As a network trains, it tends to learn more complex functions, and the discrepancy between the expected output and the actual one starts falling for training data. Even better, this discrepancy, known as loss, also starts going down for test data, which is new data not used in training. But at some point, the model… Continue reading How Do Machines ‘Grok’ Data?
Geometers Engineer New Tools to Wrangle Spacecraft Orbits
You can create a graph with the angle as the x-axis and the speed as the y-axis. But since traveling 360 degrees brings you back to the start, you can sew together the vertical lines where x is zero degrees and where x is 360 degrees. This makes a cylinder. The cylinder doesn’t directly reflect… Continue reading Geometers Engineer New Tools to Wrangle Spacecraft Orbits
The Baghdad Battery (Advanced Technology? Out of Place Artifact? OOPART?)
Podcast: Download MYS308: Some are convinced that an ancient clay pot found in Iraq is an electric battery made 2,000 years ago. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine the claim and whether it might be advanced, ancient technology or even evidence of extraterrestrial contact. Get all new episodes automatically and for free: Follow by Email… Continue reading The Baghdad Battery (Advanced Technology? Out of Place Artifact? OOPART?)
Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide.
Does finding this skin-to-brain pathway have any medical implications? Yes, the skin is a good therapeutic target. It’s accessible and presents a direct highway to the part of the brain that makes us feel good. What if we could turn on these neurons with a skin cream to improve mental health — say, to offset… Continue reading Pleasure or Pain? He Maps the Neural Circuits That Decide.
Why Fatal Police Shootings Aren’t Declining: Some Uncomfortable Facts
When Dexter Reed died in a shootout with Chicago police on March 21, the incident was quickly grafted onto a narrative that began in 2014 after a policeman killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. – namely, that the U.S. faces an epidemic of violence by unbridled cops who do not believe black lives matter. “Killing… Continue reading Why Fatal Police Shootings Aren’t Declining: Some Uncomfortable Facts
Hopes of Big Bang Discoveries Ride on a Future Spacecraft
The theory has its flaws. For instance, the mass of the Higgs boson — the component of the Standard Model that determines the masses of other particles — is frustratingly “unnatural.” It appears arbitrary, and puzzlingly small compared to the far greater energy scales of the universe. Moreover, the Standard Model offers no explanation for… Continue reading Hopes of Big Bang Discoveries Ride on a Future Spacecraft
Impeachment ‘Whistleblower’ Was in the Loop of Biden-Ukraine Affairs That Trump Wanted Probed
Above, Vice President Biden meets ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at the White House in June 2016 as his Ukraine adviser Eric Ciaramella (right) looks on. By Paul Sperry, RealClearInvestigationsApril 17, 2024 The ‘whistleblower’ who sparked Donald Trump’s first impeachment was deeply involved in the political maneuverings behind Biden-family business schemes in Ukraine that Trump… Continue reading Impeachment ‘Whistleblower’ Was in the Loop of Biden-Ukraine Affairs That Trump Wanted Probed
NASA’s Voyager 1 Is Bound for the Great Beyond
In the fall of last year, one of NASA’s most venerable spacecraft started beaming home nonsense. Its usual string of 1’s and 0’s—binary code that collectively told of its journey into the unknown—became suddenly unintelligible. Some 15 billion miles from Earth, beyond the protective bubble blown by the sun and in interstellar space, Voyager 1… Continue reading NASA’s Voyager 1 Is Bound for the Great Beyond
Math Can’t Solve Gerrymandering
Math Can’t Solve Gerrymandering Researchers use powerful geometrical methods to try fixing unfair districts. That alone isn’t enough; we need to fight the values behind gerrymandering By Matthew R. Francis Voters cast their ballots at a polling station inside the Adamsville Baptist Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, US, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. This year’s… Continue reading Math Can’t Solve Gerrymandering
Overexposure Distorted the Science of Mirror Neurons
In the summer of 1991, the neuroscientist Vittorio Gallese was studying how movement is represented in the brain when he noticed something odd. He and his research adviser, Giacomo Rizzolatti, at the University of Parma were tracking which neurons became active when monkeys interacted with certain objects. As the scientists had observed before, the same… Continue reading Overexposure Distorted the Science of Mirror Neurons