artificial

Artificial intelligence: Simple mathematical trick could slash AI development time in half

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Training artificial intelligences to identify faces or digitise text involves thousands or millions of iterations of a two-stage process known as back-propagation, but a new approach could save time, energy and computing power Technology 10 March 2022 By Matthew Sparkes Cutting training time for AI could make face recognition systems more efficient iStockphoto Artificial intelligence … Read more

Artificial intelligence can help historians restore ancient texts from damaged inscriptions

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An AI tool developed by DeepMind can help historians restore ancient Greek texts with 72 per cent accuracy, and date inscriptions to within 30 years of their true age Humans 9 March 2022 By Carissa Wong The Celsus Library in the ancient city of Ephesus, Turkey Mazur Travel/Shutterstock An artificial intelligence algorithm developed as part … Read more

How artificial intelligence can help us figure out how life began

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How inanimate molecules first arranged themselves into life is one of the great mysteries. The answer could lie in a systematic exploration of chemical space Technology 2 March 2022 By Katharine Sanderson Graham Carter How did Earth turn from a sterile ball of rock into a lush, green world of living things? This question of … Read more

Artificial leaves: Bionic photosynthesis as good as the real thing

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Converting sunlight into liquid fuel through artificial photosynthesis would be a huge environmental victory – and the latest prototypes look surprisingly effective Technology 2 March 2022 By Katharine Sanderson Graham Carter Our insatiable appetite for energy has got us into a mess, with the burning of fossil fuels releasing greenhouse gases that are heating the … Read more

Oceans: Scientists want to restore the seas with artificial whale poo

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Experiments will soon explore ways to emulate the fertilising effect of whale waste, which fuels blooms of algae that feed fish and lock away carbon Life 22 February 2022 By Adam Vaughan A sperm whale Reinhard Dirscherl / Alamy AN INTERNATIONAL project to see whether humans can artificially emulate the benefits of whale faeces for ocean ecosystems will … Read more

Nuclear fusion: Record-breaking experiment suggests we really could build artificial suns

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The Joint European Torus has sustained a super-hot plasma for 5 seconds, producing 59 megajoules of energy and suggesting that larger experiments could produce more power than is put in Technology 9 February 2022 By Adam Vaughan A white hot river of heat winds around the bottom of a doughnut-shaped machine before the searing light … Read more

New artificial enamel is harder and more durable than the real thing | Science

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Enamel enables teeth to take a stomping and keep on chomping. The hardest tissue in the human body is tough enough to resist dents, yet elastic enough not to crack during decades of jaw smashing. It’s so incredible that scientists haven’t created a substitute that can match it—until now. Researchers say they have designed an … Read more

Giant pandas are more likely to reject cubs born via artificial insemination

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Conservationists have used artificial insemination to help grow giant panda populations, but data from decades of births show that panda mothers are less likely to care for cubs born this way Life 28 January 2022 By Sophie Freeman A female giant panda at the Bifengxia Panda Base in China Imaginechina Limited/Alamy Giant pandas that become … Read more

Everyday objects can run artificial intelligence programs | Science

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Imagine using any object around you—a frying pan, a glass paperweight—as the central processor in a neural network, a type of artificial intelligence that loosely mimics the brain to perform complex tasks. That’s the promise of new research that, in theory, could be used to recognize images or speech faster and more efficiently than computer … Read more