4 Hurdles to Making a Digital Human Brain
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 845 words
| Arica Deslauriers
NEW YORK — Futurists warn of a technological singularity on the not-too-distant horizon when artificial intelligence will equal and eventually surpass human intelligence. But before engineers can make a machine that truly mimics a human mind, scientists still have a long way to go in modeling the brain's 100 billion neurons and their 100 trillion connections.
Already in Europe, neuroscientist Henry Markram and his team established the controversial but ambitious Human Brain Project that's seeking to build a virtual brain from scratch.
[Read More]A City-Size 'Telescope' Could Watch Space-Time Ripple 1 Million Times a Year
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 6 minutes
| 1259 words
| Trudie Dory
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A gravitational wave detector that's 2.5 miles long isn't cool. You know what's cool? A 25-mile-long gravitational wave detector.
That's the upshot of a series of talks given here Saturday (April 14) at the April meeting of the American Physical Society. The next generation of gravitational wave detectors will peer right up to the outer edge of the observable universe, looking for ripples in the very fabric of space-time, which Einstein predicted would occur when massive objects like black holes collide.
[Read More]Brain Images May Reveal PTSD Risk Before Disasters
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 476 words
| Patria Henriques
People with weak connections in certain parts of their brains may be at increased risk for anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a traumatic experience, a new study from Japan suggests.
The findings could one day allow researchers to predict which people will react especially severely to traumatic events, the researchers say.
Previous research has shown that the brains of people with PTSD differ from those without the condition. For instance, certain brain areas are smaller in people with PTSD, compared with people who've experienced traumatic events, but who didn't develop the condition.
[Read More]Facebook Can Make You Look Smart
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 604 words
| Fernande Dalal
If Google is making users stupid, then social networks like Facebook may be making people seem smart without actually being so.
That's the conclusion of a new study, published Tuesday (Feb. 4) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. The researchers found that people often learn the right answers through copying them via a social network, but they don't pick up the analytical process needed to arrive at those answers.
[Read More]Harvard Printer Blasts Droplets with 100 Times Earth's Gravitational Force (Video)
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 3 minutes
| 476 words
| Trudie Dory
Stop a droplet. Let it grow. Then, pull on it harder than the gravity at the surface of the sun.
A new printing technique designed at Harvard University's engineering school uses sound waves to control and fire droplets from a nozzle with incredible force, allowing researchers to print with liquids thicker and more viscous than ever before. Honey, stem-cell-based inks and liquid metals all printed fluidly using these vibrations, which come from acoustic techniques that researchers had previously used to levitate liquids, not print with them.
[Read More]How Good Posture May Help with Depression Symptoms
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 810 words
| Arica Deslauriers
People with symptoms of depression may see temporary improvements to their mood by following the age-old advice to sit up straight, a new study from New Zealand suggests.
However, the researchers cautioned that the findings are preliminary; it's not yet known whether an upright posture could actually aid in treating depression, or if the effects last over the long term, they said.
"Changing posture is a simple, highly acceptable and low-risk intervention that could be applied either by itself or alongside other treatments,"
[Read More]How Hurricane Zeta rapidly strengthened before slamming New Orleans
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 646 words
| Fernande Dalal
Hurricane Zeta wasn't supposed to be this bad.
On Saturday (Oct. 24), National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasters looking at the weather system — called Tropical Depression Twenty Eight — wrote that it would likely become a tropical storm, but that cool waters in the Gulf of Mexico made further strengthening unlikely. Now, it's Wednesday (Oct. 28), and Zeta is hitting Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane — the record-breaking fifth tropical cyclone to make landfall in Louisiana and the ninth to make landfall in the Gulf of Mexico this year.
[Read More]Marijuana Extract Reduces Seizures in Kids with Rare Disorder
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 5 minutes
| 895 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
A highly anticipated clinical trial has shown that treating patients with epilepsy with a compound derived from marijuana can significantly reduce and, in some cases, eliminate seizures in children and young adults.
In the study, children and young adults with a rare and debilitating form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome who took doses of marijuana extract experienced half as many seizures per month as those who received a placebo.
And 5 percent of those treated with the marijuana extract, called cannabidiol, became seizure-free during the study period.
[Read More]Next Stop, Westeros! Google Earth Posts 33 'Game of Thrones' Sites
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 1 minutes
| 201 words
| Fernande Dalal
The fantastical "Game of Thrones" world is now on Google Earth, with 33 locations — including medieval castles, maze-like gardens and rocky ports — showing exactly where key scenes were filmed.
The HBO show's crew traveled far and wide to film various scenes, including to a bullring in southern Spain to film the Arena of Meereen and to St. Dominic Street in Dubrovnik, Croatia, for Cersei Lannister's walk of shame.
[Read More]Pan-Frying Red Meat Is Asking for Trouble, Prostate Cancer Study Finds
Posted on May 27, 2023
| 4 minutes
| 689 words
| Patria Henriques
When it comes to eating meat, a guy's choice of what he eats and how it is cooked may affect his risk of having advanced prostate cancer, a new study says.
Men in the study who ate more than 1.5 servings of pan-fried red meat per week were 30 percent more likely to have advanced prostate cancer than were men who rarely ate pan-fried red meat. And men who every week ate more than 2.
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