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Category: particle physics – Page 288

Where AI and organisms differ and what it means for AGI

“For AI to be motivated towards a goal, it must know what it wants.”

The possible board combinations in a game of Go are more than the number of atoms in the known universe, but it’s still a finite number. In the real world, there are infinite possibilities for what might happen next, and uncertainty is rampant. How realistic, then, is AGI?

A recent research paper published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution explores obstacles toward AGI. Biological systems with degrees of general intelligence — organisms ranging from the humble microbes to the humans reading this — are capable of improvising to meet their goals. What prevents AI from improvising?

A new view of all objects in the universe

The most comprehensive view of the history of the universe ever created has been produced by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU). The study also offers new ideas about how our universe may have started.

Lead author Honorary Associate Professor Charley Lineweaver from ANU said he set out wanting to understand where all the objects in the universe came from.

“When the universe began 13.8 billion years ago in a hot big bang, there were no objects like protons, atoms, people, planets, stars or galaxies. Now the universe is full of such objects,” he said.

Scientists propose super-bright light sources powered by quasiparticles

An international team of scientists is rethinking the basic principles of radiation physics with the aim of creating super-bright light sources. In a new study published in Nature Photonics, researchers from the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Portugal, the University of Rochester, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Laboratoire d’Optique Appliquée in France proposed ways to use quasiparticles to create light sources as powerful as the most advanced ones in existence today, but much smaller.

Quasiparticles are formed by many moving in sync. They can travel at any speed—even faster than light—and withstand intense forces, like those near a black hole.

“The most fascinating aspect of quasiparticles is their ability to move in ways that would be disallowed by the laws of physics governing individual particles,” says John Palastro, a senior scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and an associate professor at the Institute of Optics.

Physicists create new form of antenna for radio waves

University of Otago physicists have used a small glass bulb containing an atomic vapor to demonstrate a new form of antenna for radio waves. The bulb was “wired up” with laser beams and could therefore be placed far from any receiver electronics.

Dr. Susi Otto, from the Dodd-Walls Center for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, led the field testing of the portable atomic radio sensor. A paper on the creation was published in Applied Physics Letters.

Such sensors, that are enabled by atoms in a so-called Rydberg state, can provide superior performance over current antenna technologies as they are highly sensitive, have broad tunability, and small physical size, making them attractive for use in defense and communications.

Scientists propose sweeping new law of nature, expanding on evolution

WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) — When British naturalist Charles Darwin sketched out his theory of evolution in the 1,859 book “On the Origin of Species” — proposing that biological species change over time through the acquisition of traits that favor survival and reproduction — it provoked a revolution in scientific thought.

Now 164 years later, nine scientists and philosophers on Monday proposed a new law of nature that includes the biological evolution described by Darwin as a vibrant example of a much broader phenomenon, one that appears at the level of atoms, minerals, planetary atmospheres, planets, stars and more.

It holds that complex natural systems evolve to states of greater patterning, diversity and complexity.

Webb detects quartz crystals in clouds of hot gas giant

Researchers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have detected evidence for quartz nanocrystals in the high-altitude clouds of WASP-17 b, a hot Jupiter exoplanet 1,300 light-years from Earth.

The detection, which was uniquely possible with MIRI (Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument), marks the first time that silica (SiO2) particles have been spotted in an .

The are only about 10 nanometers across, so small that 10,000 could fit side-by-side across a human hair. Their size and composition of pure silica were reported in “JWST-TST DREAMS: Quartz Clouds in the Atmosphere of WASP-17b,” published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Move over carbon, the nanotube family just got bigger

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have engineered a range of new single-walled transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) nanotubes with different compositions, chirality, and diameters by templating off boron-nitride nanotubes. They also realized ultra-thin nanotubes grown inside the template, and successfully tailored compositions to create a family of new nanotubes. The ability to synthesize a diverse range of structures offers unique insights into their growth mechanism and novel optical properties.

The work is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

The is a wonder of nanotechnology. Made by rolling up an atomically thin sheet of carbon atoms, it has exceptional mechanical strength and among a range of other exotic optoelectronic properties, with potential applications in semiconductors beyond the silicon age.

Quantum Crafting: Atom-by-Atom Construction of a New Qubit Platform

Scientists at the IBS Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS) at Ewha Womans University have accomplished a groundbreaking step forward in quantum information science. In partnership with teams from Japan, Spain, and the US, they created a novel electron-spin qubit platform, assembled atom.

An atom is the smallest component of an element. It is made up of protons and neutrons within the nucleus, and electrons circling the nucleus.

Strange Form of Ice Found That Only Melts at Extremely Hot Temperatures

Super ionic water ice 18 ice 19… proven to withstand temperatures many thousands degrees Fahrenheit in the lab is believed to be present in planets like Uranus and Neptune and contributes to the generation of Wonky, multi-polar magnetic fields…

Odd things happen inside planets, where familiar materials are subjected to extreme pressures and heat.

Iron atoms probably dance within Earth’s solid inner core, and hot, black, heavy ice – that’s both solid and liquid at the same time – likely forms within the water-rich gas giants, Uranus and Neptune.

Five years ago, scientists recreated this exotic ice, called superionic ice, for the first time in lab experiments; and four years ago they confirmed its existence and crystalline structure.

Scientists use quantum entanglement to travel in time

“These simulations do not allow you to go back and alter your past, but they do allow you to create a better tomorrow by fixing yesterday’s problems today.”

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have demonstrated.

Quantum entanglement is a fundamental and intriguing phenomenon in quantum mechanics. It occurs when two or more particles become correlated in such a way that the state of one particle cannot be described independently of the state of the other(s), even when they are separated by large… More.

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