This British Scientist Proposes Controversial Theory: We May Be Living 52 Million Lives in a Simulation

Dr. Melvin Vopson suggests a controversial theory that we may be living 52 million lives in a simulation, as one real-world lifetime could feel like 4.2 billion years in simulated time.

Dr. Vopson, an associate professor in physics at the University of Portsmouth, suggests that we might be living in a computer simulation, much like in The Matrix. He believes that certain signs in our daily lives hint that reality might not be what it seems. He explores the question: if we are in a simulated world, what is its purpose?

Dr Vopson makes scientific observations and measurements to support his theory. His theory is considered controversial which suggests that time can slow down in a simulation. Just like dreams feel long but last only a short time in real life, a whole lifetime in a simulated world could happen in just one real-world minute. This means a person could live many lifetimes by repeating these short simulations, potentially experiencing 52 million lifetimes in one human lifespan.

Dr. Melvin Vopson has previously published research suggesting that information has mass and that all elementary particles – the smallest known building blocks of the universe – store information about themselves, similar to the way humans have DNA.

In 2022, he discovered a new law of physics that could predict genetic mutations in organisms, including viruses, and help judge their potential consequences. It is based on the second law of thermodynamics, which establishes that entropy – a measure of disorder in an isolated system – can only increase or stay the same.

Dr. Vopson had expected that the entropy in information systems would also increase over time, but on examining the evolution of these systems he realized it remains constant or decreases. That’s when he established the second law of information dynamics, or infodynamics, which could significantly impact genetics research and evolution theory.

Dr. Vopson presents three possible explanations. One idea is that we willingly entered this simulation before birth, choosing to live in an exciting, artificial world rather than a dull real one. In this view, life is like a highly advanced virtual reality game meant for entertainment.

Another possibility is that we are part of an experiment designed to solve real-world problems. This theory suggests that humans in the future create simulations like ours to test solutions for global crises such as climate change or war. If one of these simulations finds a solution, it could be applied in the real world.

The third idea is that time in the simulation moves much slower than in reality. A few minutes in the real world could last for centuries here, allowing us to live multiple lifetimes. Thus, by choosing to exist in the simulation, we might experience a form of immortality.

According to this idea, in the same way, that our dreams can feel days long but last only minutes in real life, an entire lifetime in a simulated universe could take just one minute in the real world. That means a person could become virtually immortal by stacking up these one-minute simulated lives across their entire human lifetime, leaving 52 million chained lifetimes behind. (Source)

Although Dr. Vopson admits these are just theories and not proven by science, some of his research suggests that the universe could be a giant computer. He is not alone in this belief—figures like Elon Musk have also speculated that reality might be a simulation.

In 2022, Dr. Vopson discovered a new law of physics that could predict genetic mutations in organisms, including viruses, and help judge their potential consequences.

It is based on the second law of thermodynamics, which establishes that entropy – a measure of disorder in an isolated system – can only increase or stay the same.

Dr. Vopson had expected that the entropy in information systems would also increase over time, but on examining the evolution of these systems he realized it remains constant or decreases. That’s when he established the second law of information dynamics, or infodynamics, which could significantly impact genetics research and evolution theory.

Dr Vopson said: “I knew then that this revelation had far-reaching implications across various scientific disciplines.

“What I wanted to do next is put the law to the test and see if it could further support the simulation hypothesis by moving it on from the philosophical realm to mainstream science.”

Information theory is the study of how information is measured, stored, and shared. It was first developed by a mathematician named Claude Shannon and is now used in many areas of science, including physics.

In 2022, Dr. Vopson and another physicist, Serban Lepadatu, introduced a new idea called the “second law of infodynamics.”

This idea is similar to a well-known rule in physics called the “second law of thermodynamics,” which says that disorder (called entropy) in the universe always increases or stays the same over time. In simple terms, things naturally become more chaotic.

However, Dr. Vopson found that in information systems—such as digital data or genetic code—the opposite happens. Instead of becoming more disordered, these systems become more organized over time.

He tested this idea on different systems and found that it supports the theory that our universe might be a simulation. This is because, unlike in nature where things become more chaotic, information systems tend to become more efficient and structured. The patterns we see in nature might be a way of organizing information, which fits with the idea of a simulated world.

Key findings include:

• Biological Systems: The second law of infodynamics challenges the conventional understanding of genetic mutations, suggesting that they follow a pattern governed by information entropy. This discovery has profound implications for fields such as genetic research, evolutionary biology, genetic therapies, pharmacology, virology, and pandemic monitoring.
• Atomic Physics: The paper explains the behavior of electrons in multi-electron atoms, providing insights into phenomena like Hund’s rule; which states that the term with maximum multiplicity lies lowest in energy. Electrons arrange themselves in a way that minimizes their information entropy, shedding light on atomic physics and the stability of chemicals.
• Cosmology: The second law of infodynamics is shown to be a cosmological necessity, with thermodynamic considerations applied to an adiabatically expanding universe supporting its validity.

“The paper also provides an explanation for the prevalence of symmetry in the universe”, explained Dr. Vopson.

Dr. Vopson argues that this law plays a role in atomic physics (electron arrangement), cosmology, and biological systems. This last one is where Dr. Vopson makes a big claim: contrary to Charles Darwin’s idea that mutations occur randomly, mutations actually occur so that information entropy is minimized.

He analyzed the constantly mutating SARS-CoV-2 (a.k.a. COVID-19) virus, and his paper on that investigation—shows a “unique correlation between the information and the dynamics of the genetic mutations.”

“A super complex universe like ours, if it were a simulation, would require a built-in data optimization and compression in order to reduce the computational power and the data storage requirements to run the simulation,” Dr. Vopson wrote. (Source)

Dr. Vopson tested his new idea, called the “second law of infodynamics,” by studying digital information.

He wrote the word “INFORMATION” in binary (a computer code using 1s and 0s) onto a tiny magnetic surface. Over time, as the system went through many cycles at room temperature, the information started to fade. After 1,990 cycles, it disappeared completely. This matched his theory, which says that information naturally gets lost over time, becoming simpler.

Read also:

• This Man Claimed the Brain Creates Consciousness, but His Quantum Consciousness Theory Faces Three Decades of Criticism—New Evidence Now Supports His Claim
• This Man Claims He Has Found Ways to Escape the Simulation, But the Consequences Are Unknown
• Scientist found People Born Blind Are Mysteriously Protected From Schizophrenia
• This Man finds that Altered States of Consciousness Can Distort Time, And Nobody Knows Why

Dr. Vopson was surprised and excited that his idea applied to many different systems. He believes the law could be universal. However, he made it clear that, while his study supports the idea that the universe might be a simulation, it doesn’t prove it for sure. He hopes his work will encourage more research and that other scientists will find new ways to test this idea.

He also suggested another experiment to check his theory. If scientists smash matter and antimatter (opposites of each other) together, they might see low-energy light particles appear. This would show that information is being erased, proving his law of infodynamics in action.

Information physics suggests that everything we see as physical might actually be made of bits of information.

This means our universe could be a simulation. The idea isn’t new—John Archibald Wheeler suggested in 1989 that the universe might emerge from information.

In 2003, philosopher Nick Bostrom argued that it’s likely we are living in such a simulation, as advanced civilizations might create simulations that are impossible to tell apart from reality.

Physicist Seth Lloyd from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US took the simulation hypothesis to the next level by suggesting that the entire universe could be a giant quantum computer. (Source)

Dr. Vopson noted that the simulation hypothesis has attracted the interest of many public figures, such as Elon Musk and Neil deGrasse Tyson, along with other people from all walks of life, showing that it has a broad appeal.

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{ https://howandwhys.com/ } 

08-02-2025 om 18:25 geschreven door peter  

By SHIVALI BEST FOR MAILONLINE

The idea of a robotic dog that can move on almost any terrain might sound like something from the latest episode of Black Mirror. 

But as this terrifying footage shows, it has now become a reality. 

The state-of-the-art robot dog is called Lynx, and is the brainchild of Chinese company, Deep Robotics. 

Equipped with four wheels instead of paws, the bot can walk, climb, and even backflip on everything from rocks to snow. 

Deep Robtics hopes that it could be used in search and rescue operations. 

However, some sceptics have already raised concerns about the four-legged robot. 

'I know these are gonna be hunting down every last human before long,' one user commented on the video. 

However, they reluctantly added: 'But this is also just legitimately cool as hell.'

The state-of-the-art robot dog is called Lynx, and is the brainchild of Chinese company, Deep Robotics

Equipped with four wheels instead of paws, the bot can walk, climb, and even backflip on everything from rocks to snow

Lynx stands at just under one metre tall, and weighs 30kg - around the same size as a Labrador Retriever. 

'DEEPRoboticsLynx all-terrain robot boasts a compact and agile design with exceptional adaptability to diverse terrains,' Deep Robotics explains on its website. 

'By leveraging its distinctive wheel-leg motion, DEEPRoboticsLynx strikes an optimal balance between speed and agility, carrying forward DEEP Robotics' deep expertise in embodied intelligence and industry applications.'

According to the firm, the robot is able to climb platforms up to 80cm tall and navigate continuous steps reaching up to 22cm tall. 

Meanwhile, when it's on the move, the bot can reach top speeds of five metres/second (11mph). 

It also comes with an IP54 protection rating, meaning it is suitable for use in all weather conditions. 

Equipped with a wide-angle camera, the bot could be used to access hard-to-reach areas during search and rescue missions. 

Unsurprisingly, it comes with a fairly hefty price-tag. 

According to the firm, the robot is able to climb platforms up to 80cm tall and navigate continuous steps reaching up to 22cm tall

Unsurprisingly, it comes with a fairly hefty price-tag. Lynx will set buyers back by $17,999 (£14,520.65)

Lynx will set buyers back by $17,999 (£14,520.65)!

The response to the bot has been overwhelmingly positive on social media. 

Commenting on Deep Robotics' video showcasing the robot, one user wrote: 'That's crazy. This kind of robots with such agility were still a science fiction several years ago.'

Another added: 'this is the most hardcore flex I've ever seen in the history of robotics.'

And one joked: 'the first couple of jump clips had me wondering if those were real or cgi because of how well the lynx did it!'

However, others were slightly more sceptical of the robot. 

'Cant wait for this thing to chase me down in the future,' one user wrote, while another said: 'This 100% was a black mirror episode.'

'Spot is a small four-legged robot that comfortably fits in an office or home' the firm says on its website.

It weighs 25 kg (55 lb), or 30 kg (66 lb) when you include the robotic arm.

Spot is all-electric and can go for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing, the firm says, boasting 'Spot is the quietest robot we have built.' 

Spot was first unveiled in 2016, and a previous version of the mini version of spot with a strange extendable neck has been shown off helping around the house. 

