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Feb 3, 2022

Does AI Improve Human Judgment?

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

Decision-making has mostly revolved around learning from mistakes and making gradual, steady improvements. For several centuries, evolutionary experience has served humans well when it comes to decision-making. So, it is safe to say that most decisions human beings make are based on trial and error. Additionally, humans rely heavily on data to make key decisions. Larger the amount of high-integrity data available, the more balanced and rational their decisions will be. However, in the age of big data analytics, businesses and governments around the world are reluctant to use basic human instinct and know-how to make major decisions. Statistically, a large percentage of companies globally use big data for the purpose. Therefore, the application of AI in decision-making is an idea that is being adopted more and more today than in the past.

However, there are several debatable aspects of using AI in decision-making. Firstly, are *all* the decisions made with inputs from AI algorithms correct? And does the involvement of AI in decision-making cause avoidable problems? Read on to find out: involvement of AI in decision-making simplifies the process of making strategies for businesses and governments around the world. However, AI has had its fair share of missteps on several occasions.

Feb 3, 2022

NASA’s X-48 Aircraft Test Flights Promise a ‘Green Airliner’ For the Future

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, sustainability, transportation

Fewer CO2 emissions, more cargo space.

California-based startup Natilus revealed a new unmanned aircraft that it believes will make air cargo more sustainable as well as cost-effective, a report from *NewAtlas* reveals.

The company designed a blended wing body aircraft, similar to NASA’s X-48 “green airliner” concept, which it says allows it to offer “an estimated 60% more cargo volume than traditional aircraft of the same weight while reducing costs and carbon dioxide per pound by 50%.” startup Natilus’ new aircraft promise fewer CO2 emissions and more cargo space.

Feb 3, 2022

Metaverse: what is it and what possibilities does it offer?

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The concept of the Metaverse first blew up in October of 2021 when the company formerly known as Facebook announced its rebranding to Meta with an intent to build the metaverse, a virtual world where users could interact with each other and even play games. Meta, at the time, was said to be hiring 10,000 engineers to build the tools of the Metaverse.

The news made headlines around the world and had people asking: what exactly is a Metaverse? In short, it is an extension of our world, complete with concert venues, museums, and even robot training grounds. In fact, what you can build is only limited by your imagination. do the Metaverse and Omniverse work together? Can one exist without the other? We have the answers to all your questions and more.

Feb 3, 2022

Bristol scientists develop insect-sized flying robots with flapping wings

Posted by in categories: drones, robotics/AI

Are we to see an evolution of drone designs now?

Researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K. have designed a flying robot that flaps its wings and can generate more power than a similar-sized insect, which it was inspired from. The robot could pave way for smaller, lighter, and more effective drones, the researchers claimed in an institutional press release.

Continue reading “Bristol scientists develop insect-sized flying robots with flapping wings” »

Feb 3, 2022

The US is testing robot patrol dogs on its borders. Should we worry?

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Feb 3, 2022

Mathematicians Prove 30-Year-Old André-Oort Conjecture

Posted by in categories: information science, mathematics

“The methods used to approach it cover, I would say, the whole of mathematics,” said Andrei Yafaev of University College London.

The new paper begins with one of the most basic but provocative questions in mathematics: When do polynomial equations like x3 + y3 = z3 have integer solutions (solutions in the positive and negative counting numbers)? In 1994, Andrew Wiles solved a version of this question, known as Fermat’s Last Theorem, in one of the great mathematical triumphs of the 20th century.

In the quest to solve Fermat’s Last Theorem and problems like it, mathematicians have developed increasingly abstract theories that spark new questions and conjectures. Two such problems, stated in 1989 and 1995 by Yves André and Frans Oort, respectively, led to what’s now known as the André-Oort conjecture. Instead of asking about integer solutions to polynomial equations, the André-Oort conjecture is about solutions involving far more complicated geometric objects called Shimura varieties.

Feb 3, 2022

DeepMind has made software-writing AI that rivals average human coder

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

AI company DeepMind has built a tool that can create working code to solve complex software challenges.

Feb 3, 2022

Supermountains controlled the evolution of life on Earth

Posted by in category: evolution

Giant mountain ranges at least as high as the Himalayas and stretching up to 8,000 kilometers across entire supercontinents played a crucial role in the evolution of early life on Earth, according to a new study by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU).

The researchers tracked the formation of these supermountains throughout Earth’s history using traces of zircon with low lutetium content—a combination of mineral and rare earth element only found in the roots of high mountains where they form under intense pressure.

The study found the most giant of these supermountains only formed twice in Earth’s history—the first between 2,000 and 1,800 million years ago and the second between 650 and 500 million years ago. Both rose during periods of supercontinent formation.

Feb 3, 2022

UEFI firmware vulnerabilities affecting Fujitsu, Intel and more discovered

Posted by in category: futurism

Researchers have discovered 23 “high-impact vulnerabilities” affecting any vendors that adopted Independent BIOS Developers (IBV) code into their Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware.

Binarly explained the vulnerabilities in a blog post this week, confirming that “all these vulnerabilities are found in several of the major enterprise vendor ecosystems” including Fujitsu, Siemens, Dell, HP, HPE, Lenovo, Microsoft, Intel and Bull Atos. CERT/CC confirmed that Fujitsu, Insyde and Intel were affected but left the others tagged as “unknown,” urging anyone affected to update to the latest stable version of firmware.

According to the blog, the majority of the vulnerabilities disclosed lead to code execution with SMM privileges and had severity ratings of between 7.5 — 8.2.

Feb 3, 2022

Scientists engineer new material that can absorb and release enormous amounts of energy

Posted by in categories: materials, robotics/AI

A team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they had engineered a new rubber-like solid substance that has surprising qualities. It can absorb and release very large quantities of energy. And it is programmable. Taken together, this new material holds great promise for a very wide array of applications, from enabling robots to have more power without using additional energy, to new helmets and protective materials that can dissipate energy much more quickly.

“Imagine a rubber band,” says Alfred Crosby, professor of polymer science and engineering at UMass Amherst and the paper’s senior author. “You pull it back, and when you let it go, it flies across the room. Now imagine a super rubber band. When you stretch it past a certain point, you activate extra energy stored in the material. When you let this rubber band go, it flies for a mile.”

This hypothetical is made out of a new metamaterial—a substance engineered to have a property not found in naturally occurring materials—that combines an elastic, rubber-like substance with tiny magnets embedded in it. This new “elasto-magnetic” material takes advantage of a physical property known as a to greatly amplify the amount of energy the material can release or absorb.