This Week In Science & Technology

[Dropbear]

Biological Warfare Expert Explains Why You Should Never Get In A Las Vegas Pool

Biological Warfare Expert Explains Why You Should Never Get In A Las Vegas Pool

www.iflscience.com

 

[Fwiffo]

As tech companies pull back from Russia, China looks on with concern

Chinese consumers have criticized Apple and others that have cut business ties with Moscow, and say Beijing should prepare for similar tactics if it were to invade Taiwan.

www.nbcnews.com

“If one day China finally decides to liberate Taiwan, who can guarantee that our own iPhones won’t get deactivated?”

One should only use the mobile phone that your home country creates. Technology independence.

 

[Fwiffo]

Photos: How do the Webb telescope pictures compare to Hubble’s?

NASA’s $10 billion telescope peers deeper into space than ever, revealing previously undetectable details in the cosmos.

www.nbcnews.com

Hubble launched when I was a kid. Now a new generation can be inspired by the cosmos.

 

[Fwiffo]

No quick fix: How OpenAI's DALL·E 2 illustrated the challenges of bias in AI

OpenAI released the second version of its DALL·E image generator in April to rave reviews, but efforts to address societal biases in its output have illustrated systemic underlying problems with AI systems.

www.nbcnews.com

Is it really a surprise an AI programmed by humans features prejudices, grudges, and bias that the creators possess?

It happens to the children people raise too.

 

[belinmad]

No quick fix: How OpenAI's DALL·E 2 illustrated the challenges of bias in AI

OpenAI released the second version of its DALL·E image generator in April to rave reviews, but efforts to address societal biases in its output have illustrated systemic underlying problems with AI systems.

www.nbcnews.com

Is it really a surprise an AI programmed by humans features prejudices, grudges, and bias that the creators possess?

It happens to the children people raise too.

Given most of these systems are machine learning models trained with actual images and man-made tagging, any implicit biases in image selection or tagging will affect the outcome with the same underlying biases. And hard coding “bias-correction” rules is probably going to lead to worse unintended outcomes.

 

[Fwiffo]

Cell reanimation in the organs of dead pigs confounds conventional understanding of life and death

The new research challenges the idea that the beginning of cell death is irreversible, though bioethicists say it also poses significant questions.

www.nbcnews.com

“To evaluate how well the new system, called OrganEx, works, the researchers caused heart attacks in pigs that had been anesthetized. The pigs were dead for an hour, and the researchers cooled their bodies and used neural inhibitors to ensure the animals did not regain consciousness during subsequent experiments.

Then, the researchers began to use the OrganEx system. They compared its performance against ECMO, a life-support technology used in hospitals today in which a machine oxygenates blood and circulates it throughout the body.

OrganEx restored circulation and prompted the repair of damaged cells. For example, the scientists saw heart cells contract and electrical activity return. Other organs, including kidneys, also showed improvements, the study says.

The pigs treated with OrganEx startled researchers. During experimentation, the dead pigs’ heads and necks moved under their own power.”

We can reanimate dead things like that alien engineer head in Prometheus. Let’s do a dinosaur next or some poor bloke trapped in ice.

 

[Fwiffo]

Are we falling in love with robots?

Far from being scary, people who actually live with robots are finding them endearing.

www.bbc.com

"Technology can be adorable if it needs our assistance. We like a robot that needs us a bit, and when we help the robot it creates a bond."

You mean you the human creates a bond? The robot continues doing 00101110.

We had this here too but typical of our bureaucracy some municipal laws pushed them off sidewalks and they can't use cyclist lanes.

 

[Fwiffo]

This can't be good. They're already turning on us.

 

[Fwiffo]

PlayStation sued for £5bn in the UK over ‘rip-off’ games

The gaming firm is accused of using its market dominance to impose extra charges and drive up prices.

www.bbc.com

Is this not like suing your local drug dealer for profiting off you? Or your local loan shark for charging exorbitant interest?

 

[Fwiffo]

Most eyes are on the Artemis launch but I was a bit more intrigued by the new space station orbiting the moon.

What to Know About Lunar Gateway, NASA’s Future Moon-Orbiting Space Station

Humanity’s first lunar space station will offer new ways to explore space and do science, but it will also present unprecedented health and safety risks.

gizmodo.com

 

[Fwiffo]

Nasa spacecraft lining up to smash into an asteroid

The Dart mission will test a technique for defending the Earth against hazardous space rocks.

www.bbc.com

Deep Impact? Armageddon? Actually neither.

 

[Fwiffo]

No coffin required: Human composting becomes more mainstream

California Gov. Gavin Newsom this month signed a bill that requires state regulators to create a program allowing “natural organic reduction” by 2027.

www.nbcnews.com

"The process, which is essentially the controlled decomposition of a human body by a funeral service provider, takes about two months. Processing a person’s remains creates 1-2 cubic yards of compost — enough to nearly fill the bed of a pickup truck, which can then be used in gardens or conservation projects."

