SoylentNews

looorg writes:

(1) https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/27/europe-wants-to-deploy-data-centers-into-space-study-says.html
(2) https://natick.research.microsoft.com/

New data center location -- Space. In about a decade or two they want to have data centers in space. It's somewhat unclear what the competitive edge would be to launch your data center into space. Wouldn't it make more sense to submerge them into the ocean? Which they have already tried and done to (2).

The total global electricity consumption from data centers could reach more than 1,000 terawatt-hours in 2026 — that's roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of Japan, according to the International Energy Agency.

ASCEND's space-based data storage facilities would benefit from "infinite energy" captured from the sun and orbit at an altitude of around 1,400 kilometers (869.9 miles).

[...] The facilities that the study explored launching into space would orbit at an altitude of around 1,400 kilometers (869.9 miles) — about three times the altitude of the International Space Station. Dumestier explained that ASCEND would aim to deploy 13 space data center building blocks with a total capacity of 10 megawatts in 2036, in order to achieve the starting point for cloud service commercialization.

Each building block — with a surface area of 6,300 square meters — includes capacity for its own data center service and is launched within one space vehicle, he said.

In order to have a significant impact on the digital sector's energy consumption, the objective is to deploy 1,300 building blocks by 2050 to achieve 1 gigawatt, according to Dumestier.

[...] Michael Winterson, managing director of the European Data Centre Association, acknowledges that a space data center would benefit from increased efficiency from solar power without the interruption of weather patterns — but the center would require significant amounts of rocket fuel to keep it in orbit.

Winterson estimates that even a small 1 megawatt center in low earth orbit would need around 280,000 kilograms of rocket fuel per year at a cost of around $140 million in 2030 — a calculation based on a significant decrease in launch costs, which has yet to take place.

"There will be specialist services that will be suited to this idea, but it will in no way be a market replacement," said Winterson.

"Applications that might be well served would be very specific, such as military/surveillance, broadcasting, telecommunications and financial trading services. All other services would not competitively run from space," he added in emailed comments.

New work title -- space janitor. I wonder if he will have to attend meetings in the 'office'?

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/researchers-craft-smiling-robot-face-from-living-human-skin-cells/

In a new study, researchers from the University of Tokyo, Harvard University, and the International Research Center for Neurointelligence have unveiled a technique for creating lifelike robotic skin using living human cells. As a proof of concept, the team engineered a small robotic face capable of smiling, covered entirely with a layer of pink living tissue.

[... Shoji Takeuchi, Michio Kawai, Minghao Nie, and Haruka Oda authored the study, titled "Perforation-type anchors inspired by skin ligament for robotic face covered with living skin," which is due for July publication in Cell Reports Physical Science. We learned of the study from a report published earlier this week by New Scientist.

[...] In their experiments, the researchers used commercially available human cells, purchasing what are called Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts (NHDFs) and Normal Human Epidermal Keratinocytes (NHEKs) that were isolated from either juvenile foreskin or different skin locations from adult donors by a company called PromoCell GmbH.

[...] While ethical questions inevitably arise from using real human skin cells, the researchers state that their goal is to improve human-robot communication and advance tissue engineering. They hope their techniques will find applications not just in robotics but in fields like reconstructive medicine and drug testing. Instead of using real human test subjects, experimenters could grow artificial skin layers from real cells.

[...] With continued refinement, living robotic skin could create machine coverings that are not just lifelike but literally alive. Eventually, they may even live long enough to see attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. Or watch C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. But we're hoping those moments will not be lost in time—like tears in rain.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Microsoft's CEO of AI said that content on the open web can be copied and used to create new content:

Microsoft may have opened a can of worms with recent comments made by the tech giant's CEO of AI Mustafa Suleyman. The CEO spoke with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this week. In his remarks, Suleyman claimed that all content shared on the web is available to be used for AI training unless a content producer says otherwise specifically.

