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Sep 13, 2022

Three times artificial intelligence has scared scientists — from creating chemical weapons to claiming it has feelings

Posted by in categories: chemistry, military, robotics/AI

THE artificial intelligence revolution has only just begun, but there have already been numerous unsettling developments.

AI programs can be used to act on humans’ worst instincts or achieve humans’ more wicked goals, like creating weapons or terrifying its creators with a lack of morality.

Artificial intelligence is a catch-all phrase for a computer program designed to simulate, mimic or copy human thinking processes.

Sep 13, 2022

Applying deep-learning AI to X-rays helps find explosives in luggage

Posted by in categories: materials, robotics/AI

A team of researchers at University College London, working with a colleague from Nylers Ltd. and another from XPCI Technology Ltd., has developed a new way to X-ray luggage to detect small amounts of explosives. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes modifying a traditional X-ray device and applying a deep-learning application to better detect explosive materials in luggage.

Prior research has shown that when X-rays strike materials, they produce tiny bends that vary depending on the type of material. They sought to take advantage of these bends to create a precision X-ray machine.

The researchers first added a small change to an existing X-ray machine—a box containing masks, which are sheets of metal with tiny holes in them. The masks serve to split the X-ray beam into multiple smaller beams. The researchers then used the device to scan a variety of objects containing embedded and fed the results to a deep-learning AI application. The idea was to teach the machine what the tiny bends in such materials looked like. Once the machine was trained, they used it to scan other objects with embedded explosives to see if it could identify them. The researchers found their machine to be 100% accurate under lab settings.

Sep 13, 2022

Georgia, Illinois Students to Hear from Space Station Astronauts

Posted by in category: space

Students from Georgia and Illinois will have the opportunity this week to hear from astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Sep 13, 2022

Nation’s first security-focused, 5G wireless test range opens in Idaho

Posted by in categories: internet, security

NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS: Ethan Huffman, (208) 716‑4594, ethan.huffman@inl.gov Sarah Neumann, (208) 526‑0490, sarah.neumann@inl.gov

Sep 13, 2022

Bird’s-eye view improves safety of autonomous driving

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

In the Providentia++ project, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have worked with industry partners to develop a technology to complement the vehicle perspective based on onboard sensor input with a bird’s-eye view of traffic conditions. This improves road safety, including for autonomous driving.

The expectations for autonomous driving are clear: “Cars have to travel safely not only at low speeds, but also in fast-moving traffic,” says Jörg Schrepfer, the head of Driving Advanced Research Germany at Valeo. For example, when objects fall off a truck, the “egocentric” perspective of a car will often be unable to detect the hazardous debris in time. “In these cases, it will be difficult to execute smooth evasive action,” says Schrepfer.

Researchers in the Providentia++ project have developed a system to transmit an additional view of the traffic situation into vehicles. “Using sensors on overhead sign bridges and masts, we have created a reliable, of the traffic situation on our test route that functions around the clock,” says Prof. Alois Knoll, project lead manager TUM. “With this system, we can now complement the vehicle’s view with an external perspective—a bird’s-eye view—and incorporate the behavior of other road users into decisions.”

Sep 13, 2022

Enzyme researchers partner with pioneering AI company, DeepMind, in developing green solutions to combat plastic waste

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability

University of Portsmouth joins leading AI researchers at DeepMind to help engineer faster acting enzymes for recycling some of the worlds most polluting single use plastics.

The University’s Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI) has used DeepMind’s ground-breaking AI system to make strides in their research on circular recycling.

Sep 13, 2022

US defense agency is engineering a small military vertical-takeoff aircraft

Posted by in categories: engineering, military

Minimizing personnel costs and vulnerability

“The goal is to build a plane that can launch from ship flight decks and small austere land locations in adverse weather without launch and recovery equipment typically needed for these systems,” stated DARPA’s press release published on Friday.

Sep 13, 2022

Leonard Susskind Marrying Quantum Physics & General Relativity

Posted by in categories: cosmology, quantum physics

American physicist, professor of theoretical physics at Stanford University, and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, Leonard Susskind, explains black holes, quantum physics, general relativity and how they are intertwined.

Knowing how the laws of physics behave at the extremes of space and time, near a black hole, is an important piece of the puzzle we must obtain if we are to understand how the universe works. Leonard Susskind explains how general relativity and quantum mechanics are related.

Continue reading “Leonard Susskind Marrying Quantum Physics & General Relativity” »

Sep 13, 2022

Researchers find DNA mutation that led to change in function of gene in humans that sparked larger neocortex

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute has found what they believe is the DNA mutation that led to a change in function of a gene in humans that sparked the growth of a larger neocortex. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the team describes how they engineered a gene found only in humans, Denisovans and Neanderthals to look like a precursor to reveal its neuroproliferative effect.

A year ago, another team of researchers found the that most in the field believe was a major factor in allowing the human brain to grow bigger, allowing for more complex processing. In this new effort, the researchers have found what they believe was the DNA change that arose in that gene.

To pinpoint that change, the researchers engineered the unique ARHGAP11B gene to make it more similar to the ARHGAP11A gene, which researchers believe was a predecessor gene—they swapped a single nucleotide (out of 55 possibilities) for another and in so doing, found the ARHGAP11B gene lost its neuroproliferative abilities. This, the team claims, shows that it was a single mutation that allowed humans to grow bigger brains. Such a mutation, they note, was not likely due to natural selection, but was more likely a simple mistake that occurred as a brain cell was splitting. Because it conferred an advantage (the ability to grow higher than normal amounts of brain cells) the mutation was retained through subsequent generations. They also point out that such a mutation would have resulted specifically in a larger neocortex—a portion of the cortex that has been associated with hearing and sight.

Sep 13, 2022

Switching mouse neural stem cells to a primate-like behavior

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

When the right gene is expressed in the right manner in the right population of stem cells, the developing mouse brain can exhibit primate-like features. In a paper publishing August 7th in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) succeeded in mimicking the sustained expression of the transcription factor Pax6 as seen in the developing human brain, in mouse cortical progenitor cells. This altered the behavior of these cells to one that is akin to that of progenitors in the developing primate neocortex. Consequently, the mouse progenitors generated more neurons — a prerequisite for a bigger brain.

The neocortex consists of different types of progenitors, but one particular class, the basal progenitors, behave differently in small-brained animals such as mice than in large-brained animals such as humans. In humans, basal progenitors can undergo multiple rounds of , thereby substantially increasing neuron number and ultimately the size of the neocortex. In mice, these progenitors typically undergo only one round of cell division, thus limiting the number of neurons produced. A potential cause underlying this difference in the proliferative capacity of basal progenitors could be the differential expression of Pax6 between species. Mouse basal progenitors, in contrast to human, do not express Pax6. “We were very curious to see what would happen if we were to change the expression pattern of Pax6 in developing mouse brain to mimic that observed in large-brained animals”, says Fong Kuan Wong, a PhD student in the lab of Wieland Huttner and first author of the study.

To this end, another PhD student in the lab, Ji-Feng Fei, generated a novel transgenic mouse line. This line provided the basis for altering the expression of Pax6 in the cortical stem cell lineage such that it would be sustained in basal progenitors. The researchers then introduced the Pax6 gene into the of these mice. Strikingly, sustaining Pax6 expression in basal increased their capacity to undergo multiple rounds of cell division, as typically observed in primates. This not only expanded the size of the basal progenitor population in a way somewhat reminiscent to what is seen in large-brained animals. It also resulted in an increase in cortical neurons, notably those in the top layer, another characteristic feature of an expanded neocortex.