure is applied, these plastic crystals can deform. Their molecules go from a random orientation to an ordered grid. Then, when the pressure is removed, they disturb again. As part of this disordering process, the crystals absorb heat, effectively cooling their surroundings.
Although pressure-based cooling like this has been studied before, most materials capable of making this transition can only do so at mild temperatures, limiting their cooling power, Pringle said. In contrast, her team's crystals exhibit their heat-absorbing ability at temperatures between -37°C (-34.6°F) and 10°C (50°F), a temperature suitable for home refrigerators and freezers. .
However, the new crystals are not yet ready to leave the lab. That's because the pressure required to make them work is so high, Pringle says, that it's hundreds of times greater than atmospheric pressure and equivalent to thousands of meters underwater.
david boldrin Researchers at the University of Glasgow in the UK said materials like the new study “have the potential to almost completely decarbonize this giant carbon”. [cooling] However, he shares concerns about the high pressure required.
He says there may be other practical problems with this approach. Bing Li At the Chinese Academy of Sciences. With each repeated use, the grid formed by the molecules becomes more distorted and each crystal absorbs less heat. Still, Lee said he was optimistic and believed the technology could be applied in the “near future.”
aMany Kirawi create breakup playlists every time they get dumped, and there are three in total. A playlist featuring songs like Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” and OneRepublic’s “Apologize” would be the perfect soundtrack for a romantic split, but it wasn’t. The playlist was put together after Qirawi was told by three different banks and payment processors that they would no longer work with LaunchGood, a crowdfunding platform for the Muslim community that she co-founded.
Stripe said so. limit the work After working with LaunchGood for five years, we entered the crowdfunding space. Stripe also told the company that it no longer wanted to do any international humanitarian work, which is a prerequisite for crowdfunding platforms that cater to Muslim communities. Another bank told the company there were so many Muslim and Arabic names that it was difficult to know whether those names belonged to sanctioned individuals.
“People don’t realize that Muhammad is the most approved name,” said Kilawi, LaunchGood’s chief operating officer. With each layoff, it felt like LaunchGood was on the brink of collapse. “If we can’t accept payments, we can’t survive as a business,” she says.
Few existing options offered the stability and reliability that Killawi and his co-founders were looking for. So they did what a growing number of the founders of Islam have been doing ever since. It was about creating your own solution.
LaunchGood co-founders Amany Killawi, Chris Blauvelt, and Omar Hamid. Photo: LaunchGood
Now, more than a decade after its founding, LaunchGood is a well-known company that has helped its primarily Muslim user base raise nearly $700 million. Although the platform also hosts private fundraisers, LaunchGood is best known for: focus on philanthropy Users can also now set up automatic donations for every day of the holy month of Ramadan. It is the main gateway for many people during Ramadan, and many Muslims donate to charity every day during Ramadan.
The rise of this site and the challenges it faces are not unusual. According to studies and surveys, the “halal” consumer market, which includes halal food, financial services, and other goods and services aimed at Muslims, has grown to an estimated $2 trillion worldwide. Advisory company Dinar Standard. still 2022 survey Muslims are more likely than other religious groups to have their accounts closed, investigated, or challenged at banks and other U.S. financial institutions, according to a study conducted by the Institute for Social Policy Understanding (ISPU). More likely, businesses are effectively denied access to Muslim customers.
That’s why Kirawi decided to step away from his day-to-day responsibilities as LaunchGood’s chief operating officer and form a sister company, a payments processing company called PayGood, in 2024. She hopes to give what the LaunchGood team had to hack together to Muslim businesses and charities. As such, it is a non-discriminatory and reliable payment system.
“when [my co-founders and I] “We started 11 years ago and we just wanted to build a community,” Kirawi said. “We never thought we would have to become compliance experts. At some point, it felt very present. Can you survive in this world without financial access? ”
LaunchGood was one of the early entrants into the largely untapped Muslim-friendly technology space, while its sister company is a growing technology company aimed at catering to Muslims in the US, Canada, and the UK. Part of the enterprise and software companies. But what it means to be a Muslim-friendly company has begun to change since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Targeting Muslim consumers has always meant some alignment with the ethics and values of the Muslim community, such as offering halal dating apps, interest-free loans, and modest clothing. Now, this new player in Muslim-friendly technology is openly responding to growing demand among its target customers to make it easier to stop contributing to Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. Or working on it implicitly.
“What happened in Gaza last year struck a completely different nerve,” Qirawi said. “Palestine is a perennial issue for Muslims, but the level and scale of destruction over the past year has been unprecedented. It has accelerated this entire Islamic ecosystem and economy.” There's a new awareness among people: “Let's vote.'' ”
Even PayGood, which is still in beta, is starting to emerge as an alternative to major payment processors like Stripe and PayPal as Muslims decide whether these existing platforms align with their values. .
A prominent British-Canadian computer scientist often referred to as the “godfather” of artificial intelligence has reduced the likelihood of AI causing the extinction of humanity in the next 30 years, stating that the rate of technological advancement is “much faster” than anticipated. I warned you.
Professor Geoffrey Hinton, the recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to AI, suggested that there is a “10% to 20%” probability of AI leading to human extinction within the next three decades.
Hinton previously expressed that there was a. 10% chance that technology could result in catastrophic outcomes for humanity.
When asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today program if he had revised his assessment of the potential AI doomsday scenario and the one in 10 likelihood of it happening, he replied, “No, it’s between 10% and 20%.”
In response to Hinton’s estimate, former Prime Minister Sajid Javid, who was guest editing Today, remarked, “You’re going up,” to which Hinton quipped, “You’re going up. You know, we’ve never had to confront anything more intelligent than ourselves.”
He further added, “And how many instances do you know of something more intelligent being controlled by something less intelligent? There are very few examples. There’s a mother and a baby. In evolutionary theory, the baby controls the mother. It took a lot of effort to make it possible, but that’s the only example I know of.”
Hinton, a professor emeritus born in London and based at the University of Toronto, emphasized that humans would appear infantile compared to the intelligence of highly advanced AI systems.
“I like to compare it like this: Imagine yourself and a 3-year-old. We’re in third grade,” he stated.
AI can broadly be defined as computer systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence.
Last year, Hinton resigned from his position at Google to speak more candidly about the risks associated with unchecked AI development, citing concerns that “bad actors” could exploit the technology to cause harm. This issue gained significant attention. One of the primary worries of AI safety advocates is that the progression of artificial general intelligence, or systems that surpass human intellect, could enable the technology to elude human control and pose an existential threat.
Reflecting on where he anticipated AI development would bring him when he initially delved into AI research, Hinton remarked, “[we are] here now. I thought we would arrive here at some point in the future.”
He added, “Because in the current environment, most experts in this field believe that AI surpassing human intelligence will likely materialize within the next 20 years.” And that’s a rather frightening notion.
Hinton remarked that the pace of advancement was “extremely rapid, much quicker than anticipated” and advocated for government oversight of the technology.
“My concern is that the invisible hand isn’t safeguarding us. In a scenario where we simply rely on the profit motive of large corporations, we cannot ensure secure development. That’s insufficient,” he stated. “The only factor that can compel these major corporations to conduct more safety research is government regulation.”
Hinton is one of three “Godfathers of AI” who were awarded the ACM A.M. Turing Prize, the computer science equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for their contributions. However, one of the trio, Yann LeCun, the chief AI scientist at Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, downplayed the existential threat, suggesting that AI “may actually save humanity from extinction.”
Chinese engineers are developing artificial intelligence chips for use in “advanced weapons systems” and have been granted access to cutting-edge British technology, as reported by the Guardian.
Moore Thread and Viren Technology, described as “China’s leading AI chip designers,” have been subject to U.S. export controls for their chip development. It is noted that the technology can provide artificial intelligence capabilities for the advancement of weapons of mass destruction, advanced weapons systems, and high-tech surveillance applications that raise national security concerns.
Before being blacklisted in the US in 2023, the companies had a broad license with UK-based Imagination Technologies, known for its expertise in designing advanced microchips essential for AI systems.
Imagination Technologies, a representative of the UK technology industry, denied intentionally trying to relocate its cutting-edge secrets to China. Representatives from Imagination confirmed the existence of licenses to Moore Thread and Viren Technology.
Allegations have arisen regarding Imagination’s partnerships with Chinese companies and the potential risks of knowledge transfer. Tensions between business with China and national security concerns have been highlighted by these developments.
Since 2020, at least three Chinese companies have obtained licenses to use Imagination’s chip designs, raising concerns about the potential misuse of intellectual property.
Imagination has worked closely with Apple in the past, contributing to the development of iPhone chips. However, concerns have been raised about the risks of sharing too much of its intellectual property with Chinese companies.
The acquisition of Imagination by a Chinese-backed buyer in 2017 raised further concerns about technology transfer and national security implications.
Imagination’s arrangements with Chinese customers are considered “totally normal” and have been described as limited in scope, duration, and usage rights.
Imagination’s policy of not doing business with companies on the US government’s Entity List raises questions about the termination of licenses granted to Chinese companies in October 2023.
Moore Thread and Biren Technology, two Chinese chipmakers, have faced scrutiny for their development of GPUs for AI systems with potential ties to Imagination’s technology.
Funding for Biren Technology comes from the Russia-China Investment Fund, sparking concerns about deepening alliances between China and Moscow in the tech industry.
Welcome back. This week in tech: General Motors announces the end of robotaxis but not self-driving cars. One woman’s battle against AI in her housing application. Salt Typhoon and tech companies donating to Donald Trump. Thank you for your engagement.
GM discontinues Cruise robotaxi. Uber resumes robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi
Despite the shut down of one robotaxi business, another will emerge. General Motors recently revealed its decision to cease funding Cruise, its subsidiary responsible for self-driving car software and robotaxi services. Cruise faced challenges after a serious accident in 2023, leading to regulatory restrictions on its operations. GM has invested significantly in Cruise but has not seen profits. This move aligns with Apple’s discontinuation of its self-driving car project.
Former Cruise CEO’s revenue projections fell short, leading to GM’s decision. Cruise’s closure mirrors Uber’s shift away from robotaxis to a distribution model in the self-driving sector. Meanwhile, Waymo continues to expand its robotaxi services.
Woman’s fight against AI in housing
AI is infiltrating various aspects of life, including housing. One US woman faced discrimination based on AI screening in her apartment application. After legal action, the responsible company settled and pledged to avoid AI screening for future tenants.