In the firm's previous video, the robot is shown walking out of the firm's HQ and into what appears to be a home.

There, it helps load a dishwasher and carries a can to the trash.

It also at one point encounters a dropped banana skin and falls dramatically - but uses its extendable neck to push itself back up. 

'Spot is one of the quietest robots we have ever built, the firm says, due to its electric motors.

'It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro (IMU) and proprioception sensors in the limbs. 

'These sensors help with navigation and mobile manipulation. 

'Spot performs some tasks autonomously, but often uses a human for high-level guidance.' 

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

07-02-2025 om 21:31 geschreven door peter  

Watch humanoid robots waltzing seamlessly with humans thanks to AI motion tracking software upgrade

Humanoid robots could soon move in a far more realistic manner — and even dance just like us — thanks to a new software framework for tracking human motion.

Developed by researchers at UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, MIT, and Nvidia, "ExBody2" is a new technology that enables humanoid robots to perform realistic movements based on detailed scans and motion-tracked visualizations of humans.

The researchers hope that future humanoid robots could perform a much wider range of tasks by mimicking human movements more accurately. For example, the teaching method could help robots operate in roles requiring fine movements — such as retrieving items from shelves — or moving with care around humans or other machines.

ExBody2 works by taking simulated movements based on motion-capture scans of humans and translating them into usable motion data for the robot to replicate. The framework can replicate complex movements using the robot, which would let robots move less rigidly and adapt to different tasks without needing extensive retraining.

Related: 

• 8 of the weirdest robots in the world right now

This is all taught using reinforcement learning, a subset of machine learning in which the robot is fed large amounts of data to ensure it takes the optimal route in any given situation. Good outputs, simulated by researchers, are assigned positive or negative scores to "reward" the model for desirable outcomes, which here meant replicating motions precisely without compromising the bot's stability.

The framework can also take short motion clips, such as a few seconds of dancing, and synthesize new frames of movement for reference, to enable robots to complete longer-duration movements.

Dancing with robots

In a video posted to YouTube, a robot trained through ExBody2 dances, spars and exercises alongside a human subject. Additionally, the robot mimics a researcher's movement in real time, using additional code titled "HybrIK: Hybrid Analytical-Neural Inverse Kinematics for Body Mesh Recovery" developed by the Machine Vision and Intelligence Group at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

At present, ExBody2's dataset is largely focused on upper-body movements. In a study, uploaded Dec. 17, 2024 to the preprint server ArXiv, the researchers behind the framework explained that this is due to concerns that introducing too much movement in the lower half of the robot will cause instability.

"Overly simplistic tasks could limit the training policy's ability to generalize to new situations, while overly complex tasks might exceed the robot's operational capabilities, leading to ineffective learning outcomes," they wrote. "Part of our dataset preparation, therefore, includes the exclusion or modification of entries that featured complex lower body movements beyond the robot's capabilities."

The researchers' dataset contains more than 2,800 movements, with 1,919 of these coming from the Archive of Motion Capture As Surface Shapes (AMASS) dataset. This is a large dataset of human motions, including more than 11,000 individual human movements and 40 hours of detailed motion data, intended for non-commercial deep learning — when a neural network is trained on vast amounts of data to identify or reproduce patterns.

Having proven ExBody2's effectiveness at replicating human-like movement in humanoid robots, the team will now turn to the problem of achieving these results without having to manually curate datasets to ensure only suitable information is available to the framework. The researchers suggest that, in the future, automated dataset collection will help smooth this process.

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{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

06-02-2025 om 17:12 geschreven door peter  

Incredible images capture US Navy testing its new laser weapon that NEVER runs out of power

• READ MORE: US military launches missile tests hours after 2024 election 

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The US Navy has released stunning images showing its incredible new drone-destroying laser weapon in action for the first time.

The HELIOS system was tested aboard the USS Preble, with photos capturing its bright beam shooting an unmanned aerial vehicle out of the sky.

HELIOS, which stands for High Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, was developed by Lockheed Martin in 2021 and delivered to the Navy a year later.

The system blasts more than 60 kilowatts of directed energy, enough to power up to 60 homes, at the speed of light and can hit targets up to five miles away.

It is designed to counter a range of threats, including drones, small boats, and potentially incoming missiles.

HELIOS was also designed to disrupt the intelligence and reconnaissance sensors on enemy vessels.

The testing comes as threats against America's warships are growing as foreign nations stock their arsenals with drones and anti-ship missiles.

The US Naval Institute said in a recent report: 'The drone threat has been around for years, but the Navy has yet to prioritize defending against these easily acquired weapons.'

The US Navy conducted the first tests of its drone-kill laser weapon. HELIOS can fire for as long as it has power, which it collects from the ship

'Expecting sailors who shoot shotguns, rifles, or machine guns twice a year on a range to be able to engage multiple small, fast-moving targets is unreasonable, 'the report added.

'Even if a few sailors were expert shooters capable of shooting down drones, it likely would take a few minutes from the first report of a potential drone to identify the drone, raise the alarm, and bring key weapons and associated ammunition to bear against the threat—time the ship might not have.'

But the Navy sees its new HELIOS as a way to fight back, showing off its capabilities on the open ocean.

The US Center for Countermeasures (CCM) released details on the testing, SWNS reported.

'CCM supported the Navy’s demonstration on USS Preble (DDG 88) to verify and validate the functionality, performance, and capability of the HEL with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance system against an unmanned aerial vehicle target, it shared in a report. 

The weapon was integrated into the ship's combat system, enhancing its target detection and tracking capabilities. 

HELIOS can fire for as long as it has power, which it collects from the ship.

The system blasts more than 60 kilowatts of directed energy, enough to power up to 60 homes, at the speed of light and can hit targets up to five miles away

The HELIOS system was tested aboard the USS Preble, with photos showing its bright beam shooting an unmanned aerial vehicle out of the sky

And because the ship's power source is constantly replenished, the laser has an unlimited supply of power. 

The test comes as a Homeland Security Advisor and billionaire Marc Andreessen suggested AI-powered jets will be the main fighters in future wars.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in November, Andreessen said jets that travel five times the speed of sound, Mach 5, are going to be more common 'within a few years.'

'Image a thousand of these things coming over the horizon right at you,' Andreessen said. 'It really changes the fundamental equation of war.' 

He explain that instead of needing the most soldiers and material to win, people with the most technology and money will take over.

Andreessen also noted that there are 'a bunch of reasons' why he believes a future of AI-piloted fighter jets is all but inevitable.

'Part of it is simply the speed of processing,' Andreessen explained.

'But the other big thing is, if you don't have a human in the plane, you don't have [...] 'the Spam in the Can.''

'You don't have the human body in the plane to keep alive, which means you can be a lot faster,' the billionaire White House advisor continued, 'much higher G-forces.'

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

05-02-2025 om 15:53 geschreven door peter  

PREMIUM

Kopfoto Lieve Scheire © UAntwerpen, GTT, montage HLN

Lieven Scheire toert momenteel door Nederland en het Verenigd Koninkrijk met zijn theatershow over AI. Daarin krijgt DeepSeek ook meteen aandacht. 

© VTM

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

04-02-2025 om 17:20 geschreven door peter  

12 pivotal moments in the history of robotics, from Isaac Asimov to self-driving cars

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

04-02-2025 om 00:00 geschreven door peter  

How Many Dimensions Does Our Universe Really Have?

Does our Universe have extra dimensions, and how do they influence our reality?

 Matthew S. Williams

While this kind of talk may sound like something farfetched or purely speculative, it is actually a vital part of our understanding of how our Universe works. If and when we determine how many dimensions our Universe has (and what each of them does), we will finally have a Theory of Everything (ToE) and know how it all fits together.

Dimensions 101

To break it down, the term “dimension” refers to any mathematical measurement. This can generally refer to a physical measurement (an object or space) or a temporal measurement (time). There are three dimensions that we experience daily, which define the length, width, and depth of all objects in our Universe (the x, y, and z-axis, respectively).

However, scientists maintain that to understand the laws of nature, one must include a “fourth dimension,” which is time. Without this coordinate, the position, velocity, and acceleration of objects in our Universe cannot be properly measured. It’s not enough to know where an object is in terms of three spatial coordinates. You also need to know when the object was where.

Beyond these four dimensions, theoretical physicists have ventured that there may be more at play. The number of dimensions varies, but the purpose behind extra dimensions is to find ways of unifying the known laws of the Universe, which theoretical physicists have been trying to do for about a century.

• Electromagnetism
• Weak Nuclear Force
• Strong Nuclear Force
• Gravitation

The first three forces are all described by the field of Quantum Mechanics and are associated with specific subatomic particles. Electromagnetism is associated with electrons (a lepton), which are responsible for electricity, magnetism, and all forms of electromagnetic radiation. That includes visible light (color), heat, microwaves, radio waves, ultraviolet radiation, and gamma rays.

The weak nuclear force deals with interactions between subatomic particles responsible for the radioactive decay of atoms and is associated with particles smaller than a proton (bosons). At higher energies, this force merges with electromagnetism, which has given rise to the unified term “electroweak force.”

The strong nuclear force governs particles that are the size of protons and neutrons (hadrons) and is so-named because it is approximately 137 times as strong as electromagnetism, millions of times stronger than the weak nuclear force, and 10³⁸ times as strong as gravitation. It causes quarks to come together to form larger protons and neutrons and binds them to create atomic nuclei.

Superstring theory, a variation on ST, requires the existence of 10 spacetime dimensions. These include the four dimensions immediately apparent to us (length, width, depth, time) and six more that are not. 

These extra six dimensions are curled up into a compact space. On order the string scale (10^-33 cm) we wouldn’t be able to detect the presence of these extra dimensions directly because they’re just too small. 

According to the theory, the fifth and sixth dimensions deal with possible worlds that began with the same initial conditions. 

The fifth dimension encompasses worlds with slightly different outcomes than ours, while the sixth is where a plane of possible worlds would be visible. The seventh dimension is where one could see possible worlds that started with different initial conditions and then branched out infinitely — hence why the term “infinity” is used to describe them.

On its face, the first possibility seems highly unlikely. After all, ongoing particle experiments — like those conducted with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — have confirmed that the Standard Model of particle physics is correct. Similarly, General Relativity has been confirmed many times over since Einstein formally proposed it in 1915.

That leaves us with the second possibility: that extra dimensions cannot be measured or characterized using current methods and experiments. A well-studied possibility is that dimensions are “curled up” at tiny scales, which means their properties and influence on spacetime could only be measured at subatomic levels.

