Nothing to See Here

Scientists clarify the neuronal basis of the mathematical concept of 'zero'

Sep 2024, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-scientists-neuronal-basis-mathematical-concept.html

"Unlike other numbers such as one, two or three, which represent countable quantities, zero means the absence of something countable and at the same time still has a numerical value."

They showed neurosurgical patients, who had had hair-thin microelectrodes inserted into their temporal lobes at the UKB in preparation for surgery, numerical values from zero to nine. The numerical values were shown as Arabic numerals on the one hand and as sets of dots on the other—including an empty set.

"Meanwhile, we were able to measure the activity of individual nerve cells and actually found neurons that signaled zero. Such neurons responded to either the Arabic numeral zero or the empty set, but not to both."

"So at the neuronal level, the concept of zero is not encoded as a separate category 'nothing,' but as a numerical value integrated with other, countable numerical values at the lower end of the number line." 

"Despite this integration, the empty set is encoded differently from other numbers at the neuronal population level, especially in the case of point sets. This could explain why the recognition of the empty set also takes longer at the behavioral level than for other small numbers."

FYI - The department of epileptology is for studying epilepsy.

via the Department of Epileptology at University Hospital Bonn, the University of Bonn and the University of Tübingen: Esther F. Kutter et al, Single-neuron representation of nonsymbolic and symbolic number zero in the human medial temporal lobe, Current Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.041

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.041

Image credit: AI Art - Tunnel of Numbers - 2025

Sub-contracting the Subconscious

 

People just don't think like they used to!

Increased AI use linked to eroding critical thinking skills

Jan 2025, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2025-01-ai-linked-eroding-critical-skills.html

Cognitive Offloading - where individuals rely on the tools to reduce mental effort; questions arise about long-term impacts on memory, attention, and problem-solving.

Younger participants showed higher dependence ... 

It's hard, or near impossible, not to remember that Socrates warned of the alphabet and reading as having the same effect on the youth of ancient Greece. Yet still, this is the recommendation:

The study's findings, if replicated, could have significant implications for educational policy and the integration of AI in professional settings. Schools and universities might want to emphasize critical thinking exercises and metacognitive skill development to counterbalance AI reliance and cognitive effects.

I am not marketing for the AI takeover in any way, but how about the idea that instead of these "tools" causing a decline in critical thinking, they might be allowing us to choose where we use critical thinking...like they might be allowing us to better decide when to decide, and when to leave it to the robots. It's likely that the majority of people, no matter their age, will not ask a robot how to best take care of their mom after their dad dies. Or whether to tell their spouse they've been unfaithful.

Maybe we're actually wasting precious brainpower on stupid decision all day; maybe we're wasting our most important skill over all skills, that of critical thinking, that which sets us apart from every other organism on this planet. And maybe it's the wasted decisions, the wasted thoughts, that we're getting rid of. And maybe it's a sign that the critical thinking tests we use today are actually part of that waste, and we need to devise even more complex surveys to detect the even more complex thinking that we can attain now that we've dumped all the less important stuff. 

I mean what happened to the youth of ancient Greece? How were we measuring their intelligence and how might it have changed? Could you imagine what the test would have looked like? And what it would leave out that today we take for granted as basic thinking skills?

via Swiss Business School: Michael Gerlich, AI Tools in Society: Impacts on Cognitive Offloading and the Future of Critical Thinking, Societies (2025). DOI: 10.3390/soc15010006

https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/soc15010006

Image credit: AI Art - Guy with Megaphone Talking into Laptop - 2023

Post Script:

New essay warns of dangers in measurement illiteracy

Jan 2025, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2025-01-essay-dangers-illiteracy.html

"From the American eugenics movement to the 2008 market crash, history is replete with episodes showing the adverse impact that failures of measurement literacy can exact on the enterprise of science and everyday human affairs."

