Science - strawberry float YEAH

Alvin Flummux wrote:I wonder if this DeepMind AI can be put to use decoding the as-yet-indecipherable Harappan (Indus Valley) texts, or the Voynich Manuscript?

Alvin Flummux wrote:I wonder if this DeepMind AI can be put to use decoding the as-yet-indecipherable Harappan (Indus Valley) texts, or the Voynich Manuscript?

Ironhide wrote:

Alvin Flummux wrote:I wonder if this DeepMind AI can be put to use decoding the as-yet-indecipherable Harappan (Indus Valley) texts, or the Voynich Manuscript?

I thought that was now considered to be either an elaborate hoax or possibly just the rambling jottings of a madman.

Xeno wrote:In sad news Arecibo radio telescope has fully collapsed. Another cable snapped taking the whole platform down.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... uerto-rico

BBC News wrote:The UK is to launch a "high-risk" science agency to look for ground-breaking discoveries.

The agency, Aria, will be run along the lines of US equivalents that were instrumental in the creation of the internet and GPS.

Aria, which has £800m funding over four years, will have a "higher tolerance for failure than is normal", the government said.

Labour said the government needed to clarify what the agency would do.

The new body - the Advanced Research & Invention Agency (Aria) - would fund "high-risk, high-reward" scientific research, the government said.

But the amount of funding it will get is a fraction of the money pumped into existing government research bodies such as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

For 2020-21 alone, the government has allocated £10.36bn for its research programmes and bodies.

Nevertheless, the government said that Aria would "help to cement the UK's position as a global science superpower".

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the new agency would "drive forward the technologies of tomorrow" by "stripping back unnecessary red tape".

"From the steam engine to the latest artificial intelligence technologies, the UK is steeped in scientific discovery. Today's set of challenges - whether disease outbreaks or climate change - need bold, ambitious and innovative solutions.

"Led independently by our most exceptional scientists, this new agency will focus on identifying and funding the most cutting-edge research and technology at speed," Mr Kwarteng said.

Boris Johnson's former senior adviser Dominic Cummings was a prominent supporter of "blue-sky" thinking by small groups of scientists, saying in 2019 funding should be given to "high-risk high-payoff visions".

Aria will be modelled on the influential US Advanced Research Projects Agency (Arpa), which supported research that led to the internet and GPS, and its successor Darpa, which funded the precursors to today's coronavirus vaccines.

Science and innovation minister Amanda Solloway said: "To rise to the challenges of the 21st Century, we need to equip our R&D community with a new scientific engine - one that embraces the idea that truly great successes come from taking great leaps into the unknown."

Recruitment for a chief executive and chair for the agency will begin in the coming weeks.

Labour shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said the agency needed to have a clear mandate and to be subject to Freedom of Information laws, to ensure transparency of funding.

"Labour has long called for investment in high ambition, high risk science," he said. "But government must urgently clarify the mission and mandate of this new organisation, following strong engagement with the UK's science base - those closest to the work."

It claims the tech could "quadruple" mobile phone battery life, and phones might only need to be charged every four days.

Peter Crisp wrote:When I was a kid lasers were the big thing in science and we were told they'd be everywhere.

Now it's the future and where are the bloody lasers?
Where's my laser-powered hyper PC or laser defence grid for my lean to greenhouse?

Peter Crisp wrote:When I was a kid lasers were the big thing in science and we were told they'd be everywhere.

Now it's the future and where are the bloody lasers?

Victor Mildew wrote:Did anyone see the colour of the moon last night? It was almost red.

Preezy wrote:

Victor Mildew wrote:Did anyone see the colour of the moon last night? It was almost red.

I didn't, but all of the enemies I'd killed in the next estate over had respawned this morning