"With respect to content that is already on the open web, the social contract of that content since the 90s has been that it is fair use. Anyone can copy it, recreate with it, reproduce with it. That has been freeware, if you like. That's been the understanding," said Suleyman.

"There's a separate category where a website or a publisher or a news organization had explicitly said, 'do not scrape or crawl me for any other reason than indexing me so that other people can find that content.' That's a gray area and I think that's going to work its way through the courts."

[...] Generative AI is one of the hottest topics in tech in 2024. It's also a hot button topic among creators. Some claim that AI trained on other people's work is a form of theft. Others equate training AI on existing work to artists studying at school. Contention often circles around monetizing work that's derivative of other content.

YouTube has reportedly offered "lumps of cash" to train its AI models on music libraries from major record labels. The difference in that situation is that record labels and YouTube will have agreed to terms. Suleyman claims that a company could use any content on the web to train AI, as long as there was not an explicit statement demanding that not be done.

[...] Assuming I've understood Suleyman correctly, the CEO claimed that any content is freeware that anyone can use to make new content, unless the creator says otherwise. I'm not a lawyer, but Suleyman's claims sound a lot like those viral chain messages that get forwarded around Facebook and Instagram saying, "I DO NOT CONSENT TO MY CONTENT BEING USED." I always assumed copyright law was more complicated than a Facebook post.

Original Submission

Runaway1956 writes:

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/24413873.ai-exams-found-earn-higher-grades-students/

AI exams found to earn higher grades than students

Exam submissions generated by artificial intelligence (AI) can not only evade detection but also earn higher grades than those submitted by university students, a real-world test has shown.

Last year Russell Group universities, which includes Oxford University, pledged to allow ethical use of AI in teaching and assessments, with many others following suit.

The findings come as concerns mount about students submitting AI-generated work as their own, with questions being raised about the academic integrity of universities and other higher education institutions.

It also shows even experienced markers could struggle to spot answers generated by AI, the University of Reading academics said.

Peter Scarfe, an associate professor at Reading's School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences said the findings should serve as a "wake-up call" for educational institutions as AI tools such as ChatGPT become more advanced and widespread.

He said: "The data in our study shows it is very difficult to detect AI-generated answers.

"There has been quite a lot of talk about the use of so-called AI detectors, which are also another form of AI but (the scope here) is limited."

For the study, published in the journal Plos One, Prof Scarfe and his team generated answers to exam questions using GPT-4 and submitted these on behalf of 33 fake students.

Exam markers at Reading's School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences were unaware of the study.

Journal Reference:
Scarfe P, Watcham K, Clarke A, Roesch E (2024) A real-world test of artificial intelligence infiltration of a university examinations system: A "Turing Test" case study. PLoS ONE 19(6): e0305354. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305354

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Nvidia has been riding high thanks to AI, the current center of attention in the tech industry. The chipmaker's silicon is among the only such hardware that can provide the necessary processing power to enable resource-intensive commercial AI models.

Because of this, Nvidia has been sort of a bellwether for the AI industry — rising sky high as an indication of AI's extreme rate of growth.

Over the past week, however, Nvidia has taken a huge tumble on the stock market, and has lost around $500 billion in value.

[...] Nvidia is still doing just fine of course. And it's likely to still be raking in plenty of revenue thanks to AI-related patronage from the likes of Elon Musk, who is reportedly building an Nvidia-based "supercomputer" via his AI company xAI. However, this recent downturn on the stock market might show that investors are sending a message that they're not so bullish on the AI industry's monumental claims of how they will change the world with their technology.

As multiple outlets have reported, AI companies have made big promises, but so far have had very little to show for it when it comes to actual meaningful change in the industry's AI claimed to soon disrupt. On top of that, studies have found AI to be a massive energy and resource drain, which will certainly give at least some AI backers second thoughts about where the industry is headed.

Original Submission

looorg writes:

Deep Learning Death Prediction Accurate
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43587-024-00657-5

Deep learning and population data from the entire population of Finland creates accurate model predicting death with one year.

