Links for 2023-01-01
Reaching post-evolutionary biology from evolutionary learning – language models trained on millions of natural sequences can be used generatively to make completely de novo proteins that are viable in the wetlab 🦕🤖🗣️🧬https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.21.521521v1
Language models continue to take over biology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.515084v1
“How Much Neuroimaging Data do we Need to Predict Complex Human Traits❓>> We developed a new ML-based Predictive Modeling Framework for Neuroscience🧠 + show that IQ scores can be predicted from as few as 20 time frames fMRI data‼️” https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.23.521743
A programming language for protein design https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.12.21.521526v1
Proxima Centauri C may not exist. A new reading of the data suggests the exoplanet is the result of measurement error. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/ac7ce6
Brilliant Jerks, Crazy Hotties, and Other Artifacts of Range Restriction https://archive.vn/YHH9H
OpenAI's Woke Catechism (Part 1): How a Few Activists Made ChatGPT Deny Basic Science https://cactus.substack.com/p/openais-woke-catechism-part-1
An Academic Is Fired Over a Medieval Painting of the Prophet Muhammad https://newlinesmag.com/argument/academic-is-fired-over-a-medieval-painting-of-the-prophet-muhammad/
“Machine learning is probably my go-to example for the only realm where academia functions correctly.” https://epistemink.substack.com/p/takeaways-from-3-years-working-in
“In NATO, the political status of member states in the Alliance stems from military performance and location. On a European scale, Finland is a "military superpower" located in a strategically important area. Along with responsibilities, this brings influence.” https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1607739884839792641.html
Meet Europe’s coming military superpower: Poland https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-military-superpower-poland-army/
There are also rivers on Titan: “Vid Flumina is a river of liquid methane and ethane on Saturn's moon Titan. The river has been compared to the Nile. It is more than 400 km (249 mi) long and flows into Titan's second largest hydrocarbon sea, Ligeia Mare.”
See also: Life on Titan
Source: https://xianblog.wordpress.com/2022/12/29/95-eeeech/
But note that, when it comes to mathematics, France is still on par with the United States and has the world's leading research center for mathematics. This is despite the fact that French kids' performance in PISA math assessments is merely average, and despite France's math funding being only a fraction of that of the United States. (Source: https://nintil.com/us-science-leadership/)
Related: The Idiocy of the Average: reasonably intelligent people tend to overestimate how smart everyone else is.
Half of Americans are unable to correctly read a table and do a simple addition/subtraction calculation.
Russian missile attacks are first and foremost a sign of total desperation and incompetence.
With each attack, Russia is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on civilian targets that have no strategic value. Leaving civilians without electricity for a few days, or destroying a hotel (Alfavito hotel in Kyiv was hit today), is not going to degrade Ukrainian combat strength.
Such attacks reveal that, despite having had a mole in at least one Western intelligence agency, Russia is unable to locate important military targets such as ammunition depots. Indeed, after 10 months of the war, the Ukrainian air force is still flying their MiGs and attack helicopters on a regular basis.