This essay is a good reminder of how complicated science is. 

via City College of New York's Grove School of Engineering and several others: Arthur Paul Pedersen et al, Discourse on measurement, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2401229121

https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2401229121

Automatic Updates to Your Spacetime Matrix

You would think something as universal as time would be less susceptible to major changes like revised definitions or refined measurements. But no, that's not how it works. 

Awareness without time? A deep look into timelessness in deep meditative states

Dec 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-12-awareness-deep-timelessness-meditative-states.html

Some good distinctions on "coherent conceptualization of deep meditative states, focusing in particular on phenomenal temporality during meditation", dubbed the Extended Now Interpretation.

On Duration - According to Extended Now Interpretation, deep meditation occurs over an interval that the person perceives as an extended present, with no awareness of change, succession, temporal order, beginning, or end. Thus, "timelessness" refers to a lack of temporal structure but not a lack of duration.

On Alertness - Since the option of staying alert or not presents itself anew for each passing moment, the meditator is aware of time passing, and thus aware of a period of time, Dr. Frischhut argues. This does not require the meditator to consciously keep track of a succession of moments, as maintaining alertness during meditation may be enough to give them an awareness of duration even without an awareness of succession.

On Memory - Meditators report having no access to memory during deep meditative states, which would present a problem to her argument. She proposes that the experience of being alert at any given moment has a particular phenomenological character that would be different had it not been preceded by an essentially identical experience of alertness - a second knock on a door wouldn't be experienced the same without the first knock. Thus, even without engaging memory, a meditator still experiences duration in the form of instances of momentary alertness that each flows seamlessly from a previous one.

via Akiko Frischhut at Sophia University in Japan: Akiko Frischhut, Awareness without time, The Philosophical Quarterly (2024). DOI: 10.1093/pq/pqae081

https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqae081

Image credit: Atomic clock - JILA Ye Group - 2024

Study claims all observables in nature can be measured with a single constant: The second

Dec 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-12-nature-constant.html

The group argues that the number of fundamental constants depends on the type of space-time in which the theories are formulated; and that in a relativistic space-time, this number can be reduced to a single constant, which is used to define the standard of time.

Okun stated that three basic units—meter (length), kilogram (mass), and second (time)—were necessary to measure all physical quantities. In other words, he reaffirmed the so-called MKS system (M, for meter; K, for kilogram; S, for second), which was later incorporated into the International System of Units (SI). Veneziano, for his part, argued that in certain contexts two units would suffice: one for time and one for length. Duff was equivocal, stating that the number of constants could vary depending on the theory in question.

According to their criteria, the number of fundamental constants is related to the minimum number of independent standards needed to express all physical quantities. To repeat, in Galileo's space-time, all observables can be expressed in terms of units of time and space, which are usually the "second" and the "meter." In relativistic space-time, the unit of time—that is, the "second"—is sufficient to express any observable.

And the definition of "second" is currently based on a natural constant: the energy difference between two specific levels of the electronic layer of caesium-133. One second (1s) corresponds to the time of 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the radiation emitted when an electron passes between these two states of caesium-133.

via Institute of Theoretical Physics at São Paulo State University, Institute of Mathematics Statistics and Scientific Computing at the State University of Campinas, São Carlos Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo: George E. A. Matsas et al, The number of fundamental constants from a spacetime-based perspective, Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-71907-0

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-71907-0

Scientists observe 'negative time' in quantum experiments

Dec 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-12-scientists-negative-quantum.html

Don't get too excited: The researchers emphasize that these perplexing results highlight a peculiar quirk of quantum mechanics rather than a radical shift in our understanding of time.

via University of Toronto: Daniela Angulo et al, Experimental evidence that a photon can spend a negative amount of time in an atom cloud, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2409.03680 , arxiv.org/abs/2409.03680

https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.03680

Measuring Things for Old Time's Sake

Starting with a stretch, this first one requires some concentration. We're talking about macro time vs micro time, and one where the time is measured by genetic changes. It's a new way to measure evolutionary time. Also it's scalar, which means fractals:

New research shows microevolution can be used to predict how evolution works on much longer timescales

May 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-05-microevolution-evolution-longer-timescales.html

By compiling and analyzing datasets from existing species and from fossils, researchers showed the evolvability responsible for microevolution (the evolution of a species over a few generations) of many different traits predicts the amount of change observed between populations and species separated by up to one million years (macroevolution).

