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World’s first human brain-scale neuromorphic supercomputer is coming

ICYMI: DeepSouth uses a #neuromorphiccomputing system which mimics biological processes, using hardware to efficiently emulate large networks of spiking #neurons at 228 trillion #Synaptic operations per second — rivalling the estimated rate of operations in the human brain.


Australian researchers are putting together a supercomputer designed to emulate the world’s most efficient learning machine – a neuromorphic monster capable of the same estimated 228 trillion synaptic operations per second that human brains handle.

As the age of AI dawns upon us, it’s clear that this wild technological leap is one of the most significant in the planet’s history, and will very soon be deeply embedded in every part of our lives. But it all relies on absolutely gargantuan amounts of computing power. Indeed, on current trends, the AI servers NVIDIA sells alone will likely be consuming more energy annually than many small countries. In a world desperately trying to decarbonize, that kind of energy load is a massive drag.

But as often happens, nature has already solved this problem. Our own necktop computers are still the state of the art, capable of learning super quickly from small amounts of messy, noisy data, or processing the equivalent of a billion billion mathematical operations every second – while consuming a paltry 20 watts of energy.

Embedding nanodiamonds in polymer can advance quantum computing and biological studies

A nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center is a defect in the crystal structure of diamond, where a nitrogen atom replaces a carbon atom in the diamond lattice and a neighboring site in the lattice is vacant. This and other fluorescent defects in diamond, known as color centers, have attracted researchers’ attention owing to their quantum properties, such as single-photon emission at room temperature and with long coherence time. Their many applications include quantum information encoding and processing, and cell marking in biological studies.

Microfabrication in diamond is technically difficult, and nanodiamonds with color centers have been embedded in custom-designed structures as a way of integrating these quantum emitters into photonic devices. A study conducted at the University of São Paulo’s São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC-USP) in Brazil has established a method for this, as described in an article published in the journal Nanomaterials.

“We demonstrated a method of embedding fluorescent nanodiamonds in designed for this purpose, using two-photon polymerization [2PP],” Cleber Mendonça, a professor at IFSC-USP and last author of the article, told Agência FAPESP. “We studied the ideal concentration of nanodiamond in the photoresist to achieve structures with at least one fluorescent NV center and good structural and optical quality.” The photoresist is a light-sensitive material used in the fabrication process to transfer nanoscale patterns to the substrate.

Unexpected Discovery About the Body’s Temperature Sensors Could Lead To Better Pain Relievers

The ability to accurately detect heat and pain is critical to human survival. However, the molecular mechanisms behind how our bodies identify these dangers have long been a mystery to scientists.

Now, University at Buffalo researchers have unraveled the complex biological phenomena that drive these critical functions. Their research, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has uncovered a previously unknown and completely unexpected “suicidal” reaction in ion channel receptors that explains the complicated mechanisms that underlie sensitivity to temperature and pain.

The research could be applied to the development of more effective pain relievers.

The Science of Looking Younger, Longer

In Episode 6 of the Lifespan podcast, Dr. David Sinclair and co-host Matthew LaPlante discuss cosmetic aging and how to improve skin, nails, and hair. They talk about why superficial aging occurs and how external signs of aging are often a reflection of biological age. The latest science behind various beautifying therapies is highlighted, including newer interventions like low-level laser therapy and platelet-rich plasma injections. #DavidSinclair #Longevity #SkinCare T.

Biotracking, Age Reversal & Other Advanced Health Technologies

In the final episode of this season, Dr. David Sinclair and Matthew LaPlante focus on current and near-future technologies relevant to health and aging. In addition to discussing the utility of wearable sensors and biological age measurements, they highlight innovative research aimed at reversing biological age. The societal effects of therapies that successfully extend healthspan and/or lifespan are also considered. #DavidSinclair #Longevity #Aging

The Impact of Culture on Human Behavior & Psychology

Joe Henrich is Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and an author. Humans like to think that we’re sovereign individuals with agency over our preferences and actions. But we are also a part of our social environment and Joe has teased apart some fascinating trends which explain how our location and culture have huge impacts on the way we behave, our preferences on everything from dating to work and family life to religion. Expect to learn why the things we consider to be human nature could just be cultural conditioning, the dangerous future if there’s lots of sexless men, how the choice between growing rice and wheat impacts family life, what diplomatic immunity to parking tickets tells us about human nature, how Joe’s lab can use language to archaeologically tell us about social trends from history…

How Do Women Compete For Partners?

Joyce Benenson is a lecturer of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University who’s research focuses on human social structures and sex differences in competition and cooperation. We’re often told that men are more competitive, more status-driven and more ruthless with rivals for potential mates. In reality doesn’t seem to be true, the difference is that women’s competition takes a more subtle, cynical and sophisticated route to drive away their competitors. Expect to learn how women compete for status, why women exclude more than men, why women who promote an egalitarian world are less charitable than you might think, how you can interfere with a rivals’ relationship without getting caught, the usefulness of gossip as an enforcement mechanism and much more…