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Searching In The Dark: Unsupervised Learning Meets Fundamental Science

Searching In The Dark: Unsupervised Learning Meets Fundamental Science

Nov 06 2021 | comment(s)

The title of this post is the same of a non-technical presentation I gave today at the 2021 USERN Congress. The USERN (Universal Scientific and Education Research Network) is an organization fostering the diffusion of science, which provides prizes to researchers who distinguish themselves for their scientific advancements, and strives for science across borders. As a member of its advisory board I was invited to give a presentation in the first session of the virtual congress, which deals with human versus artificial intelligence.
Objections To Vaccine Mandates Are Political - But Both US Parties Are Doing It

Objections To Vaccine Mandates Are Political - But Both US Parties Are Doing It

Nov 05 2021 | comment(s)

If you read corporate journalism, you may get the impression that anti-vaccine sentiment never existed before 2021. That's not true, it was just rationalized (anti-corporate, distrust of Big Pharma) when anti-vax beliefs were held by the same political tribe as journalists - coastal residents in the US.
Eggs Earlier In Life Will Mean Fewer Egg Allergies

Eggs Earlier In Life Will Mean Fewer Egg Allergies

Nov 05 2021 | comment(s)

In response to increases in allergies, and then paralyzing schools and businesses because many parents conflate any allergic reaction with anaphylaxis, in 2017 allergists and pediatricians began recommending that parents start to introduce peanut product around the time their child begins solid foods to prevent peanut allergy.

A new study presented at the year’s American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting reveals that it makes sense to do the same with eggs.
People Are Sick Of People - It's Time To Make Robots More Social

People Are Sick Of People - It's Time To Make Robots More Social

Nov 04 2021 | comment(s)

It's nice that a robot can fold a towel really, really slowly, but they're going to remain an academic gimmick until they can engage in social interactions. Then they could replace people. If you have spent any time on Twitter, you know people are done talking to anyone who does not look, talk, or identify just like them, so robot socialization couldn't come at a better time.
The 2020 Decadal Survey : Don't Listen To Chanda Prescod-Weinstein TMT Should Be Built. The Indigenous Stakeholders Spoke Through The Hawaiian Legal Process Already.

The 2020 Decadal Survey : Don't Listen To Chanda Prescod-Weinstein TMT Should Be Built. The Indigenous Stakeholders Spoke Through The Hawaiian Legal Process Already.

Nov 04 2021 | comment(s)

According to the 2020 Decadal survey published by the National Academies of science the US Large telescope program including the Thirty Meter Telescope are the number one priorities for ground based astronomy in the US.  For many good reasons. However, there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the Native Hawaiian situation, which seeks to identify the indigenous stakeholder(s). That misunderstanding is that there exists some sort of duly constituted, or even constituted but not state or federally recognized indigenous Hawaiian only government that might not be being listened to.

Without The COVID-19 Pandemic, Would Trump Have Won Reelection?

Without The COVID-19 Pandemic, Would Trump Have Won Reelection?

Nov 03 2021 | comment(s)

Corporate journalists and other pundits have argued that the 2020 election was a referendum on how the administration handled the COVID-19 pandemic. Is that true?
Europe's Ancient Booms And Busts Due To Climage Change Fossilized In Ice

Europe's Ancient Booms And Busts Due To Climage Change Fossilized In Ice

Nov 03 2021 | comment(s)

Europe’s past booms and busts, often driven by natural changes in climate, has been revealed using thousand-year-old pollen, spores and charcoal particles fossilized in glacial ice.

The analysis of microfossils preserved in European glaciers also revealed earlier-than-expected evidence of air pollution and the roots of modern invasive species problems. The study looked at pollen, spores, charcoal and other pollutants frozen in the Colle Gnifetti glacier on the Swiss and Italian border. The research found changes in the composition of these microfossils corresponded closely with known major events in climate, such as the Little Ice Age and well-established volcanic eruptions.
Suspect Correlation: Eating Alone Linked To Heart Attacks In Women

Suspect Correlation: Eating Alone Linked To Heart Attacks In Women

Nov 03 2021 | comment(s)

If we want people to trust disease epidemiologists during the COVID-19 pandemic - and the next pandemic after that, since this was the third one of just coronavirus in 17 years - then we have to start holding suspect epidemiologists accountable.
Activision Blizzard Pushes Back Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4

Activision Blizzard Pushes Back Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4

Nov 02 2021 | comment(s)

In 2021, there may be recognition it's better to release a game later than anticipated than to release a flawed game. "Cyberpunk 2077" may be the last of the AAA games that got thrown into the market unfinished. The backlash was substantial.

Plus, as games have become cultural behemoths, 3X the revenue of movies and 10X the revenue of music, culture also turned the guns on the industry. Where once you could quietly become a multi-millionaire while enjoying lunch uninterrupted, the Crunch work ethic recently came under fire - and names and faces became attached as Part Of The Problem. Following that, there were rampant claims of sexism and psychological abuse.
The Extraterrestrial Way The Atacama Desert Got Its Sheets Of Glass

The Extraterrestrial Way The Atacama Desert Got Its Sheets Of Glass

Nov 02 2021 | comment(s)

In the Atacama Desert in Chile east of Pampa del Tamarugal, a plateau in northern Chile nestled between the Andes Mountains to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west, fields of dark green and black glass inhabit a corridor stretching for 30 miles. If you've ever seen a glassblower at work, you know high heat will do the trick, but lacking a crucible 12,000 years ago, it has been a mystery what provided the 2,400 degree heat needed to turn the sand into molten glass that then solidified.

