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☆ White House to meet Microsoft, Google CEOs on AI dangers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Nandita Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationWASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - The White House will host CEOs of top artificial intelligence companies, including Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O), on Thursday to discuss risks and safeguards as the technology catches the attention of governments and lawmakers globally. Leading AI developers, including Anthropic, Google, Hugging Face, NVIDIA, OpenAI, and Stability AI, will participate in a public evaluation of their AI systems at the AI Village at DEFCON 31 - one of the largest hacker conventions in the world - and run on a platform created by Scale AI and Microsoft. Such political ads are expected to become more common as AI technology proliferates. In February, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate bias in their use of AI. The Biden administration has also released an AI Bill of Rights and a risk management framework.

☆ White House announces $140 million A.I. hub investment ahead of meeting with Google, OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The White House announced it would invest $140 million to create seven artificial intelligence research hubs and released new guidance on AI. The developments come ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris's meeting with executives from Google's parent company Alphabet , Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI Thursday. As AI becomes more ubiquitous, the White House Thursday promised it would release guidelines for use by government agencies. The White House has made addressing AI a priority. Last year the administration released a "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights" and later outlined the creation of a National AI Research Resource.

☆ White House Unveils Initiatives to Reduce Risks of A.I.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( David Mccabe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The White House on Thursday announced its first new initiatives aimed at taming the risks of artificial intelligence since a boom in A.I.-powered chatbots has prompted growing calls to regulate the technology. The National Science Foundation plans to spend $140 million on new research centers devoted to A.I., White House officials said. The administration also pledged to release draft guidelines for government agencies to ensure that their use of A.I. A senior administration official said on Wednesday that the White House planned to impress upon the companies that they had a responsibility to address the risks of new A.I. developments.The White House has been under growing pressure to police A.I.

☆ First photo of a black hole resembles 'skinny' doughnut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The first photo ever taken of a black hole looks a little sharper now. The central region is darker and larger, surrounded by a bright ring as hot gas falls into the black hole in the new image. The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, called EHT, is a global network of telescopes that captured the first photograph of a black hole. Computers using PRIMO analyzed more than 30,000 high-resolution simulated images of black holes to pick out common structural details. But if heated materials in the form of plasma surround the black hole and emit light, the event horizon could be visible.

☆ Repeating radio signal leads astronomers to an Earth-size exoplanet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Astronomers have detected a repeating radio signal from an exoplanet and the star that it orbits, both located 12 light-years away from Earth. The signal suggests that the Earth-size planet may have a magnetic field and perhaps even an atmosphere. The researchers believe the radio signal was created by interactions between the planet’s magnetic field and the star. How strong radio waves occurIn order for the radio waves to be detectable on Earth, they must be very strong, the researchers said. “This research shows not only that this particular rocky exoplanet likely has a magnetic field but provides a promising method to find more.”

[1/3] An Icefin is seen in the water as scientists work in the field at the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica in this undated handout picture obtained by Reuters on February 14, 2023. Becka Bower/Cornell University/Handout via REUTERSMEXICO CITY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Scientists studying Antarctica's vast Thwaites Glacier - nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier - say warm water is seeping into its weak spots, worsening melting caused by rising temperatures, two papers published in Nature journal showed on Wednesday. As part of the International Thwaites Glacier collaboration - the biggest field campaign ever attempted in Antarctica - a team of 13 U.S. and British scientists spent about six weeks on the glacier in late 2019 and early 2020. "Warm water is getting into the weakest parts of the glacier and making it worse," Schmidt told Reuters. Scientists have previously depended on satellite images to show the behavior of the ice, making it difficult to get granular details.

☆ Some Neanderthals couldn't smell their own stink, suggests a new study recreating early humans' noses
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Meanwhile, one group of a related species — Neanderthals — developed a mutation that could have spared them the smell of their own body odors. It's a popular idea that humans have a bad sense of smell, as compared with dogs, for instance. Will Oliver/PA Images/Getty"We have to really understand ourselves within our own context," rather than comparing humans to dogs or monkeys, as previous research on smell receptors has done, Hoover said. To Hoover's surprise, the Neanderthals, Denisovan, and humans all appeared to have the same repertoire of smells. More research like it, with more samples of ancient genomes, could reveal a clearer picture of Neanderthal and Denisovan life.

☆ ‘Galactic Panorama’ of Milky Way Details 3.3 Billion Celestial Objects
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Talal Ansari | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Astronomers have identified 3.32 billion celestial objects in the Milky Way in unprecedented detail. The galactic panorama of stars, gas, dust and a supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* was captured by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Dark Energy Camera on a 4-meter telescope. It’s housed at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in northern Chile, which sits at an altitude of 7,200 feet, allowing for one of the clearest views of the night sky.

☆ Amid California's stormy weather, it feels like El Niño and La Niña have switched roles
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dennis-Romero-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Dennis Romero | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SAN DIEGO — In a La Niña year, usually associated with dry and warm weather, California has been displaying elements of El Niño: big waves, snowcapped mountains and flooded coastal streets. La Niña this year looks like the El Niño he used to know. "This storm pattern in Southern California is not what we typically expect for a La Niña year," Yu said. "It is more like a winter rainfall pattern we would expect in Southern California during an El Niño year." That's La Niña.