"Darwin suggested that species gradually evolve, but what we found is that even though populations rapidly evolve over the short term, this (short-term) evolution doesn't accumulate over time. However, how divergent populations and species are, on average, over long periods of time still depends on their ability to evolve on the short term." 

via Norwegian University of Science and Technology Department of Biology: Agnes Holstad et al, Evolvability predicts macroevolution under fluctuating selection, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adi8722

https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adi8722

Further reading, from above: Traits with higher evolvability change rapidly because they are able to respond to environmental changes more quickly.

Highly evolvable traits can rapidly respond to these fluctuations in selection and will fluctuate over time with high amplitude. Traits with little evolvability will also fluctuate but more slowly and thus with lower amplitude.

"Populations or species that are geographically distant from each other are exposed to environments whose fluctuations are not synchronized. Consequently, these populations will have different trait values, and the size of this difference will depend on the amplitude of the trait's fluctuation, and therefore on the evolvability of the trait."

Note: "Evolvability" depends on the amount of heritable (genetic) variation in a species (which sounds like heterozygosity?).

Image credit: AI Art - An Old Man Servicing a Rolex - Dec 2024

Researchers more precisely calculate how much faster time passes on the moon

Jul 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-precisely-faster-moon.html

The team found that time on the moon ticks by at 0.0000575 seconds faster per day (57.50 µs/d) than it does on Earth. Based on that number, other calculations can be made - if a person were to live on the moon for 274 years, for example, they would be 5.76 seconds older than they would be had they lived on Earth all that time.

It doesn't seem like a big deal until you try to do something like dock with a space station.

via NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology: Slava G. Turyshev et al, Time transformation between the solar system barycenter and the surfaces of the Earth and Moon, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2406.16147

https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2406.16147

Why timekeeping is now on the verge of a giant leap forward in accuracy

Nov 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-timekeeping-verge-giant-accuracy.html

Atomic clocks are about to be replaced by nuclear clocks that can use the Thorium atom instead of the Cesium or Strontium atom, because it has a faster electron transition, so with it we can measure time to the nineteenth decimal place, possibly redefining the second by 2030.

Some background:

• Water clocks appeared around 2,000BC and measure time by regulating the flow of water into or out of a vessel.
• The mechanical clock was established in the late 13th century.
• Until 1967, a second was defined as 1/86,400 of a day.
• The International System of Units then changed things: "The second… is defined by taking the… transition frequency of the cesium-133 atom, to be 9192631770 when expressed in the unit Hz, which is equal to s⁻¹."

Bonus: 

Scientists successfully create a time crystal made of giant atoms

Jul 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-07-scientists-successfully-crystal-giant-atoms.html

via Vienna University of Technology Institute of Theoretical Physics and Tsinghua University: Xiaoling Wu et al, Dissipative time crystal in a strongly interacting Rydberg gas, Nature Physics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02542-9.

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02542-9

To Live and Die in Biostats

Learning for life: The higher the level of education, the lower the risk of dying

Jan 2024, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-life-higher-dying.html

I love hearing health benefits measured in the amount of cigarettes you smoke

"Not going to school at all is as bad for you as drinking five or more alcoholic drinks per day or smoking ten cigarettes a day for 10 years."

via Norwegian University of Science and Technology: Effects of education on adult mortality: a global systematic review and meta-analysis, The Lancet Public Health (2024). DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00306-7

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00306-7

Image credit: AI Art - Man w Dirty Dishes Lying on the Couch Yawning - 2024

Chips At Stake

Integrating dimensions to get more out of Moore's Law and advance electronics

Jan 2024, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-01-dimensions-law-advance-electronics.html