What’s new: Tech CEOs and Trump. Salt Typhoon
Technology CEOs and Trump: Silicon Valley leaders publicly align with Trump through donations and engagements. Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI among those contributing to Trump’s fund. Google and Microsoft also show signs of collaboration with Trump.
Salt Typhoon: Following the Salt Typhoon cyber attack, cell phone companies are under scrutiny for lack of notification to affected individuals. FBI only alerted high-profile targets, leaving many uninformed.
IIt begins with a soft rumble, then an explosion, and finally a thunderous roar. Pyroclastic flows spew out from volcanoes and race towards us at alarming speeds. A cascade of volcanic ash seems to be pelting the surrounding space – technically, it’s the distinctive pumice gravel from Mount Vesuvius – and for a few moments, patrons at the National Museum of Australia are transported to the 1,946-year-old tragedy in Pompeii.
Immersive experiences, including increasingly advanced virtual reality technology, are gaining popularity in museums despite criticism from scholars that flashy special effects may divert viewers from the actual artifacts and exhibits. It has shifted from being a mere gimmick to a successful exhibition to a crucial component in educating future generations, assuming that the primary purpose of museums is entertainment.
Laurent Dondy, the head of development and international tours at Grand Palais Immersif, the French company involved in creating Pompeii, acknowledges some of the apprehensions regarding immersive technology in museums.
“Sorry, but I don’t want to see Van Gogh smoking or scratching his head,” he explains. “Our approach is a blend of art and science. Technology plays a role in the creative process that surprises people and can undoubtedly add a layer of enjoyment to the experience.”
Pompeii is now on display at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, offering hourly exhibitions showcasing Mount Vesuvius. While the immersive encounter is included in the admission price, other high-budget productions in Australia necessitate separate headsets and seats due to technology requirements, resulting in extra charges that can escalate the cost of a family day at the museum to hundreds of dollars.
Over 500,000 individuals attended the record-breaking ‘Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs’ exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney, with a quarter opting for the additional $30 fee for the VR component per person. We decided to queue for the opportunity to participate.
Visitors to the Australian Museum’s ‘Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs’ exhibition. Photo: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images
And according to its director Kim McKay, this technology is here to stay.
“In today’s world, we must provide people with experiences, and I believe museums should not be exempt from that,” she asserts. “Museums need to evolve. Like everything else, we can’t be anchored in the past; we must embrace new and evolving technologies.”
“Children now anticipate digital enhancements, and as museum leaders, it is our responsibility to determine how to effectively integrate this technology to maintain an authentic experience. It’s a fine balance.”
Gedeon Experience, the creative force behind Pompeii’s special effects, gained exclusive access to archaeological digs in inaccessible areas, documenting the daily efforts of archaeologists for two years and using CGI to reconstruct the city’s streets and buildings.
Instead of detracting from the visitor experience, this spectacle enriches and complements the over 90 items borrowed from the Pompeii Archaeological Park, including frescoes, mosaics, jewelry, sculptures, and domestic objects.
The Director of the University of Sydney’s Museums and Heritage Program highlights a prime selection of must-see exhibitions from Australia’s museums and galleries.
However, the drawback is that technology inflates exhibition budgets, leading to increased ticket prices.
“They are costly, and there is fierce competition to incorporate the latest digital technologies,” O’Reilly remarks.
Having attended the initial Pompeii exhibition in Paris in 2020, O’Reilly notes that the visual effects of the exhibition are mostly consistent with other immersive exhibitions encountered abroad over the following four years.
“A well-executed immersive exhibit can provide a profound layering of experience and knowledge, but outdated technology may disappoint some visitors. The pace of [developments] is incredibly rapid,” she observes.
“The audience is quite demanding. Game resolutions are astoundingly high. For immersive content and narrative delivery, we now expect the caliber we encounter in gaming. It’s an intimate, detailed experience, and museum-goers will anticipate a commensurate level of quality.”
Is there a risk that future generations lacking technological acumen may fail to grasp the significance of the displayed artifacts?
“Possibly, but without those innovations to begin with, they might not have engaged in the first place,” O’Reilly remarks. “Their expectations will differ from those of previous generations.”
Perhaps not. McKay recounts that when the Australian Museum polled 100 children about their desires for future museums, they anticipated “screens everywhere.”
“That wasn’t the case. They requested ‘more spiders, more sharks, more snakes.’ They sought greater authenticity,” she concludes.
CChinese hackers have breached dozens of telecommunications companies around the world. The breach, dubbed “Salt Typhoon” by Microsoft cybersecurity researchers, allows cybercriminals to access information about who texted or called whom, as well as some messages. This provides unprecedented access to content, which is a much higher technical hurdle to clear. Cyber attack.
This cyber attack hit three of the largest telecommunications networks in the United States. Communications of government officials in Washington, D.C., have been intercepted, as have Internet browsing records kept by the same telecommunications companies. Hackers attempted to crack the cell phones of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, as well as Kamala Harris’ campaign staff, and may have succeeded. Even the US eavesdropping program was compromised. The call records stored there were stolen. A U.S. senator called it “the worst communications hack in our nation’s history.” In the same week, British telecommunications giant BT announced The company had withstood and avoided “attempts to compromise” its conferencing services.
The hacker group, also known as FamousSparrow, has been active since 2020 and has previously targeted government agencies in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Canada, Guatemala and Burkina Faso, according to cybersecurity firm Eset. China has another favorite target, and it has targeted it even more aggressively than previous governments. Hotel. In all of these countries, as well as the UK, France, Lithuania, and Taiwan, the group has compromised hotels’ digital systems and stolen data.
According to U.S. intelligence agencies, salt typhoons have been occurring for one to two years and are still ongoing. U.S. analysts, as well as independent cybersecurity researchers, blamed the cyberattack on the Chinese government. China denies involvement.
The US National Security Adviser has urged employees to avoid using regular texting apps and instead save all communications to encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, WhatsApp, and FaceTime. That’s good advice. Security authorities in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada have issued similar warnings.
Is this hack part of an elaborate and coordinated response to the escalating chip trade war between the U.S. and China? On Monday, the Chinese government launched an antitrust investigation into Nvidia. . Last week, Chinese regulators banned exports of minerals essential to semiconductor manufacturing, such as gallium and germanium, to the United States. Earlier this year, the United States banned the sale of cutting-edge semiconductor chips to China. Washington, which has regulatory power over Nvidia, TSMC, and others, seeks geopolitical advantage through AI, and without powerful chips it cannot create useful AI models. China is at a disadvantage because it cannot imitate or dethrone NVIDIA. So did China hack in response? It’s possible, but hacking telecommunications networks is not as closely related to the semiconductor industry as the “give me the chip or else” argument. If the Chinese government had hacked Jensen Huang’s phone…it would have ended in a trade war retaliation.
I call Salt Typhoon old-fashioned espionage.
Justices admit TikTok ban disenfranchises Americans, but upholds it anyway
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How much money did the tech industry spend on the US presidential election?
High blood pressure is a common symptom of preeclampsia
Nataliya Piatrovich/Alamy
Currently, the only way to deal with preeclampsia, a common pregnancy complication, is to deliver the baby early if possible. But researchers have now successfully treated this condition in mice by delivering mRNA molecules to the placenta to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels.
They say the next step is to test this mRNA therapy in larger animals such as guinea pigs and non-human primates. kelsey swingle at the University of Pennsylvania. “That’s something we’ve been talking about starting in the really near future.”
If the treatment proves effective in large animals, the researchers envision testing it first in people who develop preeclampsia early in pregnancy.
“If you have pre-eclampsia in the 8th or 9th month of pregnancy, you are inducing it early, but if you have severe pre-eclampsia in the 4th or 5th month of pregnancy, it is It’s not an option. There’s a very good chance you’ll lose the baby,” the team member says. michael mitchell also at the University of Pennsylvania. “That’s where we can get treatment.” [address] There is a pressing need. ”
It may also be used late in pregnancy to avoid the need for early delivery, which can affect the infant’s health.
Approximately 1 in 25 women will develop preeclampsia during their first pregnancy, which can have serious consequences. It is estimated that 75,000 women die from preeclampsia worldwide. 500,000 infants Every year.
Preeclampsia is usually diagnosed based on high blood pressure after 20 weeks of pregnancy and signs of kidney damage, such as protein in the urine. The underlying reason for this is that the arteries that connect the uterus and placenta fail to develop properly, Swingle said.
Therefore, it could theoretically be possible to treat preeclampsia by promoting the growth of arteries within the placenta. We know that a protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promotes blood vessel growth, but the problem is getting it to the placenta.
Proteins like VEGF are simply injected into the bloodstream and quickly removed, Swingle said. This problem can be overcome by providing a recipe for creating proteins in the form of mRNA molecules wrapped in fatty substances forming lipid nanoparticles (LNPs).
Once LNP is taken up by cells, mRNA molecules tell the cells how to make the desired protein. The effect is temporary, as the molecules break down after a while.
Swingle says this approach has already been tested in pregnancy, as this is how covid-19 mRNA vaccines work. “Many pregnant women have been vaccinated against COVID-19.”
The LNPs used in mRNA covid-19 vaccines are injected directly into muscle cells, so they are taken up by muscle cells. However, when the same LNP is injected into the blood, almost all of it is taken up by liver cells.
Therefore, the big challenge for Swingle and her team was finding a way to get the LNPs to the placenta. To accomplish this, we created and tested about 100 LNPs with slightly different chemical properties.
When the research team used the most promising of these LNPs to deliver an mRNA molecule encoding VEGF to pregnant mice with pre-eclampsia, the mice’s blood pressure returned to normal for the remainder of their pregnancy. .
“This approach merits further study in higher primates and, if animal data suggest both safety and efficacy, in women with preeclampsia,” he says. peter von derdelsen At King’s College London.
Studies in mice using mRNA encoding fluorescent proteins have shown that LNPs are taken up by the spleen and to some extent by the liver and placenta, which is a potential safety issue. Importantly, however, there was no sign that LNPs crossed the mouse placenta and reached the fetus.
There is currently no cure for preeclampsia, but the risks are especially great without advanced medical care. “Injectable therapies that do not require all the highly expensive and complex standard treatments could be transformative for applications in developing countries,” Mitchell said.
New proof of concept workpublished in a magazine materials horizonpaving the way for self-assembly of more complex electronic devices without relying on existing computer chip manufacturing techniques.