☆ Blood Falls gushes red water from Antarctica's ice. It took scientists 106 years to figure out what causes its color.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

"Among the big questions here are 'how does an ecosystem function below glaciers? ', 'How are they able to persist below hundreds of meters of ice and live in permanently cold and dark conditions for extended periods of time, in the case of Blood Falls, over millions of years?," Jill Mikucki, a microbiologist and the study's lead author, said in a press release. Blood Falls overlooking Lake Bonney. Peter West / NSFSource: National Science Foundation

☆ A man was arrested after his female colleague said he was suffocating her at a National Science Foundation base in Antarctica. Assault and harassment on the bases are considered a problem per a report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A man at a National Science Foundation base in Antarctica was charged with assaulting a female colleague. Officials charged Stephen Tyler Bieneman with assault within the maritime and territorial jurisdiction, according to a criminal complaint filed on December 12. Assault, especially sexual assault against women, has been long documented in the remote base of Antarctica. Over 70% of female respondents and nearly 50% of male respondents said sexual harassment is a problem within the US Antarctic Program, while 47% of female respondents and 33% of male respondents said sexual assault is a problem. "Every woman I knew down there had an assault or harassment experience that had occurred on ice," one person said in the report.

☆ New bill will force Twitter, TikTok and other social media platforms to increase transparency by sharing internal data
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Wednesday aimed at increasing transparency for Twitter , Facebook and other social media companies as lawmakers debate whether to ban TikTok. The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act is intended to make the companies' internal data more accessible to the public by requiring the submission of necessary data to independent researchers. Under the proposal, social media companies would be compelled to provide internal, privacy-protected data to researchers who've been approved by the National Science Foundation, an independent agency. The bill protects researchers from legal liabilities associated with automatic data collection if certain privacy safeguards are followed. Earlier this month, lawmakers floated a bill to ban the popular social media platform TikTok in the U.S. after years of speculation about the Chinese government's influence on ByteDance, the China-based company that owns TikTok.

☆ How to Clean and Care for Your Coffee Maker, According to Experts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Whether you use a drip coffee maker or a pod machine, here’s the best advice from pros to keep your appliance buildup-free and running smoothly. Urnex Coffee Maker and Espresso Machine Cleaner Cleancaf Powder $23 at AmazonAffresh Coffee Maker Cleaner Tablets $9 at AmazonGiuliano likes commercial descalers as an alternative option, for their simplicity. We tried a few popular ones, and Urnex Coffee Machine Cleaning Powder came out on top. Affresh Coffee Maker Cleaning Tablets work similarly, though the tabs take a few extra minutes to fully dissolve. (Again, you can get away with descaling less often—every two or three months—if you make coffee using low-mineral water.)

☆ Pictures of the year: Space
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Jeremy Schultz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The first image of Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short), the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which linked together radio observatories across the planet to form a single...moreThe first image of Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short), the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array which linked together radio observatories across the planet to form a single "Earth-sized" virtual telescope. The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun. EHT Collaboration/National Science FoundationClose

☆ FCC authorizes SpaceX to begin deploying up to 7,500 next-generation Starlink satellites
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Federal Communications Commission issued a key authorization to Elon Musk's SpaceX on Thursday, granting approval for the company to move forward with launching up to 7,500 next-generation satellites in its Starlink internet network. "Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen 2 Starlink," the FCC wrote in the order. The FCC did not grant SpaceX's full application, which included deployment of nearly 30,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, and it placed some conditions on the company's plan to deploy the satellites. The FCC imposed a limit on the number of satellites in SpaceX's second-generation of the Starlink constellation, also known as Gen2, in order "to address concerns about orbital debris and space safety." To date SpaceX has launched about 3,500 first-generation Starlink satellites into orbit.

Drone Amplified, a Nebraska-based startup, is using unmanned aerial technology to improve one of the oldest and most-effective methods of preventing wildfires: prescribed burns. “Then you have helicopters with a whole crew on board, flying really low and slow over the fire,” he added of other methods for prescribed burns. The drones allow firefighters to work at a distance from flames, according to Detweiler, and in areas that are difficult to reach due to terrain or visibility. Precision is a critical element when conducting prescribed burns, because it is crucial for preventing fire escapes. Two recent controlled burns in New Mexico escaped and led to the state’s largest wildfire on record.

☆ A U.S. Research Station in Antarctica Is Stopping Travel After Covid-19 Outbreak
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Joseph De Avila | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The National Science Foundation is shutting down travel to McMurdo Station in Antarctica after 10% of the population tested positive for Covid-19. All travel to the U.S. outpost on Antarctica will be paused for the next two weeks due to the outbreak, the National Science Foundation said over the weekend. The halt on travel doesn’t apply to essential travel for health and safety reasons, the foundation said.