Another possibility is “compactification,” where certain dimensions are finite or temporal in nature. In short, this theory posits that curled-up dimensions become very small or close in on themselves to form circles. If this is true, then the six extra dimensions would likely take the form of a Calabi–Yau manifold (these are shapes that satisfy the requirement needed for the six “unseen” spatial dimensions of string theory).

For astrophysicists and theoretical physicists, compactification and the idea that extra dimensions are tiny explains why the Universe still exists billions of years after its emergence. If these dimensions were larger, they would accommodate enough matter to trigger gravitational collapses and the formation of black holes (which would consume the rest of the Universe).

The fact that the cosmos still exists after 13.8 billion years, and shows no sign of being torn apart, would suggest that this theory is sound. Alternatively, the laws of physics may operate differently in these extra dimensions. Either way, there’s still the unanswered question of how we might observe and study them.

How do we find them?

So if the Universe really does have extra dimensions that are imperceptible to us, how are we going to find evidence of their existence and determine their properties? One possibility is to look for them through particle physics experiments, like those conducted by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) — the operators of the LHC — and other particle accelerator labs.

At CERN, scientists boost particles to high energies before smashing them together and measuring the resulting cascade of subatomic particles. Detectors gather clues about the particles, such as their speed, mass, and charge, which can be used to work out their identity.

Theories involving extra dimensions predict that there must be heavier versions of standard particles recurring at higher and higher energies as they navigate smaller dimensions. These would have exactly the same properties as standard particles (and so be visible to detectors like those at CERN) but at a greater mass. If evidence of these were to be found, this might suggest the presence of extra dimensions. 

To date, astronomers have been unable to see this far back in time since no telescopes have been sensitive enough. This will change in the near future, thanks to next-generation instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST), the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT).

This coincides nicely with existing Dark Matter and Dark Energy surveys that are observing early comic history in the hopes of measuring their influence on cosmic evolution. Since some theorists venture that the existence of extra dimensions could help explain the “Dark Universe,” these observations could address several mysteries at once.

This dual approach is not unlike our current understanding of the Universe, which scientists can only understand in one of two ways — the largest (GR) and tiniest of scales (QM). By observing the Universe with a very wide and very tight-angle lense, we may be able to account for all the forces governing it.

Much like other ToE candidates, the belief that the universe is made up of ten dimensions or more is an attempt to take all the physical laws we understand and find out how they fit together. In that respect, it’s like assembling a puzzle, where each piece makes sense to us, but we are unaware of what the bigger picture looks like.

It’s not enough to put pieces together wherever they appear to match. We also need to have an overall idea of what the framework is, a mental picture of what it will look like when it is finished. This helps to guide our efforts so we can anticipate how it will all come together.

{ https://interestingengineering.com/ }

31-01-2025 om 15:40 geschreven door peter  

Could we travel to parallel universes?

But how would we get to one of those parallel universes?

The trick is to build a time machine. It doesn't matter how you do it; you just need to go back in time. Normally, going back in time introduces all sorts of nasty paradoxes, like the infamous grandfather paradox, or, less violently, inconsistent histories. Try going back in time and destroying your time machine. Now it doesn't exist, which means you can't go back in time to destroy it, which means it should exist.

Related: 

• How long does it take to travel to the moon?

Perhaps time travel into the past is forbidden for exactly these reasons, according to Stephen Hawking's chronology protection conjecture. Or perhaps time travel into the past is allowed, but with one strict rule: You can't change the past. This is known as Igor Novikov's self-consistency conjecture. But how could you go into the past without changing it?

One possible answer is that when you travel into the past, you don't go into your own past. Instead, you slip into another history. If you go back in time and kill Hitler, you're not killing the Hitler of your past; you're killing somebody else's. And in that alternate universe, Hitler was always killed by a time-traveling assassin from another universe. When you return to the future, you come back home, with an unchanged past.

The many-worlds interpretation offers a natural platform for creating these alternate histories. If the universe is constantly splitting and branching anyway, then time travel simply moves you from one of those branches to another. Or, in another possibility, when you go back in time, you create a new branch that didn't exist before.

While this all sounds neat and tidy, it runs into the slight complication that nobody has ever gotten it to work. We don't know how this process actually unfolds or through what mechanism the alternate history emerges.

Attempts to navigate the issue by studying quantum mechanics have had mixed results. Left to their own devices, quantum fields tend to go haywire when time machines are involved. You can stabilize them — if you give up some of the core tenets of the theory, like the correspondence principle or unitarity, which say that quantum processes eventually lead to macroscopic behavior and that fundamental reactions are reversible. Nobody is really willing to give those up, since they seem central to the theory — so we're stuck on that front.

Besides, even classical, non-quantum systems run into issues. Let's say you have a switch that can turn your time machine on and off — say, by opening or closing a wormhole. We don't know how the alternate histories can accommodate changes in their space-time structures like that, regardless of whatever quantum processes are happening on a subatomic level.

However, if we could build a time machine, we could easily test whether alternate histories are created. All we'd have to do is change something in the past that you remember. If you're not allowed to do it (say, no matter how hard you try, you just can't kill Hitler), then you know there's only one timeline with a past that is locked in stone. But if you accomplish the mission, then you know that alternate histories are real and that the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics might be valid.

We don't know if any of this is possible. On the other hand, we can't exactly rule it out. Time travel into the past seems forbidden but for reasons we can't readily discern. Our past seems to be gone forever — but it's also possible that it's just one branch of many and that visiting alternate universes is as easy as … Well, it's not easy at all.

• Originally posted on Space.com.

{ https://www.livescience.com/space }

31-01-2025 om 14:35 geschreven door peter  

First mouse with two biological FATHERS reaches adulthood - in breakthrough that could pave the way for gay men to have children

• READ MORE: Step-by-step graphic reveals how a 'virgin birth' is possible 

By WILIAM HUNTER

The first mouse with two biological fathers has survived until adulthood, a new study has revealed.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences say they have succeeded in breeding mice using only genetic material from two males.

Through a technique called 'embryonic stem cell engineering’, scientists created eggs from the sperm of one father which could be fertilised by the other.

The stem cell technique used by the researchers is not entirely new, but all previous attempts faced seemingly insurmountable problems.

Mice bred using two sets of male genes either failed to grow at all or were born with severe developmental defects that prevented them from reaching adulthood.

However, by editing 20 different genes in the mice's stem cells, the researchers were able to prevent these issues.

Co-author of the study Dr Wei Li says: 'This work will help to address a number of limitations in stem cell and regenerative medicine research.'

While it is currently only possible in mice, this major breakthrough could pave the way for gay men to have children who are biologically related to both fathers. 

Researchers have successfully bred a mouse (right) that has two male parents (one pictured left) and can survive to adulthood by editing their genes to overcome developmental challenges 

In order to breed offspring which have two biological fathers, the researchers first needed to transform the male sex cells from one parent into female sex cells.

The scientists took sperm from a mouse and injected it into a type of cell called an oocyte - an immature egg cell that has had its genetic material removed in a process called enucleation.

This created a stem cell - a type of cell with the potential to become any other type of cell in the body - which contained only male DNA from the first parent.

The researchers then took one of these stem cells and a sperm cell from another male and injected both into another enucleated immature egg.

These male cells combined to create an embryonic stem cell containing the DNA of both parents, which was then used to create an embryo which could be implanted in a surrogate mother.

Once the embryo had developed, the mother gave birth to the offspring, which contained only genetic material from the two males.

Scientists have known for a long time that this is possible and have managed to create viable embryos using the technique.

However, no one has previously managed to create 'bi-paternal' mice that are actually capable of surviving to adulthood.

By changing genes which control how the parents' chromosomes combine, the bi-paternal mice lived much longer and could even survive weaning. Edited mice are shown by the dark blue line 

During heterosexual reproduction, genetic material from a male carried by the sperm combines with genetic material from a female contained in the egg, or ovum.

When this happens, a group of genes called 'homologous chromosomes' from the mother come together with those from the father and combine in a process called 'crossing over'.

But when both sets of homologous chromosomes come from either two males or two females, the genes don't copy over properly, leading to 'imprinting abnormalities'.

These abnormalities can cause developmental defects which prevent the offspring from living healthy lives.

Co-author Dr Qi Zhou says: 'The unique characteristics of imprinting genes have led scientists to believe that they are a fundamental barrier to unisexual reproduction in mammals.

'Even when constructing bi-maternal or bi-paternal embryos artificially, they fail to develop properly, and they stall at some point during development due to these genes.'

In this study, the researchers used a gene editing technology called CRISPR to make changes to mice's DNA in order to prevent imprinting abnormalities.

After creating stem cells from the first male's sperm, they inserted or removed sections of genetic code at 20 places in the mice's DNA that control imprinting.

Using a technique called CRISPR, the researchers modified 20 genes in one of the male mice. This prevented their offspring developing defects which led to earlier death (stock image) 

When these genetically modified stem cells were combined with the sperm from another male, they were much more likely to develop properly.

These changes resulted in mice with two fathers who were able to live until adulthood for the first time ever.

Study co-author Dr Guan-Zheng Luo, of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, says: 'These findings provide strong evidence that imprinting abnormalities are the main barrier to mammalian unisexual reproduction.

'This approach can significantly improve the developmental outcomes of embryonic stem cells and cloned animals, paving a promising path for the advancement of regenerative medicine.'

The authors do acknowledge some significant limitations to these findings.

Only 11.8 per cent of the viable embryos were capable of developing to birth and not every pup which was born lived to adulthood.

The mice that did live to adulthood showed altered growth, shortened lifespans, and were sterile.

However, these results show the first promising steps towards giving gay men the option to have children who are related to both of their fathers.

In the future, the development of this technique could allow gay men to have children who are genetically related to both partners. However, gene editing techniques are currently not permitted for use on humans (stock image)

In theory, it could be possible to use a similar technique to create an embryo using stem cells derived from one human partner and sperm from the other.

Although the child would still need to be carried to term by a female surrogate, they would have genetic material only from both of their fathers.

Currently, the researchers are planning to try this approach in larger animals like monkeys - and warn that the technological hurdles will be significantly larger.

That means getting the technique to work in humans could require years of effort. 

However, not everyone is convinced that scientists should try to pursue this technology in humans, even if it is possible.

Lukasz Konieczka, executive director of the LGBT+ charity Mosaic Trust, told MailOnline: ''I do understand that some might have a strong desire to have biological children as it offers some virtual immortality, as psychologists call it.

'I do not think it is necessary to spend time and resources on such technology as we still have children who are alive today, stuck in a care system due to neglectful or abusive biological parents.'

Since the technique requires editing the genome of the parent's stem cells, it is also prohibited in humans.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research's ethical guidelines for stem cell research do not allow heritable genome editing for reproductive purposes nor the use of human stem cell-derived gametes for reproduction because they are deemed as currently unsafe.