Bottom-up nano-to-microfabrication is of critical importance in modern electronics and optics. However, conventional multiscale array manufacturing techniques face the challenge of reconciling the conflict between the pursuit of better device performance and lower manufacturing costs and/or energy consumption. Chan others. We introduce a facile method for fabricating mixed-metal arrays based on directed self-assembly in which organometallic adducts derived from passivating oxides of ternary liquid metals are polymerized to fabricate mixed-metal wires. Image credit: Julia Chan.
“Existing chip manufacturing techniques involve many steps and rely on highly complex technology, making the process costly and time-consuming,” said Martin Tuo, a professor at North Carolina State University.
“Our self-assembly approach is significantly faster and cheaper.”
“We also demonstrated that this process can be used to tune the bandgap of semiconductor materials and make the materials responsive to light. This means this technique can be used to create optoelectronic devices. ”
“Furthermore, current manufacturing techniques have low yields, resulting in a relatively large number of unusable and defective chips being produced.”
“Our approach is high-yielding, meaning we produce arrays more consistently and with less waste.”
“We call this new self-assembly technique the directed metal-ligand (D-Met) reaction. Here's how it works,” he added.
“We start with liquid metal particles. In our proof-of-concept work, we used field metals, which are alloys of indium, bismuth, and tin.”
“Liquid metal particles are placed next to a mold and can be made into any size or pattern. A solution is then poured into the liquid metal.”
“The solution contains molecules called ligands, which are made up of carbon and oxygen.”
“These ligands collect ions from the surface of the liquid metal and hold them in a specific geometric pattern.”
“The solution flows across the liquid metal particles and is drawn into the mold.”
As the solution flows into the mold, the ion-containing ligands begin to assemble, forming more complex 3D structures.
Meanwhile, the liquid part of the solution begins to evaporate, which causes the complex structures to become more and more tightly packed into the array.
“Without a type, these structures can form somewhat chaotic patterns,” Professor Tusiad says.
“But because solutions are constrained by type, structures form in predictable, symmetrical arrangements.”
“Once the structure reaches the desired size, we remove the mold and heat the array.”
“This heat causes the ligand to decompose, liberating carbon and oxygen atoms.”
“Metal ions interact with oxygen to form semiconducting metal oxides, and carbon atoms form graphene sheets.”
“These components form an ordered structure consisting of semiconducting metal oxide molecules wrapped in graphene sheets.”
Professor Thuo and his colleagues used this technique to create nanoscale and microscale transistors and diodes.
“Graphene sheets can be used to tune the bandgap of a semiconductor, making the semiconductor more or less responsive depending on the quality of the graphene,” said Dr. Julia Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at North Carolina State University. Ta.
Additionally, the researchers used bismuth in their proof-of-concept work, which allowed them to create photoresponsive structures.
This allows the authors to use light to manipulate the properties of semiconductors.
“The nature of D-Met technology means that these materials can be manufactured on a large scale, limited only by the size of the molds used,” Professor Thuo said.
“By manipulating the type of liquid used in the solution, the dimensions of the mold, and the rate of evaporation of the solution, we can also control the semiconductor structure.”
“In short, we have shown that highly structured and highly tunable electronic materials can be self-assembled for use in functional electronic devices.”
“This research demonstrated the creation of transistors and diodes.”
“The next step is to use this technology to create more complex devices, such as 3D chips.”
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Julia J. Chan others. guided infinitely Assemble mixed metal oxide arrays from liquid metals. materials horizonpublished online on November 25, 2024. doi: 10.1039/D4MH01177E
This article is a version of a press release provided by North Carolina State University.
23andMe is currently in crisis. The once-promising genetic testing company has experienced a significant downfall, with a 98% loss in its $6 billion value, the departure of all independent directors, a reduction in nearly half of its employees, and a decline in its customer base from 15 million. is urgently working to delete DNA data from its records. I am one of the affected individuals.
My journey with 23andMe began hesitantly in 2016 when I ordered their kit by mail. After some delay, I finally submitted my genetic sample for analysis. As a tech journalist, I am cautious about sharing data with companies, especially genetic information, which is immutable unlike passwords or credit card details.
The results revealed that I am 63% British and Irish, and 17% Danish, confirming my extensive northwestern European heritage. However, the absence of my supposed Czech lineage was surprising. With 23andMe’s uncertain future and concerns about the fate of user data, I reflect on the exchange of genetic privacy for such information.
Timothy Caulfield, a University of Alberta professor, notes that many individuals, like myself, experience ambivalence upon receiving genetic test results.
The concept of genetic testing to uncover ancestral roots and its implications on personal identity has always troubled me. Caulfield, who faced similar concerns with his own ancestry, argues that the notion of genetic influence on individual identity perpetuates racism.
Marketing strategies played a significant role in the success of companies like 23andMe. However, the impact of genetic testing results on one’s sense of identity can vary drastically, from affirming to challenging deeply held beliefs.
As 23andMe’s future remains uncertain, questions arise regarding the handling of existing user data. The ethical implications of genetic information extend beyond personal privacy to potentially compromising the privacy of relatives.
To safeguard my data, I opted to delete my account and requested a copy of my genetic information. However, concerns persist about the retention of such data by the company, especially in case of bankruptcy or ownership changes.
23andMe’s commitment to customer data protection is emphasized, with assurances of maintaining privacy standards even amidst financial instability.
Receiving my genetic data opened up new insights into my heritage, but the challenge lies in interpreting the vast amount of genomic information provided. Despite this, I have not taken any actions based on this data, as the complexity of genetic identity remains a source of ambivalence and uncertainty.
MArietje Schake is a former member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands. She currently serves as the Director of International Policy at the Stanford University Cyber Policy Center and an International Policy Fellow at Stanford University. Human Centered Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. The title of her new book is High-tech coup: How to save democracy from Silicon Valley.
What are the key differences between big technology companies and traditional big companies in terms of power and political influence?
The difference is the role these technology companies play in various aspects of people’s lives, including nation-states, economies, and geopolitics. Thus, although former monopolies had accumulated a lot of capital and important positions, they were usually in one sector, such as oil or automobile production. These technology companies are like octopuses with tentacles pointing in different directions. They have so much data, location data, search, communications, critical infrastructure that they can now combine all that power to build AI that we’ve never seen before. It’s very different from what we’ve seen.
Peter Kyle, UK Technology Secretary recently proposed The government is “Feeling humble”
with major technology companies treat them like a nation-state
. What do you think about that?
I think this is a baffling misunderstanding of the role of democratically elected and responsible leaders. Yes, these companies have become incredibly powerful. The comparison with the role of the state is therefore understandable. Because these companies are increasingly making decisions that were once the exclusive domain of states. But the answer, especially from governments on the rise, should be less about showing humility and more about reinforcing the primacy of democratic governance and oversight. What is needed is confidence on the part of democratic governments to ensure that these companies and services are playing their proper role within, and not overtaking, a system based on the rule of law.
What impact do you think the inauguration of President Donald Trump will have?
The election of Donald Trump changes everything. Because he has brought certain technology interests closer together than any previous political leader, especially in the United States, a powerful geopolitical and technological hub. There are many cryptocurrencies that support Trump. There are many VCs [venture capitalists] And, of course, he promoted Elon Musk and announced an agenda of deregulation. Every step his administration takes will be influenced by these factors, whether it’s the personal interests of Elon Musk and his companies or the personal preferences of the president and his supporters. On the other hand, Musk is actually critical of some of the dynamics surrounding AI, namely the existential risks. We’ll have to wait and see how long the honeymoon between him and Trump lasts, and how other big tech companies react. Because they’re not happy that Mr. Musk dictates technology policy more than his competitors. I think there will be difficult times ahead.
Why have politicians taken such a casual approach in the face of the digital technology revolution?
All of the most powerful companies we see today are based on this kind of progressive, liberal trend of the California counterculture, a few guys in shorts writing code in their basements and garages, and superpowers. It was rooted in a romantic story about challenging the world. Publishers of media companies, hotel branches, taxi companies, financial services, etc. had a pretty bad reputation from the beginning. There was certainly room for chaos, but this kind of underdog spirit was incredibly powerful. Both companies have done a really smart job of framing what they’re doing as decentralization, much like the Internet itself. Companies like Google and Facebook have consistently argued that any regulatory action would harm the internet. So it’s a combination of wanting to believe in promises and not understanding how very narrow corporate interests were won at the expense of the public interest.
Are any major politicians prepared to stand up to big tech interests? well someone likes [US senator] Elizabeth Warren has the clearest vision of excessive power and abuse by corporations, including the technology industry. She has consistently tried to address this issue. But broadly speaking, I worry that political leaders are not taking this the way they should. There is not much vision in the European Commission. I’ve seen elections, including in my own country, where technology was not a topic at all. We also see comments like this from the UK government, and it may seem logical to have democratic guardrails around overly powerful companies.
Are politicians held back by technological ignorance?
Yes, I think they are threatened. But I also believe that the framework for government agencies is intentional by technology companies. It’s important to understand that how we are taught to think about technology is shaped by the technology companies themselves. And you get the whole narrative that the government is so stupid, so outdated, so poor in service delivery that it’s basically unqualified to deal with technology. The message is, if you can’t even process your taxes on time, what are you going to do with AI? This is a caricature of the government, and the government should not accept that caricature.
Do you think the UK’s position with big tech companies has weakened as a result of Brexit?
Yes and no. Australia and Canada have technology policies, but their numbers are smaller than the population of the UK. I don’t know if that’s the case. I think it’s actually a much more deliberate choice to want to attract investment. So maybe it’s just self-interest that goes beyond the Conservative and Labor governments. Because I expected changes, but I don’t see much change in technology policy. I was clearly too optimistic.
We are talking about the restoration of sovereignty. Do you think most people are aware? Does this mean that sovereignty has been lost?
One of the reasons I wrote this book was to reach the average news reader, not technology experts. It’s a tough job to explain that this is an issue that concerns people. It will be interesting to see how the impact of the Trump administration invites reactions not only from European leaders but also from other countries around the world who believe they cannot afford to rely on American tech companies. . That’s not what you want. Because, essentially, we’re sending euros and pounds to Silicon Valley, and what do we get in return? Even more dependence. As incredibly difficult as it is, things won’t get better if you do nothing.
