AI Art And Copyright

"This Copyright Lawsuit Could Shape the Future of Generative AI"

Related: "The scary truth about AI copyright is nobody knows what will happen next".

Pseudo-Manual Transmission

"Lexus in development of a manual transmission for electric cars":

Rather than physically fitting a mechanical manual transmission to the back-end of an electric motor, this technology uses an unconnected gear stick and clutch pedal that use haptic drivers to generate ‘feel’. This is then combined with clever software and sound generators within the cabin to create a complete experience. Both elements are physically connected to, well nothing, but utilise technology already available on today’s cars to create virtual feedback...

(Via P.B.)

Radiology Orders

Hah! Another classic video from "Dr. Glaucomflecken": "Faculty Meeting -- Radiology Orders"

Fusion Explainer

"Nuclear-fusion lab achieves 'ignition': What does it mean?"

How Many People Are Actually Leaving Twitter?

"Liberals struggle to find viable Twitter alternative after Musk takeover": 

A more telling study, published in the journal New Scientist, examined 140,000 Twitter users who threatened to decamp to Mastodon and found that only 1.6 percent actually left.

Scott Alexander On Cryptocurrency

Astral Codex Ten: "Why I'm Less Than Infinitely Hostile To Cryptocurrency"

Airport Codes Explained

CGP Grey: "The Maddening Mess of Airport Codes!"

AI And Homework

Zero Trust Homework:

It is an open question as to what jobs will be the first to be disrupted by AI; what became obvious to a bunch of folks this weekend, though, is that there is one universal activity that is under serious threat: homework.

Worst. Workplace. Holiday. Party. Ever.

"a truly hilarious company holiday party story, told in bullet points"

Nonstandard Ages In South Korea

"How Old Are You? South Korea Tries to Simplify What Should Be a Simple Question": 

South Koreans have counted their ages in three different ways for decades. In everyday life, they are a year old at birth and count up every New Year’s Day. In some contexts -- when determining one’s eligibility to drink, smoke or serve in the military, for example -- they simply subtract their birth year from the current year. And for most legal and official purposes, they follow the rest of the world: People start from 0 and add a year on every birthday. 

Once the bill is signed into law, the government would follow the international approach. Babies under a year old will have their age counted in months...

Self-Driving Vehicles In SF

"Self-Driving Taxis Are Causing All Kinds of Trouble in San Francisco"

Apple Encryption Update

"Apple announces plans to encrypt iCloud backups":

The move will please security advocates, many of whom previously pointed to unencrypted iCloud backups as a weak link in Apple’s privacy policy. It also means that user data content would not be exposed if Apple’s servers were ever breached. 

It could upset law enforcement, which has used Apple’s policy of not encrypting backups as a way to obtain materials in investigations even though Apple’s iMessage and devices are encrypted.

Logarithmic View Of Universe

"This logarithmic view of the Universe will blow your mind"

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for the next several days due to external obligations.

Chinese Netizens Vs. Central Government

"How Chinese netizens swamped China's Internet controls"

iPhone Rescue

"iPhone Emergency SOS via satellite saves stranded Alaska man"

AI Conquers Stratego

Nature: "DeepMind AI topples experts at complex game Stratego" 

 

Robot Putter

"Golfi Robotic Golfer Putts Like a Pro"

Old Code

"It took nearly 500 years for researchers to crack Charles V's secret code"

Glass Klein Bottle

Video: "Making a Glass Klein Bottle"

Universal Constructor In Conway's Game Of Life

It is possible to build any arbitrary pattern in Conway's "Game Of Life" with only 15 gliders.

Urinal Design

"What's the best design for splash-free urinal? Physics now has the answer":

Scientists at the University of Waterloo have determined the optimal design for a splash-free urinal: a tall, slender porcelain structure with curves reminiscent of a nautilus shell, playfully dubbed the "Nauti-loo." That's good news for men tired of having urine splash onto their pants and shoes—and for the poor souls who have to regularly clean up all the splatter. Bonus: It's quite an aesthetically appealing design, giving this workhorse of the public restroom a touch of class.

Hsieh Forbes Column: Organ Donations Increase When Motorcyclists Gather

My latest Forbes column is now out: "Organ Donations Increase When Motorcyclists Gather"

Ancient Roman Snacks

"Ancient Roman snacks found in Colosseum dig". (Via T.S.)

Lighting Zig-Zags Solved

"Physicists strike gold, solving 50-year lightning mystery":

For the past 50 years, scientists around the world have debated why lightning zig-zags and how it is connected to the thunder cloud above...

The answer? Singlet-delta metastable oxygen molecules.

