Humanity Redefined

Share this post

H+ Weekly - Issue #370

www.humanityredefined.com

Discover more from Humanity Redefined

Humanity Redefined sheds light on the bleeding edge of technology and how advancements in AI, robotics, and biotech can usher in abundance, expand humanity's horizons, and redefine what it means to be human.
Over 1,000 subscribers
Continue reading
Sign in

H+ Weekly - Issue #370

Conrad Gray
Jul 8, 2022
Share this post

H+ Weekly - Issue #370

www.humanityredefined.com
Share

View this email in your browser

This week - AI training speed increased twofold; autonomous drones that inspect UK's power grid; growing plants in the dark; and more!

Support the newsletter

MORE THAN A HUMAN

An Implantable Ice Pack Tries to Relieve Pain without Opioids
An age-old advice to apply cold to pain has found a new application in this implantable ice pack that can be applied directly to a single nerve. Unlike other such devices, this new one is smaller and can dissolve in the body after a couple of weeks. The device has been successfully tested in rats and it might find use in treating people for postsurgical pain or some other forms of localized pain.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

We’re Training AI Twice as Fast This Year as Last
According to the best measures we’ve got, a set of benchmarks called MLPerf, machine-learning systems can be trained nearly twice as quickly as they could last year.

BLOOM Is the Most Important AI Model of the Decade
There is a new large language model (LLM). Unlike models like GPT-3, Gopher or DALL-E, which all come from massive corporations, BLOOM is an LLM built by a group of AI researchers aimed to be fully open-source and to democratise access to LLM technology. "Open source and open science are the ultimate stages of technology. And we’re about to enter this new era for AI", writes Alberto Romano in this article.

Why business is booming for military AI startups
The war in Ukraine has added urgency to the drive to push more AI tools onto the battlefield. Those with the most to gain are startups such as Palantir, which are hoping to cash in as militaries race to update their arsenals with the latest technologies. But long-standing ethical concerns over the use of AI in warfare have become more urgent as the technology becomes more and more advanced, while the prospect of restrictions and regulations governing its use looks as remote as ever.

Generative Art Is Challenging What It Means to Be Human
AI challenges every area it enters. Art is no different. Artists who collaborate with machines are forcing new questions around intellectual property, process, and the value of art.

ROBOTICS

Autonomous Drones Could Soon Run the UK’s Energy Grid
Power transmission lines in the UK might soon be inspected by a swarm of autonomous drones. Sees.ai is working on such drones that can safely fly around pylons and take photos of them which then are sent to AI system for analysis.

Elements of Robotics
Elements of Robotics is a free entry-level robotics textbook and covers topics from sensors to motion to machine learning. It's a good starting point if you ever wanted to learn robotics.

Swarms of tiny robots could one day floss your teeth
Robotics researchers have found a way to automate another mundane task - brushing and flossing teeth. They have created microbots made from iron oxide nanoparticles that depending on the magnetic field can shapeshift into bristle-like structures that sweep away dental plaque or elongated strings that can slip between teeth like a length of floss.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

New Artificial Photosynthesis Method Grows Food With No Sunshine
Researchers have found a way to grow plants in complete darkness by skipping the light-dependent part of the photosynthesis process and "feeding" the plants with the resources needed to complete the process. They tried their method on several varieties of plants and measured the differences in growth efficiency as compared to regular photosynthesis. Green algae grew four times more efficiently, while yeast saw an 18-fold improvement.

This issue was brought to you by our awesome patrons Eric, Andrew, dux and Tom! You too can support the newsletter on Patreon.

Thank you for subscribing,
Conrad Gray (@conradthegray)

If you have any questions or suggestions, just reply to this email or tweet at @hplusweekly. I'd like to hear what do you think about H+ Weekly.

Follow H+ Weekly!

Share this post

H+ Weekly - Issue #370

www.humanityredefined.com
Share
Previous
Next
Comments
Top
New
Community

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 Humanity Redefined
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing