Lifeboat Foundation

Neural networks have a remarkable ability to learn specific tasks, such as identifying handwritten digits. However, these models often experience “catastrophic forgetting” when taught additional tasks: They can successfully learn the new assignments, but “forget” how to complete the original. For many artificial neural networks, like those that guide self-driving cars, learning additional tasks thus requires being fully reprogrammed.

Biological brains, on the other hand, are remarkably flexible. Humans and animals can easily learn how to play a new game, for instance, without having to re-learn how to walk and talk.

Inspired by the flexibility of human and animal brains, Caltech researchers have now developed a new type of algorithm that enables neural networks to be continuously updated with new data that they are able to learn from without having to start from scratch. The algorithm, called a functionally invariant path (FIP) algorithm, has wide-ranging applications from improving recommendations on online stores to fine-tuning self-driving cars.

Three patients are in “safe, deep remission” after receiving a CRISPR-Cas9-modified cell therapy for autoimmune disease treatment, according to a new published study in Cell.

New Stanford-led research unveils a hidden factor that could change our understanding of how oceans mitigate climate change. The study, published Oct. 11 in Science, reveals never-before seen mucus “parachutes” produced by microscopic marine organisms that significantly slow their sinking, putting the brakes on a process crucial for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Experiments on Google’s 67-qubit Sycamore processor showed operations entering a new “weak noise phase” in which calculations were complex enough to outperform supercomputers, based on benchmark testing.

Mamma bears press pause on their early pregnancies, so that their cubs are born closer to a food filled spring. Researchers led by a team in Germany have now found this same pregnancy pause button exists in human cells too.

“Although we have lost the ability to naturally enter dormancy, these experiments suggest that we have nevertheless retained this inner ability and could eventually unleash it,” says molecular geneticist Nicolas Rivron from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA).

“Triggering a dormant state during an IVF procedure could provide a larger time window to assess embryo health and to synchronize it with the mother for better implantation inside the uterus.”

How can afforestation/reforestation (AR) help reduce climate change and help achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement calling for a maximum 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels? This is what a recent study published in Nature Communications hopes to address as a team of researchers from Germany investigated how AR could contribute to meeting this goal. This study holds the potential to help researchers, climate scientists, legislators, and the public better understand the steps that can be taken to mitigate the effects of climate change, for both the short and long term.

In simple terms, afforestation/reforestation (AR) is planting trees in areas that have experienced deforestation (tree removal) or areas where trees never existed. For the study, the researchers used Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to simulate how AR could contribute to the Paris Agreement goals by conducting more than 1,200 scenarios. In the end, the researchers found that AR contributions to climate change makes its biggest impact in 2052, along with decreasing average global temperatures by 0.2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. Finally, AR could also reduce the amount of time before average global temperatures exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius by 13 years.

“These results show that global AR can in fact make an important contribution to mitigating climate change, when applied at the large sale,” said Dr. Yiannis Moustakis, who is a postdoctoral researcher at Ludwig Maximilians Universität München and lead author of the study. “But it is not a panacea and must be viewed in a more comprehensive framework that takes socioeconomic trade-offs equally into account. Planting a forest could create jobs, revenue, and promote ecosystem services, but it could also deprive people’s livelihood, exacerbate poverty, financially or physically displace people, and disturb local food networks.”

If you haven’t seen them before, this is Zipline, the world’s leader in last mile delivery drones.

And their whole system is fascinating.

Zipline places docking stations all over a city…businesses can also install them inside, outside, or on the roof of their building.

MIT researchers developed an extraordinary camera capable of capturing 1 trillion frames per second, fast enough to record the movement of light.

This means it can film events that happen at speeds too quick for the human eye to perceive, like the way light travels through objects. The camera uses a technique called streak camera imaging, allowing scientists to visualize and study ultrafast phenomena.

According to a recent article published on the Vietnam Government News website, on September 21, Prime Minister Pham Minh signed Decision No. 1018/QD-TTg, issuing Vietnam’s strategy and vision for the development of the semiconductor industry, with short-term goals until 2030 and long-term projections until 2050.

In this strategic plan, Vietnam outlined five specific tasks and measures, including: Developing specialized chips; Promoting the development of the electronics industry; Developing human resources and attracting talent in the semiconductor field; Attracting investment in the semiconductor sector; and Other relevant tasks and measures.

Goals for 2050: 3 Manufacturing Plants, 20 Packaging and Testing Facilities Overall, this strategy aims to develop Vietnam’s semiconductor industry through a three-phase roadmap.