Science! (6 Viewers)

[Sailorsaint]

This is a nicely done summary of major scientific discoveries/milestones for 2022

Timeline: The Most Important Science Headlines of 2022

Join us as we look back at some of the most exciting, inspiring, and biggest science stories that made headlines in 2022.

www.visualcapitalist.com

That was largely depressing....sprinkled with awesome discoveries.

 

[Tapxe]

 

[bonnjer]

Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable?

An unexpected ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.

www.eurekalert.org

 

[porculator]

Riddle solved: Why was Roman concrete so durable?

An unexpected ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.

www.eurekalert.org

Cool discovery. Its funny to think that there are concrete buildings over there that have been standing for 2000 years but wouln't pass structural code here.

 

[Taurus]

Cool discovery. Its funny to think that there are concrete buildings over there that have been standing for 2000 years but wouln't pass structural code here.

Just the increase in speed is something to note. I can get my big concrete project done faster? Yes, please.

 

[Tapxe]

Does this mean Thor is now on planet?

CNN: Lightning in the 'cataclysmic' Tonga volcano eruption shattered 'all records'.

Lightning in the 'cataclysmic' Tonga volcano eruption shattered 'all records' | CNN

An annual report found that 2022 was a year of extremes for lightning, with more than 198 million lightning strokes observed in the US alone.

www.cnn.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Microsoft has unveiled an AI voice simulator capable of accurately immitating a person’s voice after listening to them speak for just three seconds.

The VALL-E language model was trained using 60,000 hours of English speech from 7,000 different speakers in order to synthesize “high-quality personalised speech” from any unseen speaker.

Once the artificial intelligence system has a person’s voice recording, it is able to make it sound like that person is saying anything. It is even able to imitate the original speaker’s emotional tone and acoustic environment.

“Experiment results show that VALL-E significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art zero-shot text to speech synthesis (TTS) system in terms of speech naturalness and speaker similarity,” a paper describing the system stated………

This new AI can simulate your voice from just 3 seconds of audio

VALL-E language model can even imitate the original speaker’s emotional tone using artificial intelligence

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Optimus Prime]

The global loss of pollinators is already causing about 500,000 early deaths a year by reducing the supply of healthy foods, a study has estimated.

Three-quarters of crops require pollination but the populations of many insects are in sharp decline. The inadequate pollination that results has caused a 3%-5% loss of fruit, vegetable and nut production, the research found. The lower consumption of these foods means about 1% of all deaths can now be attributed to pollinator loss, the scientists said.

The researchers considered deaths from heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers, all of which can be reduced with healthier diets. The study is the first to quantify the human health toll of insufficient wild pollinators……..

Global pollinator losses causing 500,000 early deaths a year – study

Insect declines mean reduced yields of healthy foods like fruit and vegetables and increased disease in people

www.theguardian.com

 

[Sailorsaint]

Microsoft has unveiled an AI voice simulator capable of accurately immitating a person’s voice after listening to them speak for just three seconds.

The VALL-E language model was trained using 60,000 hours of English speech from 7,000 different speakers in order to synthesize “high-quality personalised speech” from any unseen speaker.

Once the artificial intelligence system has a person’s voice recording, it is able to make it sound like that person is saying anything. It is even able to imitate the original speaker’s emotional tone and acoustic environment.

“Experiment results show that VALL-E significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art zero-shot text to speech synthesis (TTS) system in terms of speech naturalness and speaker similarity,” a paper describing the system stated………

This new AI can simulate your voice from just 3 seconds of audio

VALL-E language model can even imitate the original speaker’s emotional tone using artificial intelligence

www.independent.co.uk

I could see this causing a lot of trouble.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I could see this causing a lot of trouble.

this combined with deep fake technology could be very bad news in the future

it'll be a misinformation wonderland

 

[boutte]

I could see this causing a lot of trouble.

1984 is right around the corner. Combined with catastrophic climate change and melting snow caps, the resulting collapse in world wide economy, I'm glad I don't have that much time left.

 

[Crzycjunx76]

1984 is right around the corner. Combined with catastrophic climate change and melting snow caps, the resulting collapse in world wide economy, I'm glad I don't have that much time left.

I have to say recently I have wished I did not have much time left... both from the ills of the world and those in my own personal life.

I have kids though, so I can neither accept the inevitably of this world's downfall, nor be in a hurry to depart.

 

[boutte]

I have to say recently I have wished I did not have much time left... both from the ills of the world and those in my own personal life.

I have kids though, so I can neither accept the inevitably of this world's downfall, nor be in a hurry to depart.

Yeah that's a different story and I completely get it. I don't mean to say that I don't care because I won't be here. I do care a lot.
I'm only glad that I won't be around for the chaos and suffering. I don't have kids of my own but I do family and friends that I love and care about.

 

[bonnjer]

Lab-grown retinal eye cells make successful connections, open door for clinical trials to treat blindness

The most common retinal cell types forming synapses were photoreceptors – rods and cones – which are lost in diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, as well as in certain eye injuries.

news.wisc.edu

 

[Optimus Prime]

For years, scientists and health advocates have tried to bring attention to a secret source of air pollution sitting in 40 million homes around the United States — which jump-starts childhood asthma, increases the risk of respiratory problems, and emits planet warming-gasses.

It’s the gas stove.


And now, those efforts seem to be gaining traction. On Monday, Richard Trumka Jr., one of the four commissioners of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in an interview that the agency was considering a ban on gas stoves — or, at least, standards around the amount of toxic fumes such stoves can spew into Americans’ kitchens.

Some cities — including Los Angeles, Seattle and New York — have already moved to ban gas stoves in certain new homes and apartments.

Kathy Hochul (D), the governor of New York, has also proposed banning gas hookups, including for gas stoves, in new buildings in the entire state.


All cooking creates some form of air pollution. But gas stoves are burning natural gas, a mix of methane and other chemicals. That means that when a gas stove is on, it releases not only fine pieces of particulate matter that can invade the lungs, but also nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde — all of

which have been linked to various health risks.
Scientists have identified nitrogen dioxide, for example, as contributing to childhood onset of asthma and worsening asthma symptoms.

According to one study, children living in a household with gas stoves have a 42 percent increased likelihood of already having asthma and a 24 percent increased risk of developing asthma at some point in their lifetime.

Last week, scientists from the clean energy think tank RMI estimated in a peer-reviewed study that 12.7 percent of childhood asthmas could be attributed to living in a household with a gas stove.

Some scientists have compared the risks of gas stove use to having a smoker in the home…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/01/10/gas-stoves-ban-consumer-safety/