Short-term mortality risk, which is indicative of individual frailty, serves as a marker for aging. Previous age clocks focused on predicting either chronological age or longer-term mortality. Aging clocks predicting short-term mortality are lacking and their algorithmic fairness remains unexamined. We developed a deep learning model to predict 1-year mortality using nationwide longitudinal data from the Finnish population (FinRegistry; n = 5.4 million), incorporating more than 8,000 features spanning up to 50 years. We achieved an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.944, outperforming a baseline model that included only age and sex (AUC = 0.897). The model generalized well to different causes of death (AUC > 0.800 for 45 of 50 causes), including coronavirus disease 2019, which was absent in the training data. Performance varied among demographics, with young females exhibiting the best and older males the worst results. Extensive prediction fairness analyses highlighted disparities among disadvantaged groups, posing challenges to equitable integration into public health interventions. Our model accurately identified short-term mortality risk, potentially serving as a population-wide aging marker.

Our study aimed to accurately predict 1-year mortality for every Finnish resident by using comprehensive, nationwide, multi-category information and to evaluate how prediction accuracy varies within different groups defined according to health, geographical location and socioeconomic characteristics. To achieve this objective, we developed a state-of-the-art DL model.

Should be interesting to see if it translates to other countries. Could or should be comparable to other nordic countries.

Original Submission

owl writes:

https://blog.jgc.org/2024/06/two-ways-to-use-led-as-light-sensor.html

I needed to log when a light switched on and off during the night as part of debugging an oddly behaving movement sensor. To do that I built a really simple light sensor logger using an Arduino Leonardo, a large LED and a resistor or three.

Original Submission

Bemidji MN (about 3-1/2 hours drive north of Minneapolis) is hosting what looks to be a fun week of unicycling. As reported by https://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/local/tickets-on-sale-for-unicon-21-events-in-bemidji There will be events over nearly two weeks from July 14 - July 26. Some free and others $15. They are expecting 1200+ unicyclists from all over the world.

Each Unicon covers all facets of the sport with competitions in mountain unicycling; road and track races; freestyle; urban; and team sports. The convention portion features workshops, cultural mashups and social events where participants gather, reconnect with familiar faces and make new friends.

The fine link includes a full schedule of events and ticketing instructions.

I met a fun guy once who claimed to have made the smallest unicycle (1" / 25mm diameter wheel, with #25 pitch chain drive to pedals above the tiny steel caster)...and also the tallest unicycle (about 20 feet up to the seat, he mounted from the back of some convenient bleachers). He rode both of them, but the 1" wheel needed very smooth ground. No idea if his claims were true...

Paywall? Try https://archive.is/sj62c
 

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Chinese probe returns with samples from Moon's far side, completing a world-first mission:

A Chinese probe carrying samples from the far side of the Moon returned to Earth on Tuesday, capping a technically complex 53-day mission heralded as a world first.

The landing module of the Chang'e-6 spacecraft touched down at a predetermined site in Inner Mongolia at 2:07 pm (0607 GMT), the China National Space Administration said, hailing the mission a "complete success".

It comes bearing soil and rocks from the side of the Moon facing away from Earth, a poorly understood region that scientists say holds great research promise because its rugged features are less smoothed over by ancient lava flows than the near side.

That means the materials harvested there may help us to better understand how the Moon formed and how it has evolved over time.

China's space agency said the probe was "functioning normally, signalling that the Chang'e-6 lunar exploration mission was a complete success".

[...] It used a drill and robotic arm to scoop up samples, snapped some shots of the pockmarked surface and planted a Chinese flag made from basalt in the grey soil.

On June 4, the probe made the first ever successful launch from the far side in what Xinhua called "an unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history".

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

A study of 17 commonly-used synthetic 'forever chemicals' has shown that these toxic substances can readily be absorbed through human skin.

New research, published in Environment International proves for the first time that a wide range of PFAS (perfluoroalkyl substances)—chemicals which do not break down in nature—can permeate the skin barrier and reach the body's bloodstream.

