Links for 2022-04-18
There was a pretty major finding last month that many people don't know about: Water treatment (eg chlorination) was found to reduce child mortality by 30%. A very cheap & effective way to save lives. https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-paper/2022-26/
Earth has enough uranium and thorium to fully power the planet using nuclear for 4 billion years. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1515325071124045829.html
PISA (an international test designed to measure academic achievement in reading, math, and science) is mostly a measure of general intelligence. After controlling for g, specific domains have low reliability and little meaning. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000687
A single memory is stored across many connected brain regions https://scienmag.com/a-single-memory-is-stored-across-many-connected-brain-regions/
Discovery Dramatically Rewrites History of Life on Earth: Scientists present more evidence for the oldest known fossils on Earth, which could bolster the search for alien life. https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kb399/discovery-dramatically-rewrites-history-of-life-on-earth-scientists-say
Finnish Defence Forces to build UAS capability: “The objective is to procure 1,000 – 2,000 effective UAS capable of operating throughout the year in all weather conditions. The [drones] will be intended for use on intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition missions of different services’ units” https://maavoimat.fi/en/-/finnish-defence-forces-to-build-uas-capability
Revealed: Israel Is Storing 1 Million Frozen Embryos, Some From the '80s https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT.MAGAZINE-revealed-israel-is-storing-1-million-frozen-embryos-some-from-the-80s-1.10726371
Takeoff speeds have a huge effect on what it means to work on AI x-risk https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hRohhttbtpY3SHmmD/takeoff-speeds-have-a-huge-effect-on-what-it-means-to-work-1
“I Commanded U.S. Army Europe. Here’s What I Saw in the Russian and Ukrainian Armies.” https://www.thebulwark.com/i-commanded-u-s-army-europe-heres-what-i-saw-in-the-russian-and-ukrainian-armies/
Mojo Vision’s New Contact Lens Brings Seamless Augmented Reality a Step Closer https://singularityhub.com/2022/04/11/mojo-visions-new-contact-lens-brings-seamless-augmented-reality-a-step-closer/
Research combines artificial intelligence and computational science for accurate and efficient simulations of complex systems https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2022/04/better-faster-energy-efficient-predictions
Functional primordial germ cell–like cells from pluripotent stem cells in rats https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4412
Abundant “Secret Doors” on Human Proteins Could Be Game-Changer for Drug Discovery https://scitechdaily.com/abundant-secret-doors-on-human-proteins-could-be-game-changer-for-drug-discovery/
I wonder what people who are against longevity therapies will do once such therapies become available. Will they reject them and choose to become or remain old and frail? Will they choose to die?
Do people who are opposed to longevity research believe that the current human lifespan is optimal? That would be a weird coincidence. Especially because our current average lifespan is already a result of medical progress attempting to make humans live longer. For example, people who get cancer usually don't just accept it as natural. They don't want to die and choose to be treated.
If you tell people that they should not seek anti-aging therapies why don't you also tell them not to seek preventive medical checkups or cancer therapies? What's the relevant difference between finding cures for age-related diseases such as arthritis and developing medication for problems such as high blood pressure that also frequently affect younger people?
I’m still fascinated by the fact that modern smartphones are now capable of handheld nighttime photography.
Here are two shots I took with my Pixel 6 Pro. This isn't far from the quality of the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which I owned in 2009. The difference is that it would have been impossible to capture such photos without a tripod.