For half a century, scientists struggled to predict how proteins fold. A puzzle at the heart of understanding life and curing disease. Then, five years ago, the #alphafold team cracked the code.
Since then, more than 3 million researchers across 190+ countries have used AlphaFold’s freely available database of 200 million+ protein structures, accelerating discoveries in everything from drug design to disease-resistant crops, bee conservation, and plastic-eating enzymes.
Further reading:
npj Artificial Intelligence has APC waivers available that can be allocated upon acceptance on an ad-hoc basis. For additional information, contact the Journal Publisher, Ronghua Guo.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is stepping back into an active operating role in technology after four years, taking the co‑chief executive seat at a new artificial intelligence company called Project Prometheus. His move adds to the trend of tech billionaires emerging from semi‑retirement to participate directly in the AI boom reshaping Silicon Valley’s priorities.
Reportedly, Bezos will lead the startup alongside Vik Bajaj, a physicist‑chemist and former Google researcher who helped launch Verily, Alphabet’s life sciences unit. Project Prometheus has already raised about 6.2 billion dollars, including a substantial personal commitment from Bezos, placing it among the best‑funded early‑stage AI companies in the world.
Bezos has remained executive chair of Amazon and continued to back Blue Origin, his private space company, but Prometheus is his first formal operational role since he stepped down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021. The venture comes amid an intensifying global race to build advanced AI systems, as companies across the United States, Europe, and China pour money into research, data centres, and specialist talent.
From cyborgs to hive minds and civilizations of pure thought, we trace the possible futures of our species through the next trillion tomorrows.
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/ discord Credits: The First Interstellar Colony Humanity’s Leap Beyond Sol Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editor: Keith Oxenrider Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic & Stellardrone Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:15 The Road Ahead 2:24 What Do We Mean by “Human,” “Transhuman,” and “Posthuman”? 7:22 Life Extension – The Oldest Dream 10:33 Intelligence Beyond Biology – AI and Human Integration 14:19 Enhancing the Body and Mind 17:00 Civilizations of the Augmented 19:31 Scavenger Hunt 20:51 Strange Posthuman Pathways 23:11 Outward Migration – Stars and Timelines 25:00 Risks, Fears, and Pushback 26:27 Humanity on Cosmic Timescales 27:43 The Expanding Story.
Watch my exclusive video Autonomous Space Industry: https://nebula.tv/videos/isaacarthur–…
Get Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Grab one of our new SFIA mugs and make your morning coffee a little more futuristic — available now on our Fourthwall store! https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall…
Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
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Credits:
The First Interstellar Colony Humanity’s Leap Beyond Sol.
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editor: Keith Oxenrider.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic & Stellardrone.
Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
0:15 The Road Ahead.
2:24 What Do We Mean by “Human,” “Transhuman,” and “Posthuman”?
7:22 Life Extension – The Oldest Dream.
10:33 Intelligence Beyond Biology – AI and Human Integration.
14:19 Enhancing the Body and Mind.
17:00 Civilizations of the Augmented.
19:31 Scavenger Hunt.
20:51 Strange Posthuman Pathways.
23:11 Outward Migration – Stars and Timelines.
25:00 Risks, Fears, and Pushback.
26:27 Humanity on Cosmic Timescales.
27:43 The Expanding Story
#homelandsecurity #innovation
Having been involved in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate, and with decades of experience working at the intersection of government, industry, and academia, I have come to a simple but important observation: innovation in homeland security doesn’t happen in one area. Instead, it thrives where mission, research, and engineering come together.
Convergence is the catalyst. Cyber defense, autonomous systems, identity management, quantum computing, and photonics are all examples of technological advancements that didn’t develop in isolation. Their progress was the result of different sectors working together on shared goals, risk management, and practical use. Homeland security enterprise is constituted by a multi-sectoral nature: government sets mission needs, industry creates scalable solutions, and academia provides the necessary research. Real innovation happens when these areas come together.
Statistical data highlights the significance of this alignment. Research on cyber-behavior, for instance, demonstrates that organizational culture, national context, and employee backgrounds significantly impact risk outcomes. Practically speaking, this implies that secure systems cannot be developed in isolation. The human and institutional context is as crucial as technical advancements.
DeepMind’s chief says he envisions Gemini as an operating system for physical robots. The company has hired Aaron Saunders to help make that a reality.
Powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems, like ChatGPT and Gemini, simulate understanding of comedy wordplay, but never really “get the joke,” a new study suggests.
Researchers wanted to find out whether large language models (LLMs) can understand puns—also known as paronomasia—wordplay that relies on double meanings or sound-alike words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.
While earlier studies suggest LLMs could process this type of humor in a similar way to humans, the team from Cardiff University and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice found AI systems mostly memorize familiar joke structures rather than actually understand them.
A Russian-linked campaign delivers the StealC V2 information stealer malware through malicious Blender files uploaded to 3D model marketplaces like CGTrader.
Blender is a powerful open-source 3D creation suite that can execute Python scripts for automation, custom user interface panels, add-ons, rendering processes, rigging tools, and pipeline integration.
If the Auto Run feature is enabled, when a user opens a character rig, a Python script can automatically load the facial controls and custom UI panels with the required buttons and sliders.