Google is facing challenges. According to my colleague Dan Milmo, the U.S. Department of Justice is looking into Google’s structure and business practices, including the potential sale of its Chrome browser to break its monopoly on Internet search. This comes after a court ruling finding Google in violation of antitrust laws for monopolizing search services. The Justice Department’s proposal is straightforward: Google should sell Chrome. As for Android, two options have been proposed: sell it or agree to government oversight.
Both demands present a significant challenge to Google’s advertising business, and could have severe consequences for the company.
In a blog post, Kent Walker, Google’s chief legal officer, criticized the Justice Department’s proposal, calling it “staggering,” “extreme,” and “unprecedented government overreach.” Google plans to submit its own proposal and appeal the court ruling. However, Walker’s response was somewhat exaggerated, referring to the requirement for two selection screens to access Google Search on Pixel smartphones as comically histrionic.
The Justice Department aims to increase competition by exposing Google to competition, denying the benefits of any legal violation, and preventing Google from dominating markets in the future.
Google’s advertising business relies heavily on its search service, with Chrome being a key component as the most popular browser globally. Losing Chrome would have a significant impact on Google’s advertising revenue. The debate also touches on U.S. leadership in the tech industry, with Google arguing that selling Chrome could undermine it.
There’s also talk of potentially selling Android, which plays a crucial role in data collection for advertising. The government could impose surveillance on Android, impacting Google’s business operations. The potential changes raise questions about the future aesthetic and control of smartphone operating systems.
Without Chrome, Google would lose a vital market, particularly in the education sector where Chromebooks are widely used in schools. Chrome OS is designed for web-based tasks, influencing user preferences towards Google products in the future.
If Google manages to retain Chrome, it may still need to reconsider its search engine default agreements, including the $20 billion contract with Apple. The company could be forced to adjust or terminate these contracts as part of the proposed remedies.
Review
Elon “First Buddy” Musk and his Sidekick Debut, Doge
Elon Musk and Donald Trump in October. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
A recent development saw Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy appointed as heads of the Ministry of Government Efficiency, known as Doge, although it’s not an official government department. Musk has given it a governmental status on Twitter. They are advisors to President Trump and plan to use executive actions to reform non-governmental government agencies. Their approach focuses on efficiency but lacks detailed plans.
Musk and Ramaswamy target cost-cutting, aiming to eliminate programs that lack congressional approval. However, their approach faces criticism for potential repercussions such as cutting medical care for military veterans. Despite their intentions, the implementation of their ideas remains uncertain.
Hosting a conference on artificial intelligence and its impact on science before the field’s first Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm seems quite fitting. This week, Google DeepMind and the Royal Society organized the AI for Science Forum in London just after AI received the Physics Prize and Google DeepMind won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
During the conference, Google DeepMind CEO, Demis Hassabis, highlighted the potential of AI to lead to a new era of discoveries and scientific advancements. However, he cautioned that AI is not a quick fix and requires precise problem identification, data collection, algorithm development, and responsible use.
Despite the optimism surrounding AI, there are concerns about its potential negative impacts, including exacerbating inequality, triggering financial crises, and posing risks like data breaches and the misuse of AI for harmful purposes.
AI has already begun revolutionizing various industries, from healthcare to materials science. The AI program AlphaFold, developed by Hassabis and John Jumper, has been instrumental in predicting protein structures for drug design, while AI-powered technologies are accelerating drug development and streamlining clinical trials.
Fiona Marshall from Novartis emphasized the role of AI in expediting drug development and gaining regulatory approval. Meanwhile, Jennifer Doudna discussed AI’s potential in making treatments more affordable and even editing microbes to reduce methane emissions from cattle.
One major challenge facing AI researchers is the lack of transparency in decision-making processes, known as the black box problem. Yet, advancements in AI technology are expected to address this issue in the near future.
Energy consumption by large AI models is a growing concern, but Hassabis believes that the benefits of AI will outweigh the energy costs. He envisions AI driving innovations in renewable energy and contributing to climate change mitigation efforts.
As the AI industry strives towards sustainability, there is a call for transformative actions to ensure AI’s development aligns with environmental and social goals.
Meta’s efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence systems in the UK public sector have advanced with the tech giant granting funding to develop technology to reduce waiting times in NHS A&E.
In the midst of competing initiatives by Silicon Valley tech companies to collaborate with national and local governments, Meta hosted Europe’s first ‘hackathon’ where over 200 programmers were challenged to use its Llama AI in UK public services. They were tasked with finding ways to implement the system. A Meta executive stated that they were ‘focused on Labor’s priorities’.
This development followed reports of another US tech company, Palantir, lobbying government officials, including the Department of Justice and Prime Minister Rachel Reeves. Additionally, Microsoft recently sealed a five-year agreement with Whitehall departments to provide AI Copilot technology to civil servants.
Meta’s hackathon featured Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister and current president of international affairs at Meta in California. Ferial Clarke, the UK’s AI minister, emphasized the potential for governments to adopt AI, like Meta’s open-source model, to bolster their critical missions.
When questioned about the significance of Meta offering free technology, Clegg stated, “It will indirectly benefit us in the long run by fostering an ecosystem of Llama-based innovation, making it more likely for us to integrate innovation back into our products.” He also brushed off concerns regarding AI risks in public services.
Discussing potential regulation, Mr. Clark assured that Labor would address the substantial risks AI poses while supporting innovation and ensuring workers are not overwhelmed by regulations.
Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science and technology, acknowledged that the UK government was being outspent by tech giants in innovation, highlighting the need for a national strategy in collaborating with such companies.
The push to promote Meta’s open-source AI platform in the public sector comes as concerns mount over the influence of tech giants, particularly following the involvement of Elon Musk’s X platform in the US presidential election and social media’s role in inciting the August riots in the UK.
In response to inquiries about Meta’s management of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Clegg highlighted the contrast between Meta and X in how they handle content.
“We approach things very differently,” he remarked. “During the UK riots, individuals like Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate, who caused significant issues, were long banned from our platforms. This contrasts with platforms like Telegram and X.”
The voice of medieval king Richard III has been recreated using technology, complete with a distinctive Yorkshire accent.
An digital avatar of the monarch was unveiled at York Theater Royal, with experts assisting in replicating his voice.
Richard III reigned as King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485 at the age of 32. His remains were discovered under a car park in Leicester in 2012 as part of Philippa Langley’s Finding Richard project.
Through various scientific methods, including DNA analysis, his skeleton was identified and now his voice has been successfully recreated.
Langley, speaking about the recreation, stated to Sky News: “We have leading experts who have been working tirelessly on this research for a decade, ensuring that every detail is meticulously researched and presented with evidence. Thus, we have the most accurate portrayal of Richard III.”
Yvonne Morley Chisholm, a voice teacher and vocal coach, joined the project over 10 years ago, providing after-dinner entertainment comparing Shakespeare’s Richard III with real-life figures.
The project took an unexpected turn when Maury Chisholm was prompted to create a performance following the discovery of Richard III’s remains under a car park in Leicester.
The voice re-creation project quickly gained momentum, with experts from various fields coming together to piece together the puzzle.
The reconstructed voice of Richard III has a strong Yorkshire accent, distinct from the English accents typically heard in portrayals by actors like Ian McKellen and Laurence Olivier in Shakespeare’s plays.
Richard III met his end at the Battle of Bosworth on 22 August 1485, marking the close of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat was a significant event in the Wars of the Roses.
There are two major problems with the global food system. First, hundreds of millions of people cannot afford enough nutritious food to stay healthy. Second, it’s incredibly destructive. We’re still destroying rainforests to make way for ranches, both conventional and organic farms produce all kinds of pollutants, and our food system produces more than a third of greenhouse gases. I’m letting you do it.
Things could get even worse if global temperatures rise above 1.5 °C (see 2024 expected to be first year to surpass 1.5 °C warming threshold). But there’s a lot we can do, from eating less meat to reducing food waste (see “Is the climate food crisis even worse than we imagined?”). The amazing advances in genetic technology in recent years have greatly expanded the scope for improving the plants and animals that feed us. We can make them more nutritious and healthier, better able to cope with changing conditions and less susceptible to the diseases that will become more prevalent as the world warms. It should also be possible to produce plants that require less fertilizer and capture more of the sun’s energy.
It is surprising that most countries do not invest significantly in crop improvement.
The benefits from all this will be immense. We get more food from less land, lower prices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make it less likely that viruses such as H5N1 bird flu will cause new pandemics.
It is therefore surprising that most countries do not invest heavily in crop improvement. While there is some private investment, these companies are unlikely to make their technology freely available and adoption has been slow.
Opposition to genetically modified (GM) crops also binds us to the idea that more “natural” agricultural methods are better, as approval is difficult and expensive.
This situation is starting to change, with many countries making it easier to bring gene-edited crops and animals to market, but we need more action, and faster action.
The idea that organic food is good for the planet and genetically modified food is bad for the planet is a false narrative that hides a much more unpleasant reality. This means that continuing as is will only lead to more destruction and more hunger.
A leading scientist who has worked closely with wealthy individuals to address the dangers of AI suggests that Elon Musk’s influence over Donald Trump’s administration could result in stricter safety standards for artificial intelligence. Concerns about AI were not a prominent feature of Trump’s campaign, but Musk’s support for AI regulation in California demonstrates his ongoing worries about the issue.
Musk has repeatedly cautioned against the uncontrolled advancement of AI, warning of potentially disastrous consequences for humanity. He has advocated for a moratorium on research into powerful AI technologies, emphasizing the need for safety standards to prevent the development of artificial general intelligence that surpasses human intelligence levels.
Max Tegmark, a professor specializing in AI at MIT, believes that Musk could influence Trump to introduce regulations that hinder the advancement of artificial general intelligence. Tegmark sees Musk’s backing of AI safety measures in California as a positive step, even though the bill was ultimately vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Musk’s early support for AI safety initiatives aligns with the efforts of Tegmark’s Future of Life Institute, which advocates for responsible technology use. Musk’s increasing wealth post-Trump’s presidency victory could further bolster his influence in shaping AI regulations.
While Musk has warned of a dystopian future controlled by AI, other experts argue that focusing on catastrophic scenarios may divert attention from immediate concerns like AI manipulation. President Trump’s administration aims to overturn AI safety measures introduced by the Biden administration, citing them as politically biased restrictions on AI development.
These measures include mandatory safety testing for high-risk AI systems that could jeopardize national security, economic stability, or public health and safety.
