Links for 2021-09-19
“New benchmark testing if models like GPT3 are truthful (= avoid generating false answers). We find that models fail and they imitate human misconceptions. Larger models (with more params) do worse!” https://owainevans.github.io/pdfs/truthfulQA_lin_evans.pdf
The untapped energy source that could power the planet: "Deep beneath your feet is a molten ball of energy the same temperature as the surface of the sun -- an immense clean energy source that could power the world thousands of times over, says technologist and climate activist Jamie C. Beard. How do we tap it? She lays out a surprising solution, and an unlikely alliance, to harvest geothermal energy from the Earth's core and get it to anywhere in the world." https://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_c_beard_the_untapped_energy_source_that_could_power_the_planet
Lithium-ion batteries just made a big leap in a tiny product: “Sila’s novel anode materials packed far more energy into a new Whoop fitness wearable. The company hopes to do the same soon for electric vehicles.” https://web.archive.org/web/20210910033734/https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/09/08/1035143/sila-whoop-lithium-ion-battery-fitness-wearable-evs/
A New Company With a Wild Mission: Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth: With $15 million in private funding, Colossal aims to bring thousands of woolly mammoths back to Siberia https://web.archive.org/web/20210913171303/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/science/colossal-woolly-mammoth-DNA.html
This technology can predict early Alzheimer’s with near 100% accuracy https://en.ktu.edu/news/algorithm-developed-by-lithuanian-researchers-can-predict-possible-alzheimers-with-nearly-100-per-cent-accuracy/
Health researchers report funder pressure to suppress results: "McCrabb and her co-authors found that respondents were more likely to report pressure from government department funders seeking to influence research outcomes than from industry or charity funders, or public research funding agencies." https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02242-x
One Lab’s Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum Particles: “For over two decades, physicists have pondered how the fabric of space-time may emerge from some kind of quantum entanglement. In Monika Schleier-Smith’s lab at Stanford University, the thought experiment is becoming real.” https://www.quantamagazine.org/one-labs-quest-to-build-space-time-out-of-quantum-particles-20210907/
Engineers grow pancreatic “organoids” that mimic the real thing https://news.mit.edu/2021/pancreatic-organoids-cancer-0913
Put These Charts on Your Wall … 2021 Edition https://compoundadvisors.com/2021/put-these-charts-on-your-wall-2021-edition
In 1978 a structural flaw in a Manhattan skyscraper found. Strong winds could have collapsed building and killed 200,000. Flaw fixed, but crisis kept secret until 1995. How many such secrets are being kept from us now? (via @JimDMiller) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citicorp_Center_engineering_crisis
Were you aware that 3 Chinese astronauts just returned safely to Earth after spending 90 days on the new Chinese space station? 81,3 % answered No. Why do Western journalists choose to ignore this? twitter.com/primalpoly/status/1438900117038243845
U-118, a World War I submarine washed ashore on the beach at Hastings, England 1919: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/u-118-submarine-ashore-hastings-1919/