The Comics Section: Solving the Drone Mystery
The latest from Cagle Cartoons. Drones in December skies by Dave Granlund, PoliticalCartoons.co The post The Comics Section: Solving the Drone Mystery appeared first on TheHumanist.com. Source link
All posts tagged: Solving
AI that mimics human problem solving is a big advance – but comes with new risks and problems
OpenAI recently unveiled its latest artificial intelligence (AI) models, o1-preview and o1-mini (also referred to as “Strawberry”), claiming a significant leap in the reasoning capabilities of large language models (the technology behind Strawberry and OpenAI’s ChatGPT). While the release of Strawberry generated excitement, it also raised critical questions about its novelty, efficacy and potential risks. Central to this is the model’s ability to employ “chain-of-thought reasoning” – a method similar to a human using a scratchpad, or notepad, to write down intermediate steps when solving a problem. Chain-of-thought reasoning mirrors human problem solving by breaking down complex tasks into simpler, manageable sub-tasks. The use of scratchpad-like reasoning in large language models is not a new idea. The ability to perform chain-of-thought reasoning by AI systems not specifically trained to do so was first observed in 2022 by several research groups. These included Jason Wei and colleagues from Google Research and Takeshi Kojima and colleagues from the University of Tokyo and Google. Before these works, other researchers such as Oana Camburu from the University of Oxford …
Solving a 2,500-Year-Old Puzzle: How a Cambridge Student Cracked an Ancient Sanskrit Code
If you find yourself grappling with an intellectual problem that’s gone unsolved for millennia, try taking a few months off and spending them on activities like swimming and meditating. That very strategy worked for a Cambridge PhD student named Rishi Rajpopat, who, after a summer of non-research-related activities, returned to a text by the ancient grammarian, logician, and “father of linguistics” Pāṇini and found it newly comprehensible. The rules of its composition had stumped scholars for 2,500 years, but, as Rajpopat tells it in an article by Tom Almeroth-Williams at Cambridge’s website, “Within minutes, as I turned the pages, these patterns started emerging, and it all started to make sense.” Pāṇini composed his texts using a kind of algorithm: “Feed in the base and suffix of a word and it should turn them into grammatically correct words and sentences through a step-by-step process,” writes Almeroth-Williams. But “often, two or more of Pāṇini’s rules are simultaneously applicable at the same step, leaving scholars to agonize over which one to choose.” Or such was the case, at …
My first time doing tai chi: ‘It feels like my brain is solving a Rubik’s Cube’ | Australian lifestyle
For the first 15 minutes of my tai chi class, we remain entirely in one spot to warm up. From afar, it probably looks as though we’re standing with our arms by our side and then – in slow motion – lifting them in front of us to 90 degrees. But if you were to look inside my brain, you would see my synapses firing trying to keep up with the instructor’s directions to do things that can’t be seen. “Form the arches under your feet. Soften your knees, not bending,” says Angela, a tai chi instructor of 28 years. “Visualise the back of your knees. Relax there to relax your knee bones in front.” I realise I rarely direct thoughts to my knees (there hasn’t been much knee-d to before this), but again, before there’s time to dwell, there’s more to do. According to Angela, a successful hour of tai chi is an hour with no negative thoughts. “If your mind and body go together,” she says. “That’s all that matters.” ‘It turns out …
Solving enterprise AI governance with a data-centric approach
Eamonn O’Neill, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer at Lemongrass, discusses the challenges businesses face in securing and governing generative AI tools, proposing a strategy that integrates existing data governance policies. The approach that many businesses have taken to securing GenAI tools and services – and the data that powers them – has been a mess. Some organisations have become so wary of exposing sensitive information to GenAI services like ChatGPT that they block them altogether on their corporate networks – which is generally a kneejerk and ineffectual approach. Employees who want to use these services can easily access them in other ways, such as via their personal communications devices. In other cases, businesses have attempted to shape AI security and governance strategies around regulatory requirements. Because there has been minimal global regulatory guidance on GenAI to date, the result is often chaotic, ever-shifting AI governance policies that may or may not align with the mandates regulators eventually settle on. Here’s a better approach: use existing data security and governance policies as the foundation for managing …
Solving a century-old byline mystery
