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Categories: Offbeat: Computers and Math, Offbeat: Space
Published Random robots are more reliable



New algorithm encourages robots to move more randomly to collect more diverse data for learning. In tests, robots started with no knowledge and then learned and correctly performed tasks within a single attempt. New model could improve safety and practicality of self-driving cars, delivery drones and more.
Published Significant new discovery in teleportation research -- Noise can improve the quality of quantum teleportation



Researchers succeeded in conducting an almost perfect quantum teleportation despite the presence of noise that usually disrupts the transfer of quantum state.
Published This highly reflective black paint makes objects more visible to autonomous cars



Driving at night might be a scary challenge for a new driver, but with hours of practice it soon becomes second nature. For self-driving cars, however, practice may not be enough because the lidar sensors that often act as these vehicles' 'eyes' have difficulty detecting dark-colored objects. New research describes a highly reflective black paint that could help these cars see dark objects and make autonomous driving safer.
Published Webb telescope probably didn't find life on an exoplanet -- yet



Recent reports of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope finding signs of life on a distant planet understandably sparked excitement. A new study challenges this finding, but also outlines how the telescope might verify the presence of the life-produced gas.
Published A 'cosmic glitch' in gravity



Researchers have discovered a potential 'cosmic glitch' in the universe's gravity, explaining its strange behavior on a cosmic scale.
Published Earth-like environment likely on ancient Mars



A research team using the ChemCam instrument onboard NASA's Curiosity rover discovered higher-than-usual amounts of manganese in lakebed rocks within Gale Crater on Mars, which indicates that the sediments were formed in a river, delta, or near the shoreline of an ancient lake.
Published Webb captures top of iconic horsehead nebula in unprecedented detail



NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the sharpest infrared images to date of a zoomed-in portion of one of the most distinctive objects in our skies, the Horsehead Nebula. These observations show the top of the 'horse's mane' or edge of this iconic nebula in a whole new light, capturing the region's complexity with unprecedented spatial resolution.
Published NASA's Webb maps weather on planet 280 light-years away



Researchers have successfully used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to map the weather on the hot gas-giant exoplanet WASP-43 b.
Published Trotting robots reveal emergence of animal gait transitions



A four-legged robot trained with machine learning has learned to avoid falls by spontaneously switching between walking, trotting, and pronking -- a milestone for roboticists as well as biologists interested in animal locomotion.
Published Gemini south reveals origin of unexpected differences in giant binary stars



Astronomers have confirmed that differences in binary stars' composition can originate from chemical variations in the cloud of stellar material from which they formed. The results help explain why stars born from the same molecular cloud can possess different chemical composition and host different planetary systems, as well as pose challenges to current stellar and planet formation models.
Published Probing the effects of interplanetary space on asteroid Ryugu



Samples reveal evidence of changes experienced by the surface of asteroid Ryugu, some probably due to micrometeoroid bombardment.
Published The end of the quantum tunnel



Quantum mechanical effects such as radioactive decay, or more generally: 'tunneling', display intriguing mathematical patterns. Researchers now show that a 40-year-old mathematical discovery can be used to fully encode and understand this structure.
Published Why can't robots outrun animals?



Robotics engineers have worked for decades and invested many millions of research dollars in attempts to create a robot that can walk or run as well as an animal. And yet, it remains the case that many animals are capable of feats that would be impossible for robots that exist today.
Published Holographic displays offer a glimpse into an immersive future



Researchers have invented a new optical element that brings us one step closer to mixing the real and virtual worlds in an ordinary pair of eyeglasses using high-definition 3D holographic images.
Published Researchers show it's possible to teach old magnetic cilia new tricks



Magnetic cilia -- artificial hairs whose movement is powered by embedded magnetic particles -- have been around for a while, and are of interest for applications in soft robotics, transporting objects and mixing liquids. However, existing magnetic cilia move in a fixed way. Researchers have now demonstrated a technique for creating magnetic cilia that can be 'reprogrammed,' changing their magnetic properties at room temperature to change the motion of the cilia as needed.
Published Eruption of mega-magnetic star lights up nearby galaxy



While ESA's satellite INTEGRAL was observing the sky, it spotted a burst of gamma-rays -- high-energy photons -- coming from the nearby galaxy M82. Only a few hours later, ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray space telescope searched for an afterglow from the explosion but found none. An international team realized that the burst must have been an extra-galactic flare from a magnetar, a young neutron star with an exceptionally strong magnetic field.
Published Hey Dave, I've got an idea for you: What's the potential of AI-led workshopping?



Sure, ChatGPT can write a poem about your pet in the style of T.S Eliot, but generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have a potentially more useful role to play in idea generation according to a new study.
Published To find life in the universe, look to deadly Venus



Despite surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead, lava-spewing volcanoes, and puffy clouds of sulfuric acid, uninhabitable Venus offers vital lessons about the potential for life on other planets, a new paper argues.
Published Giant galactic explosion exposes galaxy pollution in action



Astronomers have produced the first high-resolution map of a massive explosion in a nearby galaxy, providing important clues on how the space between galaxies is polluted with chemical elements.
Published AI and physics combine to reveal the 3D structure of a flare erupting around a black hole



Based on radio telescope data and models of black hole physics, a team has used neural networks to reconstruct a 3D image that shows how explosive flare-ups in the disk of gas around our supermassive black hole might look.