Lifeboat Foundation

Theoretical physicists from Warsaw and Oxford universities argue that a superluminal world possessing three temporal dimensions and one dimension in space could potentially change our concept of time, according to a new paper.

The researchers involved say they have developed “an extension of special relativity” that incorporates three individual time dimensions with a single space dimension, which helps explain how observations made by “superluminal” observers—inertial observers moving faster than the speed of light—might appear.

Within such a framework, the researchers argue that spontaneous events that can occur in the absence of a deterministic cause and other strange phenomena would be experienced by observers moving faster than the speed of light within a vacuum, concepts that potentially transform our concept of time as we know it.

As computer scientists tackle a greater range of problems, their work has grown increasingly interdisciplinary. This year, many of the most significant computer science results also involved other scientists and mathematicians. Perhaps the most practical involved the cryptographic questions underlying the security of the internet, which tend to be complicated mathematical problems. One such problem — the product of two elliptic curves and their relation to an abelian surface — ended up bringing down a promising new cryptography scheme that was thought to be strong enough to withstand an attack from a quantum computer. And a different set of mathematical relationships, in the form of one-way functions, will tell cryptographers if truly secure codes are even possible.

Computer science, and quantum computing in particular, also heavily overlaps with physics. In one of the biggest developments in theoretical computer science this year, researchers posted a proof of the NLTS conjecture, which (among other things) states that a ghostly connection between particles known as quantum entanglement is not as delicate as physicists once imagined. This has implications not just for our understanding of the physical world, but also for the myriad cryptographic possibilities that entanglement makes possible.

Meet the “Provora” — tiny predators that have been evolving separately from the rest of life on Earth for millions of years.

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Images from NASA’s impressive James Webb Space Telescope are changing the way we see the universe — and this is just year one.

A previously unidentified Maya civilization made up of 964 interconnected settlements has been discovered in northern Guatemala. Dated to the Preclassic Maya period – which lasted from around 1,000 BCE until 150 CE – the scattered sites cover an area of approximately 1,685 square kilometers (650 square miles) and are linked by 177 kilometers (110 miles) of ancient roads.

Researchers spotted the network of settlements using LiDAR, a detection system that bounces laser signals off surfaces in order to reveal hidden features and structures. While flying over Guatemala’s Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin (MCKB), the team utilized the technology in order to penetrate the thick jungle canopy and expose the ancient constructions lurking beneath.

“The LiDAR survey revealed an extraordinary density and distribution of Maya sites concentrated in the MCKB, many of them linked directly or indirectly by a vast causeway network,” write the researchers in a new study. In total, they found 775 sites within the MCKB itself, with a further 189 located in the surrounding karstic ridge.

A research group at Nagoya University in Japan has reported that a group of neurons, called EP3 neurons, in the preoptic area of the brain play a key role in regulating body temperature in mammals. The finding could pave the way for the development of a technology that artificially adjusts body temperature to help treat heat stroke, hypothermia, and even obesity. The new study was published in the journal Science Advances.

Body temperature in humans and many other mammals is regulated at about 37°C (98.6°F), which optimizes all regulatory functions. When body temperature noticeably deviates from the normal range, functions are impaired, which could lead to heat stroke, hypothermia, and, in the worst case, death. However, these conditions might be treated if body temperature can be artificially adjusted to the normal range.

The brain’s temperature regulation center resides in the preoptic area, a part of the hypothalamus that controls the body’s vital functions. For example, when the preoptic area receives signals from a mediator called prostaglandin E (PGE₂) that is produced in response to infections, this area releases a command to raise body temperature to fight against viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing organisms.

It now costs between $3bn-4bn to build a silicon chip fabrication plant (fab plant), and consequently, there are relatively few fabs around the world.-from 2019.

UK companies get ahead of the curve with investments in R&D and fabrication infrastructure for next-gen electronics. Andy Sellars, Chief Business Development Officer, UK Catapult, explains the strategy.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing require compound semiconductors to achieve full commercialisation.

Continue reading “Compound semiconductors: Let there be light, speed and power” »

A “sex peptide” transferred from male to female fruit flies during mating interferes with the female’s biological clock, reducing her chances of mating again.