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

28-01-2025 om 23:34 geschreven door peter  

Chinese researchers just built an open-source rival to ChatGPT in 2 months. Silicon Valley is freaked out.

For large language models, these data are text. For instance, OpenAI's GPT-3.5, which was released in 2023, was trained on roughly 570GB of text data from the repository Common Crawl — which amounts to roughly 300 billion words — taken from books, online articles, Wikipedia and other webpages.

Reasoning models, such as R1 and o1, are an upgraded version of standard LLMs that use a method called "chain of thought" to backtrack and reevaluate their logic, which enables them to tackle more complex tasks with greater accuracy.

This has made reasoning models popular among scientists and engineers who are looking to integrate AI into their work.

But unlike ChatGPT's o1, DeepSeek is an "open-weight" model that (although its training data remains proprietary) enables users to peer inside and modify its algorithm. Just as important is its reduced price for users — 27 times less than o1.

Besides its performance, the hype around DeepSeek comes from its cost efficiency; the model's shoestring budget is minuscule compared with the tens of millions to hundreds of millions that rival companies spend to train its competitors.

In addition, U.S. export controls, which limit Chinese companies' access to the best AI computing chips, forced R1's developers to build smarter, more energy-efficient algorithms to compensate for their lack of computing power. ChatGPT reportedly needed 10,000 Nvidia GPUs to process its training data, DeepSeek engineers say they achieved similar results with just over 2,000.

How much this will translate into useful scientific and technical applications, or whether DeepSeek has simply trained its model to ace benchmark tests, remains to be seen. Scientists and AI investors are watching closely.

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

28-01-2025 om 22:07 geschreven door peter  

Nuclear fusion breakthrough: China's 'artificial sun' reactor sets a new world record by generating a steady loop of plasma for 1,066 seconds - taking the world closer towards limitless clean energy

• READ MORE: Inside the world's first nuclear waste 'tomb' costing $4 BILLION

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

If we want to rely on nuclear fusion to power the world's homes, the first step is making reactors that can run as hot and as long as possible. 

Now, China's 'artificial sun' reactor – officially called 'Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak' (EAST) – has set a new world record, bringing the goal of limitless clean energy ever closer. 

The reactor, located in Hefei in Anhui province, generated a steady loop of plasma for 1,066 seconds at 180million°F (100million°C) – seven times hotter than the sun's core. 

It surpasses the previous world record of 403 seconds, also set by EAST in 2023. 

EAST could be a precursor to the first ever fusion power plants that supply power directly to the grid and electricity to people's homes. 

These power plants could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power-generation sector by diverting away from the use of fossil fuels like coal and gas. 

Fusion differs from fission (the technique currently used in nuclear power plants), because the former fuses two atomic nuclei instead of splitting one (fission). 

Unlike fission, fusion carries no risk of catastrophic nuclear accidents – like that seen in Fukushima in Japan in 2011 – and produces far less radioactive waste than current power plants, its exponents say.

China's 'artificial sun' reactor - officially called 'Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak' (EAST) - has set a new world record, bringing the goal of limitless clean energy ever closer. The reactor, located in Hefei in Anhui province, generated a steady loop of plasma for 1,066 seconds at 180million°F (100million°C) - seven times hotter than the sun's core 

If nuclear fusion experiments can be harnessed on a much larger scale, reactors hotter than anything else in the solar system will provide limitless clean energy. Tokamak Energy is a private company based at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire

China's 'artificial sun' is operated by the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) at Hefei Institutes of Physical Science on behalf of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

The new world record, achieved on Monday, marks a critical step toward a functional fusion reactor, according to ASIPP director Professor Song Yuntao.

'A fusion device must achieve stable operation at high efficiency for thousands of seconds to enable the self-sustaining circulation of plasma, which is essential for the continuous power generation of future fusion plants,' he said. 

Global scientists have worked for more than 70 years on trying to achieve this feat, according to a release from State Council Information Office, central propaganda department of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. 

Gong Xianzu, head of the division of EAST physics and experimental operations, said they have upgraded several EAST systems since the last round of experiments. 

For example, the heating system, which previously operated at the equivalent of nearly 70,000 household microwave ovens, has now doubled its power output. 

'The ultimate goal of an artificial sun is to create nuclear fusion like the sun, providing humanity with an endless, clean energy source,' the release says. 

Fusion – generally considered the holy grail of energy – could also enable 'space exploration beyond the solar system', by providing rockets with more powerful propulsion systems. 

China's self-designed 'artificial sun' - a device to harness the energy of fusion, has made an important advance by achieving a temperature of 180 million °F (100 million °C) in plasma

This photo shows the control center of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, east China's Anhui Province, January 20, 2025

A staff member performs an upgrade to the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on April 28, 2021

At the heart of EAST and other fusion reactors around the world is a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped device initially conceptualised in the 1950s by Soviet physicists. 

Inside, under the influence of extreme heat and pressure, gaseous hydrogen fuel becomes a plasma – a hot, electrically charged gas. 

Plasma is often referred to as the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas, and comprises over 99 per cent of the visible universe, including most of our sun. 

In the tokamak, the plasma is trapped and pressurised by magnetic fields until the energised plasma particles start to collide.

As the particles fuse into helium, they release enormous amounts of energy, mimicking the process that occurs naturally in the centre of stars like our sun.

The only by-products of fusion reactions are small amounts of helium, an inert gas which can be safely released without harming the environment. 

As a result, fusion reactors have long been touted as the best clean energy source – although the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists claims they are 'far from perfect'.

As yet, the energy input required to produce the temperatures and pressures that enable significant fusion reactions in hydrogen isotopes don't justify the fusion energy that's actually being generated, the nonprofit organization points out. 

At the heart of EAST and other fusion reactors around the world is the tokamak, a doughnut-shaped device initially conceptualised in the 1950s by Soviet physicists. Inside, under the influence of extreme heat and pressure, gaseous hydrogen fuel becomes a plasma – a hot, electrically charged gas

Gong Xianzu, head of division of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) Physics and Experimental Operations, watches the experimental data on January 15, 2025 in Hefei, Anhui Province of China

Nuclear fusion is still in the research and development phase - while nuclear fission is already making electricity. Pictured, nuclear power plant in Wuhan, China

Fusion power works by colliding heavy hydrogen atoms to form helium - releasing vast amounts of energy in the process, as occurs naturally in the centre of stars

It's worth bearing in mind that EAST, as the name suggests, is China's 'experimental' reactor project – and may yet pave the way for the first nuclear fusion power plants. 

Chinese experts say: 'The mission of the EAST project is to develop an advanced fully superconducting tokamak so as to establish solid scientific and technological bases for the future continuous operation of tokamak fusion devices.' 

Of course there are already nuclear power plants around the world, but they use nuclear fission, which has the disadvantage of generating unstable nuclei, some of which are radioactive for millions of years. 

Fusion, on the other hand, does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste but instead helium, which is an inert gas. 

Fusion fuel is made up of deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, giving scientists hopes of 'unlimited energy'. 

The Chinese team plan to use the nuclear fusion reactor in collaboration with scientists in France working on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

The Provence-based ITER project is expected to begin delivering power in 2035, and will become the world's biggest reactor once completed. 

Meanwhile, the SPARC nuclear fusion reactor, a US project involving MIT, is currently in development in Devens, Massachusetts and scheduled to start operations in 2026. 

Construction of ITER, the world's largest nuclear fusion project that will replicate the reactions that power the sun in pursuit of clean power

In 2024, Korea's artificial sun' (pictured) ran at 100 million°C (180 million°F) for 48 seconds - seven times hotter than the sun's core

South Korea also has its own 'artificial sun', the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR), which has run at 180million°F (100million°C) for 48 seconds. 

Japan's reactor, called JT-60SA and switched on in Naka north of Tokyo late 2023, is a six-storey-high machine measuring 50 feet high and 44 feet wide. 

Built and operated jointly by Europe and Japan, JT-60SA will be the world's largest fusion reactor until the completion of ITER in France.

Other smaller reactors are being built and tested – including the ST40 in Oxfordshire, which is more squashed-up and compact compared with other 'doughnut-shaped' reactors. 

The Joint European Torus (JET), also located in Oxfordshire, released a total of 69 megajoules of energy over five seconds before being decommissioned. 

They could all be precursors to fusion power plants that supply power directly to the grid and electricity to people's homes. 

HOW A FUSION REACTOR WORKS

Fusion is the process by which a gas is heated up and separated into its constituent ions and electrons. 

It involves light elements, such as hydrogen, smashing together to form heavier elements, such as helium. 

For fusion to occur, hydrogen atoms are placed under high heat and pressure until they fuse together.

The tokamak (artist's impression) is the most developed magnetic confinement system and is the basis for the design of many modern fusion reactors. The purple at the center of the diagram shows the plasma inside 

When deuterium and tritium nuclei - which can be found in hydrogen - fuse, they form a helium nucleus, a neutron and a lot of energy.

This is done by heating the fuel to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C and forming a hot plasma, a gaseous soup of subatomic particles.

Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the reactor's walls, so that it doesn't cool down and lose its energy potential.

These fields are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel and by an electrical current driven through the plasma.

For energy production, plasma has to be confined for a sufficiently long period for fusion to occur.

When ions get hot enough, they can overcome their mutual repulsion and collide, fusing together. 

When this happens, they release around one million times more energy than a chemical reaction and three to four times more than a conventional nuclear fission reactor.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

22-01-2025 om 23:36 geschreven door peter  

Quantum computing, a transformative field leveraging quantum mechanics, has the potential to solve complex problems far beyond the reach of classical computers. While it promises significant advancements, it also poses risks, such as breaking cryptographic codes, threatening global data security. 

For example: At NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL), experiments revealed unprecedented computational power and successfully solved the unsolvable problem. However, the quantum computer began generating independent and unconventional outputs, leading to speculation that it could think for itself or even connect with extraterrestrial intelligence. Concerned about the implications, NASA halted its quantum computing project in 2023, though some believe the research continued in secret. 

Separately, researchers have hypothesized that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations might use black holes as quantum computers for computation and communication. highlighting the mysterious potential of these quantum systems to explore phenomena beyond Earthly understanding. 

A fictional scenario (watch video below) illustrates the dangers of quantum technology spiraling out of control: 

A mysterious data transfer lights up NSA monitors at 3 AM. Within hours, hospital records flash across Times Square billboards. Dating app messages spill onto every screen in the city. 

Bank accounts vanish. Traffic lights freeze. Autonomous vehicles crash through shopping malls. Intelligence agencies scramble as decades of encrypted messages suddenly unlock. Someone or something has broken the unbreakable - the mathematical foundations that protect everything from banking passwords to nuclear launch codes. 