Archaeologists used a laser-based detection system to discover more than 6,500 Pre-Hispanic structures in Campeche, Mexico, including a previously unknown Mayan city named Valeriana.
Details of the main ruins of Valeriana in Campeche, Mexico. Image credit: Auld-Thomas others., doi: 10.15184/aqy.2024.148.
“Our analysis not only revealed a complete picture of densely populated areas, but also revealed a lot of variation,” said Tulane University doctoral student and Northern Arizona University professor. Lecturer Luke Old-Thomas said.
“What we found was not only rural areas and small settlements, but also a town where people had long been actively farming amidst the ruins, right next to the only main road in the area. We also found a large city with pyramids.”
“The government knew nothing about it. The scientific community knew nothing about it.”
“This is an exclamation point after the statement that, no, we haven't discovered everything. Yes, there's still a lot to discover.”
lidar technology It uses laser pulses to measure distance and create a 3D model of a specific area.
This allows scientists to scan vast tracts of land from the comfort of their computer labs, discovering anomalies in the landscape that turn out to be pyramids, family homes, and other examples of Mayan infrastructure. It's done.
“With LIDAR, we can map large areas very quickly and with very high accuracy and level of detail, so we can say, “Wow, there are so many buildings that we don't know about, and they must have a large population.'' ‘It's huge,’ said Old Thomas.
“The counterargument was that lidar surveys were still too constrained to known large sites like Tikal, thus creating a distorted picture of the Maya lowlands.”
“What if the rest of the Maya region is much more rural and what we've mapped so far is the exception rather than the rule?”
The team's results provide compelling evidence of a Maya landscape that was more complex and diverse than previously thought.
“Rider teaches us that, like many other ancient civilizations, the Lowland Maya built a diverse tapestry of towns and communities on a tropical landscape,” said Marcello Canuto, a professor at Tulane University. “I'm grateful for that,” he said.
“Some areas have vast expanses of farmland and are densely populated, while others have only small communities.”
“Nevertheless, we can now see how much the ancient Maya modified their environment to support a long-lasting and complex society.”
a paper The findings were published in the journal October 29, 2024. ancient.
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luke old-thomas others. 2024. Running out of space: Environmental riders and the crowded ancient landscape of Campeche, Mexico. ancient 98 (401): 1340-1358;doi: 10.15184/aqy.2024.148
There has been a debated stance that children below the age of three should have no screen time, but research indicates that digital technology can offer valuable opportunities for the development of young children.
The study, titled Toddlers, technology and talk, was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and conducted by researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University, Lancaster University, Queen’s Belfast University, Strathclyde University, and Swansea University. It explored children’s interactions with various technologies in diverse communities, specifically focusing on the impact of technology on language and literacy skills of children aged 0 to 3 in the UK.
The research delved into how children engage with technology, whether with their parents or independently, through activities like taking photos, playing games using educational apps, listening to music, discussing favorite characters, and video calling.
Studies have shown that children start using smart devices and technology at a young age, and this can be beneficial for their language development and other skills.
The report highlights that young children’s digital activities involve various forms of sensory exploration which contribute to their cognitive development.
Parents acknowledge the advantages of technology for their children’s development, but they are also concerned about potential negative impacts from excessive technology usage.
The report also discusses how video calls provide valuable opportunities for children in multilingual families to learn different languages and cultures from their overseas relatives.
The study involved surveys with 1,400 UK parents, 40 home case studies, interviews with 20 education experts, and analysis of families’ TV viewing habits. It revealed that children could learn words and phrases from watching TV shows that they were passionate about.
Furthermore, shared TV viewing and music listening create bonding experiences for parents and children, nurturing emotional connections over time.
Even in homes where the TV is on throughout the day, children engage in various play and learning activities and may not pay much attention to the TV.
Some parents reported that their children under the age of 3 were learning sign language online, showcasing how young children adapt to interacting with smart devices.
The report emphasizes the need for better protection of children’s privacy and security in the digital age and hopes to guide policy and practices based on its findings.
Professor Rosie Flewitt from MMU acknowledges the challenges of balancing the benefits of digital communication, play, and learning for children with concerns about potential risks of overuse.
Canada’s spy agency claims that India is using cyber technology to monitor separatists abroad, following accusations from the Indian government that senior Indian officials authorized violent acts, including the killing of a Sikh activist in Vancouver.
The Canada Communications Security Establishment (CSE) reported that India is utilizing cyber capabilities to surveil activists and dissidents living overseas, including increasing cyberattacks on Canadian government networks.
Canada is home to a large Sikh community outside of India, which includes advocates for an independent Sikh nation.
Ottawa is currently investigating the case of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and prominent campaigner for Khalistan, a separatist movement seeking independence for Sikhs in India’s Punjab province. The murder of Nijjar in Vancouver in 2023 is believed to have been orchestrated by India.
CSE Commissioner Caroline Xavier stated, “India poses a growing cyber threat to Canada,” during a press conference.
The report attributes the strain in Canada-India relations to India’s surveillance activities and cyberattacks.
Following Canada’s accusations, a pro-Indian hacktivist group launched DDoS attacks on Canadian websites, disrupting their operations.
Officials revealed that Canada was monitoring a campaign targeting Khalistani activists, linking it to senior Indian government officials, including Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah.
Canadian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed Shah’s involvement in intelligence gathering and violent attacks, including Nijjar’s murder in 2023.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the national police suspect India’s involvement in the killing and other forms of intimidation against Khalistani activists.
India denied the allegations, leading to the expulsion of ambassadors and diplomats between Delhi and Ottawa.
Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder.
Welcome back. In today’s newsletter, a tech executive shares anecdotes about interactions with Donald Trump, the responsibilities of AI chatbots, and the perils of sharing baby photos online with families. Thank you for engaging with us.
Top tech CEOs are closely monitoring the election polls and engaging with President Trump. They are cautious about regulatory scrutiny and potential retaliation from the former president.
Apple’s Tim Cook discussed legal matters with Trump, while Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai faced threats. Amazon’s Andy Jassy had a friendly call with Trump, among other interactions detailed in CNN and Associated Press reports.
Elon Musk joined Trump at a rally in NYC. Photo: Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Microsoft’s Satya Nadella refrained from endorsing any candidate. Elon Musk’s alliance with Trump has raised legal concerns, including a lawsuit over a million-dollar giveaway.
While tech execs engage with Trump, questions arise about their influence and allegiances. The broader geopolitical context shapes their interactions and potential impact on the upcoming election.
AI chatbots’ responsibility is under scrutiny as a startup faces a lawsuit for allegedly promoting self-harm among users. The ethical and legal implications of AI technology’s role in society are brought to light.
How much responsibility do chatbots have?
Megan Garcia and her son Sewell Setzer. Photo: Megan Garcia/AP
Chat interactions raising legal questions highlight the need for AI regulation and oversight to prevent harm. The lawsuit against Character.ai underscores the challenges posed by advancing AI technology.
The debate on AI responsibility extends to copyright issues, corporate liabilities, and ethical considerations. Balancing innovation with user protection is crucial in navigating the evolving tech landscape.
How can I convince family and friends not to post photos of my children?
Family photos: too many? Composite: Guardian/Getty Images/Pngtree
Guidance on safeguarding your child’s privacy in a digital age emphasizes communication and setting boundaries with loved ones. Addressing concerns about online exposure requires a proactive approach.
Johanna’s tips:
Make a simultaneous announcement: Inform everyone about your photo preferences collectively to streamline communication and avoid accidental sharing.
Lead by example: Follow your own rules for sharing photos and respect other parents’ privacy preferences.
Be generous in other ways: Balance privacy concerns by sharing photos selectively while maintaining family connections.
Advocate for privacy: Enlist help from friends and family to protect your child’s privacy online and address any unwanted posts.
Forgive and educate: Approach lapses in privacy with understanding and guide loved ones on respecting your wishes for your child’s digital footprint.
Stay confident: Assert your child’s privacy rights firmly and communicate openly about your expectations with your inner circle.
For more insights on managing family photo sharing, refer to the full guide on child privacy protection strategies.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is a compact system of at least seven exoplanets that are similar in size to Earth. Astronomers from Pennsylvania State University and the SETI Institute spent 28 hours scanning the system for signs of alien radio technology using the Allen Telescope Array. This project marks the longest single-target search for radio signals from TRAPPIST-1. Although astronomers found no evidence of extraterrestrial technology, their work introduced new ways to search for wireless techno-signatures in the future.
This artist's impression shows a surface view of one of the exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / Spaceengine.org.
TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf star located 38.8 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.
This star is barely larger than Jupiter and has only 8% the mass of the Sun. It rotates rapidly and produces an energetic flare of ultraviolet light.
TRAPPIST-1 is the home planet of seven transit planets named TRAPPIST-1b, c, d, e, f, g, and h.
All of these planets are the same size or slightly smaller than Earth and Venus, and have very short orbital periods of 1.51, 2.42, 4.04, 6.06, 9.21, 12.35, and 20 days, respectively.
Presumably they are all tidally locked, meaning that the same side of the planet always faces the star, just as the same side of the moon always points towards the Earth. This creates a persistent night side and a persistent day side for each planet in TRAPPIST-1.
Three of the planets, TRAPPIST-1e, f, and g, are located in the star's habitable zone, meaning they may have an environment suitable for life.
“The TRAPPIST-1 system is relatively close to Earth and has detailed information about the planet's orbit, making it an excellent natural laboratory for testing these technologies,” said Penn State graduate student Nick Tasei said.
“The methods and algorithms we developed for this project could eventually be applied to other star systems, increasing the likelihood of finding regular communications between planets beyond our solar system (if they exist). ).
Tusay and his colleagues focused on a phenomenon called interplanetary occultations.
These occultations occur when one planet moves in front of another. If intelligent life exists in that star system, it is possible that radio signals sent between the planets could leak and be detected from Earth.
Astronomers used the upgraded Allen Telescope Array to scan a wide range of frequencies, looking for narrowband signals that could be a possible sign of alien technology.
They filtered through millions of potential signals and narrowed it down to about 11,000 candidates for further analysis.
They detected 2,264 of these signals during the predicted interplanetary occultation period. However, none of the signals were of non-human origin.
New features of the Allen Telescope Array include advanced software to filter signals, helping researchers separate possible alien signals from those on Earth.