A new study finds it was not of this earth. 
Track And Trace: 4 Reasons Companies Hesitate To Adopt Reusable Packaging - And A Way To Solve Them

Track And Trace: 4 Reasons Companies Hesitate To Adopt Reusable Packaging - And A Way To Solve Them

Nov 02 2021 | comment(s)

In the world of activists and pundits, companies making changes involve all reward and no risk, and if companies don't do it they are just greedy. That thinking is why poor people are subsidizing electric cars and solar panels for the rich, which has made reliance on fossil fuels greater in the past decade.

In the real world, companies hesitate because there are no answers to the questions that smart people have. When it comes to reusable packaging, there are more science and technology questions than answers, and there are four reasons companies are hesitating.

1.The potential to hurt brand reputation if this new environmental scheme doesn’t turn out to be better for the environment.
Biocompatible Sustainable Plastic Uses Carbon Dioxide In Manufacturing

Biocompatible Sustainable Plastic Uses Carbon Dioxide In Manufacturing

Nov 02 2021 | comment(s)

Polyurethane is a plastic material used as foam for medical applications, like tubes for intravenous catheters, mattresses, as packaging material, as construction foam and much more. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research IAP, for Chemical Technology ICT, for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM and for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT are now exploring new ways to produce this type of plastic sustainably and without the use of materials that can be toxic at high levels.
Women Earn 2 Percent Less Than Men - And The Reason Why May Be The Myth Of Lack Of Female Confidence

Women Earn 2 Percent Less Than Men - And The Reason Why May Be The Myth Of Lack Of Female Confidence

Nov 01 2021 | comment(s)

Everyone says they have impostor syndrome about something, so perhaps many people just mask it and appear confident. Do men mask it better than women? 
New Paper Says Global Warming May Be the Reason For Violence In Somalia

New Paper Says Global Warming May Be the Reason For Violence In Somalia

Nov 01 2021 | comment(s)

A few decades ago there were claims we'd fight wars over dwindling coal supplies and 20 years there were models claiming the "virtual" water cost of products like coffee would become such a problem there'd be wars over water.

Those both got a lot of media traction from sympathetic journalists even if the science was lacking. A new paper uses computer simulations to allege a new reason - climate change.
Gun Deaths Rose 30% During The Pandemic

Gun Deaths Rose 30% During The Pandemic

Nov 01 2021 | comment(s)

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 28 states experienced higher gun deaths, including suicides. New York, Minnesota, and Michigan saw numbers go up more than 100 percent, according to a recent paper. Only Alaska, which often leads the US, had significantly lower rates of gun deaths during that period.
A Few Lectures You May Want To Attend To

A Few Lectures You May Want To Attend To

Nov 01 2021 | comment(s)

In the next few days I have a busy schedule with a few lectures gravitating around the use of deep learning technologies for fundamental physics research. This is of course no news, but I thought that my blog is the proper place to list a few pointers, in case some of you is interested in following one or two of these events. After all, deep learning is all the rage these days, and even if fundamental physics is not your bread and butter, you may hopefully find useful inspiration in the kind of use cases that field provides for cutting edge applications of artificial intelligence.
4 Reasons To Let This Halloween Be A Treat For Kids

4 Reasons To Let This Halloween Be A Treat For Kids

Oct 29 2021 | comment(s)

Children have a higher tolerance for thrills than most parents believe.  In 1989, when Disney returned to form with "The Little Mermaid", Ursula was among the scariest villains ever. She got impaled by the mast of a ship. That didn't bother kids a bit.

It's more often parents that are overthinking this stuff. I am not saying you should hand your 6-year-old a "Saw" DVD but for the second consecutive year of the pandemic let's stop the usual apocalyptic worry about sugary treats plus the concern about COVID-19. They'll be okay on both counts. 

Here are 4 reasons why we as a society need to dial it down on Sunday, and maybe every day after that.

CW Leonis: A Cosmic Eye Of Sauron For Halloween

CW Leonis: A Cosmic Eye Of Sauron For Halloween

Oct 28 2021 | comment(s)

If there is an Eye of Sauron in space, ot at least a Marvel villain like Apocalypse, it might look a lot like CW Leonis, roughly 400 light-years away in the constellation Leo.
MicroBooNE Finds No Hint Of Sterile Neutrino. Science Advances By What We Do Not Find Too.

MicroBooNE Finds No Hint Of Sterile Neutrino. Science Advances By What We Do Not Find Too.

Oct 28 2021 | comment(s)

MicroBooNE did not find the sterile neutrino which it was designed to instead it found the absence of the sterile neutrino. That too is finding something. In fundamental research sciences we learn both by what we find and do not find. To make a prediction and falsify it also advances science by eliminating possibilities. Gradually we can zero in on what is possible.

Understanding Quantum Primacy And How We Got There

Understanding Quantum Primacy And How We Got There

Oct 28 2021 | comment(s)

A quantum computer is a remarkable device. While, at current, it's still limited in its application, we now know that it can be faster than the fastest computers we currently have access to.