I’m looking at images of Pluto and (the moon) Hydra on my phone, sent from a spacecraft that’s passing by. Science is awesome, and having a magical piece of glass and metal that gives me immediate access to that is sometimes mind boggling. Try to remember that the next time you refresh Twitter for the umpteenth time, wondering what it’s all good for.
Tag: science
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Elon Musk supports AI safety research with $10 million donation
Elon Musk, of Paypal, Tesla, and SpaceX fame, is concerned about artificial intelligence. $10 million concerned actually. Vox reports:
“AI safety is important,” Musk said in the announcement. “So I’m today committing $10M to support research aimed at keeping AI beneficial for humanity.”
The money will fund grants to research possible pitfalls of AI and examine ways to build safeguards into AI software. The money will also fund “meetings and outreach programs aimed at bringing together academic AI researchers, industry AI developers and other key constituents to continue exploring how to maximize the societal benefits of AI.”
In other news, Musk is also considering building a Hyperloop test track in Texas. Does that guy ever sleep?
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Rosetta and Philae
Science magazine writes about Rosetta, and the probe Philae, and the adventures it endures, as well as the future of them both. It’s an interesting piece.
This tidbit stands out though, regarding how water could’ve come to Earth.
And ROSINA, a Rosetta instrument that uses spectrometers to measure gas abundances, has obtained a highly sought after result: the so-called deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio of water in the comet’s thin atmosphere, or coma. The measured value for 67P is much higher than the ratio in Earth’s oceans and higher than in other comets, says ROSINA principal investigator Kathrin Altwegg, of the University of Bern. Three years ago, the comet Hartley–2 was found to have a D-to-H ratio near that of Earth’s oceans—sparking interest in the notion that comet impacts delivered much of Earth’s water. Altwegg says the result for 67P could make asteroids the primary suspect again.
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Which is heavier: A brand new iPad, or one jampacked with apps?
I love stuff like this. An iPad (or other device with flash based storage) full of apps weighs more than an iPad fresh out of the box.
The extra weight comes from flash storage storing more data in memory. The transistors in flash memory distinguish between a 1 and a 0 by trapping electrons.
It’s obviously nothing you can weigh or feel at home. Read the full piece on Cult of Mac.