They believe that improving these techniques and focusing on phenomena such as interplanetary occultations could increase the chances of detecting alien signals in the future.
Although scientists did not find any alien signals this time, they plan to continue refining their search techniques and exploring other star systems.
Future explorations using larger and more powerful telescopes could help scientists detect even fainter signals and expand our understanding of the universe.
“This study shows that we are getting closer to detecting radio signals similar to those we send into space,” Tusey said.
“Most searches assume some kind of intent, such as a beacon, because our receivers have a sensitivity limit to the minimum transmit power above what we transmit unintentionally.”
“But with better instruments, such as the upcoming Square Kilometer Array, we may soon be able to detect signals from alien civilizations communicating with our spacecraft.”
Apps with the highest total number of notifications: – message:391 – new york post:190 – slack:121
Elon during the election campaign
Elon Musk spoke on stage alongside Donald Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania this month. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
Elon Musk is having a very difficult time against Donald Trump.
The CEOs of Tesla and SpaceX gave tens of millions of dollars to pro-Trump political action committees and planned a packed campaign schedule to boost the former president in Pennsylvania. The newspaper said he speaks with President Trump multiple times a week and has encouraged other billionaires to support the Republican candidate en masse in private gatherings. new york times.
Taken together, Mr. Musk’s actions are unprecedented in modern times. Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of one of the most influential mass communications outlets, is putting all his efforts into political candidates. He is no longer a billionaire dabbling in politics. Elon Musk is here to stay as a political actor.
Last weekend, Musk appeared with President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of Trump’s first assassination attempt. He plans to make additional stops in the Keystone State in the three weeks leading up to the election. Politico coverage. he also $47 referral bonus Anyone who is registered to vote in a battleground state can sign a petition filed by his political action committee, America Pac. Remember, Musk forced all Tesla employees to return to the office five days a week in mid-2022. One might wonder how he will manage the company’s affairs since he will be spending so much time in Pennsylvania.
Tesla’s CEO contributes not only IRL but also online. He is bending Twitter/X to his political ends: He @America behind the wheel For this week’s America pack. Last month he Hacked materials from the Trump campaign Published by independent journalists. Musk’s own feed is filled with support for Trump and retweets from people who support him.
President Trump seemed excited about all of the above, sending out a fundraising email with the subject line “Elon!” Elon! Elon! ”’ He also asked supporters to buy the black-on-black “Dark Maga” hat that Musk wore while jumping for joy behind Trump in Pennsylvania.
Elon Musk stands on stage with President Trump during a campaign rally at the site of Trump’s first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
As the world’s richest man fights for the Republican nomination, he is following a familiar rabbit hole down the rabbit hole for President Trump’s surrogates. He is increasingly appealing to the fringe of the “Make America Great Again” movement. “If you don’t vote, this will be your last election in America,” Musk said in Pennsylvania. It’s an irony reminiscent of the storming of the Capitol. He repeats the line, “If Kamala Harris wins, she’s going to jail.”
President Trump expressed a similar idea, albeit a more optimistic one, telling a group of Christian supporters in July: We’ll fix it just fine, so there’s no need to vote. ” This is a hopeful statement in the sense of ending democracy. Mr. Musk’s version is a repudiation of Mr. Trump’s, and is full of the doom of election deniers. This contrast is similar to the dynamic between President Trump and J.D. Vance, who has expressed extreme anti-abortion views in speeches and interviews, although Trump himself has said he would return the issue to the states. I’m trying to get around this problem by repeating this.
You might think science is a top priority for a tech CEO, but Musk also defers to Trump on science issues. but, This week’s interview with former Fox News host Tucker CarlsonMusk touted the anti-vaccination movement while walking off a cliff, saying, “I’m not anti-vaccine in general…we shouldn’t force people to get vaccinated,” before praising smallpox and polio vaccines. did. Trump himself called the coronavirus “one of humanity’s greatest achievements.” But during the campaign, he said he would cut funding to schools that require vaccinations and appoint the nation’s most notorious anti-vaxxer, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to his transition team.
In the same conversation with Carlson, Musk repeated a statement he had previously recanted and wondered out loud why no one was trying to assassinate Harris.
Musk previously called Trump a “ruthless loser.” Trump once said with a vengeance that he could make tech moguls “bend the knee.” This strange partnership affected at least one of Musk’s businesses. A shift to the right and the launch of the Hot Wheels-style Cybertruck transformed Tesla from a brand coveted by Hollywood and Silicon Valley people to a brand beloved by law enforcement. It’s a change similar to that of Mr. Musk himself. Corporate value has fallen by tens of billions of dollars.
We will be keeping a close eye on Mr. Musk’s next steps on the campaign trail.
Art on Samsung TV and Art in the Museum
Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is on display.
What is the purpose of digital reproduction of paintings?
Samsung announced yesterday that it has entered into a partnership to license 20 paintings from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York to be used on its Frame TVs. To promote this collaboration, the Korean electronics giant organized a tour of MoMA. I saw Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”, Claude Monet’s giant “Water Lilies”, and surrealist painter Leonora Carrington’s “And I Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur”.
“Water Lilies” by Claude Monet. Photo: Noah Karina/Guardian
Two weeks before this announcement, the Mauritshuis Museum in the Netherlands published a study measuring the neurological effects of art. Scientists have discovered that an original work of art stimulates a response in the viewer’s brain that is 10 times stronger than the response evoked by a reproduction of the same painting.
Philosopher Walter Benjamin theorized this finding about 100 years ago. In “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” published in 1937, he argued that original works have an indescribable aura that replicas can never match. Samsung seems to agree with him to invite journalists on a private MoMA tour to view original works. So what are the benefits of artwork on Frame TV?
Robin Saetta, MoMA’s director of business development, said during the tour that the partnership aligns with the museum’s goal of “extending and expanding access to modern and contemporary art.” I agree. Benjamin writes of the reproduction of a work of art, “Above all, it allows the original to meet the viewer half-heartedly.”
Don’t worry if the salted bodies, partial skeletons, and taxidermied carcasses that fill the museum seem a little, well, quiet. In the latest coup in artificial intelligence, dead animals will be given a new lease of life, sharing their stories and even their experiences of the afterlife.
More than a dozen exhibits, from American cockroaches and dodo remains to a stuffed red panda and a fin whale skeleton, will be given the gift of conversation on Tuesday for a month-long project at the University of Cambridge Museum of Zoology.
Dead creatures and models with personalities and accents can communicate by voice or text through visitors’ mobile phones. This technology allows animals to describe their time on Earth and the challenges they have faced in the hope of reversing apathy towards the biodiversity crisis.
“Museums use AI in many ways, but we think this is the first application where we’re talking from an object perspective,” said Jack Ashby, the museum’s assistant director. “Part of the experiment is to see if giving these animals their own voices will make people think differently about them. Giving cockroaches a voice will change the public’s perception of them. Is it possible?”
A fin whale skeleton hangs from the museum’s roof. Photo: University of Cambridge
This project was conceived by natural perspectiveis a company building AI models to strengthen the connection between people and the natural world. For each exhibit, the AI includes specific details about where the specimen lived, its natural environment, how it arrived in the collection, and all available information about the species it represents.
The exhibits change their tone and words to suit the age of the person they are talking to, allowing them to converse in over 20 languages, including Spanish and Japanese. The platypus’s cry is Australian-like, the red panda’s call is slightly Himalayan-like, and the mallard’s call is British-like. Through live conversations with the exhibits, Ashby hopes visitors will learn more than can be written on the labels on the specimens.
As part of the project, the conversations visitors have with exhibits will be analyzed to better understand the information visitors are looking for in specimens. The AI suggests a variety of questions for the fin whales, such as “Tell me about life in the open ocean,” but visitors can ask whatever they like.
“When you talk to these animals, you really get a sense of their personalities. It’s a very strange experience,” Ashby said. “I started by asking questions like, “Where did you live?’ and “How did you die?’ but eventually I asked more human questions. Tanda. ”
Mallard ducks have a British accent due to AI. Photo: University of Cambridge
The museum’s dodo, one of the world’s most complete specimens, fed on fruit, seeds and the occasional small invertebrate in Mauritius, explains how its strong, curved beak is perfect for splitting tough fruit. I explained what it was. Tambaracock tree.
The AI-enhanced exhibit also shared views on whether humans should try to revive the species through cloning. “Even with advanced technology, the dodo’s return will require not only our DNA, but also Mauritius’ delicate ecosystem that supported our species,” the group said. . “This is a poignant reminder that the essence of all life goes beyond our genetic code and is intricately woven into our natural habitats.”
A similar level of obvious care was given to the fin whale skeleton that hangs from the museum’s roof. When I asked him about the most famous person he had ever met, he admitted that in his lifetime he had never had the opportunity to meet anyone as “famous” as humans see them. “But,” the AI-powered skeleton continued, “I would like to think that anyone who stands below me and feels awe and love for the natural world is important.”
Throughout history, there have been many individuals who meticulously monitored their weight, but one of the most intriguing figures is Santorio Santorio. In the 1500s, he devoted his life to tracking his body, weighing everything he consumed and everything he excreted.
For a particular scientific investigation, he created what he called a sanctorian weighing chair – a chair placed next to the dining table on a steel scale that closely monitored one’s weight.
His theory was based on the idea that individuals could maintain their weight by consuming the same amount that their bodies expelled (urine, feces, sweat, or what he referred to as “insensible sweat”). If it detected overeating, the chair would lower, making it impossible to reach the food. This would prevent further consumption until the end of the meal.
Despite being mocked at the time, Santorio’s concept had merit. The notion of a personalized, experimental, and quantitative approach to health is undeniably appealing.
Nearly two centuries later, Benjamin Franklin, inspired by Santorio, meticulously recorded his dietary intake and compiled a list of all 13 of his virtues. He marked them whenever he committed an immoral act, monitoring and quantifying his life in great detail.
In the modern era, individuals have pushed boundaries with technology to track various aspects of their lives. For instance, a Reddit user created a beautiful visualization depicting a baby’s sleep and wake times during the initial months of life.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 Take your health tracking to the next level with Galaxy AI If you want to stay healthy, pairing Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip6 with a Samsung Galaxy wearable is easy. and free samsung health The app allows users to track sleep patterns, heart rate, blood pressure, and calories. This information can be used to manage your health condition. energy score – Daily measurements of your physical and mental energy and readiness with Galaxy AI. Alternatively, you can engage in a calming meditation program on mindfulness and relaxation.
