Lifeboat Foundation

The element actinium was first discovered at the turn of the 20th century, but even now, nearly 125 years later, researchers still don’t have a good grasp on the metal’s chemistry. That’s because actinium is only available in extremely small amounts and working with the radioactive material requires special facilities. But to improve emerging cancer treatments using actinium, researchers will need to better understand how the element binds with other molecules.

SpaceX says a liquid oxygen leak caused the failure of a Falcon 9 launch last week.

In new research, Arizona State University scientists and their colleagues investigated genetic changes occurring in a naturally isolated population of the water flea, Daphnia pulex. This tiny crustacean, barely visible to the naked eye, plays a crucial role in freshwater ecosystems and offers a unique window into natural selection and evolution.

The AI technologies developed will allow autonomous systems, such as drones and self-driving cars, to navigate unexpected variables.

Producing fast-moving ‘fireballs’ in the lab could shed light on processes in extreme astrophysical emissions.

A fast-onset, in vivo CRISPR screening platform that facilitates functional genomics with single-cell resolution in embryonic and adult animal brains as well as in peripheral nervous systems is presented.

A machine-learning framework predicts when a complex system, such as an ecosystem or a power grid, will undergo a critical transition.

The world is full of sudden changes that can be hard to forecast ahead of time.

The U.S. High Speed Rail Association (USHSR) published a map outlining its proposal for a new 17,000-mile national high-speed rail network across the United States, which it claims will “cut our carbon footprint by epic proportions.”

Under the plan, which the USHSR proposes to build in four stages, it would be possible to travel between Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Miami, Florida; and Boston, Massachusetts, entirely on 220-mile-per-hour high-speed rail lines.

The past few years have seen a renaissance in high-speed rail interest across the United States, following decades of little activity. A number of lines are either proposed or under construction. Integrated high-speed rail networks already exist across much of Western Europe, Japan, and China, which, according to Statista, had a 25,000-mile-long network in 2021.

Read & tell me what you think 🙂

There is a rift between near and long-term perspectives on AI safety – one that has stirred controversy. Longtermists argue that we need to prioritise the well-being of people far into the future, perhaps at the expense of people alive today. But their critics have accused the Longtermists of obsessing on Terminator-style scenarios in concert with Big Tech to distract regulators from more pressing issues like data privacy. In this essay, Mark Bailey and Susan Schneider argue that we shouldn’t be fighting about the Terminator, we should be focusing on the harm to the mind itself – to our very freedom to think.

There has been a growing debate between near and long-term perspectives on AI safety – one that has stirred controversy. “Longtermists” have been accused of being co-opted by Big Tech and fixating on science fiction-like Terminator-style scenarios to distract regulators from the real, more near-term, issues, such as algorithmic bias and data privacy.

Continue reading “The real long-term dangers of AI” »