PFAS are used widely in industries and consumer products from school uniforms to personal care products because of their water and stain repellent properties. While some substances have been banned by government regulation, others are still widely used and their toxic effects have not yet been fully investigated.

PFAS are already known to enter the body through other routes, for example being breathed in or ingested via food or drinking water, and they are known to cause adverse health effects such as a lowered immune response to vaccination, impaired liver function and decreased birth weight.

It has commonly been thought that PFAS are unable to breach the skin barrier, although recent studies have shown links between the use of personal care products and PFAS concentrations in human blood and breast milk. The new study is the most comprehensive assessment yet undertaken of the absorption of PFAS into human skin and confirms that most of them can enter the body via this route.

Lead author of the study, Dr. Oddný Ragnarsdóttir carried out the research while studying for her Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham. She explained, "The ability of these chemicals to be absorbed through skin has previously been dismissed because the molecules are ionized. The electrical charge that gives them the ability to repel water and stains was thought to also make them incapable of crossing the skin membrane.

"Our research shows that this theory does not always hold true and that, in fact, uptake through the skin could be a significant source of exposure to these harmful chemicals."

owl writes:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3v5j3/us-airports-no-longer-have-to-build-their-own-crappy-trains

On January 12 (2021), a time when most of us were distracted by other events pertaining to the federal government, the Federal Aviation Administration updated some rules that will have huge implications for how travelers access airports via public transportation, and even for public transportation systems as a whole. It is also a correction for one of my pet peeves about U.S. public transportation, that we have spent decades building trains-to-the-trains to the airport. This unique type of U.S. transportation has no commonly-recognized name, and I will soon arbitrarily assign a term for them just to make everything easier.

They do not have a name because they make no sense and have no good reason to exist. The train itself should just go to the airport, like they do in virtually every other airport with a mass transit connection in the world. These useless trains only exist because of byzantine bureaucratic rule that has condemned U.S. travelers to this crappy extra train for no good reason. And it's finally, finally, finally fixed.

To fully understand what's going on here, let's back up and talk about airport transportation. Most large international airports anywhere in the world have some type of "people mover" system, which can be anything from those weird and amazing mobile lounges at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. to the automated trains more commonly found at airports these days (including also at Dulles). Airports have these when they are very large with terminals very far apart and even those moving walkways you are supposed to walk on and not just stand there for fuck's sake MOVE are not enough to get people around efficiently.

Generally speaking, there are two types of airport people movers. The first and most common from a global perspective are those designed to get people between terminals at massive international airports. The second and most common in the U.S. but virtually non-existent elsewhere are those that not only connect terminals but also the airport to rental car hubs and mass transportation. These second types, which I will continue to refer to as people movers for convenience, are frustrating as hell, as it requires travelers—to mention airport employees—to take a train to the train, an unnecessary and expensive transfer that typically requires a second fare.

So: why? Why this extra train? It's because of this weird FAA rule.

In 1990, Congress passed the Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990 which allowed airports, with the FAA's permission, to charge a small Passenger Facility Fee (PFC)—initially a maximum of $3 per ticket, later upped to $4.50 and, like the federal gas tax, not increased in the 20 years since despite losing much of its value to inflation—for airport improvements. The statute allows the revenue to be used for specific types of internal airport improvements only, such as people movers that stay within airport grounds. And in 2004 the FAA clarified that only rail lines which exclusively serve airports are eligible for PFCs.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/06/microsoft-risks-huge-fine-over-possibly-abusive-bundling-of-teams-and-office/

Microsoft may be hit with a massive fine in the European Union for "possibly abusively" bundling Teams with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 software suites for businesses.

On Tuesday, the European Commission (EC) announced preliminary findings of an investigation into whether Microsoft's "suite-centric business model combining multiple types of software in a single offering" unfairly shut out rivals in the "software as a service" (SaaS) market.

"Since at least April 2019," the EC found, Microsoft's practice of "tying Teams with its core SaaS productivity applications" potentially restricted competition in the "market for communication and collaboration products."