Moore's Law - the number of transistors on a chip will double every two years (but a limit exists)

More Moore - vertically stacking multiple layers of semiconductor devices to beat the limit (3D integration)

More than Moore - transistors made from 2D materials (using 2D materials, not just 2D-like layers of 3D materials)

Monolithic Moore - monolithic 3D integration uses one brick of 2D things, instead of layers of 2D things, so there's no connections between the layers, so it saves space 

via Penn State: Darsith Jayachandran et al, Three-dimensional integration of two-dimensional field-effect transistors, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06860-5

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38200300/

Image credit: AI Art - Taoist Octopus Tesseract Fractal Hypercube - 2024

Emulating neurodegeneration and aging in artificial intelligence systems

Apr 2024, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2024-04-emulating-neurodegeneration-aging-artificial-intelligence.html

"We used IQ tests performed by large language models (LLMs) and, more specifically, the LLaMA 2, to introduce the concept of 'neural erosion. This deliberate erosion involves ablating synapses or neurons or adding Gaussian noise during or after training, resulting in a controlled decline in the LLMs' performance."

The researchers found that when they deliberately ablated (i.e., removed) some of the artificial synapses or neurons of the LLaMA 2 model, its performance on IQ tests declined, following a particular pattern.

"The LLM loses abstract thinking abilities, followed by mathematical degradation, and ultimately, a loss in linguistic ability, responding to prompts incoherently. ... We are now conducting further tests to better understand this observed pattern."

Interestingly, this 'neuro-erosion' pattern is aligned with the neurodegeneration patterns observed in humans.

via University of California Irvine: Antonios Alexos et al, Neural Erosion: Emulating Controlled Neurodegeneration and Aging in AI Systems, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2403.10596

https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2403.10596

Post Script: A new kind of chip called an NPU for neural processing unit, is like the new GPU, which was the new CPU:

Your current PC probably doesn’t have an AI processor, but your next one might

Feb 2024, Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/02/your-current-pc-probably-doesnt-have-an-ai-processor-but-your-next-one-might/

The comments in this article are the most clearly examined examples of what NPUs will do than any other thing I've read, and considering that the forum of Ars is known for the technical proficiency of its members: 

