Anthropology: General Mathematics: Statistics Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology
Published

Modern behavior explains prehistoric economies      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

What if the 'Market Economy' always existed? Archaeologists tried to answer this question by researching how much Bronze Age people used to spend to sustain their daily lives. Their results show that, starting at least 3,500 years ago, the spending habits of prehistoric Europeans were not substantially different from what they are today.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Recent volcanic 'fires' in Iceland triggered by storage and melting in crust      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have detected geochemical signatures of magma pooling and melting beneath the subsurface during the 'Fagradalsfjall Fires', that began on Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula in 2021. Samples show that the start of the eruption began with massive pooling of magma, contrasting initial hypothesis for magma ascent straight from the mantle.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Bright prospects for engineering quantum light      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Computers benefit greatly from being connected to the internet, so we might ask: What good is a quantum computer without a quantum internet?

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Cell Biology Biology: General Chemistry: Biochemistry Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals Physics: Optics
Published

Super-black wood can improve telescopes, optical devices and consumer goods      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Thanks to an accidental discovery, researchers have created a new super-black material that absorbs almost all light, opening potential applications in fine jewelry, solar cells and precision optical devices.

Mathematics: Modeling Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Breaking MAD: Generative AI could break the internet, researchers find      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have found that training successive generations of generative artificial intelligence models on synthetic data gives rise to self-consuming feedback loops.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Shape-shifting 'transformer bots' inspired by origami      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, engineers have discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations using only three active motors.

Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

New study disputes Hunga Tonga volcano's role in 2023-24 global warm-up      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research is exploring the climate impact of the 2022 Hunga Tonga volcano eruption and challenging existing assumptions about its effects in the process.

Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Spin qubits go trampolining      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed somersaulting spin qubits for universal quantum logic. This achievement may enable efficient control of large semiconductor qubit arrays. The research group recently published their demonstration of hopping spins and somersaulting spins.

Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Foam fluidics showcase lab's creative approach to circuit design      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers have shown that something as simple as the flow of air through open-cell foam can be used to perform digital computation, analog sensing and combined digital-analog control in soft textile-based wearable systems.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Development of 'living robots' needs regulation and public debate      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are calling for regulation to guide the responsible and ethical development of bio-hybrid robotics -- a ground-breaking science which fuses artificial components with living tissue and cells.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Can consciousness exist in a computer simulation?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new essay explores which conditions must be met for consciousness to exist. At least one of them can't be found in a computer.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Ant insights lead to robot navigation breakthrough      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Have you ever wondered how insects are able to go so far beyond their home and still find their way? The answer to this question is not only relevant to biology but also to making the AI for tiny, autonomous robots. Drone-researchers felt inspired by biological findings on how ants visually recognize their environment and combine it with counting their steps in order to get safely back home. They have used these insights to create an insect-inspired autonomous navigation strategy for tiny, lightweight robots. It allows such robots to come back home after long trajectories, while requiring extremely little computation and memory (0.65 kiloByte per 100 m). In the future, tiny autonomous robots could find a wide range of uses, from monitoring stock in warehouses to finding gas leaks in industrial sites.

Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Want to spot a deepfake? Look for the stars in their eyes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In an era when the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) images is at the fingertips of the masses, the ability to detect fake pictures -- particularly deepfakes of people -- is becoming increasingly important. So what if you could tell just by looking into someone's eyes? That's the compelling finding of new research which suggests that AI-generated fakes can be spotted by analyzing human eyes in the same way that astronomers study pictures of galaxies.

Energy: Batteries Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Completely stretchy lithium-ion battery for flexible electronics      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

When you think of a battery, you probably don't think stretchy. But batteries will need this shape-shifting quality to be incorporated into flexible electronics, which are gaining traction for wearable health monitors. Now, researchers report a lithium-ion battery with entirely stretchable components, including an electrolyte layer that can expand by 5000%, and it retains its charge storage capacity after nearly 70 charge/discharge cycles.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Engineering: Nanotechnology Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Enzyme-powered 'snot bots' help deliver drugs in sticky situations      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Snot might not be the first place you'd expect nanobots to be swimming around. But this slimy secretion exists in more places than just your nose and piles of dirty tissues -- it also lines and helps protect the lungs, stomach, intestines and eyes. And now, researchers have demonstrated in mice that their tiny, enzyme-powered 'snot bots' can push through the defensive, sticky layer and potentially deliver drugs more efficiently.

Computer Science: General Mathematics: Modeling Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

A new neural network makes decisions like a human would      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are training neural networks to make decisions more like humans would. This science of human decision-making is only just being applied to machine learning, but developing a neural network even closer to the actual human brain may make it more reliable, according to the researchers.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: General Mathematics: General Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General Physics: General Physics: Optics
Published

Neural networks made of light      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists propose a new way of implementing a neural network with an optical system which could make machine learning more sustainable in the future. In a new paper, the researchers have demonstrated a method much simpler than previous approaches.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: General
Published

Learning dance moves could help humanoid robots work better with humans      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Engineers have trained a humanoid robot to perform a variety of expressive movements, from simple dance routines to gestures like waving, high-fiving and hugging, all while maintaining a steady gait on diverse terrains. This work marks a step towards building robots that perform more complex and human-like motions.