Science

A first-of-its-kind experiment simulating the cosmos with ultracold potassium atoms suggests that in a curved, expanding universe pairs of particles pop up out of empty space Physics ...

‘The Canary in the Coal Mine’: Most Olympic Peninsula Glaciers Will Disappear by 2070 All around the world, glaciers are thinning and retreating, affecting communities that rely on them for culture, healthy ecosystems, tourism, and hydroelectricity. Glaciers in coastal mountain ranges, such as those on the Olympic Peninsula, are at higher risk of retreat due to a more moderate climate and lower elevation. As a result, glaciologists that study the region are racing to predict which glaciers, communities, and ecosystems are most at risk. Coastal ranges like those on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula are seeing a greater loss in glacial mass than their counte...

By David Stock An AI has performed with the BBC’s Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time.  In Robert Laidlow’s new composition, Silicon, different AI algorithms were used to help create each of the three movements of the piece, which the orchestra performed at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, UK on 29 October 2022.  “We’re so entangled with intelligent technology that I wanted to tackle this subject in my music,” says Laidlow, whose PhD explores this topic. In Silicon’s first movement, Laidlow used an AI called Musnet to generate sheet music.  For the second part he contacted Google Magenta, an AI team based in San Francisco whose DDSP-VST system he used to transform notes into different orchestral sounds. “It doesn’t always work perfectly, says Laidlow, creating all these “weird b...

We Are Running Out of Time to Pass the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act by Ezekiel Maben, Oliver Hegi, Mel Peh, and Courtney Federico |November 4, 2022 The United States faces an ongoing biodiversity crisis, worsened by climate change and the destruction of habitat. Twenty-three species of native plants and animals in the United States were declared extinct last year; hundreds of others are near extinction. This grim picture spreads beyond the most endangered species: wildlife populations globally have fallen by more than 60% on average since 1970. With the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA), Congress has an opp...