The quantum apocalypse arrives years ahead of schedule. But as chaos spreads, patterns start to surface. The timing seems too perfect, the targets too precise. 

Deep beneath the Pentagon, analysts notice something strange: some messages were decrypted months ago. The chaos isn't random - it's cover for something bigger.

  

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

16-01-2025 om 14:44 geschreven door peter  

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{ https://scientias.nl/nieuws/green-tech/ }

12-01-2025 om 23:52 geschreven door peter  

Along with this unique heating ability that doesn’t require an outside heating source to change from a solid state to a liquid one, Majidi says the magnetic particles also give the robots the ability to move in response to the magnetic field. This is particularly significant since the primary function of any robot is the ability to move around and perform various functions.

“Giving robots the ability to switch between liquid and solid states endows them with more functionality,” says Chengfeng Pan, an engineer at The Chinese University of Hong Kong who led the study.

Liquid Metal Robot Passes a wide range of tests

To understand the limits of their new shape-shifting liquid metal robot, the researchers put it through a number of tests. This included using magnetic fields to make the robot jump over moats, climb walls, and even split itself into two smaller robots to move other objects around before coalescing back together.

To show how it could help screw together parts in hard-to-reach places, the team melted some of the metal into the threaded screw socket and then allowed it to harden in place. They even used the conductive ability of their liquid metal robot to show how it could perform soldering tasks in extremely tight confines by melting into them and then re-hardening to perform its tasks.

Extreme Liquid Phase Allows For Sci-Fi Jailbreak

In the case of the video provided by researchers, the ability to change from a solid state to a liquid metal state allows the robot-shaped metal to escape a tiny prison. This is due to what the researchers describe as an “extremely liquid phase.” Other shape-shifting materials typically have a liquid phase that is much more viscous than the newly created material.

“What we’re showing are just one-off demonstrations, proofs of concept,” said Majidi.

Of course, the robot from the video wasn’t able to travel back in time or track down a tween-aged John Connor. But given its ability to shape-shift from a solid metal state to a liquid one and then back to a solid, it’s pretty much guaranteed that if the robot could talk, it would say, “I’ll be back!”

• Christopher Plain is a novelist, comedian, and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on Twitter, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

11-01-2025 om 01:27 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: UFO-like flying vehicle that could be the next Uber 

By LUKE ANDREWS AT CES IN LAS VEGAS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

It looks like something straight out of Star Wars.

But this new electric flying vehicle is the latest in a line of aerodynamic EVs set to take over the skies over the next decade.

The stylish $300,000 Manta M4 offers space for one passenger and takes off from land and sea, but can only land in water.

The Manta M4 travels up to 65 miles per hour and weighs as much as a small jet ski.

The vehicle is steered using a joystick, allowing riders to soar up to 500 feet above the ground — about the height of two Statue of Liberty, or half the height of the Empire State Building.

Riders are protected by a glass hood, which will protect against wind speed and keep users safe from the craft's three propellers. 

The craft gets 30 minutes of power with an electric battery or three hours using one of its hydrogen fuel cells.

Revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, founder David Simchon told DailyMail.com how his vehicle would surely be the next pleasure craft of the skies.

Only a model of the vehicle was shown, but the company, called SimTechLabs, says the full product will be unveiled at a boat show in Florida next month when it hits the market for the first time.

Pictured above is a model of the Manta M4, which will debut at a boat show in Florida next month

The device uses three propellers to take off from land or water, and can fly at 65mph for up to 30 minutes using its electric battery

Simchon said that users will not need a license due to the craft’s lightweight design that is at under 300lbs, meaning it is considered ultra-light, a point where the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not require users to have a license.

However, owners without a pilot's license will have to follow the FAA's regulations and airspace restrictions.

Manta M4 has a thermal onboard system to detect and warn of birds and other dangers in the air and a system emitting ultrasonic sounds to scare away sharks that may be lurking in the water beneath.

The base features a 360-degree camera, allowing riders to capture breathtaking views of the world below while they fly — or check the water below for any signs of rocks or sharks.

It also features eight ultrasonic sensors, 16 sonar disruptions sensors and four thermal cameras to capture scenes of its surroundings and avoid oncoming obstacles. 

In a worst-case scenario of the craft losing power, it has three parachutes that will deploy to ensure a safe landing.

It is the second craft to be launched by SimTech labs after it launched a flying aircraft called the Icarus Project in 2024.

Flying aircraft and taxis — some autonomously operated — are expected to be routinely whizzing around US skies within the next few years, according to the FAA.

And it’s the same in the UK, where the Government says it expects them to be ‘routinely’ in operation by 2028.

Manta M4 has a thermal onboard system to detect and warn of birds and other dangers in the air and a system emitting ultrasonic sounds to scare away sharks that may be lurking in the water beneath

Developer SimTechLabs prices the craft at $300,000 for one. Ten are set to go on sale

The former head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Sergio Cecutta and who resigned in 2023, said at the time that one of his major achievements was fast-tracking progress to get electric airtaxis into the skies.

Another UFO-like craft was also revealed at CES — called the ‘Invo Moon’ — that could carry up to three passengers through US skies. 

And Toyota debuted its Joby aircraft which is expected to go on sale later this Year.

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

10-01-2025 om 21:22 geschreven door peter  

10 OF THE COOLEST HIGH-TECH FEATURES EVER UTILIZED BY FIGHTER JETS

BY DANIEL FEININGER

Don Farrall/Getty Images

Humans have always looked skyward in envy of birds, bees, and anything else that can take flight. Soaring up above the Earth has long been a task that occupied human minds, from the ancient Greek tale of Icarus launching himself into the winds (and then falling back down) to Leonardo da Vinci's 15th century flying machine designs.

When the Wright brothers managed to lift off the ground over a century ago, they ignited an impassioned sprint toward increasingly substantive innovations and technologies in aerospace. Exponential growth in the realm of aerial flight would eventually transform every aspect of the human experience. From shipping goods and delivering mail to launching a truly global tourism industry, human flight connects the world in ways that people just a few generations ago may have never thought possible. 

Flight also changed the landscape of warfare. Observational spy balloons and aerial signaling have been used throughout human history. They formed a core intelligence gathering function in the American Civil War, but would soon be replaced by later airplane propulsion breakthroughs. The first fighter jet to participate in aerial combat was the German Messerschmitt Me 262, which attacked a British reconnaissance plane over Munich in 1944. The aircraft wasn't as impactful as the Germans would have hoped, but the gauntlet was laid down -- jet engines were here to stay and tertiary systems quickly made them even more powerful weapons of war.

Read more: 

• 10 Terrifying War Drones That Give Us Chills

1. The Sweepback Wing And Variable Geometry Designs

The first airplanes to take to the skies features straight wing geometry. The Wright brothers' fliers utilized fixed, rectangular wing designs that straddled the aircraft in a perpendicular fashion, connecting the wing on either side in the center. Wing design has changed a lot in the years since, however.

Many airplanes today feature a sweepback to their wings, from passenger airliners to fighter jets. They are consistently featured in fighters, however, because the design provides solid crossover between speed and maneuverability. A swept design is crucial for reducing aerodynamic drag, allowing an aircraft to travel faster and more efficiently when it crosses speed thresholds like the sound barrier. Its design was the result of decades of wind tunnel testing and at least partially inspired by the way birds and bats tuck back their wings while in flight to increase speed. 

Most fighter jets today utilize wing geometry that sees them extend out (and back) at an angle rather than straight to achieve this improved efficiency. However, not all jets deliver this form factor. Some feature forward sweep in their wings, and others offer variable shape. The Mirage G was one of the first fighter jet to allow for adjustments while in flight, just like the creatures of the sky that we were emulating.

2. In-Air Refueling

The process of in-air refueling has been around for a very long time -- almost as long as manned flight itself, actually. The first instance of in-air refueling took place in 1923, but it has come a long way in the century since its introduction. The first flights to test this method of prolonging time in the air were essentially test runs to explore how this process could work. They utilized a hose to transfer gasoline from one aircraft to another. In August of 1923, two pilots broke a variety of records with an endurance flight lasting 37 hours and 15 minutes, featuring 16 successful refueling operations mid-flight.

Today, the task of refueling while airborne is a commonplace feat of jet propulsion. Dedicated refueling vessels are a staple of the military's aerial fleet, with icons such as the S-3B Viking, originally designed to hunt Soviet submarines, serving for many years in this role. Whether taking off from land or sea-based carriers, extending the range of a fighter jet to expand its capacity to support ground forces or perhaps even engage in multiple dogfights over contested landscapes is a critical capability among modern fighter jets.

3. Vertical/Short Takeoff And Landing (V/STOL)

The ability to take off from a standstill remains one of the coolest technologies ever imbued in a non-helicopter craft. After all, the Harrier jet is an icon for one reason -- its ability to hover in place and perform Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) operations. Popularized perhaps most vividly in pop culture as a feature of the 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger film "True Lies," the Harrier is a feat of tremendous engineering.

The wing design of a normal aircraft is carefully crafted to ensure a gliding effect of air traveling above and below its curvature, creating lift in the process. So an airplane that isn't cutting through the air should be one that plummets back down to Earth. This isn't so for the Harrier, however, as it features nozzled engines that can produce vertical lift themselves, rather than relying on air speed to generate it. The result is an aircraft that can perform the same feats of flight that are otherwise reserved for the mighty helicopter. 

Other aircraft like the OV-10 Bronco provided American forces with a reconnaissance plane that could take off on exceedingly short runways (STOL) -- including dirt paths and other non-standard surfaces during the Vietnam War. The Soviet Antonov AN-2 biplane is another tool that delivered similar Short Takeoff and Landing chops for use as an agricultural services aircraft.

4. Tailhooks And The Aircraft Catapult

The aircraft catapult is another tool that has essentially been around since the dawn of human flight. The Wright brothers utilized launch equipment to get their aircraft off the ground and later flight capable vehicles would also rely on this assistance measure to support take off, too. However, the aircraft catapult gained new significance when the world went to war for a second time. 

A naval variant of the British Spitfire fighter planes -- known as Seafires -- were outfitted with tailhooks to operate from sea-based positions and engage enemy planes over Malta, Italy, and North Africa. Launching aircraft from aquatic positions wasn't particularly difficult given the existing catapult technology, but landing on them has always proved a greater challenge. The use of tailhooks in coordination with catapult systems delivered much-needed consistency.

Today, this pair of systems has become the primary means of enabling ocean takeoffs that rely on a return to this mobile, sea-based landing strip. The tailhook and aircraft catapult allow fighter jets to operate from virtually anywhere in the world and reduce range requirements down to fractions of what they might be otherwise. This means that fighter jets can stay in the air longer in support of whatever mission they are tasked with because their takeoff and landing site is located within the theater of battle as well.