• From the article, Intel Senior Director of Technical Marketing Robert Hallock  - "Camera segmentation, this whole background blurring thing... moving that to the NPU saves about 30 to 50 percent power versus running it elsewhere."
• **RTS** - It is pretty shocking looking at powermetrics on macOS to see how rare the Neural Engine is even powered as most applications (even AI exclusive applications like stable diffusion/LLM frontends) just run any AI work they need on the CPU or GPU.
• AlicePlaysWithRockets - I use it daily in Final Cut Pro and meeting camera effects.
• LlamaDragon - NPUs can be used by Photoprism to speed up importing of images (it tries to ID pics with dogs or cars or "cooking" and so on) or by something like Frigate (camera monitoring) to do similar ID-ing in real time, it might be useful.
• AmanoJyaku Ars Praefectus - [why] It has to do with CPUs being general purpose, and therefore able to do anything, vs. hardware accelerators that do specific things. Hardware accelerators can't do most of the things CPUs can do, but the things they can do can be done much faster than CPUs do them. In turn, this makes them more power efficient. The trend started with graphics cards, continued with sound cards and network cards, and have since grown to include other devices, some of which accelerate things as minute as image decoding. ... Theoretically, the most efficient device is one that has accelerators for everything you do on a device. However, there will always be new things, so CPUs are unlikely to be eliminated. As for what makes general-purpose CPUs different from task-specific accelerators, forum posts can't easily sum this up. That's a topic explained in college courses, and the basis for entire careers. 
• autostop - The Neural Engine on the Apple chips is what makes "Live Text" (universal OCR) work on the Macintosh and iPhone. (You can open a scanned PDF, or a screen grab, and the mouse pointer turns into an I-beam and you can highlight and copy just as if it were text in Word or something.)
• Siosphere - Users who view photos a lot on their laptop/desktop, it could be used for on-device people finding, or computing interoplation for zooming in/out of a photo so it is smoother/faster. ... It could be used for generic type-ahead suggestions, which if they suck is super annoying, but when they work well are a very useful timesaver. (When they actually suggest what I was actually going to write, I'm really pleased, when they suggest something else they are annoying, but they are getting better). ... Better searching capabilities by understanding more of what you are searching for on your computer, being smarter about intent, are you searching for a specific file by name, type of file, application, etc. ... Generalized automation of repetitive tasks, things you might currently script yourself could be automatically found and setup (again, this is annoying if it doesn't do what you want, but I'm just saying best case it automates in the exact way you are wanting). ... Faster windows hello (if you use that), better camera processing for video calls, better workload predicting for changing the task priority to save battery on laptops, or give CPU power more to the things that need it. ... There are a lot of subtle ways that a dedicated AI chip could be used, and there will be so many more when it is just an available resource any developers can tap into
• Isaacc7 - NPUs can be used to accelerate many tasks like voice recognition, camera processing, live subtitles, etc. 
• Toastr - Also things like on-device automatic image tagging of faces for your photo library, which is a big plus for me who wants to organize my family photo library but doesn't like the privacy implications of cloud photo services like Google Photos. ... Or, for another example:
• The self-hosted Frigate NVR software supports object detection via CPU, GPU, or NPU. Sure, you could run it on an RTX 4080, but you could also just throw a $25 Coral Accelerator in a mini PC and get plenty of performance but with a device that draws just a few watts.
• longhornchris04 - Side note, while GPUs can do the highly parallel low precision computing, they are designed for graphics which generally require a higher level of precision. So yes, GPUs can do the work, and do it quite easily, but they are often overkill for the job and thus are less efficient at it. 
• or just anandtech: https://www.anandtech.com/show/20046/intel-unveils-meteor-lake-architecture-intel-4-heralds-the-disaggregated-future-of-mobile-cpus/4

The Multisensory Multiplex Measures More Than You Think

This title means absolutely nothing, but it's unsettling to think "time" is as malleable as it is. 

Physicists develop highly robust time crystal

Feb 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-physicists-highly-robust-crystal.html

It's made of indium gallium arsenide, in which the nuclear spins act as a reservoir for the time crystal. The crystal is continuously illuminated so that a nuclear spin polarization forms through interaction with electron spins. And it is precisely this nuclear spin polarization that then spontaneously generates oscillations, equivalent to a time crystal.

A periodic time crystal was demonstrated in 2022 in a Bose-Einstein condensate but lived for just a few milliseconds. This one lasted for 40 minutes, or 10 million times longer. 

via TU Dortmund University: A. Greilich et al, Robust continuous time crystal in an electron–nuclear spin system, Nature Physics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-023-02351-6

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02351-6

Image credit: AI Art - Measuring the Difference - 2024

The intricate dance of time and touch: Insights from the somatosensory cortex

Feb 2024, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-intricate-insights-somatosensory-cortex.html

The perception of time is intricately intertwined with touch, emerging within the tactile sensory representation.

Optogenetic intervention influenced perceived intensity in rats trained to assess vibration intensity while disregarding duration. Conversely, optogenetic intervention influenced perceived duration in animals trained to evaluate vibration duration while disregarding intensity.

"Since both percepts involve an overlapping set of neurons, we describe the two signals as 'multiplexed' in the somatosensory cortex.

via International School of Advanced Studies SISSA: Sebastian Reinartz et al, Direct contribution of the sensory cortex to the judgment of stimulus duration, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45970-0

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45970-0

White House wants Moon to have its own time zone

Apr 2024, BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68722032

The White House wants US space agency Nasa to develop a new time zone for the Moon - Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).

