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Jun 18, 2024

Study Suggests Computerized Brain Implant Could One Day Decode Internal Speech for Those Who Can No Longer Speak

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

The ability to communicate using only your thoughts might sound like the stuff of science fiction. But for people who don’t have the ability to speak or move due to injury or disease, there’s great hope that this may one day be possible using brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) that can “read” relevant brain signals and translate them into written or spoken words. A research team has made a preliminary advance in this direction by showing for the first time that a computerized brain implant can decode internal speech with minimal training.

In the new NIH-supported study, researchers implanted such a device in a brain area known to be important for representing spoken words called the supramarginal gyrus in two people with tetraplegia, a condition marked by full body paralysis from the neck down due to cervical spinal cord injury. The researchers found that the device could decode several words the participants “spoke” only in their minds. While we are far from using such a device to decode whole sentences or even phrases, and the exact mechanisms of internal speech are still under study, the findings, reported in Nature Human Behavior, are notable because it had been unclear whether the brain signals involved in thinking words could be reproducibly translated.

The findings come from a team led by Richard Andersen at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, and Sarah Wandelt, now at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, NY, and the study was supported by the NIH Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative Research Opportunities in Humans program. Though earlier research had shown that brain implants could decode vocalized, attempted, and mimed speech, it had yet to be seen whether internal speech could be similarly decoded.

Jun 18, 2024

How Classical AI is ‘Saving’ Quantum Computing: A Talk with IBM’s Ismael Faro

Posted by in categories: quantum physics, robotics/AI

The Quantum Insider (TQI) is the leading online resource dedicated exclusively to Quantum Computing.

Jun 18, 2024

Nvidia vaults past Apple and Microsoft to become world’s most valuable company

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Breaking news: The US chipmaker has leapfrogged Microsoft and Apple to become the most valuable company in the world, following months of explosive share price growth and an investor frenzy over AI.


Landmark moment for US chipmaker caps explosive rally fuelled by investor excitement over AI.

Jun 18, 2024

This New Idea Could Explain Complexity

Posted by in categories: computing, mathematics, space

Check out courses about science, computer science, or math on Brilliant! First 30 days are free and 20% off the annual premium subscription when you use our link ➜ https://brilliant.org/sabine.

The universe creates complexity out of simplicity, but despite many attempts at understanding how, scientists still have not figured it out. We do know that complexity relies on the emergence of new features and laws, but then again we don’t understand emergence either. The first step must be to clearly define what we are talking about and to measure it. A group of scientists now put forward a way to do exactly this. Let’s have a look.

Continue reading “This New Idea Could Explain Complexity” »

Jun 18, 2024

Decagon raises $35 million from Accel and A16z to build AI customer support agents. Here’s an exclusive look at the pitch deck it used

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI

Decagon cofounders Jesse Zhang and Ashwin Sreenivas have more in common than just their company. Each studied computer science, married young, and even founded a company before Decagon. “We started hacking on some stuff together,” said Zhang, the startup’s CEO. “And that went well, so we just kept working together.”

Founded in July 2023, Decagon uses generative AI to automate customer support for enterprise customers. The company has emerged from stealth and raised $35 million in funding for its seed and Series A rounds. Accel led the company’s $30 million Series A, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, A*, and Elad Gil. A16z led the company’s $5 million seed round. Decagon also counts Box CEO Aaron Levie and Airtable CEO Howie Liu as angel investors.

Jun 18, 2024

Recent and Extensive Volcanism discovered on Venus

Posted by in categories: mapping, space

A new analysis of data collected on Venus more than 30 years ago suggests the planet may currently be volcanically active.

A research group from Italy led by David Sulcanese of the Università d’Annunzio in Pescara, Italy, has used data from a radar mapping of Venus’s surface taken in the early 1990s to search for volcanic lava flow, finding it in two regions.

The discovery suggests that volcanic activity may be currently active and more widespread than was previously thought, supporting previous indirect evidence that there is volcanic activity on Venus.

Jun 18, 2024

First 3D-Printed, Defect-free Tungsten Components Withstand Extreme Temperatures

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used additive manufacturing to produce the first defect-free complex tungsten parts for use in extreme environments. The accomplishment could have positive implications for clean-energy technologies such as fusion energy.

Tungsten has the highest melting point of any metal, making it ideal for fusion reactors where plasma temperatures exceed 180 million degrees Fahrenheit. In comparison, the sun’s center is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.

In its pure form, tungsten is brittle at room temperature and easily shatters. To counter this, ORNL researchers developed an electron-beam 3D-printer to deposit tungsten, layer by layer, into precise three-dimensional shapes. This technology uses a magnetically directed stream of particles in a high-vacuum enclosure to melt and bind metal powder into a solid-metal object. The vacuum environment reduces foreign material contamination and residual stress formation.

Jun 18, 2024

Goldfish Loss: Mitigating Memorization in Generative LLMs

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

From University of Maryland, ELLIS Institute Tubingen, Max Planck Institute, & Tubingen AI Center.

Be like a Goldfish, Don’t Memorize!


Official implementation of Goldfish Loss: Mitigating Memorization in Generative LLMs — ahans30/goldfish-loss.

Jun 18, 2024

China could start building world’s biggest particle collider in 2027

Posted by in category: particle physics

The US$5 billion facility would be cheaper, bigger and faster to build than a similar one proposed by European scientists.

Jun 18, 2024

Enel Green Power lands finance for first solar and battery hybrid project

Posted by in categories: finance, solar power, sustainability

Enel Green Power Australia has announced that it has secured project financing for a $190 million solar and battery hybrid project it plans to build in western NSW.

The Quorn Park hybrid project will combine a 98 MW (dc) solar farm with a 20 MW, 40 MWh battery that will be built around 10kms north west of Parkes. Construction will commence within the next few months and it will be operational in 2026.

The new hybrid is one of the first to be announced since new rules were introduced that allow wind or solar farms to be truly “paired” with a battery storage facility, rather than operating and dispatching as separate units. This may impose some restrictions on operations, but can save on connection and other costs.

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