Man vs. Machine: DeepMind’s New Robotic Serves up a Desk Tennis Triumph
Benj Edwards | Ars Technica
“On Wednesday, researchers at Google DeepMind revealed the primary AI-powered robotic desk tennis participant able to competing at an novice human stage. The system combines an industrial robotic arm referred to as the ABB IRB 1100 and customized AI software program from DeepMind. Whereas an knowledgeable human participant can nonetheless defeat the bot, the system demonstrates the potential for machines to grasp complicated bodily duties that require split-second decision-making and flexibility.”
Engineered Virus Steals Proteins From HIV, Pointing to New Remedy
Carl Zimmer | The New York Instances
“Scientists have developed a brand new weapon towards HIV: a molecular mimic that invades a cell and steals important proteins from the virus. A research printed in Science on Thursday reported that this viral thief prevented HIV from multiplying inside monkeys. The brand new therapeutic strategy will quickly be examined in folks, the scientists mentioned.”
OpenAI Warns Customers Might Turn into Emotionally Hooked on Its Voice Mode
Will Knight and Reece Rogers | Wired
“Through the purple teaming, or stress testing, of GPT-4o, as an example, OpenAI researchers seen cases of speech from customers that conveyed a way of emotional reference to the mannequin. For instance, folks used language resembling ‘That is our final day collectively.’ Anthropomorphism may trigger customers to position extra belief within the output of a mannequin when it ‘hallucinates’ incorrect data, OpenAI says. Over time, it’d even have an effect on customers’ relationships with different folks.”
Determine 02 Robotic Is a Sleeker, Smarter Humanoid
Evan Ackerman | IEEE Spectrum
“This factor appears slick. I’d say that it’s possibly somewhat too far on the sinister aspect for a robotic meant to work round people, however the industrial design is badass and the packaging is great, with the overwhelming majority of the wiring now built-in inside the robotic’s skins and versatile supplies overlaying joints which can be sometimes left naked.”
Extra Than Half of All New Automobiles Bought in China Final Month Had been Electrical Automobiles
William Gavin | Quartz
“Gross sales of what China calls new power automobiles (NEVs)—any automobiles that principally use or are totally depending on electrical energy for his or her operation—elevated by 37% year-over-year in July, in keeping with knowledge from the China Passenger Automobile Affiliation (CPCA). Due to that development, and an general lower in gross sales on this planet’s largest auto market, NEVs accounted for 50.7% of recent automotive gross sales final month. That’s a significant bounce in comparison with gross sales simply three years in the past, when NEVs made up simply 7% of general car gross sales in China.”
Breaking Down the Tech Giants’ AI Spending Surge
Nate Rattner | The Wall Avenue Journal
“Massive know-how corporations deepened their commitments to artificial-intelligence efforts within the newest quarter, pouring billions of {dollars} into capital-spending initiatives and telling buyers extra is on the way in which. In earnings statements over the previous two weeks, Amazon, Microsoft, Fb guardian Meta Platforms, and Google guardian Alphabet every reported jumps in purchases of property and tools, a measure of capital spending. For all however Meta, the newest quarterly determine was the very best in years.”
Watch a Video Displaying What Occurs in Our Brains When We Suppose
Jessica Hamzelou | MIT Expertise Evaluate
“On this video, which I’ve transformed to a GIF, you’ll be able to see the sample {of electrical} exercise within the man’s mind as he recites numbers. Every dot represents the voltage sensed by an electrode on the array on the person’s mind, over a area concerned in speech. …The video has been slowed down 20-fold, as a result of ‘ideas occur quicker than the attention can see,’ says Rapoport.”
The Seek for Alien Life Simply Hit a Miserable Setback
Adam Kovac | Gizmodo
“The seek for alien life simply bought a bit extra difficult. Pink dwarfs, younger and dim stars thought by many astronomers to be the most probably hosts for life-sustaining planets, include a big disadvantage: They continuously emit lethal ultraviolet radiation flares, that are way more highly effective than astronomers beforehand thought.”
Quantum Cryptography Has Everybody Scrambling
Margo Anderson | IEEE Spectrum
“Whereas the know-how world awaits NIST’s newest ‘post-quantum’ cryptography requirements this summer time, a parallel effort is underway to additionally develop cryptosystems which can be grounded in quantum know-how—what are referred to as quantum-key distribution or QKD methods. Because of this, India, China, and a variety of know-how organizations within the European Union and United States are researching and growing QKD and weighing requirements for the nascent cryptography various.”
Californians Are Getting Apple Pockets Drivers Licenses This Yr
Florence Ion | Gizmodo
“My family has a saying that anytime we depart for the surface world, we must always have ‘keys, pockets, telephone.’ It helps remind us of the fundamentals that ought to be in hand earlier than the door will get locked from the surface. If you happen to’re in California, you’ll be able to sit up for chopping down the listing to 2 easy gadgets: keys and a telephone. A leak reveals that official digital California drivers licenses and identification playing cards are coming to Apple Pockets.”
Picture Credit score: Norbert Kowalczyk / Unsplash