Who was “Atlanticus,” the writer who foreshadowed the Titanic disaster? Illustration by Matteo Giuseppe Pani. Sources: Getty. March 28, 2024, 1:23 PM ET This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic’s archives to contextualize the present and surface delightful treasures. Sign up here. “Do you like to know whom a book’s by?” E. M. Forster asks in a 1925 essay on the question of anonymity in literature and journalism. The practice is fine in fiction, he argues, but not in news writing. Forster, however, wasn’t in charge: His essay, which appeared in the November 1925 issue of The Atlantic, was followed by an article bylined “Anonymous.” Though our magazine withheld bylines only in its first few years (not unusual for publications at the time), unnamed or unidentified writers remained a frequent sighting in our archives well into the 20th century. Some people were seemingly allowed to mask their identity so they could poke fun: In 1963, two women used a single pen name to publish a spirited takedown of holiday cards. …
Solving the battery supply chain puzzle
With the expected five-to-ten-fold increase in demand for electric vehicles in the US by 2030, the US Government is committed to establishing a domestic battery supply chain that will require a complete overhaul of the industry. The obvious problem with this initiative is a battery supply chain barely exists in the United States today, and the majority of the focus has been on building end-value chain gigafactories, with 35 major projects currently planned or in construction, with minimal intentionality regarding essential raw materials in situ and early-stage processing. Into the void comes US Strategic Metals (USSM), which fashions itself as a unique one-stop shop green battery metals platform willing to do the hard yards in the ground as well as take on the significant challenges of processing and recycling. Stacy Hastie, Co-Founder and CEO, recently said: “The last time the world experienced a global energy revolution – from coal to oil – in the early 20th Century, the US was the global leader in this transition. That leadership position helped fuel the American Century and …
Breadfruit may be the key to solving world hunger, study finds
[Jan. 19, 2024: JD Shavit, The Brighter Side of News] Despite having “fruit” in its name, breadfruit is starchy and seedless, playing a culinary role more like a potato. Closely related to jackfruit, the nutrient-rich food is high in fiber, vitamins and minerals. (CREDIT: Nyree Zerega) In the midst of escalating concerns surrounding climate change’s impact on global food security, a promising solution emerges – the humble breadfruit. Researchers from Northwestern University have unveiled a groundbreaking study suggesting that breadfruit, a starchy tree fruit native to the Pacific islands, may be the key to mitigating hunger and food scarcity in a changing world. In a world where the effects of climate change are increasingly evident, many staple crops such as rice, corn, and soybeans are facing a grim future. The recent study has brought to light the resilience of breadfruit, offering hope that this versatile fruit could become a vital source of sustenance in an uncertain world. Published in the prestigious journal PLOS Climate, this study by Northwestern researchers provides an optimistic outlook for breadfruit …
How the Mighty Heat Pump Is Helping (but Not Solving) EVs’ Cold Weather Problem
Perhaps you’ve heard: In many places, it’s really very cold out. Deep freezes hit wide bands of the US this week; snow and freezing rain have swept across northern Europe. This is all less than ideal for electric vehicles, which historically have not loved the cold. A handful of Chicago Tesla Supercharger stations made headlines this week after some EVs affected by the temperatures completely ran out of battery and had to be towed. Electric vehicles have a hard time in cold weather for two reasons. One is chemical: Lithium-ion batteries, the kind that make electric cars (and phones) go, rely on lithium ions moving from their negatively charged conductors (cathodes) to the positively charged ones (anodes). Cold makes the ions move more slowly to the anode, meaning it’s harder to charge a chilly battery than a toasty one. The other reason is more practical: Cold weather means car occupants are more likely to turn on the heat, and the heaters used to warm up a car draw power from the electric battery. This reduces …
California Is Solving Its Water Problems by Flooding Its Best Farmland
“I remember taking so many tours out there,” said Rentner, “and all the public funding agency partners would go, ‘OK, so you have a million dollars in hand, and you still need how many? How are you going to get there?’” “I don’t know,” Rentner told them in response. “We’re just gonna keep writing proposals, I guess.” Even once River Partners bought the land in 2012, Rentner found herself in a permitting nightmare: Each grant came with a separate set of conditions for what River Partners could and couldn’t do with the money, the deed to Lyons’ tract came with its own restrictions, and the government required the project to undergo several environmental reviews to ensure it wouldn’t harm sensitive species or other land. River Partners also had to hold dozens of listening sessions and community meetings to quell the fears and skepticism of nearby farmers and residents who worried about shutting down a farm to flood it on purpose. Floodbase Illustration: Floodbase Floodbase Illustration: Floodbase It took more than a decade for River Partners …