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Dec 8, 2022

Student-made invisibility coat aims to hide wearers from AI cameras

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI, security

The accuracy of pedestrian identification was reduced by 57% when the students tested the outfit on on-campus security cameras.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Chinese students have successfully developed a coat that can make people invisible to security cameras. So the SCMP story goes, the coat looks the same as regular camouflaged clothing, but it can trick digital cameras, especially ones with AI.

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Dec 8, 2022

Researchers plan to use quantum computers in search for dark matter

Posted by in categories: computing, cosmology, particle physics, quantum physics

This research could potentially lead to a better understanding of the galaxy and its many mysteries.

It’s a cosmic riddle: How can galaxies remain together when all the matter we observe isn’t enough to keep them intact? Scientists believe an invisible force must beat play, something so mysterious they named it “dark matter” because of its lack of visibility.

This mysterious presence accounts for nearly three times more than what we can observe — a startling 27% of all existence! The mysterious dark matter is a profound mystery to scientists, its existence making up nearly one-third of the universe’s energy and mass yet remaining elusive due to its ability to avoid detection.

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Dec 8, 2022

The Fermi paradox: Are we alone in the universe?

Posted by in category: existential risks

Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying. ~Carl Sagan.

Looking up at a starry night sky makes one wonder if we are really alone. If you have never asked yourself this question, here’s some perspective on the vastness of our universe.

And this is just one galaxy.

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Dec 8, 2022

Gamma-ray and meteorites helped life form in outer space, a study suggests

Posted by in category: space

The first-of-its-kind experiment proved that gamma ray-catalyzed reactions can produce amino acids, which contributed to the origin of life on Earth.

How life arose on Earth remains one of science’s most complex mysteries. One of the many myths and hypotheses is the possibility of meteorites delivering amino acids, known as life’s building blocks, to our planet.

In a first-of-its-kind experiment, researchers have shown that amino acids might have formed in early meteorites from reactions driven by gamma rays produced inside space rocks due to the decay of radioactive elements.

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Dec 8, 2022

Twitter will reportedly charge $11 on iOS for Blue subscription to offset App Store fees

Posted by in category: internet

Twitter Blue plan is on halt right now but when it resumes you will have to pay an increased price of $11 per month if you subscribe from iOS, according to a report from The Information.

The report noted that the subscription plan will cost $7 per month if you purchase from the web. But it will be costlier on iOS to offset Apple’s App Store fees. Notably, Apple charges 30% fees to the developers for the first year of subscription, but it drops to 15% from the second year.

When Twitter launched its new subscription plan with a verification mark on November 9, it charged users $7.99 per month. If Twitter were to offset App Store fees, it should charge $10.38 — but the new price change of $11 sounds like a rounded-off figure.

Dec 8, 2022

The story of the man who took over 40,000 ecstasy pills over 9 years

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

He suffered both physical and mental long-term side effects.

In April of 2006, doctors from London University revealed a case study of what they believed at the time was the largest amount of ecstasy ever consumed by a single person. They published a case report of a British man named only Mr. A estimated to have taken around 40,000 pills of MDMA over nine years, the most amount known to anyone.

They reported that the man then suffered from prominent physical and mental health side effects, such as extreme memory problems, paranoia, hallucinations and depression, as well as painful muscle rigidity around his neck and jaw, which often prevented him from opening his mouth.

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Dec 8, 2022

A ‘heart attack on a chip’ device could lead to treatments for cardiovascular disease

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, engineering, life extension

Researchers use the device to study heart attacks and hope to test new heart medications.

Researchers have developed a device that can mimic aspects of a heart attack with hopes of using the device to test and develop novel heart medications. The research team, from the University of Southern California Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering in the U.S., created the tool, which they call a “heart attack on a chip.”

The study was published in the journal Science Advances.

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Dec 8, 2022

A newly found 100 million-year-old fossil sheds light on prehistory

Posted by in category: futurism

‘It’s the most significant prehistoric discovery to have been recently made in Australia.’

Queensland Museum’s research team made a significant discovery on prehistory a couple of months ago by finding a 100 million-year-old plesiosaur skeleton with its body and a head together. Now, researchers are putting a spotlight on the future of prehistoric studies.

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Dec 8, 2022

The UK approves its first coal mine in decades. But what about the climate?

Posted by in categories: climatology, government

Environmentalists are up in arms.

The U.K. has approved its first coal mine in 30 years, despite climate concerns. The British government approved the move on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, just one year after it hosted the major climate summit, COP26, reported the BBC

The mine, near Whitehaven in Cumbria, will take two years to build and is set to produce around 2.8 tonnes of coking coal per year, according to the Washington Post.

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Dec 8, 2022

Schrödinger’s blue check: according to Twitter, I may or may not be notable

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, sustainability, transportation

Twitter is rumored to re-roll-out its flopped Twitter Blue subscription tomorrow, which will once again enable people to pay real cash money to get a blue check next to their name. Hopefully, this time, it won’t lead to mass impersonation and misinformation, but who can say? Yet already, some users are noting that when they click on an existing blue check (not of the $8 variety), they’re served with a pop-up that says, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.”

This is especially funny when it appears on accounts like The White House, or even Elon Musk’s Twitter itself. To be fair, is Elon Musk really notable? He didn’t even found Tesla.