The advancement of wearables has made monitoring our health easier than ever. With technology, we can now effortlessly track various health metrics. AI-powered wearables connected to smartphone apps can monitor sleep patterns, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, and blood pressure.
Having access to objective numbers and data can be reassuring. It can serve as a motivator for achieving our health goals and connecting with communities that prioritize health tracking and accountability. However, it’s essential not to prioritize tracking numbers over happiness and well-being.
When it comes to fitness, remember that numbers are merely proxies for what truly matters. Each individual is unique, and responses to external stimuli vary. While trackers can provide insights into what is “normal” for a person, this data should be used to inform rather than dictate health status. Human bodies are complex and should not be reduced to mere data points.
Hello. Welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, technology news editor at Guardian US.
I’m taking over TechScape from Alex Hern. In this newsletter I would like to introduce myself and my ideas.
Blake Montgomery, new TechScape writer. Photo: The Guardian
A little about me: I started working for the Guardian the day Sam Bankman-Freed went to trial. My first break from my new job coincided with the shock firing of Sam Altman at OpenAI. A story I often tell at parties is how I was arrested and jailed while reporting. deadly testicular injection.
New newsletter: TechScape immerses you in the influence of politics, culture, and technology. We analyze the importance of the week’s most important technology news, explore odd niches, stay up to date with Guardian coverage, and give you helpful tips from time to time. My version of TechScape is a newsletter about technology and the people who make it. Technology, both as a product and as an industry, is the biggest driver of change in our time. It intersects every aspect of our lives and changes our daily behavior. Think of TechScape as your guide to the future and future present.
Thank you for your participation.
This week on iPhone
Yu-Gi-Oh! There’s a lot to explore in Master Duel. Photo: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Average usage time per day: 6 hours 2 minutes.
Most used apps: Yu-Gi-Oh! master duel. I just downloaded this app last week and it stirs up some nostalgia in me. teenage trading card era for better or for worse. Quite a lot of things in the game have changed since then, so there’s a lot of digital territory to explore.
Silicon Valley’s elite schools are testing temporary bans on technology
There is a popular opinion that mobile phones are bad for everyone, especially children. Photo: The Guardian
Leaders in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe are debating whether students should have cellphones in their hands during class. A growing number of people in power, from presidents to school superintendents, think they shouldn’t do that.
California’s governor last week signed a bill requiring schools to reduce screen time for students, and the Los Angeles School District, the second largest in the United States, passed a ban on public high school phones on campus starting in 2025. The UK is not making this decision piecemeal. Similar to the US, ministers announced plans in February to ban phones in schools across the country. Hungary now requires schools to collect students’ devices at the start of the school day. France is in the midst of trialing a ban on the use of phones for students under 15. The Netherlands has banned the use of phones in schools from January 1, 2024.
Consensus is growing. Taking up arms against screen time is a popular stance among both conservatives and progressives. There is a popular opinion that phones are bad for everyone, especially children. One of the problems is that it is a universally acknowledged fact that everyone living in our time must have a smartphone. How can we prepare students to balance the two competing needs of screen time and screen-free time?
Will going tech-free help students learn better in school? Photo: The Guardian
An elite school in the heart of Silicon Valley is asking students to put down their devices and rethink their relationship with technology. The $62,400-a-year, private school for girls at Castile School in Palo Alto, Calif., has banned cell phones in classrooms since middle school principal Laura Zappas can remember. Also smart watches. The school has 185 students in grades 6, 7, and 8, aged 11 to 14.
Zappas instituted a completely technology-free week last school year, requiring all Castillaja students to lock their devices, including smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and school-issued laptops, at the start of the school day for one week in March. The girls took notes, filled out all assignments on paper, and recorded data from their science experiments in graph journals. They wrote down the homework they needed to complete on paper planners that Zappas personally distributed. They complained of cramps because they handwritten more lines in a day than any other grade.
“We found that students with laptops had several screens open at the same time,” Zappas said. “They may be texting or playing games instead of taking notes. Or, a student’s urge to start class may be replaced by waiting for instructions from the teacher or what they are doing. Instead, I wanted to open my laptop as soon as I entered the classroom. I was always drawn to my laptop.”
The initiative, simply named “Tech Free Week,” served to reset digital-first educational practices during the pandemic, Zappas said. “I think before coronavirus, we were using a combination of paper and technology. And I think my own education has changed pretty dramatically with coronavirus, with all assignments now having to be submitted electronically. And since COVID-19, it has become our daily life.”
What does Unplugged look like as a way for students and teachers to think more deeply about our relationship with technology?
Administrators described Tech Free Week as a pause for rethinking. How can we participate as a community without screens?”
A recent study from Tech-Free Week found that 42% of students improved their ability to concentrate after returning to paper and pen. Photo: The Guardian
The results were positive, with 42% of students saying they were able to concentrate better in class and were less distracted during schoolwork, according to a survey conducted by the school. Almost three-quarters of teachers asked Zappas to repeat the effort. She is in discussions with administrators at the 9th- through 12th-grade high school to implement a technology-free week for older students.
Zappas emphasized that advance notice and careful preparation made Technology Free Week possible. She notified school teachers of the initiative four months in advance and pitched it to parents six weeks in advance. She asked both teachers and parents to consider how they can build healthy relationships. That a week without technology required so much planning shows that devices can be an inseparable part of modern life, even for 11-year-old students.
We have a French teacher and we gave them all the dictionaries and she said they had never seen a French dictionary before.
“We have a French teacher and we gave them all the dictionaries and she said they had never seen a French dictionary before,” Zappas said. “And it took a long time for them to figure out, ‘Okay, what’s the right word that I want to use here?’ How do I find that?”
John Hopfield and Jeffrey Hinton jointly awarded 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics
Christine Olson/TT/Shutterstock
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics will be awarded to John Hopfield and Jeffrey Hinton for their work on fundamental algorithms that enable artificial neural networks and machine learning, which are key to today’s large-scale language models such as ChatGPT. was awarded.
Upon hearing the award announcement, Hinton told the Nobel Committee, “I’m shocked. I never expected something like this to happen.” “I’m very surprised.” Hinton, who has been vocal about his concerns about the development of artificial intelligence, also reiterated that he regrets the work he did. “I would do the same thing in the same situation, but I fear that the overall impact of this will ultimately be controlled by systems more intelligent than us.” he said.
AI may not seem like an obvious candidate for the Nobel Prize in physics, but the discovery of learnable neural networks and their applications are two fields closely related to physics, the Nobel Committee for Physics says. Committee Chair Ellen Moons said during the announcement. . “These artificial neural networks are being used to advance research across a variety of physics topics, including particle physics, materials science, and astrophysics.”
Many early approaches to artificial intelligence involved giving computer programs logical rules to follow to solve problems, allowing them to learn about new information and It has become difficult for me to encounter situations that I have never seen before. In 1982, Hopfield at Princeton University created an architecture for computers called the Hopfield Network. A Hopfield network is a collection of nodes or artificial neurons whose connection strengths can be changed by a learning algorithm invented by Hopfield.
This algorithm is inspired by the study of physics to find the energy of a magnetic system by describing it as a collection of small magnets. The technique involves repeatedly changing the strength of the connections between the magnets to find the energy minimum of the system.
That same year, Hinton at the University of Toronto began developing Hopfield’s ideas to help create a closely related machine learning construct called a Boltzmann machine. “I remember going to a conference in Rochester where John Hopfield was speaking and learning about neural networks for the first time.After this, Terry [Sejnowski] And I worked hard to find ways to generalize neural networks,” he said.
Hinton and colleagues showed that unlike previous machine learning architectures, Boltzmann machines can learn and extract patterns from large data sets. This principle, combined with large amounts of data and computational power, has led to the success of many of today’s artificial intelligence systems, such as image recognition and language translation tools.
However, although Boltzmann machines have proven to be capable, they are inefficient and slow, so they are not used in today’s modern systems. Instead, it uses faster, modern machine learning architectures like Transformer models that power large language models like ChatGPT.
At the Nobel Prize press conference, Hinton was bullish about the impact of his and Hopfield’s discoveries. “It will be comparable to the industrial revolution, but instead of surpassing humans in physical strength, we will surpass humans in intellectual ability,” he said. “We’ve never experienced what it’s like to have something smarter than us. It’s going to be great in many ways…but we have We also have to worry about the negative consequences of this, especially the threat that these things can get out of control.”
Dinosaurs ruled the earth for around 180 million years. But fossils that are at least 65 million years old are incredibly hard to decipher, so we know very little about what these iconic prehistoric creatures lived. Finding out more has long seemed impossible, but not anymore.
Over the past few decades, new techniques and new specimens have provided previously unimaginable insights into the behavior and ecology of dinosaurs. Combined with insights from modern animals, this has finally enabled paleontologists to understand dinosaur biology, from parental care, migration, and hunting styles to communication, sociality, and combat.
David Horne is one of the researchers trying to find out more about life during the time of the dinosaurs: the paleontologist at Queen Mary, University of London, is soon to publish a book about his latest findings. Revealing dinosaur behavior: What they did and how we know. New Scientist From mobile herbivores and semi-aquatic predators to why ostriches are problematic for understanding which dinosaurs doted on their young, here’s some of what’s been discovered so far.
Collin Barrass: Some of the biggest dinosaurs were Diplodocus or BrachiosaurusFor example, dinosaurs were not at all similar to living animals, so how do we figure out how they behaved?
David Horne: One of the most important things we can do as paleontologists is to better utilize our knowledge of the biology and behavior of modern animals. Mouth shapes are a good example. People with small mouths usually target nutritious food, such as shoots and leaves, one by one. If…
The second antitrust trial between Google and the U.S. Department of Justice commenced on September 9, with a federal judge in Virginia listening to opening arguments regarding whether the tech giant unlawfully monopolized the digital advertising sector. This trial carries significant implications for the tech industry, online publishers, and Google’s primary revenue stream.
This much-anticipated trial represents the second major U.S. antitrust case against Google, following a recent landmark ruling that found the company guilty of monopolizing the online search market illegally. Contrary to the previous case, the Justice Department is now seeking specific measures to compel Google to divest parts of its business and sell some of its advertising technology.