Because of the different gravitational field strength on the Moon, time moves quicker there relative to Earth - 58.7 microseconds every day.

This might not seem like much, but it can have a significant impact when trying to synchronise spacecraft.

Time is currently measured on Earth by hundreds of atomic clocks stationed around our planet which measure the changing energy state of atoms to record time to the nanosecond. If they were placed on the Moon, over 50 years they would be running one second faster.

Image viewing experiments challenge theory of universal internal clock

Apr 2024, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-image-viewing-theory-universal-internal.html

The Universal Internal Clock (does not exist)

• 170 volunteers participated
• In the first two experiments, volunteers looked at photographs with varying degrees of size and clutter, and were asked how long they believed they had been looking at the images.
• In the second two experiments, volunteers also estimated how memorable the photos were.
• The took a memory test the following day.

• Volunteers tended to overestimate the amount of time they viewed cluttered scenes, while underestimating the amount of time they viewed tidy areas.
• Perception of time varied depending on the memorability of an image.
• Volunteers were more accurate in their assessment of how much time had passed for the most memorable images
• Experiments suggest that time perception is influenced by sensory perception.

via George Mason University: Alex C. Ma et al, Memorability shapes perceived time (and vice versa), Nature Human Behaviour (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01863-2

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01863-2

So Many Metas

A somewhat systematic review of previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses about nutrition and Alzheimer's

May 2023, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-systematic-previous-meta-analyses-nutrition-alzheimer.html

The team conducted a review of systematic reviews aka meta-analysis studies around the topic of nutrition in disease. (So their's is a meta-meta-analysis.)

This is why kids need to go to school:

There is a risk that a systematic review of multiple meta-data studies could artificially weight specific study findings if they are included multiple times across the different meta-analyses.

What may be important to know is that both of these meta-analyses included the same study from 2015, titled "Intakes of fish and polyunsaturated fatty acids and mild-to-severe cognitive impairment risks: A dose-response meta-analysis of 21 cohort studies," which is itself a meta-analysis that could contain studies included in other meta-analyses covered by the current study.

Note: This is 100% related to the AI-feeding-AI problem we're not even beginning to talk about yet -- because when you use meta-analysis of past meta-analyses, you risk multiplying the dirty data. 

via International Education College of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou: Inmaculada Xu Lou et al, Effect of nutrition in Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review, Frontiers in Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1147177

https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1147177

Image credit: AI Art - Cinematography Gear Arranged in a City - 2023

Do measurements produce the reality they show us?

Aug 2023, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2023-08-reality.html

The observable values of a physical system depend on the dynamics of the measurement interaction by which they are observed. "This is a major step towards explaining the meaning of 'superposition' in quantum mechanics".

"Our results show that the physical reality of an object cannot be separated from the context of all its interactions with the environment, past, present and future, providing strong evidence against the widespread belief that our world can be reduced to a mere configuration of material building blocks," said Hofmann.

I've never heard it this way - 

Fully resolved measurements require a complete randomization of the system dynamics; this corresponds to a superposition of all possible system dynamics. 

"Context-dependent realities can explain a wide range of seemingly paradoxical quantum effects. We are now working on better explanations of these phenomena. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a more intuitive understanding of the fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics that avoids the misunderstandings caused by a naïve belief in the reality of microscopic objects," said Hofmann.

Hiroshima University: Tomonori Matsushita et al, Dependence of measurement outcomes on the dynamics of quantum coherent interactions between the system and the meter, Physical Review Research (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.033064

https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.033064

From stock markets to brain scans, new research harmonizes hundreds of scientific methods to understand complex systems

Sep 2023, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-stock-brain-scans-harmonizes-hundreds.html

They looked at hundreds of different methods for measuring interaction patterns in complex system, and worked out which ones are most useful for understanding a given system. They call it the scientific orchestra, and each method is an instrument, and they thought maybe some instruments are better for certain kinds of data, so they tried to find out.