5. Situational Awareness Tools

Understanding the battlefield has been critical for as long as humans have gone to war with one another. Intelligence gathering operations have become increasingly sophisticated through the years, and nowhere is this more apparent than in aerial combat. 

Fighter jets engage their enemies in a unique snippet of our three dimensional plane. Height is a critical resource in ground combat, sure, but it gains new meaning when translated onto the skies. Fighter jets require an array of situational awareness tools that help them defend against incoming attacks -– which sometimes originate from beyond their sight horizon or a thousand feet above their heads -– and acquire targets, across land, sea, and air. 

The F-4 Phantom II is an excellent example of technically adept flying machine technology. The Phantom, first built in 1958, allowed its pilots to identify and target enemy aircraft from beyond its pilot's line of sight. Radar and missile upgrades helped the aircraft's crew deliver lethal force from a distance that wasn't immediately defensible. The fighter jet was credited with downing over 100 MiG fighters during the Vietnam War, and later variants helped suppress Iraqi opposition during the Gulf War.

The modern F-35 Lightning II operates with some of the most advanced targeting systems ever conceived. It features a helmet mounted display that brings all the information a pilot needs right into their field of vision, no matter where they're looking. The Electro-Optical Targeting System delivers air-to-air threat detection over tremendous range and helps to home in on precise ground targeting needs. The fighter jet also engages in seamless data sharing with other friendlies in the sky, allowing for heightened team cohesion.

6. Raw Firepower

Any good fighter jet will need to be outfitted with an array of offensive weapons. From machine gun installations to nuclear-capable payloads, fighter jets have supported all manner of extreme weapons systems through the years. 

One of the first fighter planes to lean full force into tremendous offensive load was the P-47 Thunderbolt. Although not a jet aircraft, this early workhorse exhibited immense capability when it came to downing enemy fighters over Europe and the Pacific. The P-47 carried eight .50 caliber machine guns and could also haul along 2,500 pounds of bombing munitions, packing a huge punch in both dogfighting and ground bombardment scenarios.

The trend of stacking as much firepower as possible into the armaments of a fighter jet has continued in the years since World War II concluded. The Thunderbolt's modern equivalent is the F-15EX Eagle II, sometimes called the Air Force's Missile Truck. It may just be the most heavily armed fighter to ever take to the skies. Taking its frame from the F-15, formerly a pure aerial fighter platform, the F-15EX Eagle II now offers 23 total weapon stations, a significant boost over its previous iteration's 17.

7. Speed And The Supercruise Capability

Fast means lethal, and aircraft have been chasing improvements in speed for as long as humans have been flying. There are numerous hurdles to navigate when seeking to create additional speed in the air, however. For one thing, fighter jets have become capable of moving at speeds that surpass standard human piloting capabilities. A phenomenon known as gravity-induced loss of consciousness takes place at a variety of different thresholds depending on who the operator is. 

The average person may experience a blackout when moving at about 5Gs, while trained pilots (augmented with specialized equipment) can extend this range up to about 9Gs, given the right circumstances. Time at extreme speed and particularly the pace of acceleration also play a role in impairment and total blackout. Naturally, a pilot that loses consciousness is one threatened with the loss of their aircraft, and worse. Flight support systems like autopilot tools, onboard oxygen, and other technologies help pilots maintain control of the aircraft even when the physical toll becomes extreme.

The other barrier to intense speed is one that affects even everyday drivers on their local roadways -- fuel economy. Afterburners, in particular, are a tool that can increase speed tremendously, but they burn fuel at a much faster rate as well. Engaging afterburners also ramps up the heat production of a fighter jet, making it more susceptible to enemy detection. However, technology such as Supercruise in the F-22 Raptor allows a pilot to ramp up speed without relying on afterburners, eliminating this detection issue and improving fuel usage.

8. Onboard Countermeasures

Countermeasures are perhaps some of the lowest technically demanding features of a fighter jet. Even so, the use of low-tech defensive tools like chaff and flares can create a resoundingly spectacular display. Perhaps one of the most arresting visuals in the prequel "Star Wars" movies is seen during a space battle between Obi-Wan Kenobi and the menacing Jango Fett set in an asteroid field over the brilliant orange of Geonosis. The encounter features prominent usage of countermeasures by Obi Wan as he struggles to defend against the bounty hunter's missile attack.

In real aerial combat, the same discharge of physical countermeasures to scramble missiles and frazzle radar tracking tools can be seen today. Modern countermeasures not only feature a physical shielding options, but also come in the form of infrared defensive weapons and electronic countermeasures that can scramble an aggressor's capability to target or attack a jet. These IR countermeasures  target the heat of a missile in flight, and then blast it with an infrared beam to incapacitate its tracking function. This makes the tool reusable and far less reliant on timing, luck, and slick maneuvering.

9. Thrust Vectoring

Flying a fighter jet isn't like piloting a regular aircraft. These aircraft are controlled by immensely sensitive flight tools and have features that simply don't factor into the build of something like a passenger or cargo jet. Thrust vectoring, for instance, isn't required of a larger, transportation-focused jet engine, but make for a tremendously improved fighter jet. 

Thrust vectoring allows for nuanced control of the engine exhaust direction, helping a pilot launch themselves into turns and other maneuvers with greater agility. This makes a fighter jet swifter in the turn and can help edge a battle in their favor. Thrust vectoring isn't a feature confined to the military realm, but it's far less common through sheer necessity in civilian aircraft.

Certain variants of the Russian MiG-29 feature thrust vectoring, making them just one of a few aircraft in the world that can perform a full Pugachev's Cobra maneuver, which requires a sudden shift in thrust direction to maintain flight. A Pugachev's Cobra involves violently pulling up on the nose of the aircraft to essentially stall it at a fully vertical orientation, with the angle of attack reaching an astounding 120 degrees. This rapidly halts the jet's forward speed before the pilot sinks the nose back down to its previous positioning. 

The result is a capacity to let an enemy fighter completely pass the jet by, placing the MiG in prime attacking position behind its adversary. Thrust vectoring and other maneuverability features of the MiG-29 are responsible for the aircraft's ability to perform this astounding feat.

10. Stealth Technologies

Stealth technologies are a core component in any fighter jet's ability to perform its duties. Part of the design specifics of a modern fighter involve hiding the vessel as much as possible. This includes shielding its aerial signature from radar systems on the ground, as well as making the aircraft harder to see in the air both visually and by the onboard identification systems of other planes.

Stealth inclusions come in a wide range of variations, but many are focused on unique skins for aircraft, as well as the angular shape of the vessel itself. Modern design language has sought to minimize flat surfaces and rounded edges. These features are easier to hit with sensor equipment, with the resulting ping bouncing more or less straight back to the receiver. Angular faces scatter the radar signal, making it harder to identify an aircraft in the first place, and equally difficult to actually find one that's been noticed. 

Aircraft like the F-117 Nighthawk relied on aggressive angles to mitigate detection while the F-35 has been spotted in shiny outer colorations to achieve its stealth capabilities.

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{ https://www.slashgear.com/ }

06-01-2025 om 21:07 geschreven door peter  

UFO-like electric flying vehicle which gives passengers 360 degree views could be the next Uber

By JIM NORTON FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Shaped like a flying saucer, it looks more like a UFO than your next Uber.

But this sci-fi style vehicle is in fact the latest in line of electric aircraft set to take to the skies over the next decade.

The fully autonomous ‘Invo Moon’ offers up to three passengers a 360-degree panorama above and below as it travels at speeds of up to 250mph.

Crucially, it has been designed to be near silent, using a flight system hidden inside its shell rather than relying on noisy exposed propellers like many of its competitors.

The £280,000 aircraft - which is the same size and weight of a small family car - will be able to move in any direction, similar to a handheld drone.

Inventor Leo Kayali, a former Tesla engineer, told the Daily Mail the design was inspired by the drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci over five centuries ago.

The aim is to have it certified by the US aviation authority by 2027 and to launch in ‘all major cities including London’ by the end of the decade.

He said future owners could even have it running as an Uber while they weren’t using it and ‘make money while sitting at home’.

UFO-like electric flying vehicle that could be your next Uber, based on Da Vinci drawings from the 1480s

The fully autonomous ‘Invo Moon’ offers up to three passengers a 360-degree panorama above and below as it travels at speeds of up to 250mph

The government last year announced it expected flying taxis to be ‘routinely’ whizzing around British skies by 2028 - and potentially operating without a pilot by 2030.

Ministers set out ambitious plans to overhaul current regulations and infrastructure, with the technology expected to boost the UK by £45bn by the end of the decade.

The Invo Moon - which is 16ft in diameter and weighs 2,500lb and - can be pre-ordered for £2,000 and will ultimately cost around £280,000 on delivery.

However Mr Kayali believes the vehicles - which he said should be cheap to build when mass produced - could be sold for under £50,000 in the future.

While most electric flying vehicles rely on exposed propellors, the Invo Moon keeps everything within the aluminium frame.

The vehicle uses a complex new aerodynamic design in which a dozen motors, all containing spinning spheres, are positioned in a circle around the side of the vehicle.

Using these motors in groups of four at a time, it can move in any direction 360 degrees, meaning it has no front or back. To land, it extends three retractable legs.

Mr Kayali said this means there is very little vibration, so the machine will emit no more than 45 decibels as it travels - about as noisy as the patter of light rain.

The £280,000 aircraft - which is the same size and weight of a small family car - will be able to move in any direction. Pictured: Cover of the 1956 Sci-Fi movie, Earth vs the Flying Saucers

Inventor Leo Kayali, a former Tesla engineer, told the Daily Mail the design was inspired by the drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci over five centuries ago

Most other eVTOLs run at about 85 decibels, equivalent to the sound of a blender, and also create a lot of unnecessary excess wind, he said.

Inside the cabin, there are three rotating and fully reclinable heated seats which offer views out the top and the bottom through the plexiglass windows.

The “luxury” vehicle will also feature mood lighting, an ice machine, and smart TVs.

It has a range up to 300 miles, and takes no more than 30 minutes to charge from 20 per cent to 80 per cent, Mr Kayali claims.

While the design might seem futuristic, it is in fact based on concepts first invented by Da Vinci in the 1480s.

The exterior is inspired by the Italian artist’s ‘Armoured Car’ drawings, while the internal flying mechanism is a new interpretation of his ‘aerial screw’ design, considered a precursor of the helicopter.

The driving itself is autonomous and has been designed to follow a three-lane system similar to a motorway - but rising vertically.

