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Archive for the ‘information science’ category: Page 227

Dec 15, 2019

A robot read 3.5 million books to see how we describe men and women differently

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI

About AI bias.


Yet AI bias is by itself a biased term, as if the machine/algorithm were to blame for human bias and/or an incorrect data set.

Dec 12, 2019

AI-driven robots are making new materials, improving solar cells and other technologies

Posted by in categories: information science, robotics/AI, solar power, sustainability

Decision-making algorithms transform how automated systems evaluate and synthesize novel compounds.

Dec 11, 2019

Cheers! Maxwell’s electromagnetism extended to smaller scales

Posted by in categories: information science, nanotechnology

On Dec. 11, 2019, a general framework for incorporating and correcting for nonclassical electromagnetic phenomena in nanoscale systems will be presented in the journal Nature.

More than 150 years have passed since the publication of James Clerk Maxwell’s “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” (1865). His treatise revolutionized the fundamental understanding of electric fields, magnetic fields and light. The 20 original equations (elegantly reduced to four today), their boundary conditions at interfaces, and the bulk electronic response functions (dielectric permitivity and magnetic permeability) are at the root of the ability to manipulate electromagnetic fields and light.

Life without Maxwell’s equations would lack most current science, communications and technology.

Dec 9, 2019

Ultrasound destroys 80 percent of prostate cancers in one-year study

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science

Treating prostate cancer through traditional means such as surgery or radiotherapy carries certain risks, with some patients experiencing impotence, urinary problems and bowel trouble, among other unwanted side effects. Safer and less invasive treatment options could soon be on the table, however, including a novel MRI-guided ultrasound technique that eliminated significant cancers in 80 percent of subjects in a year-long study.

The new technique is called MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA) and has been under development for a number of years. The minimally invasive technology involves a rod that enters the prostate gland via the urethra and emits highly controlled sound waves in order to heat and destroy diseased tissue, while leaving healthy tissue unharmed.

Continue reading “Ultrasound destroys 80 percent of prostate cancers in one-year study” »

Dec 7, 2019

Mathematician Finds Easier Way to Solve Quadratic Equations

Posted by in categories: energy, information science, mathematics

Quadratic equations are polynomials, meaning strings of math terms. An expression like “x + 4” is a polynomial. They can have one or many variables in any combination, and the magnitude of them is decided by what power the variables are taken to. So x + 4 is an expression describing a straight line, but (x + 4)² is a curve. Since a line crosses just once through any particular latitude or longitude, its solution is just one value. If you have x², that means two root values, in a shape like a circle or arc that makes two crossings.

Dec 4, 2019

The rise, disappearance, and retirement of Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Posted by in category: information science

Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1996 on the back of an algorithm, turned it into one of the most valuable companies in the world, and have now given up their leadership roles three times — even though they’ve always retained a controlling interest in the company behind the scenes. Here’s a timeline of their most important moments in Google and Alphabet history.

Dec 3, 2019

A quantum origin for spacetime

Posted by in categories: information science, quantum physics

Physicists find hints that entanglement explains Einstein’s equations for gravity.

Dec 2, 2019

New algorithms to determine eigenstates and thermal states on quantum computers

Posted by in categories: chemistry, computing, information science, particle physics, quantum physics

Determining the quantum mechanical behavior of many interacting particles is essential to solving important problems in a variety of scientific fields, including physics, chemistry and mathematics. For instance, in order to describe the electronic structure of materials and molecules, researchers first need to find the ground, excited and thermal states of the Born-Oppenheimer Hamiltonian approximation. In quantum chemistry, the Born-Oppenheimer approximation is the assumption that electronic and nuclear motions in molecules can be separated.

A variety of other scientific problems also require the accurate computation of Hamiltonian ground, excited and thermal states on a quantum computer. An important example are combinatorial optimization problems, which can be reduced to finding the ground state of suitable spin systems.

So far, techniques for computing Hamiltonian eigenstates on quantum computers have been primarily based on phase estimation or variational algorithms, which are designed to approximate the lowest energy eigenstate (i.e., ground state) and a number of excited states. Unfortunately, these techniques can have significant disadvantages, which make them impracticable for solving many scientific problems.

Nov 27, 2019

Theoretical Physicist Explores Real World Time Travel Possibilities

Posted by in categories: health, information science, mathematics, physics, space, time travel

Ira Pastor, ideaXme exponential health ambassador, interviews Dr. Ronald Mallett, Professor Emeritus, Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics at the University of Connecticut.

Ira Pastor Comments:

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Nov 26, 2019

The myth of the “new space race”

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, information science, internet, robotics/AI, space travel

“We want a new space race—space races are exciting,” declared SpaceX founder Elon Musk after the successful inaugural flight last year of the Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket since the Space Shuttle.

Hawks and headline writers think space races are exciting too, especially the “new space race” between China and the United States. That’s why they keep referring to it—even though it doesn’t exist.

Historic changes are indeed afoot in the space sector. Private crewed spaceflight is about to come of age. Mobile robotic spacecraft are being built to rendezvous with satellites to service them. Vast swarms of broadband satellites are set to make the Internet truly global for the first time, and increase the number of spacecraft in orbit tenfold. Back on Earth, satellite imagery fed through artificial intelligence algorithms promises powerful insights into all manner of human activity. Dozens of countries are active in space and the number is growing all the time. The tired trope of the superpower space race does little to make sense of all this.