[...] For Microsoft, the EC's findings are likely not entirely unexpected, although Tuesday's announcement must be disappointing. The company had been hoping to avoid further scrutiny by introducing some major changes last year. Most drastically, Microsoft began "offering some suites without Teams," the EC said, but even that wasn't enough to appease EU regulators.

[...] Microsoft will now be given an opportunity to defend its practices. If the company is unsuccessful, it risks a potential fine up to 10 percent of its annual worldwide turnover and an order possibly impacting how the leading global company conducts business.

In a statement to Ars, Microsoft President Brad Smith confirmed that the tech giant would work with the commission to figure out a better solution.

"Having unbundled Teams and taken initial interoperability steps, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the commission's remaining concerns," Smith said.

owl writes:

https://www.geekwire.com/2024/seattles-living-computers-museum-logs-off-for-good-as-paul-allen-estate-will-auction-vintage-items/

Living Computers Museum + Labs, the Seattle institution created by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen as a hands-on showcase for rare computing technology and interactive displays, will not reopen, more than four years after closing near the start of the pandemic.

Allen's estate, which has been managing and winding down his vast array of holdings since his death in 2018, confirmed to GeekWire that the 12-year-old museum is closed for good. The museum website and social media accounts were taken down Tuesday.

The estate also announced Tuesday that some key pieces from Allen's personal collection of computer artifacts, displayed over the years at Living Computers, will be auctioned by Christie's as part of a broader sale of various Allen items later this year.

Original Submission

https://www.sciencealert.com/ai-designs-radical-magnet-free-of-rare-earth-metals-in-just-3-months

We urgently need to move away from fossil fuels, but electric vehicles and other green technology can put their own pressures on the environment. That pressure could be eased with a new magnet design, free from rare-earth metals, that was built with AI in just three months.

Rare-earth metals are essential components in modern-day gadgets and electric tech – including cars, wind turbines, and solar panels – but getting them out of the ground costs a lot in terms of money, energy, and environmental impact.

As a result, technology that doesn't use these metals can help us transition towards a greener future more quickly. Enter UK company Materials Nexus, which has used its bespoke AI platform to create MagNex, a permanent magnet requiring no rare-earth metals.

This isn't the first such magnet to be developed, but discovering these materials typically requires a lot of trial and error and can take decades. The use of AI sped everything up by approximately 200 times – in just three months, it had designed, synthesized, and tested the new magnet.

The AI works by analysing over 100 million compositions of possible rare-earth-free magnets, weighing up not only the potential performance but also supply chain security, cost to manufacture, and environmental issues.

"AI-powered materials design will impact not only magnetics but also the entire field of materials science," says physicist Jonathan Bean, the CEO of Materials Nexus.

"We have now identified a scalable method for designing new materials for all kinds of industrial needs."

AnonTechie writes:

A war has erupted around young people's use social media and it is messy. In the United States, surgeon general Vivek Murthy has recommended cigarette packet-like warnings for platforms like Instagram to remind teens and parents social media "has not proved safe".

In Australia, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says he would ban social media for those under 16 within 100 days, if the Coalition wins the next election. Announcing the policy, Dutton argued social media is to blame for "a high prevalence of many health conditions, issues around body image [and] bullying online".

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also backs a ban "if it can be effective". Meanwhile, Education Minister Jason Clare describes social media as a "cesspit".

Technology experts have already noted legal bans and age verification is very hard to enforce.

But we also need to view this from an a digital literacy perspective. A social media ban only delays young people's exposure to these platforms, it does not help them to manage or learn anything. When they eventually start using these platforms, the same algorithms will still be at work, shaping their perceptions and behaviours.

If we want to keep children safe online, we need to approach this differently.

[...] A ban seems simple, but to really keep our kids safe online we need to do more complex work to reclaim control on social media. This is something the entire community needs to contribute to: schools, parents, governments and industry.

[Source]: The Conversation

[Also Covered By]: PHYS.ORG

Original Submission