Links for 2023-09-12
Human brains shrank 10% between 3000-5000 years ago https://www.wsj.com/science/human-brains-shrinking-evolution-science-980c45e?st=0an14p134uei0t2 [https://archive.ph/YQ7ms] (What I wrote in 2019: “Hypothesis: human brains shrank because through cultural advancement computationally expensive tasks got outsourced to the collective via specialization of individuals and cultural transmission of knowledge. It's an exocortex, reducing the necessity of individual intelligence.” https://twitter.com/XiXiDu/status/1130789392451293184)
“The Webb telescope has detected carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18 b, a potentially habitable world…Webb also hinted at a detection of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) on K2-18 b. On Earth, this molecule is only produced by microbial life.” https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/2023/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18b
Amazing: This AI tool allows you to speak in foreign languages with your own voice and correct lip movement https://twitter.com/mrjonfinger/status/1701075571630047525
“The world #1 spot in AI image recognition on ImageNet without extra data is now held by…@tractable_ai!” https://twitter.com/AlexDalyac/status/1699392211022991361
“Using our NeuroPort System with cutting-edge AI techniques, neural activity was translated into direct, coherent speech with an astonishing 92-100% accuracy.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-future-brain/202309/ai-decodes-brain-activity-into-speech-with-high-accuracy
“Synaptic transmission is noisy because the brain tries to keep energy costs down. When we modelled this energy cost in an ANN, it allocated synaptic precision in a Bayesian way 'for free'.” https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.03194
First-in-class targeted microRNA therapy slows cancer tumor growth https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2023/Q3/first-in-class-targeted-microrna-therapy-slows-cancer-tumor-growth.html
“Fury is a high-performance, multi-mission group 5 autonomous air vehicle. It is capable of pulling 9Gs at Mach 0.95 for a tiny fraction of the cost of similarly performant fighter craft.” https://www.anduril.com/fury/
Meta-analysis on yield gaps between organic and conventional farming. Across world regions, organic yields are 18% lower (after controlling for other factors). Yield gap seems to increase with higher temperatures. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308521X23001373
“If you saved $100,000 USD of pesos in 1995, they’d be worth $137 USD today. Argentina has seen an average of 100% annual inflation for the last century” https://twitter.com/devonzuegel/status/1697662048778301453
Professor fired for ‘faking data to prove lynching makes whites want longer sentences for blacks,’ 6 studies retracted https://nypost.com/2023/08/04/professor-fired-for-faking-data-to-prove-whites-want-longer-sentences-for-blacks/
US and Vietnam unveil billions in semiconductor and AI deals https://www.ft.com/content/a162bc92-806f-48f0-adae-367daaf7f982 [https://archive.ph/vPRBm]
Stable diffusion + ControlNet can generate really fascinating images:
Ukraine links:
"Ukrainian soldiers say that if they can break through defenses on the road ahead [to Staromlynivka] and drive Russians from the village, the minefields will become less dense and they will then have more options for where to strike next…The marines fighting in the valley say they need to advance another 20 kilometers — and hold that land — to begin putting Russian supply lines along the coast in daily peril." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/world/europe/ukraine-counteroffensive-russia-war.html [https://archive.ph/E0JAo]
“Ukraine has returned the so-called "Boika Towers" under control..."Boika Towers" are oil and gas drilling platforms near the coast of Crimea in the Black Sea...Russia occupied them in 2015, and with the beginning of the full-scale invasion, used them for military purposes.” https://twitter.com/front_ukrainian/status/1701159443394601415
Ukraine and Sweden are going to produce 1,000 CV-90 BMPs. https://twitter.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/1701077572853912017
Ukraine could get long-range missiles armed with US cluster bombs https://www.reuters.com/world/us-eyes-long-range-missiles-armed-with-cluster-bombs-ukraine-officials-2023-09-11/ [https://archive.ph/vh45X]