Gene Therapy Advance

"New gene therapy restores night vision of people with inherited eye disorder"

AI Diplomat

"CICERO: An AI agent that negotiates, persuades, and cooperates with people":

Games have long been a proving ground for new AI advancements — from Deep Blue’s victory over chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, to AlphaGo’s mastery of Go, to Pluribus out-bluffing the best humans in poker. But truly useful, versatile agents will need to go beyond just moving pieces on a board. Can we build more effective and flexible agents that can use language to negotiate, persuade, and work with people to achieve strategic goals similar to the way humans do?

Today, we’re announcing a breakthrough toward building AI that has mastered these skills. We’ve built an agent – CICERO – that is the first AI to achieve human-level performance in the popular strategy game Diplomacy...

Direct link to the Science article: "Human-level play in the game of Diplomacy by combining language models with strategic reasoning".

 

(Via A.B.)

 

LOTR Uptown Funk

Video: "One Ring Funk - A Lord of the Rings Uptown Funk Parody"\

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting will be pretty light this week due to the US Thanksgiving holiday.

Is Wine Fake?

Scott Alexander: "Is Wine Fake?"

Octopus Brains

"How squid and octopus get their big brains"

Self-Endoscopy

[Medical content warning] Dr. Nitin Joshi (gastroenterologist) performs upper GI endoscopy on himself. 

This video from 2018 has been making the rounds again, perhaps because of more recent other work being done by Dr. Joshi on early cancer detection.

AI Copyright Lawsuit

"The lawsuit that could rewrite the rules of AI copyright". (Via D.J.)

Museum Security Expert Speaks

"Just How Safe Is Great Art?"

There are many types of protection. Some paintings are protected from theft. They might have transmitters behind them, or they might have a miniature camera embedded in the ceiling above that looks down and has the ability to analyze the motion in front of the painting and alert when somebody gets so close that they might touch. There might be some sort of a beam in front of the painting that breaks the beam when you reach into it.

But it’s pretty darn hard to protect a painting from somebody throwing a can of soup at it. It’s very, very difficult...

Card Shuffling Machine Loophole

"How a magician-mathematician revealed a casino loophole"

Eukaryote Origins

"The Long and Winding Road to Eukaryotic Cells"

Collatz Conjecture

Video: "The Simplest Math Problem No One Can Solve"

DM Shortage

"It's Not Just You: NYC Has a Serious Dungeon Master Shortage"

Diverging Diamond Interchanges

"Diverging diamond interchange: How do you drive through it?"

Explanatory video:

Fibonacci And Quantum Computing

"Scientists Fed the Fibonacci Sequence Into a Quantum Computer and Something Strange Happened"

Minnesota Snowplow Winners

"MnDOT announces winners of 2022 'Name a Snowplow' contest":

The winning names, in order of vote totals, and their future homes are:

• Betty Whiteout – District 8
• Ctrl Salt Delete – District 7
• The Big Leplowski – District 4
• Plowasaurus Rex – Metro District
• Scoop Dogg – District 3
• Blizzard of Oz – District 2
• No More Mr. Ice Guy – District 1
• Edward Blizzardhands – District 6

Light And Nerves

"Engineers light the way to nerve-operated prosthetics of the future":

Biomedical and electrical engineers at UNSW Sydney have developed a new way to measure neural activity using light -- rather than electricity -- which could lead to a complete reimagining of medical technologies like nerve-operated prosthetics and brain-machine interface...

(Via H.R.)

Lego Archaeology

"Archaeology adrift?: A curious tale of Lego lost at sea"

Twenty-five years ago, a cargo of millions of pieces of Lego was washed overboard during a storm off Land’s End. To this day, tiny pieces of plastic are still being found on Cornish beaches. Joe Flatman reports on a project working to document these finds.

Obsolete iPads

"When will your iPad become obsolete?"

Crossword Writer Economics

"Inside the Elite, Underpaid, and Weird World of Crossword Writers"

The Downside Of Standardized Connectors

"Examples of Medical Device Misconnections"

Mastodon Basics

"What is Mastodon, the social network users are leaving Twitter for? Everything you need to know"

ML And AI Intro

Ars Technica: "How to get started with machine learning and AI"

Theodicy Microfiction

Really nice bit of microfiction on the theme of theodicy, in the form of a Twitter thread. (Via L.R.)

Chess Cheating Scandal

"A Cheating Scandal Has Rocked the Chess World. The 'Chess Detective' Is on the Case"

Barefoot Running

"Should You Take Up Barefoot Running?"

Short Math Paper

"This Mathematics Paper Is Just 2 Words Long"

Every Movie Set In Boston

"Script of Every Movie Set in Boston"

Turkey Terminology

"The Most Important Thanksgiving Turkey Terms, Defined"

Digital License Plates

"California drivers can now sport digital license plates on their cars":

The license plate-sized screens display a driver's license plate number and allow motorists to renew their registration automatically. Users can even change between light and dark modes and customize the plates with personalized banners.