We're talking about methods like Brownian motion, coupled maps, coupled oscillators, simulated fMRI, simulated climate, wave equations, or uncorrelated noise to understand data like stock markets, river flow, brain waves, earthquakes.

In total, we applied our 237 methods to more than 1,000 datasets. By analyzing how these methods behave when applied to such diverse scientific systems, we found a way for them to "play in harmony" for the first time.

They found that the methods were grouped differently than what we traditionally think, and that when properly orchestrated, the full ensemble of scientific methods demonstrated improved performance over any single method on its own.

via Centre for Complex Systems, The University of Sydney: Oliver M. Cliff et al, Unifying pairwise interactions in complex dynamics, Nature Computational Science (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s43588-023-00519-x

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43588-023-00519-x

AI Art - Mechanical Goddess - 2024

Five factors that assess well-being of science predict support for increasing US science funding

Sep 2023, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-factors-well-being-science-funding.html

Drawing on 13 questions in APPC's 2022 nationally representative Annenberg Science Knowledge survey (ASK) survey of 1,154 U.S. adults, researchers identified five factors that form a Factors Assessing Science's Self-Preservation (FASS) model. The model can be used to assess the extent to which public perceptions align with the self-presentation of science and scientists live up to the ways in which they define themselves and their work to the public.

• credible
• prudent
• unbiased
• self-correcting
• beneficial

via Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania: Yotam Ophir et al, Factors Assessing Science's Self-Presentation model and their effect on conservatives' and liberals' support for funding science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213838120

https://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213838120

Artificial intelligence predicts the future of artificial intelligence research

Oct 2023, phys.org

https://techxplore.com/news/2023-10-artificial-intelligence-future.html

(Asimov's Foundation no?)

An algorithm that not only assists researchers in orienting themselves systematically but also predictively guides them in the direction in which their own research field is likely to evolve.

Science4Cast is a graph-based representation of knowledge which becomes more complex over time as more scientific articles are published. Each node in the graph represents a concept in AI, and the connections between nodes indicate whether and when two concepts were studied together.

For example, the question "What will happen" can be described as a mathematical question about the further development of the graph. Science4Cast is fed with real data from over 100,000 scientific publications spanning a 30-year period, resulting in a total of 64,000 nodes. 

via Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen: Mario Krenn et al, Forecasting the future of artificial intelligence with machine learning-based link prediction in an exponentially growing knowledge network, Nature Machine Intelligence (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42256-023-00735-0

https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42256-023-00735-0

Yotta Yotta Yotta

The most personal device - Researchers probe how much psychological data smartphones generate

Jul 2020, phys.org

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-07-personal-device-probe-psychological-smartphones.html

Your data is making me rich. 

Here's some of what I get from your identity-specific data collection device: communication patterns, social behavior and mobility, choice and consumption of music, selection of apps used, temporal distribution of phone usage throughout the day.

Granted, I will need a supercomputer to build and train my robot, but once I'm done, I can narrow down your Big 5, and sell you a vacuum, or a candidate. Maybe. But I do know who you are, maybe better than you do. 

Self-reported extraversion signals come from your social patterns, your degree of  conscientiousness can be seen in the timing of your daily rhythms, and to know if you score high on "openness" we needs lots and lots of random datapoints, like yottas of data. So thanks. 

Also:

Zeptoseconds - New world record in short time measurement

Oct 2020, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-zeptoseconds-world-short.html

Measure Me

There is something recursive about measuring the thing that we use to measure things that we then use to measure.

A gram used to be the weight of a cubic centimeter of water, and a (centi-)meter was the circumference of the Earth divided a million times, thus the Earth is 40 million meters.

But dematerialization has been a thing for much longer than the macro image series mania (called memes nowadays) that has by now thoroughly taken over our cultural ecosystem.

And now, the standard of weight all around the world no longer comes from an object you can hold in your hand, but from a measurement of electricity. A meter, by the way, is no longer determined by the Earth, but by a measurement of an electromagnetic wave, which is about as close as you can get to being immaterial.

