Virtual reality is helping to boost scientific engagement
A video titled, “How to Use Virtual Reality to Enhance Science Communication and Public Engagement in Scientists”, has been shared by a master’s student from India. “I hope that through showing and not just telling, virtual reality will inspire more young people to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” she said.
The llama 2 coding version has been released by Meta
US-based AI company Meta has released a tool called Code Llama, built on top of its llama 2 large language model, to generate new code and human-written work. The tool can be used by anyone to download, modify, and reuse the model. It uses a version of Open AI’s GPT, the large language model behind ChatGPT.
Code Llama is Meta’s own artificial intelligence code-writing tool
Meta has released a tool called Code Llama, built on top of its Llama 2 language model, to generate new code and human-written work. It was powered by GPT-4 and can be updated by Meta’s Copilot, which is used to write and check code. “It’s exciting that they’re releasing the weights to the community,” Stanford postdoctoral researcher Deepak Kumar said.
paralysed people use brain-reading devices to talk
Researchers claim brain-computer interfaces can decode speech at 62 words per minute and 78 words per minute, respectively. In another study, they worked with a 47-year-old woman, Ann, who lost her ability to speak after a brainstem stroke 18 years ago. They used brain-computer interfaces that translated neural signals into text or words spoken by synthetic voices.
Japan will release treated radioactive water at the accident site
The release of radioactive waste into the ocean from Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant is “re repugnant”, a researcher said. “Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen…it moves quickly through biological organisms. If it’s done properly, then the doses that people get and the doses that the ecosystem get…just won’t be significant, in my opinion,” he added.
India is the first nation to land a space craft near the moon’s south pole
Russia’s Luna 25 mission crashed into the Moon just before it was going to attempt to land at the southern pole, just days before several missions are headed there in the coming years. This would have been the first Russian landing on the moon in 47 years. The landing “gives confidence to configure missions to go to the Moon, Mars, Venus, maybe even asteroids”, ISRO Chairman S Madhavan Nair said.
Paraplegic people can use brain-reading devices to talk
Researchers from Stanford and the University of California at San Francisco claim to have accelerated the translation of neural activity into text using implanted electrodes in patients with acute lateral sclerosis. The study’s results showed an error rate of 9.6% when the implant limited the number of words to 50 instead of 125,000. “It is a proof of concept,” lead researcher Edward Chang said.
India and Russia have crashed on the moon
India and China on Thursday successfully landed their lunar lander, Luna-25, on the Moon’s south pole. The spacecraft will help India and China to better understand permanently shadowed lunar craters that contain water deposits. India had launched its first Moon mission in 2009 but the mission ended in failure after it failed to land on the lunar surface.
India is trying to claim first successful southern pole landing in the latest moon race
ISRO on Tuesday launched the Chandrayaan-3 lunar probe to the impact crater at the Moon’s south polar region. Chandrayaan-3’s lander and rover will try to land on the Moon’s south polar region and examine the properties of regolith and pockets of water ice. A year-long mission to the impact crater was intended by the Russia’s space agency.
Q Acoustics 5020 has a clear, stylish and limited bass
Gizmodo said the audio quality of the 5.1-channel speakers in the Q Acoustics M20 Bluetooth speaker range is the highest it has ever experienced. “The M20 Bluetooth speakers are rated 8 out of 10 on WIRED,” the report added. It further said that the speakers are also capable of playing music from a portable device without the need for cables.