The speed limit increases as each level goes up - from 100mph to 250mph - and it can only land once it is back in the slowest lane.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

06-01-2025 om 18:26 geschreven door peter  

This CERN Scientist Claims to Have Captured a Mysterious Entity Inside the Particle Collider

Deep inside CERN’s underground labs, the Super Proton Synchrotron has found something incredible. This undercover, four-dimensional force messes with the paths of zooming particles. Hidden in the depths of phase space, this unknown force, called the 4D ghost, throws the delicate dance of particles into chaos.

Scientists at CERN in Switzerland and Goethe University in Germany discovered a mysterious “ghost” that influences how particles move in the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). This “ghost” is a 3D shape that changes over time, so it’s best understood in 4D. The idea behind it is similar to why coffee spills when you walk or why your friends fly high on a trampoline bounce.

The SPS is a huge circular machine almost four miles wide, built in the 1970s. That might seem old, but it’s still super important at CERN.

In 2019, it got an upgrade called a “beam dump,” which works like a safety ramp for the powerful beams inside the SPS. When scientists spotted a glitch, or “ghost in the machine,” they knew it was crucial to figure out what was happening for future experiments.

A ghost happens because of resonance. This is when energy creates waves, and those waves mix together, forming spots where energy builds up. For example, when you walk with coffee, every step makes waves in the cup.

These waves meet and cause the coffee to spill. On a trampoline, when one person times their jump with another’s, it boosts their jump much higher. In the SPS (a type of particle accelerator), “spilling harmonic coffee” means losing important photons, which leads to beam degradation.

Physicist Giuliano Franchetti from the GSI in Germany explains the challenge: “Particles often don’t follow the path we plan for them. They deviate, get lost, and this leads to what we call beam degradation.”

This degradation complicates scientists’ efforts to maintain the precise conditions required for their experiments. Resonance, the underlying cause, occurs when oscillations synchronize—like how planets influence each other’s orbits through gravity or how a tuning fork vibrates in response to another. By unraveling this “four-dimensional ghost,” scientists aim to better predict and control these deviations, enabling more precise and successful particle physics experiments.

In new research published in the journal Nature Physics, Physicist Giuliano Franchetti along with Frank Schmidt and Hannes Bartosik, explains, “In accelerator physics, an understanding of resonances and nonlinear dynamics is crucial for avoiding the loss of beam particles.”

Beam degradation is a big issue, especially as proton beams become more powerful and energetic. In complex systems, harmonics can interfere with experiments involving particle interactions, like in nuclear fusion research using tokamaks. This interference creates problem areas where energy streams lose critical heat, making it harder to achieve productive nuclear fusion.

n the SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron), particles have only two directions of movement, which seems simple. However, like light traveling in a fiber optic cable, these particles follow a general path but can also “bounce” within it, due to the beam’s slight thickness. While SPS isn’t thick like a donut, it’s still a real-world structure, unlike a perfect geometric circle you’d see in a drawing.

The “bounce” is affected by human and real-world factors, making it less perfect. The SPS, while a top-tier facility, still relies on imperfect technology. The magnets powering it can have small fluctuations in magnetism, which may cause a resonance effect. To understand this, researchers measured data from around the SPS ring and built a mathematical model called a Poincaré section.

A Poincaré section works by focusing on one part of a system (like a “fixed line” mentioned in their study) and tracking how other parts intersect with it over time. This creates a map, almost like an MRI scan but for a changing system. In this case, they also added time as the fourth dimension, making the results resemble a looping, animated shape.

The researchers discovered that these fixed lines can predict where particles might cluster. By studying and modeling this, they hope to help other scientists reduce the effects of these harmonic lines. This could make particle accelerators more efficient, prevent costly errors caused by magnet-related issues, and improve the quality of the data produced.

Dr. Astrid Stuckelberger is a Swiss Scientist who claims CERN is working on a secret ‘Nuclear Program’ & there is a Portal underneath CERN from where Beings coming in & out; Physicists who work there told her that there are 17 different dimensions of reality or more.

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• This Boy Claims He Lived in an Atlantis Colony in Egypt 12,000 Years Ago, Founded by Beings from Other Worlds
• This Woman Claims to Have Seen a Spiritual Realm Close That Is Very Close To Our World, She Talked With Angels Through Vibrations

Dr. Stuckelberger is a scientist and expert in international health. She holds a PhD and teaches at the University of Geneva and Lausanne. With over 20 years of experience, she’s a leading Swiss researcher who has worked with the WHO, UN, and EU on various health programs. That’s what her LinkedIn profile says. She has done numerous interviews which add credibility to her profile. (Click here to read the full article)

Two years ago, Dr. Stuckelberger interviewed Maria Zeee on Zeee Media. This interview was published on Rumble where she discussed many strange things, one of which was about CERN’s terrifying experiments. (Source)

Dr. Stuckelberger claimed that CERN is dealing with “Radio Nuclear research” and there are lots of Physicists, who are doing very strange experimentation. She said Physicists from the CERN who her “There are beings from portals, coming in and out.”

She said, “Yes. And they were saying, I mean, I met them at a dinner and there were two of them. And both said that, yes. They have, you know, secondhand proof that the people who, you know, they’re dealing with the boson of Higgs and the subatomic. So they have apparently in the bottom of the CERN, this portal, this door, where they are dealing with all the subatomic dimensions.”

Dr. Stuckelberger further said,

“They [Physicists] say there are 17 different dimensions of reality. That’s what those physicists and some others say.

There are more dimensions. We know the time-space, the tri-dimensional x, y, and z in a graphic. But then you have more dimensions, and they are playing with that. They’re using that. And they were a group, and they had a being.

They did not tell me more about who came that doesn’t resemble a human. And then they had another one. And they have proof because they left a scarf.

And now when you look at what is going on in the CERN, there is a fight from some of the military agencies, intel. They say that there is a fight on time. They’re trying to change time. I’m just saying that because as a scientist, you can not say something so important, because if you can deal with the little, the smallest energies on earth, you can imagine that you can go through other realms of dimensions.”

{ https://howandwhys.com/ }

04-01-2025 om 20:28 geschreven door peter  

'Godfather of AI' shortens odds that new technology will wipe out human race over the next 30 years

By FRANCINE WOLFISZ

The British-Canadian computer scientist dubbed the 'Godfather of AI' has shortened the odds of artificial intelligence (AI) wiping out humans over the next 30 years, warning the technology could one day 'take control'.

Professor Geoffrey Hinton said we need to be 'very careful' and 'very thoughtful' about the development of AI which he says is 'potentially very dangerous'.

He had previously said there was a 10 per cent chance of the technology causing the extinction of the human race - but now predicts that figure to be '10 per cent to 20 per cent', because of the rapid pace at which AI is developing. 

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Professor Hinton said: 'You see, we've never had to deal with things more intelligent than ourselves before.' 

He continued: 'And how many examples do you know of a more intelligent thing being controlled by a less intelligent thing? There are very few examples. 

'There’s a mother and baby. Evolution put a lot of work into allowing the baby to control the mother, but that’s about the only example I know of.'

Professor Hinton, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics this year, warned AI is changing 'much faster' than he expected and there has not been enough time to complete the research he believes is required.

While his work has laid the foundations for machine learning, technology that allows computers to mimic human intelligence, his recent efforts have centred on advocating for safer AI.

Professor Geoffrey Hinton has shortened the odds of artificial intelligence (AI) wiping out humans over the next 30 years, warning the technology could one day 'take control'

Last year he made headlines after resigning from his job at Google, citing concerns 'bad actors' would use the technology to harm others.

Reflecting on where he thought the development of AI would have reached when he first started this work, he said: 'I didn't think it would be where we would be now. I thought at some point in the future we would get here.

'Because the situation we're in now is that most of the experts in the field think that sometime, within probably the next 20 years, we're going to develop AIs that are smarter than people.

'And that's a very scary thought.'

He added: 'I like to think of it as, imagine yourself and a three-year-old - we'll be the three-year-olds, and they'll be the grown-ups.'

Prof Hinton said he thinks the impact AI could have on the world will be similar to the industrial revolution.

'In the industrial revolution, human strength ceased to be that relevant because machines were just stronger, and if you wanted to dig a ditch, you dug it with a machine.

'What we've got now is something that's replacing human intelligence, and just ordinary human intelligence will not be at the cutting edge anymore. It will be machines,' he said.

Hinton had previously said there was a 10 per cent chance of the technology causing the extinction of the human race - but now predicts that figure to be '10 per cent to 20 per cent'

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• Top researchers finally quantify chances of AI causing human extinction, survey reveals 

Asked what he thinks life might be like in 10 or 20 years from now, Prof Hinton said: 'It will depend very much on what our political systems do with this technology.

'So my big worry at present is that we're in a situation now where we need to be very careful and very thoughtful about developing a potentially very dangerous technology.

'It's going to have lots of wonderful effects in healthcare, and in almost every industry it's going to make things more efficient, but we need to be very careful about the development of it.

'We need regulations to stop people using it for bad things, and we don't appear to have those kinds of political systems in place at present.'

Prof Hinton said he fears AI will be bad for society if lots of people lost their jobs and all the benefit goes to rich people.

'If you have a big gap between rich and poor, it's very bad for society,' he said.

'These things are more intelligent than us. So there was never any chance in the industrial revolution that machines would take over from people just because they were stronger. We were still in control because we had the intelligence.

'Now there's the threat that these things can take control. So that's one big difference,' he added.

Hinton is considered one of three leading pioneer 'Godfathers' of AI, alongside Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio, after the three won the Turing Award for their work in thge field.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

31-12-2024 om 17:24 geschreven door peter  

Revealed: The best inventions of 2024 - from Tesla's futuristic Robotaxi to Huawei's tri-fold smartphone-PART I

• READ MORE: Google reveals 'mind boggling' quantum computer chip   

By WILIAM HUNTER

From the steam engine in 1712 to the first ever iPhone in 2007, each year sees the birth of ever more incredible inventions. 

And after a year of mind-boggling tech, it's clear that 2024 has been no exception to the rule.

The last 12 months have seen brilliant minds from around the world creating some mind-blowing and potentially world-changing breakthroughs.

With 2024 almost at its end, MailOnline has taken a look back at some of this year's coolest gadgets and most exciting innovations.

From an AI for designing proteins to a real-life pair of Wallace and Gromit's 'techno trousers', these inventions are a glimpse of how we all might be living in the future.

And when it comes to big breakthroughs, this year has been a resounding success for billionaire Elon Musk.

This year, Musk has overseen the debut of Telsa's futuristic Robotaxi and the successful launch and landing of SpaceX's Superheavy rocket.

So, what do you think has been this year's best creation?