A Covid outbreak at an American scientific research station in Antarctica has forced U.S. officials to temporarily halt all travel to the remote outpost. The agency confirmed that 10% of the research station’s population have tested positive for Covid during this recent outbreak. There are 885 people currently living and working at McMurdo Station. Though the station operates year-round, many scientists typically travel to McMurdo in November for field research during Antarctica’s summer season. It’s not yet clear what, if any, impact the outbreak could have on research and operations at the outpost.

☆ At one of Earth's most remote research stations, Covid is still a problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

An outbreak of Covid at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica has disrupted life for researchers and support staffers at the southern end of the world. The research station has a population of 885, the statement said, meaning more than 8% of those have tested positive for the coronavirus so far. The outbreak is a reminder that Covid is still a threat to close-knit workplaces and that the virus is still roiling scientific research in remote sites. Because McMurdo is such a remote location, stringent measures were implemented during past field seasons to keep Covid from circulating. “As COVID cases and population at McMurdo Station continue to increase, individuals may be assigned to rooms with COVID positive roommates.”The email encouraged physical distancing and the use of masks.

☆ World-renowned Puerto Rico telescope won't be rebuilt after collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The National Science Foundation announced Thursday that it will not rebuild a renowned radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which was one of the world’s largest until it collapsed nearly two years ago. Instead, the agency issued a solicitation for the creation of a $5 million education center at the site that would promote programs and partnerships related to science, technology, engineering and math. The decision was mourned by scientists around the world who used the telescope at the Arecibo Observatory for years to search for asteroids, planets and extraterrestrial life. The education component is very important,” said James Moore, assistant director for education and human resource directorate at NSF. He said by phone that one of the agency’s priorities is to make STEM more accessible and inclusive and that the proposed education center would fill that need.

☆ Now Even Science Grants Must Bow to ‘Equity and Inclusion’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Lawrence Krauss | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

America’s largest research funder in physical sciences isn’t the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or the National Science Foundation. It’s the Energy Department’s Office of Science, which gives money to university programs throughout the country and oversees the 10 major national laboratories, from Livermore to Los Alamos. Its brief includes energy and research into fundamental questions: the structure of matter, the nature of the cosmos, high-energy and nuclear physics with large accelerators, materials physics with X-ray synchrotrons, fusion and advanced scientific computers. And now, social justice.

☆ NASA spacecraft closes in on asteroid for head-on collision
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A NASA spacecraft closed in on an asteroid at blistering speed Monday in an unprecedented dress rehearsal for the day a killer rock menaces Earth. The galactic grand slam was set to occur at a harmless asteroid 7 million miles (9.6 million kilometers) away, with the spacecraft named Dart plowing into the rock at 14,000 mph (22,500 kph). The $325 million mission is the first attempt to shift the position of an asteroid or any other natural object in space. The spacecraft packed a scant 1,260 pounds (570 kilograms), compared with the asteroid's 11 billion pounds (5 billion kilograms). Monday's dramatic action aside, the world must do a better job of identifying the countless space rocks lurking out there, warned the foundation's executive director, Ed Lu, a former astronaut.

☆ Judge tosses most charges against Kansas researcher
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

A federal judge on Tuesday threw out three of four convictions against a Kansas researcher accused of illegally concealing work he was doing at a Chinese university while working at the University of Kansas, leaving only a conviction for making a false statement on a form. A jury convicted researcher Feng “Franklin” Tao in April on three counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements. He was accused of not disclosing that he was working for Fuzhou University in China while employed at the Kansas university. She upheld the making a false statement conviction and denied Tao’s request for a new trial on that count. She said Tao did make a false statement to Kansas on a conflict of interest statement he submitted to the university in 2018.

REUTERS/Rony Levinson/FilesMAAGAN MICHAEL, Israel, Sept 22 (Reuters) - An ancient shipwreck found off the shore of Israel and loaded with cargo from all over the Mediterranean shows that traders from the West still came to port even after the Islamic conquest of the Holy Land, researchers say. The excavation is backed by the Israel Science Foundation, Honor Frost Foundation and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University. SHIP GRAVEYARD IN SHALLOW SEASThe coast of Israel is abundant with ships that sank over the millennia. A storm might shift the sands and expose a relic, which is what happened with the new discovery at Maagan Michael. Some of the cargo bore symbols of the Christian Byzantine church and others had writing in Arabic.

FILE PHOTO - Feng "Franklin" Tao, a professor at the University of Kansas, appears in an undated handout photo provided by the school. Kelsey Kimberlin/University of Kansas/Handout via REUTERSSept 20 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday tossed most of a University of Kansas chemical engineering professor's conviction for concealing work he did in China while conducting U.S. government-funded research, in the latest setback for a crackdown on Chinese influence within American academia. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in Kansas City, Kansas, ruled prosecutors presented insufficient evidence to support Feng "Franklin" Tao's conviction on three wire fraud counts in April by a jury in her courtroom. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterProsecutors had accused him of concealing his affiliation with Fuzhou University in China from the University of Kansas and two federal agencies that provided grant funding for the professor's research. read more"This will hopefully drive a final stake through the heart of these China Initiative cases," Peter Zeidenberg, Tao's lawyer, said regarding Tuesday's ruling.

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