Lifeboat Foundation

Physicists have demonstrated a new way to obtain the essential details that describe an isolated quantum system, such as a gas of atoms, through direct observation. The new method gives information about the likelihood of finding atoms at specific locations in the system with unprecedented spatial resolution. With this technique, scientists can obtain details on a scale of tens of nanometers—smaller than the width of a virus.

Experiments performed at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a research partnership between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland, use an optical lattice—a web of laser light that suspends thousands of individual atoms—to determine the probability that an atom might be at any given location. Because each individual atom in the lattice behaves like all the others, a measurement on the entire group of atoms reveals the likelihood of an individual atom to be in a particular point in space.

Published in the journal Physical Review X, the JQI technique (and a similar technique published simultaneously by a group at the University of Chicago) can yield the likelihood of the atoms’ locations at well below the wavelength of the light used to illuminate the atoms—50 times better than the limit of what optical microscopy can normally resolve.

Continue reading “Researchers shed new light on atomic ‘wave function’” »

Computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have taught an artificial intelligence agent how to do something that usually only humans can do — take a few quick glimpses around and infer its whole environment, a skill necessary for the development of effective search-and-rescue robots that one day can improve the effectiveness of dangerous missions. The team, led by professor Kristen Grauman, Ph.D. candidate Santhosh Ramakrishnan and former Ph.D. candidate Dinesh Jayaraman (now at the University of California, Berkeley) published their results today in the journal Science Robotics.

Most AI agents — computer systems that could endow robots or other machines with intelligence — are trained for very specific tasks — such as to recognize an object or estimate its volume — in an environment they have experienced before, like a factory. But the agent developed by Grauman and Ramakrishnan is general purpose, gathering visual information that can then be used for a wide range of tasks.

“We want an agent that’s generally equipped to enter environments and be ready for new perception tasks as they arise,” Grauman said. “It behaves in a way that’s versatile and able to succeed at different tasks because it has learned useful patterns about the visual world.”

Continue reading “New AI sees like a human, filling in the blanks” »

Astronomers are puzzling over a paucity of planets in the galaxy measuring between 1.5 and two times Earth’s size.

This therapy can aid in several other cases, and one day it may help patients diagnosed with diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and cancer.

Kristopher Boesen’s life changed in a minute after he survived a car accident. The young man lost control over his car, and crashed it into a tree and lamp post. The terrible accident almost took his life, but Kristopher survived. Unfortunately, he was paralyzed from the neck down, and doctors were almost convinced that he will never regain the control over his body.

Using a quantum computer, physicists successfully reversed time for an artificial atom. You can even try it at home.

In the first of a dozen launches to set up its Starlink network that could provide high-speed internet all around the world…

SpaceX is now eyeing tonight for the lift-off of a Falcon 9 rocket towing the first of 60 Starlink satellites after postponing its planned Wednesday launch due to high winds.

Continue reading “SpaceX will send 60 satellites to orbit tonight in the first of a dozen launches to set up Starlink” »

Nina Khera writes about the aging processes and why she took an interest in aging research and why she thinks young people should too.

Aging is a series of processes in which the body’s ability to perform functions gradually decreases. The Hallmarks of Aging includes such things as an increase in senescent cells and a decrease in stem cells, but decreasing NAD+ and increasing free radicals matter as well. This article will cover a few root causes of aging and their total impact on humanity.

Senescent cells

Continue reading “The Processes and Impact of Aging” »

I’ve been wanting to write on this quintessential #transhumanism debate for a long time: whether a copy of you is…well you. Here’s my new article for Quartz: https://qz.com/1616187/transhumanist-science-will-reshape-wh…-be-human/ #Omnipotism #Philosophy #LifeExtensionGameTheory

In 20 years transhumanist science could help us cheat death.

Quanta’s In Theory video series returns with an exploration of a mysterious mathematical pattern found throughout nature.