I'll turn into a pickup truck full of dirt? Will I be premium gold or all natural?

 

[Fwiffo]

The U.S. is getting serious about space junk

The FCC will force satellites to deorbit after five years, and a growing private industry around space junk is picking up steam.

www.nbcnews.com

Why do I keep thinking Wall-E when I read to the end of this article?

 

[Fwiffo]

In a novel experiment, brain-like human tissue implanted in rat brains influenced the rodents' behavior

Studying human neurons inside rat brains could help researchers learn more about psychiatric disorders and how to treat them.

www.nbcnews.com

”’We found that human neurons respond very quickly after we stimulated the whiskers. In fact, more than 70% of the human neurons are engaged in some form of activity within a second or so of that stimulation, so that tells us that they’re probably connected,‘ Sergiu Pașca, one of the study’s authors and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, said on a call with reporters.

’Human neurons become part of the rat circuitry,‘ Pașca said, adding that the neurons were ‘sparkling with electrical activity‘ under a microscope.”

We made hum-rats or rat-man.

 

[Fwiffo]

Republican committee sues Google over email spam filters

The RNC has accused the tech giant of suppressing its email solicitations ahead of the midterm elections. Google denies the allegation.

www.nbcnews.com

"The suit says Google has 'relegated millions of RNC emails en masse to potential donors’ and supporters’ spam folders during pivotal points in election fundraising and community building'"

If this goes through those Nigerian fraudsters have a new revenue source.

 

[Fwiffo]

The missing plan for alien first contact

Humans are still searching for signs of intelligent alien life on other planets – but how would we react towards it if we ever did make contact?

www.bbc.com

"My wish is that if an extraterrestrial species reached out to us, and they weren't hostile, that we wouldn't just assume that they are like nonhuman animals – things with which we could do whatever we wanted, because we are human, and they are not. My wish would be that we would evaluate them as peers to the extent that they show those capabilities [such as autonomy] and go from there."

Shouldn’t we assume they are hostile?

"’If they can get here, as opposed to transmitting a message, they are more advanced than we are by an enormous margin.’

In this case, a more appropriate question might be: would our new alien overlords afford us rights?

’What are you going to do if they're aggressive?‘ asks Shostak. ’It'd be like Neanderthals trying to meet with the US Air Force: the Neanderthals could have all the policies they want, but it wouldn't matter.’”

But we are Neanderthals with nuclear weapons.

 

[Fwiffo]

Are you making anything truly new or rehashing a gargantuan library of thing made by humans?

 

[Fwiffo]

Apple warns of lower iPhone shipments as COVID curbs hobble China plant

Apple Inc expects lower shipments of premium iPhone 14 models than previously anticipated following a significant production cut at a virus-blighted plant in China, dampening its sales outlook for the busy year-end holiday season.

www.reuters.com

Fly in migrant workers from India. Have them learn on the job before they make their own.

 

[Fwiffo]

Artemis: Nasa expects humans to live on Moon this decade

A senior official tells the BBC the Artemis missions will lead to astronauts living on the Moon.

www.bbc.com

Just have to make sure they are the right kind of humans. (No Chinese nor Russians)

 

[Fwiffo]

Opinion | Why lab-grown meat is far better than the meat we already eat

The FDA's approval of cell-cultured meat is the perfect opportunity to look at how it’s far better than the meat we already eat.

www.nbcnews.com

Will my fake meat be cheaper?

 

[Fwiffo]

Twins born from embryos frozen 30 years ago

It is believed to be a new record for the longest-frozen embryos ever to result in a successful live birth.

www.bbc.com

"They were stored at around -128C (-200F) in liquid nitrogen on 22 April 1992.

"I was five years old when God gave life to 'ydia and Timothy, and he's been preserving that life ever since,' Philip Ridgeway told CNN from the family's home.

'In a sense, they're our oldest children, even though they're our smallest children.'

'There is something mind-boggling about it,' he added."

Weird.

 

[Dropbear]

This Genetically Modified Tobacco Plant Can Produce Cocaine with Its Leaves, How?

A team of biochemists from China has recreated the cocaine-producing biochemistry of the cocoa plant in the tobacco plant.

www.techtimes.com

 

[Fwiffo]

Shenzhou-15: China sends astronauts to Tiangong space station

China has sent astronauts to live on its space station, the second permanent outpost in orbit.

www.bbc.com

The motherland has extended to space.

 

[Fwiffo]

San Francisco to allow police 'killer robots'

The measure permits police to deploy robots equipped with explosives in extreme circumstances.

www.bbc.com

Does that mean fewer coloured people will die?

Robots are objective and logical no?

 

[Thruth]

San Francisco to allow police 'killer robots'

The measure permits police to deploy robots equipped with explosives in extreme circumstances.

www.bbc.com

Does that mean fewer coloured people will die?

Robots are objective and logical no?

They are more effective killers, darling.