With 2024 soon coming to a close, MailOnline has taken a look back at some of the year's coolest gadgets and groundbreaking inventions 

Huawei released one of the most impressive phones of the year with its tri-folding smartphone the Mate XT Ultimate Design

Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design

While Apple's iPhone 16 range might have stolen the spotlight, 2024 has really been the year of the folding phone.

Some of the biggest manufacturers have launched their own folding designs - but no company did it better than Huawei with its triple folding Mate XT Ultimate Design.

Unveiled in September, this striking smartphone is the world's first Z-shaped folding phone.

The device uses two hinges to extend from a 6.4-inch OLED display to a huge 10.2-inch tablet-like screen.

That means it can go from a phone the size of the Google Pixel 9 to a tablet almost as large as the Apple's 10th generation iPad. 

Thanks to the Z-shaped design, the Mate XT can also be used while only partially unfolded with a mid-sized 7.9-inch display – which is just a little smaller than a fully opened Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Speaking at the launch event, Huawei executive director Richard Yu said: 'We have never stopped innovating, and never given up in the pursuit of making it possible.

'That's how we were able to develop the world's first commercial triple foldable phone.'

The Mate XT Ultimate Design uses two hinges to fold in a Z-shape, allowing it to expand from the size of a smartphone to that of a tablet

The only downside is the absolutely eye-watering price tag of £2,577 ($3,370) for the top-of-the-line model with 1TB of storage.

LG Signature OLED T 

If it was based on looks alone, the transparent TV from LG and Samsung would possibly be the year's most futuristic device.

Designed to look like a blank sheet of glass when not in use, this 77-inch screen could well be the next big jump in TV tech.

Unveiled at CES this year, Samsung bills the device as 'the world's first 4k, wireless, transparent OLED TV.'

When it's turned on, users have the option to either keep the screen see-through, like a window with a movie projected onto it, or turn it opaque so that the room beyond is no longer visible.

That nifty transformation is made possible thanks to a black 'contrast screen' which rises up behind the transparent pane.

And, thanks to LG's wireless transmission box, the TV has no cables to mess around with and can be placed anywhere in the room.

LG's futuristic transparent TV was unveiled earlier this year. When it's turned on users have the option to either keep the screen see-through, like a window with a movie projected onto it, or turn it opaque so that the room beyond is no longer visible.

The transmission box remains plugged in at the wall and beams audio and visual data to the screen via a 60GHz wireless antenna.

Speaking at the TV's launch, LG's Frank Lee said: 'The TV no longer has to dominate the room. This heightens the relationship between the TV and the space it inhabits.'

We don't have an exact release date for the OLED T yet, but LG has said this will be available at some point soon.

LG hasn't set a price point but if the $87,000 (£69,000) price tag on its 65-inch wireless 8K OLED TV is anything to go by, it could easily be over $100,000 (£79,000).

Apple Vision Pro 

While some companies have been trying to revolutionise screens, this year, Apple tried to do away with them altogether.

Launched in the UK in January, the Apple Vision Pro is possibly the most sophisticated mixed-reality headset on the market. 

These futuristic goggles allow users to overlay virtual information on the real world or, with a twist of a dial, immerse themselves in an entirely virtual world.

Launched in January, the Apple Vision Pro is currently one of the most advanced virtual reality headsets on the market and boasts extremely impressive body and eye-tracking technology 

Billed as the world's first 'spatial computing' device, the Vision Pro was a huge departure from Apple's usual products and its first venture into virtual reality.

Upon release, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that these were 'the most advanced consumer electronics device ever created.' 

The headset boasts stunning resolution with 3660x3200 pixels per eye - the equivalent of two 4K TVs.

But what makes the Vision Pro truly special is its unique control system.

While other headsets like the Meta Quest 3 require users to hold onto cumbersome controllers, Apple's offering is controlled through body and eye tracking.

Simply by looking around and reaching out with their hands, users are able to interact seamlessly with a virtual world.

Unfortunately for Apple, the Vision Pro didn't get quite the reception it had hoped for as sales remained relatively low.

However, this might have less to do with the product's design and more to do with its shocking $3,500 price (£3,499).  

While the Vision Pro's sales might have ultimately been disappointing, it was still a very innovative and unusual step forward for Apple 

BeamO 

This handheld device is no larger than a television remote but has the potential to change the way we look after our health.

BeamO, which was also unveiled at CES this year, gives families the ability to carry out a full doctor's check-up from the comfort of home.

Created by the French health giant Withings, this 'multiscope' can gather data normally only collected in a GP checkup.

The portable device is stacked with censors to check everything from temperature and blood flow to heart and lung health.

By lightly gripping the device, for example, it can measure users' blood oxygen, and heart rate, and carry out an ECG simultaneously.

The smartphone-sized device can also use light waves to interpret blood flow patterns and gather acoustic information from the chest and back.

Withings says that it will alert users of any possible fevers or infections and give them an early warning of any cardiovascular issues like arterial fibrillation.

Founder Eric Carreel said: 'BeamO is a transformative multiscope device. Once, body temperature was the only health scan routinely taken at home.

'BeamO will revolutionize the measurement of the core vitals carried out during medical visits from the comfort of one's own home.'

Currently pending regulatory approval, BeamO will launch first in the US for $249.95 (£195) from 2025.

AirXeed

Not every invention needs to come from a massive corporation with millions of pounds of investment.

In fact, one of 2024's most exciting inventions comes from two young students.

All around the world, scientists launch weather balloons containing small devices called radiosondes to measure air pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction.

These measurements are vital to helping scientists predict weather patterns, but these single-use devices create tonnes of harmful plastic waste.

The AirXeed, this year's winner of the James Dyson Award for sustainability, solves this issue by making radiosondes reusable.

AirXeed was this year's winner of the James Dyson Award for sustainability. These maple leaf-inspired gadgets are reusable instrument arrays for weather balloons which can safely steer themselves to the ground to help scientists reduce their plastic waste 

Taking inspiration from maple seeds, inventors Shane Kyi Hla Win and Danial Sufiyan Bin Shaifu from Singapore created a device that can control its drift back to Earth.

By adjusting its stability, AirXeed can steer itself on the wind back towards a collection zone where scientists can collect it and use it again.

This lets researchers make potentially lifesaving predictions about upcoming weather events, without harming the planet.

Alphafold 3 

In 2022, Google Deep Mind unveiled AlphaFold 2, an AI capable of predicting the structure of nearly every known protein. 

This incredible breakthrough was impressive enough to earn DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry on account of his 'revolutionary' discovery. 

But if that wasn't impressive enough, this year the company has released the sequel: AlphaFold 3.

While AlphaFold 2 predicted the structure of proteins, AlphaFold 3 is able to predict how they interact.

AlphaFold 3 is a hugely significant invention which can predict the interactions between proteins with 'unprecedented accuracy'. In this image, you can see a comparison between AlphaFold's simulation of an interaction with DNA (colour) and the real scenario (grey)

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his role in the creation of AlphaFold 

In a paper published by Nature in May, DeepMind showed how the algorithm could predict the interaction of all of life's molecules with 'unprecedented' accuracy.

That breakthrough could allow scientists to predict how drugs will interact with the body before they are created, potentially accelerating the discovery of new medicines.

Writing in a blog post, DeepMind said: 'This leap could unlock more transformative science, from developing biorenewable materials and more resilient crops, to accelerating drug design and genomics research.'

Yet what truly sets this apart as one of the year's best inventions is the decision by Google DeepMind to make the software open-source.

This means that researchers all around the world will be able to use a version AlphaFold 3 at no cost; in a move which could lead to an explosion of new discoveries.

MO/GO robotic trousers

All the way back in 1993 Ardman Studios released the Oscar-winning animation Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers.

In this classic animation, Wallace creates a pair of robotic 'techno-trousers' which can walk for their wearer. 

The MO/GO robotic trousers were invented by outdoor clothing company Arc'teryx and Google spinout Skip. They give hikers a mechanical boost while coming uphill and reduce the impact of walking back down 

Now, outdoor clothing company Arc'teryx and Google spinout Skip have made the first pair of techno trousers a reality.

The MO/GO robotic trousers are a strength-boosting exoskeleton built into a pair of hiking trousers which can boost a walker's power uphill and take away the impact while coming down.

The trousers feature a lightweight electric motor at the knee, powering a set of carbon struts which clip into braces hidden in each leg.

Skip claims that the trousers can make the wearer feel up to 13 kg (30lbs) lighter and provide a 40 per cent boost to leg muscles in ascents.

In addition to being extremely cool, these modern-day techno trousers could be a game-changer for people who otherwise wouldn't be able to enjoy hiking.

Skip says that the goal is to help people with injuries or disabilities access parts of the outdoors that wouldn't otherwise be accessible.

The trousers even feature an adjustable assistance level so people who need less help can still enjoy the challenge of a good hike.

However, before you get too excited it's worth knowing that the MO/GO 'starter pack' will set you back $5,000 (£3,940) and won't arrive until at least 2026 if you order today.

Fans of Wallace and Gromit might notice a striking similarity to the 'techno trousers' from the 1993 animation, The Wrong Trousers 

Arc'teryx says these mechanised trousers could help people with injuries or disabilities stay active and access the outdoors when they might otherwise not be able to 

Tesla Robotaxi 

Of course, it would be impossible to make a list of the year's best inventions without mentioning something created by Elon Musk.

This year, Musk revealed one of his most ambitious creations to date as the Tesla CEO showcased a new range of self-driving vehicles. 

Launched at the 'We, Robot' event in October, the futuristic vehicle features no steering, wheel, pedals, or rear window and only has enough room inside for two passengers.

While you might mistake it for a prop from the science-fiction blockbuster I, Robot, Musk says that these autonomous cars will soon be a reality. 

According to Musk, the all-electric vehicle should cost less than $30,000 (£23,000) to buy and only 20 cents (15p) per mile to drive.

In another sci-fi touch, the Robotaxi won't even feature a charging port for its batteries.

Instead, the car will drive itself over an inductive charging station built into the ground, allowing it to receive power wirelessly without human assistance.

This year Elon Musk unveiled the long-awaited self-driving Robotaxi, which should hit the road sometime in 2027 

Tesla's futuristic Robotaxi will have no steering wheel, pedals, or rear window. The two passengers will simply sit back and allow the car to drive itself 

According to Musk, these vehicles could fundamentally change the way we think about car ownership.

Instead of simply parking your car when you're not using it, owners would be able to turn the Robotaxi loose to earn money picking up strangers.

In the future, Musk claims that individuals might own entire fleets of Robotaxis and 'take care of them like a shepherd tends to their flock.'

Speaking at the event, Musk said: 'The vast majority of the time, cars are just doing nothing. But if they're autonomous, they could be used five times more, maybe 10 times more.'

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27-12-2024 om 23:44 geschreven door peter