Long Flight

"Bird Sets Record for Nonstop 13,560km Flight"

 

Classical Chinese Programming

"World's First Classical Chinese Programming Language"

Paintings Of The 19th Century

"One painting from every year of the 19th century". (Via Tyler Cowen.)

How Bees Count

"Bees 'count' from left to right, study finds

Not A Crash

"The iPhone 14 keeps calling 911 on rollercoasters":

The iPhone 14’s new Crash Detection feature, which is supposed to alert authorities when it detects you’ve been in a car accident, has an unexpected side effect: it dials 911 on rollercoasters.

Upside Down Art

"Mondrian painting has been hanging upside down for 75 years":

A painting by abstract Dutch artist Piet Mondrian has been hanging upside down in various museums since it was first put on display 75 years ago, an art historian has found, but warned it could disintegrate if it was hung the right side up now.

T-Rex Arms

"The 120-year search for the purpose of T. rex's arms"

Ancient Bacteria

"Ancient creatures are emerging from the cold storage of melting permafrost, almost like something out of a horror movie."

Super-recognisers

"The secret life of a super-recogniser":

It was only as she got older and started using social media that Seo became self-conscious of her skill. “I would start a new class in uni or I would meet people through social gatherings and I would remember visually what kind of photos I’d seen them in. I’d already be so familiar with them and I’d know in my head: ‘Oh, you are that person’s sibling, or you used to date so-and-so,’” she says.

“But I also knew it’d be really creepy if I said that out loud, so I’d keep it on the down low and just say: ‘Oh, nice to meet you.’”

 (Via Gus Van Horn.)

Hsieh Forbes Column: Misinformation, Mosquitoes, And Mutations, Oh My!

Yes, some people are "mosquito magnets". That's one of the topics I cover in my latest Forbes piece.

Standard Reference Peanut Butter

Yes, you can purchase Standard Reference Peanut Butter from the NIST Store (National Institute of Standards and Technology). 

Be aware that: 

1) 3 jars cost $1,069, and 

2) The lot expires December 31, 2029.

 

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual the rest of this week due to external obligations.

Fake Money For Films

Video: "How Fake Money Is Made For Movies And TV". (Via E.D.)

Bionic Noses

"With This Bionic Nose, COVID Survivors May Smell the Roses Again"

Chinese Armed Robo-Dogs

"China Pairs Armed Robot Dogs With Drones That Can Drop Them Anywhere":

Footage of a Chinese-made drone carrying a ‘robot dog’ that is armed with a machine gun has started to make its rounds on social media, and it looks like it was taken straight out of a dystopian war movie. It isn’t immediately clear if the video was recorded as part of a Chinese military exercise or rather in an effort to demonstrate how the pairing will operate, but even without that context, the clip could serve as a foretelling of the technology that may populate future battlegrounds.

How To Become An Excellent Physicist

"The secret to becoming an excellent physicist":

It’s simplicity itself: you become good at physics by solving physics problems. That’s it: that’s the secret. If you want to become competent at physics, you will solve physics problems in the area you wish to learn.

Backpack Ergonomics

Wirecutter: "You're Probably Wearing Your Backpack Wrong"

Robot Takeout

"I ordered robot takeout on two campuses with wildly different results"

Japanese Microapartments

"A 95-Square-Foot Tokyo Apartment: 'I Wouldn't Live Anywhere Else'"

Author Acceptance Bias

"Authors' names have 'astonishing' influence on peer reviewers: A Nobel prizewinner is six times more likely than someone less well known to get a thumbs-up for acceptance, finds study."

Wrinkling Math

"The New Math of Wrinkling"

High School Student And Nebula

High school student works out 3-D structure of "one of the most complex and least understood nebulae". 

Wins high school science competition, and subsequently is published in "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society".

Space Medicine

"'Space Medicine' Returns to Earth"

We Now Know How Many Brain Cells It Takes To Play Pong: 800,000

"Lab-grown brain cells play video game Pong":

Prof Karl Friston, of University College London, who is working with Dr Kagan, says: "The mini-brain learned without it being taught and so is more adaptable and flexible."

I can't wait to teach it how to play "Global Thermonuclear War"!

 

Signal And SMS

"Signal is 'starting to phase out SMS support' from its Android app"

Popular Websites By Country

"The Most Visited Website in Every Country (That Isn't A Search Engine)"

Fast Internet

"Fastest internet network in the world is upgraded to 46 Tb/s to support scientific research":

Scientists at the United States Department of Energy's (DOE) science network will hereon have access to the world's fastest internet. The DOE's Energy Science Network, ESnet, has now been upgraded to ESnet6, boasting a bandwidth of 46 Terabits per second (Tbps), enhancing the network's connectivity to new levels.

