Lifeboat Foundation

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The earliest artificial neural network, the Perceptron, was introduced approximately 65 years ago and consisted of just one layer. However, to address solutions for more complex classification tasks, more advanced neural network architectures consisting of numerous feedforward (consecutive) layers were later introduced. This is the essential component of the current implementation of deep learning algorithms. It improves the performance of analytical and physical tasks without human intervention, and lies behind everyday automation products such as the emerging technologies for self-driving cars and autonomous chat bots.

The key question driving new research published today in Scientific Reports is whether efficient learning of non-trivial classification tasks can be achieved using brain-inspired shallow feedforward networks, while potentially requiring less computational complexity.

Continue reading “Is deep learning a necessary ingredient for artificial intelligence?” »

Earth’s magnetic field protects life on our blue planet — and astronomers just found evidence of a magnetic field on a rocky exoplanet 12 light-years away.

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While the scientific debate about the origin of water on our planet remains open, the truth is that relative to its size, Earth is more like a desert compared to other celestial bodies in our cosmic neighbourhood. Estimates vary, but there could be as much as 50 times more liquid water in the solar system than is found on Earth—an astonishing revelation that would have sounded absurd just a few decades ago. And scientists are eager to send spacecraft to this extraterrestrial water in the hope of discovering conditions suitable for life.

Apart from Earth, the inner solar system—containing the four planets closest to the Sun—is largely devoid of liquid water. On Mercury and Venus liquid water simply boils away, while on Mars any liquid water would quickly freeze or evaporate due to the low atmospheric pressure and temperature. Although there is some intriguing evidence that liquid water may exist beneath the Martian southern polar ice cap, the amounts would be very small compared to those found on Earth.

Paradoxically, to find to find an unexpected abundance of liquid water, we must venture into the frigid depths of the outer solar system, far from the warmth of the Sun. There, deep beneath the frozen surfaces of moons orbiting the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, scientists have found strong evidence of vast oceans. But how can water remain liquid in such an extremely cold environment, where the Sun is only a faint glow in the sky and the warmest surface temperatures are always well below zero?

Google CEO Sundar Pichai believes artificial intelligence is the most profound technology in the history of human civilization—potentially more important than the discovery of fire and electricity—and yet even he doesn’t fully understand how it works, Pichai said in an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired yesterday (April 16).

“We need to adapt as a society for it…This is going to impact every product across every company,” Pichai said of recent breakthroughs in A.I. in a conversation with CBS journalist Scott Pelley. It’s the Google CEO’s second long-form interview in a two weeks as he apparently embarks on a charm offensive with the press to establish himself and Google as a thought leader in A.I. after the company’s latest A.I. product received mixed reviews.

Google in February introduced Bard, an A.I. chatbot to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s new Bing, and recently made it available to the public. In an internal letter to Google employees in March, Pichai said the success of Bard will depend on public testing and cautioned things could go wrong as the chatbot improves itself through interacting with users. He told Pelley Google intends to deploy A.I. in a beneficial way, but suggested how A.I. develops might be beyond its creator’s control.

Calorie restriction, a proven intervention to slow aging in animals, showed evidence of slowing the pace of biological aging in a human randomized trial.

In a first-of-its-kind randomized controlled trial, an international team of researchers led by the Columbia Aging Center at Columbia University.

Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in New York City that was established in 1754. This makes it the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest in the United States. It is often just referred to as Columbia, but its official name is Columbia University in the City of New York.

Behold a stellar nursery, where starlight scatters through interstellar dust — and sometimes can’t pierce the space soot.

This gorgeous Hubble image is a celebration of the telescope’s 33rd space birthday.

ChatGPT and other bots have revived conversations on artificial general intelligence. Scientists say algorithms won’t surpass you any time soon.