Digest of science news for the week that we didn’t write anything about

The creators of the Deep South supercomputer promise to outperform the human brain by more than 2,000 times

Despite constantly developing technologies, the human brain ranks first in terms of computing power. This biological miracle works differently and boasts speeds of over 100 billion operations per second. To fill this gap, scientists have developed neuromorphic computing inspired by the structure of the brain.

The Deep South supercomputer, created by the Australian International Center for Neuromorphic Systems, should run in April 2024. This supercomputer will be able to perform 228 trillion operations per second, more than 2,000 times faster than the human brain.

Although details are still scarce, experts suggest that Deep South mimics the functioning of the entire human body, not just the brain. Unlike traditional electronics, it integrates data storage and operation, reflecting the efficiency of the brain.

The genius of the human brain is that billions of interconnected nerve cells operate with minimal energy consumption, enabling trillions of interactions. Deep South, while impressive in performance, requires more space and power.

However, the technology behind it is promising. Think about a week's battery life on a phone, or miniaturized supercomputer chips for smaller devices. Beyond energy, improved data processing could revolutionize areas ranging from sustainable life support systems in hospitals to specialized artificial intelligence models.

New window film blocks heat-causing UV rays without compromising visibility

Mechanical engineers from the University of Notre Dame created a film, which can be attached to windows to allow visible light to pass through while blocking heat-causing ultraviolet (UV) and infrared radiation. The new technology could provide a convenient compromise between sunlight, which is essential not only for visibility but also for our mental well-being, and residential and commercial energy consumption, which spikes in some regions during the summer.

Most UV blocking films work best when the light hits the film at a 90 degree angle. But this is impractical for window films that receive light from the sun at different angles throughout the day. To get around this problem, any number of transparent materials can be used in countless combinations—it can take years to develop a trial-and-error strategy. Instead, researchers at Notre Dame's Molecular/Nano-Scale Transport & Energy Research (MONSTER) laboratory used a quantum computing machine learning model to determine which elements and compounds were needed to block only ultraviolet and infrared light. This model allowed the team to experiment with several potential configurations within wave optics simulations.

IN article, published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, the team writes that their film could contribute to annual energy savings of 97.5 megajoules per square meter. For a house with an area of ​​140 m² this could mean an annual energy reduction of 13,500 MJ—roughly a third of the total energy consumed by the average American home each year.

Harvard's bizarre 'meta-fluid' has programmable properties

Harvard University Engineers created a new unusual “metafluid” – a fluid that can be programmed to change properties such as compressibility, transparency, viscosity and even whether it is Newtonian or not.

Most materials get their properties—hardness, reflectivity, or color—from what they're made of, but metamaterials get their properties from elaborate structures made up of small components. The shape, size and arrangement of these small components allow them to manipulate electromagnetic waves, improving things like soundproofing, electricity generators, or even invisibility cloaks or ultrasonic levitating surfaces.

In the new research Scientists from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) decided to apply this principle to liquids.

“Unlike solid metamaterials, metafluids have the unique ability to flow and adapt to the shape of their container,” says Katia Bertoldi, senior author of the study. “Our goal was to create a metafluid that not only had these remarkable properties, but also provided a platform for programming viscosity, compressibility and optical properties.”

Beautiful nebula, tumultuous history: stellar collision solves a stellar mystery

When astronomers looked at the pair of stars at the center of a cloud of gas and dust, they were in for a surprise. Star pairs are usually very similar to each other, like twins, but in HD 148937 one star appears younger and, unlike the other, is magnetic. New data from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) suggests there were originally three stars in the system, until two of them collided and merged. This violent event resulted in the formation of an encircling cloud and changed the fate of the system forever.

“When I read the background information, I was struck by how special this system seemed,” says Abigail Frost, an astronomer at ESO in Chile and lead author of the study published today in the journal Science. The system, HD 148937, is located about 3,800 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Quadulon. It consists of two stars much more massive than the Sun, and is surrounded by a beautiful nebula – a cloud of gas and dust. “A nebula surrounding two massive stars is very rare, and we thought something cool was going to happen in this system. When we looked at the data, the feeling of cool only got stronger.”

“After detailed analysis, we were able to determine that the more massive star appears much younger than its companion, which makes no sense since they must have formed at the same time!” says Frost. The age difference—one star appears to be at least 1.5 million years younger than the other—suggests that something must have rejuvenated the more massive star.”

Another piece of the puzzle is a nebula around stars known as NGC 6164/6165. Its age is 7500 years, which is hundreds of times younger than both stars. Large amounts of nitrogen, carbon and oxygen have also been found in the nebula. This is surprising because you would normally expect to find these elements deep inside the star, not outside; it looks as if some violent event had liberated them.

To solve this mystery, the team collected nine years of data from the PIONIER and GRAVITY instruments on ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), located in Chile's Atacama Desert. They also used archival data from the FEROS instrument at La Silla Observatory.

“We believe that there were originally at least three stars in this system; two of them must have been close to each other at one point in the orbit, while the other star was much further away,” explains Hugues Sana, professor at KU Leuven in Belgium and the principal investigator of the observations. “The two inner stars violently merged, forming a magnetic star and ejecting some of the material that led to the formation of the nebula. The more distant star formed a new orbit with the new merged, now magnetic star, creating the binary we see today at the center of the nebula.”

Mysterious link between cats and schizophrenia is real, study finds

Owning a cat as a pet may double your risk of developing schizophrenia-related disorders, according to a recent study.

Australian scientists analyzed 17 studies published over the past 44 years, from 11 countries, including the US and UK. “We found an association between cat ownership and an increased chance of developing schizophrenia-related disorders,” explained psychiatrist John McGrath and colleagues at the Queensland Mental Health Research Center in their study published last December.

The idea that owning cats may be associated with a risk of developing schizophrenia was put forward in a 1995 study, and exposure to a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii was suggested as the cause. However, research to date has produced mixed findings.

Research has shown that exposure to cats during childhood may increase the likelihood of developing schizophrenia, but not all studies have found such a link.

Some have also linked being with cats to higher scores on scales measuring traits associated with schizophrenia—which affects a person's thoughts, feelings and behavior—and psychotic experiences, but other studies show no such link.

To get a clearer picture, McGrath and his team They saythat a thorough review and analysis of all studies on this topic is necessary.

T. gondii is a mostly harmless parasite that can be transmitted through undercooked meat or contaminated water. A bite from an infected cat or feces from an infected cat can also transmit T. gondii. An estimated 40 million people in the US may be infected, usually without any symptoms. Meanwhile, researchers continue to find more and more strange consequences of the infection.

Once in the body, T. gondii can enter the central nervous system and affect neurotransmitters. This parasite has been associated with personality changes, the emergence of psychotic symptoms, and several neurological disorders, including schizophrenia.