Advanced Concepts Team

"What if running the 26.2 miles of a marathon only felt like running 24.9 miles, or if you could improve your average running pace from 9:14 minutes/mile to 8:49 minutes/mile without weeks of training?"

I thought the point of running a marathon was to make the effort :)

New optics based computer architecture

"Publishing industry exerts too much influence over what scientists choose to study, which is ultimately bad for science itself"

On a related topic - a nice read written in 1939 from Abraham Flexner the founder of Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, home of some great minds on the "Usefulness of Useless Knowledge". Enjoy https://library.ias.edu/files/UsefulnessHarpers.pdf

This article is fantastic - starts already well with : "r IT not a curious fact that in a world steeped in irrational hatreds which threaten civilization itself, men and women-old and young-detach them-selves wholly or partly from the angry current of daily life to devote themselves to the cultivation ofbeauty, to the exten-sion ofknowledge, to the cure ofdisease, to the amelioration of suffering, just as though fanatics were not simultaneously engaged in spreading pain, ugliness, and suffering?" Could almost be written now

Loss of connectivity in the multisensory integration cortical areas after short term microgravity experience, which could explain astronauts decrease of performance in sensorimotor tasks and spatial working memory. However, the effect should wear off after a few days in microgravity and after adaptation to incongruent vestibular information. ISS experiment needed...

Why do we sleep? One answer could be: to clear waste products accumulated during the day. To prevent aging and neurodegeneration, the body must maintain homeostasis. What would happen if we experience chronic sleep loss? What would happen if microgravity impairs the cerebrospinal fluid to flush the brain? What would happen if cosmic radiations increase the amount of daily waste products?

Definite solution for our work space!!!!!

Absolutely :-) according to picture http://www.ufunk.net/gadgets/helmfon-casque-open-space/attachment/helmfon-casque-open-space-5/ we could squeeze three times as many researchers then :-)

Some work by DeepMind on applying reinforcement learning to teach a computer to navigate complex environments. Come for the science - stay for the video: https://goo.gl/8rTx2F

The first study of payments to Chinese scientists for publishing in high-impact journals has serious implications for the future of research

A new class of exotic materials could find its way into next-generation technologies that efficiently convert waste heat into electrical current according to new research. Both the exotic materials and the means by which they generate electricity rely on a hybrid of advanced concepts-including string theory combined with black holes combined with cutting-edge condensed matter physics.

Sounds spooky

Papers in the video description

Scientists have created bacteria covered in tiny semiconductors that generate a potential fuel source from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water

"...We show that any theory with a classical limit must contain entangled states, thus establishing entanglement as an inevitable feature of any theory superseding classical theory. "

The source is anonymous

On similar subject, but older http://www.businessinsider.com/nick-szabo-bitcoin-2014-4

Paper at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v548/n7669/full/nature23463.html?foxtrotcallback=true

A rocking bed might help you to fall asleep and maintain you in deep sleep!

While robots began assisting and replacing assembly line workers in automobile and airplane factories years ago, humans still reign supreme in satellite manufacturing. But that's slowly starting to change.

A tiny self-organized mesh full of artificial synapses recalls its experiences and can solve simple problems. Its inventors hope it points the way to devices that match the brain's energy-efficient computing prowess.

A new idea called the "information bottleneck" is helping to explain the puzzling success of today's artificial-intelligence algorithms - and might also explain how human brains learn.

With electrical signals, cells can organize themselves into complex societies and negotiate with other colonies.