Post Script:
In a slight twist of categorical confusion, the British Thermal Unit (BTU) is the amount of energy it takes to heat one pound of water by one degree F, whereas the metric version is a Calorie, or the amount of energy it takes to heat one gram of water by 1 degree C. Regardless, I second the suggestion that we quick change everything to metric while the government is on pause.

Notes:
Kilogram gets a new definition
Dec 2018, BBC

Radiolab episode about the meter

Empericism
In philosophy, empiricism is a theory that states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. 

Metronomy is a London-based electro rock band, check them out.

Insect-Affluence Index and Sociothermodynamics

image source

Homes in wealthier neighborhoods found to harbor more arthropod species
Aug 2016, phys.org

"They note also that prior studies had found that richer neighborhoods tended to have more plant and animal diversity in areas outside of the home. For this study, they wanted to know what was going on inside.

...

"In studying the numbers, the researchers found that the average home in a wealthy neighborhood had approximately 100 different species of arthropods in it, whereas those in less expensive neighborhoods had roughly half that number. The researchers suggest the discrepancy is due to differences in the environment outside of the homes. Richer neighborhoods tend to have houses with lush gardens and parks and the people that live there tend to expend more time and money on them resulting in more places for bugs to breed."

The Co-Citation Network vs The Journal Impact Factor

There's more than one way to measure the influence of a scientific paper. An alternative, the Relative Citation Ratio, is better for interdisciplinary research and fields with low citations.

From the National Institute of Health's Office of Portfolio Analysis via phys.org --

The co-citation network is formed from the reference lists of articles that cite the article in question. For example, if Article X is cited by Article A, Article B, and Article C, then the co-citation network of Article X would contain all the articles from the reference lists of Articles A, B, and C. Comparing the citation rate of Article X to the citation rate in the co-citation network allows each article to create its own individualized field.
...
Dr. Stefano Bertuzzi, Executive Director of the American Society for Microbiology, says in a blog post that RCR [Relative Citation Ratio] "evaluates science by putting discoveries into a meaningful context. I believe that RCR is a road out of the JIF [Journal Impact Factor] swamp."
...
One of the primary criticisms raised against RCR is that, due to the field normalization method, it could undervalue inter-disciplinary work, especially for researchers who work in fields with low citation practices. The authors investigated this possibility, but find little evidence in their analyses that inter-disciplinary work is penalized by RCR calculation.

Credit: Ian Hutchins and George Santangelo

Relative Citation Ratio: Scientists publish new metric to measure the influence of scientific research
phys.org, Sep 2016
http://phys.org/news/2016-09-relative-citation-ratio-scientists-publish.html

Cogito Ergo Ignoramus et Ignorabimus

Cloaking Device_John Howell_Joseph Choi_University of Rochester_

The Latin maxim ignoramus et ignorabimus, meaning "we do not know and will not know", stood for a position on the limits of scientific knowledge, in the thought of the nineteenth century. It was given credibility by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, in his Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens ("On the limits of our understanding of nature") of 1872.
-wiki

Novel mathematical research for quantifying and predicting uncertainty in design models
phys.org, Jan 2015

...engineers have come to rely on extensive testing to verify their modeling results—a repetitive process of design, test, verify, re-design, re-test, re-verify that can add years to the development process.

DARPA's Enabling Quantification of Uncertainty in Physical Systems (EQUiPS) program aims to solve this problem by developing the mathematical tools and methods to efficiently quantify, propagate and manage multiple sources of uncertainty.

predict the performance

"[Current technologies] methodologies can now handle forward problems for a small number of uncertain parameters, but they still can't handle more complex, extremely high-dimensional industrial physical systems and [he goes on]..."

"Dealing with the 'curse of dimensionality' where the associated computational cost grows exponentially as a function of the number of random variables remains a major challenge in simulation and design under uncertainty."
-Fariba Fahroo, DARPA program manager