So we’re still stuck in 20th century concepts about artificial intelligence (AI), eh? Sean Captain’s February 21, 2020 article (for Fast Company) about the new AI exhibit in San Francisco suggests that artists can help us revise our ideas (Note: Links have been removed), Though we’re well into the age of machine learning, popular culture is stuck with a 20th century notion of artificial intelligence. While algorithms are shaping our lives in real ways—playing on…

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From a February 22, 2020 Café Scientifque announcement (received via email), Our next café will happen on Tuesday, February 25th, 2020 at 7:30pm in the back room at Yagger’s Downtown (433 W Pender). Our speaker for the evening will be marine biologist Dr. Nick Wong who is associated with the conservation of invasive species [sic]. TITLE OF PRESENTATION: Invasive Species of the Lower Mainland 101 BRIEF ABSTRACT OF WORK: The Invasive Species Council of BC…

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[downloaded from http://arpico.ca/arpico/event/the-eyes-are-the-windows-to-the-mind–arpico-agm-2020] A February 12, 2020 announcement (received via email) from ARPICO (Society of Italian Researchers and Professionals in Western Canada) features an upcoming March 2020 meeting, ARPICO’s activity in 2020 will begin on Wednesday March 4th at the Italian Cultural Centre, Room 5, near the Museum & Art Gallery. We’re sure many of us have often heard the words “artificial intelligence” also known by its acronym “AI”, a concept that appears to be…

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The US Department of Agriculture has a very interesting funding opportunity, Higher Education Challenge (HEC) Grants Program, as evidenced by the Nano 2020 virtual reality (VR) classroom initiative. Before launching into the specifics of the Nano 2020 project, here’s a description of the funding program, Projects supported by the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program will: (1) address a state, regional, national, or international educational need; (2) involve a creative or non-traditional approach toward addressing that…

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This is a cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) story and in this story it’s derived from trees as opposed to banana skins or carrots or … A February 19, 2020 news item on Nanowerk announces CNC research from Northeastern University (Massachusetts, US), Nature isn’t always generous with its secrets. That’s why some researchers look into unusual places for solutions to our toughest challenges, from powerful antibiotics hiding in the guts of tiny worms, to swift robots inspired…

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Weaving a quantum processor from light is a jaw-dropping event (as far as I’m concerned). An October 17, 2019 news item on phys.org makes the announcement, An international team of scientists from Australia, Japan and the United States has produced a prototype of a large-scale quantum processor made of laser light.Based on a design ten years in the making, the processor has built-in scalability that allows the number of quantum components—made out of light—to scale…

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Graphene fatigue operates under the same principle as metal fatigue. Subject graphene to stress over and over and at some point it (just like metal) will fail. Scientists at the University of Toronto (Ontatrio, Canada) and Rice University (Texas, US) have determined just how much stress graphene can withstand before breaking according to a January 28, 2020 University of Toronto news release by Tyler Irving (also on EurekAlert but published on January 29, 2020), Graphene…

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No brain but it learns, it has about 720 sexes, and it travels at a rate of approximately 4 cm (1.6 inches) per hour, it is known as ‘le blob’. Fascinated when I first stumbled across the news, I had to post this piece but wish I hadn’t waited so long. An October 18, 2019 Thomson Reuters news item on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) news website features more information, A Paris zoo is showcasing a…

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While Valentine’s Day as celebrated here in Canada and elsewhere (but not everywhere) on February 14 of each year is usually marked in a purely joyous fashion,I’m going to focus on heartbreak. Here is one of the greatest versions of ‘What becomes of the broken-hearted?’ Then, repair follows in the context of some cardiac research coming out of Ireland, Thank you Joan Osborne and the Funk Brothers. If you haven’t seen ‘Standing in the shadows…

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Caption: Researchers at ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences demonstrated the first example of capacitance in a lipid-based biomimetic membrane, opening nondigital routes to advanced, brain-like computation. Credit: Michelle Lehman/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy The last time I wrote about memcapacitors (June 30, 2014 posting: Memristors, memcapacitors, and meminductors for faster computers), the ideas were largely theoretical; I believe this work is the first research I’ve seen on the topic. From an…

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