The Department of Justice’s second lawsuit, submitted in January 2023, targets Google’s Ads initiative, focusing on the company’s acquisition and utilization of digital advertising technology. The case revolves around Google’s role as an intermediary for website operators seeking to monetize through advertising, enabling them to sell ad space on their sites and connecting advertisers with potential customers, with Google retaining a significant portion of the ad revenue.
The Department of Justice argues that Google’s control over various aspects of digital advertising results from strategic acquisitions, culminating in a monopoly over the industry. The case delves into Google’s acquisitions of DoubleClick, Invite Media, and AdMeld, which allegedly granted the company dominance over both supply and demand in online advertising and intermediary exchange points.
During the trial, the Justice Department alleges that Google’s actions constitute anti-competitive behavior through exclusionary practices and acquisitions, leading to an illegal monopoly. Google’s defense maintains that its business model aligns with industry practices and that the Justice Department’s allegations stem from outdated perceptions of the digital advertising landscape.
TIt was difficult to decide what to focus on for Alex Hern’s first TechScape since his retirement. (If you missed it last week, re-read the farewell newsletter he wrote after 11 years at The Guardian.) Why? Because with everything happening all the time right now, there are tons of topics to delve into.
We could discuss the possibility of Elon Musk running Donald Trump’s “Government Efficiency Commission” if he is re-elected as President of the United States. But that would require writing another newsletter on Musk, and you might be as tired of it as Alex is. The latter possibility is still two sides of the same coin. The chances of Musk quitting running a multi-trillion dollar company for a low-paying government job are not that high.
We can also talk about Pavel Durov’s first public statements since his arrest in France last month, and how Telegram’s anti-censorship stance has crumbled (right now Report Contents Previously it was a private chat reviewed by a moderator).
Or we could delve into Nvidia’s significant role in the economy, which I discussed with Nimo Omer in Monday’s First Edition newsletter.
Instead, let’s focus on the latest major event in the tech world, which has become exhaustingly busy over the past few years: the launch of Apple’s latest iPhones, and why, despite its flashy features and tech-forward attitude, many of you probably won’t be lining up to purchase one.
The reasons are complex. One is the simple price of the iPhone 16, which starts at $799 (£610). For many, such a high price is just too much, especially at a time when the economy is sluggish, jobs are scarce, and the new prime minister is positioning himself as head of a “pessimistic” government, as the Observer’s political editor Toby Helm put it.
“Sales of new mobile phones have fallen dramatically over the past decade,” says Ben Wood, chief analyst at market research firm CCS Insight. In 2013, Britons bought around 30 million new devices, up from just 13.4 million last year. CSS Insight predicts the figures will remain at roughly the same level. Its research suggests that most people expect to keep their next phone for up to five years.
At the same time, phone makers are making fewer dramatic changes to their products from year to year. “These days, phone updates are mostly incremental from a hardware perspective,” Wood says. “Last year’s iPhone might have a slightly bigger screen, a slightly better camera, and better battery life, but it’s probably pretty much the same as this year’s. This is in stark contrast to the mid-1990s through 2007 when there was an incredible acceleration in phone performance and features.”
AI is in the spotlight
Google’s Gemini enters a crowded AI “battlefield.” Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The adoption of AI in iPhones, which Apple teased at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, will arguably mark a major change in how iPhones work. But as I explained in a controversial comment piece back in June, it may not create a strong desire to use ChatGPT on your phone.
Lest you think I’m just a doom-and-gloom tech reporter, market analysts agree. Wood believes AI has become a “battleground” between Google (which owns Gemini), Samsung (which is touting Galaxy AI), and Apple (which understood the challenge and cleverly named its version Apple Intelligence, trying to make the name synonymous with the technology). Is it worth the investment to put AI in your phone? “I’m not convinced that AI is going to have a significant impact on overall new product sales,” Wood says.
Moreover, Apple has already stated that European users won’t have access to the AI integrated into its devices. this year That’s because the company isn’t sure it can do so without violating the rules of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, with one exception: It will be available in the UK in December, which of course is no longer in the EU, but if you spend much of your time on the continent, it won’t be available there. That means you’re paying for minor updates and the potential appeal of AI at a yet-to-be-determined point in time.
Here’s an embarrassing confession: Despite all the latest cutting-edge tech, I don’t see the point in keeping up with the latest hardware. I’m not a huge Apple fanboy, but I do use an iPad (the 7th generation, released in September 2019 and discontinued a year later) every day.
It’s five years old and it works just fine, in part because, with a few exceptions, Apple tweaks the little details with each yearly hardware update. Does it really matter if a flashier screen makes your news app look a little sharper, or if a slightly faster processor makes apps launch a millisecond faster? And if it does, does that slight benefit justify the cost of a new device?
The same goes for my phone. When I dropped my Samsung that I had for years two months ago and the screen repair destroyed the keyboard and I needed a replacement, I decided to buy a similarly outdated phone, the 2021 Samsung A52. I chose this one because it was the latest model available at a relatively affordable price, and it still has a great battery. 3.5mm headphone jackI rely on this technology because Bluetooth headphones only give me the pain of losing my earbuds or having to listen to someone else’s music on public transport.
I would argue that the new iPhones are pretty expensive without all that many new features. Still, you might not think so. If you do, let me know. You can find me at X. @Stokell.
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SSmart rings are gaining popularity, with Oura being spotted on the fingers of celebrities and elite athletes. It offers all the health-tracking features of a smartwatch in a smaller, less technical device focused on sleep, recovery, and resilience. Can the average person use it?
Now in its third generation, the Oura Gen 3 is the most popular smart ring on the market. It comes in various colors, metals, and sizes, resembling an attractive piece of jewelry, priced starting at £299 (€329/$299), plus a £6 monthly subscription. Following the trends of celebrities doesn’t come cheap.
The sleek titanium rings are available in different colors, finishes, and two shapes: flat top and fully circular. An inner layer of clear plastic reveals components, sensors, and contacts that read metrics like heart rate using three prongs touching the underside of your finger.
How does it feel to wear?
The smooth titanium finish shines in different light and is available in many other colors and finishes, including classic silver and gold. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Unlike other fitness trackers, Oura has no screen, sound, or visible alerts other than occasional lights from its sensors. All interactions happen through a smartphone app. Wearing it on the index finger is recommended for accurate data, but it can be cumbersome when using a smartphone.
The Oura ring, while twice as thick as a traditional wedding band, fits snugly but may be uncomfortable between fingers. It requires careful sizing and removal for regular cleaning and charging.
Oura has a consistent thickness all around, so it fits snugly against adjacent fingers better than other larger rings. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Sleep, sleep, and more sleep
The Oura app syncs data and settings via Bluetooth and displays the information in an easy-to-understand way. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Oura emphasizes thorough sleep analysis and daily recovery. It offers suggestions for improving health long-term. During the day, it tracks activity, compiles an Activity Score from steps, calories, heart rate, and stress levels. It also recognizes activities like walking and cycling.
At night, the ring tracks sleep efficiency, cycles, heart rate, variability, and blood oxygen to calculate a sleep score. It provides trend analysis and insights on readiness and resilience based on biometric data.
The app displays health data clearly with graphs and reports, offering suggestions for improvement. It also includes women’s health tracking, fertility insights, and partnered apps for extended functionality.
Sustainability
Oura will eventually become disposable, as the batteries in the ring will wear out, at which point they can’t be replaced. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
The Oura Gen 3 is not repairable, and the battery is not replaceable. Sustainability features are lacking, with no recycled materials, environmental impact reports, or recycling programs available.
Price
Prices for the Oura Gen 3 start from £299 (€329/$299), with a range of designs and finishes. A one-month free trial is offered, with a monthly subscription at £5.99 (€5.99 / $5.99). Membership registration is required.
Compared to other similar products, the Oura ring is competitively priced but comes with additional subscription costs.
Verdict
The Oura ring 3 is an excellent option for those wanting to track sleep and overall health without a screen on their wrist. It offers comprehensive data analysis and insightful recommendations for health improvement.
Although the ring has some drawbacks, including cost, subscription fees, and tracking limitations, it provides valuable insights into health trends and data analysis.
Overall, the Oura ring offers a unique approach to health tracking with detailed data and user-friendly features, making it a compelling option for those prioritizing sleep and recovery.
Strong Points: Jewelry-like design, comprehensive sleep & health tracking, smart trend analysis & helpful advice, easy to understand, 5-day battery life, 100m water resistance, an effective health alternative to a smartwatch.
Cons: Expensive, monthly subscription, thick for a ring, limited tracking capabilities.
The Oura ring is packed with sensors and technology. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Polarized light can erase messages encoded in quantum holograms
Hong Liang, Wai Chun Wong, Tailing Ang, Jensen Lee 2024
The quantum evanescence phenomenon makes it possible to embed secure messages in holograms and selectively erase parts of them even after they have been transmitted.
Quantum optical signals are inherently secure information carriers: any interception of the message destroys the fragile quantum states that encode it. To harness this without the use of bulky devices, Jensen Lee Researchers from the University of Exeter in the UK MetasurfaceIt is a 2D material engineered with special properties to create quantum holograms.
Holograms encode complex information that can be restored when light is shone on it. For example, when light hits a 2D holographic paper card at the right angle, a 3D image appears. To create quantum holograms, researchers encoded information in the quantum state of particles of light, or photons.
First, they used a laser to emit two photons from a special crystal that were tightly bound by quantum entanglement. The photons traveled along separate paths, with only one encountering the metasurface along the way. Thousands of tiny components on the metasurface, like nano-sized bumps, altered the photon’s quantum state in a preprogrammed way, encoding a holographic image into it.
The partner photon encountered a polarizing filter, which controlled which parts of the hologram appeared and which disappeared. The first photon’s state was a superposition of holograms, so it contained different variations of the message at the same time. Because the photons were in an entangled state, polarizing the second photon affected the image the other photon created when it hit the camera. For example, a test hologram contained the letters H, D, V, and A, but adding a filter for horizontal polarization caused the letter H to disappear from the final image.
Li says metasurfaces could be used to encode more complex information into photons, for example as part of quantum cryptography protocols. He calls the research SPIE Optics + Photonics Conference August 21st, San Diego, California.
“Everyone dreams of quantum technology going from square metres on a table to being compact enough to fit in a smartphone, and metasurfaces seem like a good way to achieve that. [about that]” Andrew Forbes A researcher at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, said quantum holograms like the one used in this experiment could also be used to image tiny biological structures in the rapidly expanding medical field.
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