To put it into perspective, ESnet6 is 46,000 times faster than a comparatively high-speed connection of one Gbps. The current U.S. national average internet speed in 2022 is 119.03 Mbps, according to High Speed Internet.

That's a lot of cat videos per second! (Via H.R.)

Harvard Classics Free

"Download The Harvard Classics as Free eBooks: A 'Portable University' Created in 1909"

Moldable Ceramics Discovered By Accident

"A new ceramic material that can form tiny, intricate shapes could transform smartphones". (Via H.R.)

When ceramics are subjected to abrupt temperature changes and mechanical loading, they frequently shatter (or even explode) from thermal shock. However, their sample had distorted...

Its underlying microstructure enables the all-ceramic to transmit heat and flow during the molding process effectively. At room temperature, the ceramic can be formed into exquisite geometries and exhibits impressive mechanical strength and thermal conductivity.

“It’s unique: Thermoformable ceramics, from what we’ve seen and read, don’t really exist,” [graduate student Jason] Bice says. “So it’s a new frontier in materials.”

 

Neuroscience Of Tickling

"Neuroscientists unravel the mystery of why you can't tickle yourself". (Via H.R.)

Penguin Post Office

"Meet the Four Women Who Will Run Antarctica's 'Penguin Post Office'"

Silent Light Switches

"Why silent light switches are banned". It's the mercury.

Physics Paradoxees

"10 Brilliant Paradoxes in Physics and Philosophy"

Better Bionic Leg

"Utah Bionic Leg: The most advanced AI-powered prosthetics 'ever created'"

No AI Takeover Yet

Farhad Manjoo: "In the Battle With Robots, Human Workers Are Winning"

Maverick Vs. Star Wars

The parallels are quite striking! "Top Gun: Maverick Being Star Wars for Three Minutes Straight"

(Warning: Contains spoilers for both movies.)

Faster Matrix Multiplication With AI

"DeepMind unveils first AI to discover faster matrix multiplication algorithms"

Direct link to Nature article: "Discovering faster matrix multiplication algorithms with reinforcement learning".

Medicare Fraud

ProTip: Don't try to defraud Medicare by billing for non-existent radiology exams on deceased patients. 

The claims were for services that he did not provide and included approximately 151 x-ray services purportedly provided to patients on dates after the patients had died.

Mouse Neuron Data

"Huge new dataset pushes limits of neuroscience":

At the Allen Institute, a nonprofit research institute started by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, they used six Neuropixels probes to record simultaneously from eight different regions of the mouse visual system. In August, the institute released data from 81 mice—comprising the activity of around 300,000 neurons. The data is freely available to any researchers who might want to use it.

As the largest data set of this kind ever collected—three times as big as the previous record holder—the release lets researchers observe enormous groups of neurons acting in concert. That unprecedented scale may unlock opportunities to understand parts of cognition that have previously evaded the scientific community’s grasp. “We want to understand how we think and see and make decisions,” says Shawn Olsen, an investigator at the Allen Institute who played a central role in the project. “And it just does not happen at the level of single neurons.”

The challenge now is figuring out just how to parse all that data...

 

Entanglement Nobel

"Quantum experiments with entangled photons win the 2022 Nobel Prize in physics"

Plant Machete

"Living plant controls a machete through an industrial robot arm":

David Bowen’s installation, ‘Plant Machete,’ enables a living plant to move a machete through an industrial robot‘s bionic-like arm. The installation implements a control system that measures electrical noises found in the living philodendron. This system uses an open source micro-controller connected to the plant, which reads varying resistance signals across the its leaves.

The machine’s movements are accomplished by using a custom technology that translates electrical signals from the plant into real-time motion. Embedded patch sensors pick up electric signals from the leaves and transmit them to the machine that contains several joints that determine how the machete swings, jabs, slices, and interacts in space.

(Via P.B.)

 

Future Supercontinent

"In 200 Million Years There Will Be Only The Supercontinent Of 'Amasia' On Earth, Supercomputer Simulation Concludes"

Bionic Pancreas Update

"A bionic pancreas could solve one of the biggest challenges of diabetes"

Hsieh Forbes Column: You Have The Right To Your Radiology Test Results

My latest Forbes column is now out: "You Have The Right To Your Radiology Test Results: What You Need To Know".

I discuss some changes in federal law that allow near-immediate access to radiology reports (and other test results), and how best to use these rights responsibly.

Mobile Phone Privacy

"How Mobile Phones Became a Privacy Battleground -- and How to Protect Yourself".

Related article: "16 Practical Privacy Tips for Your iPhone"