The first supercomputer capable of simulating the human brain in real time
“The world’s first supercomputer capable of simulating networks at the scale of the human brain has been announced by researchers from the International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems (ICNS) at Western Sydney University. DeepSouth uses a neuromorphic system which mimics biological processes, using hardware to efficiently emulate large networks of spiking neurons at 228 trillion synaptic operations per second – rivalling the estimated rate of operations in the human brain. DeepSouth stands apart from other supercomputers as it is purpose-built to operate like networks of neurons, requiring less power and enabling greater efficiencies.” (Western Sydney University)
DeepMind’s LLM Just Solved an Unsolvable Math Problem
“Google DeepMind has used a large language model to crack a famous unsolved problem in pure mathematics. In a paper published in Nature today, the researchers say it is the first time a large language model has been used to discover a solution to a long-standing scientific puzzle—producing verifiable and valuable new information that did not previously exist. “It’s not in the training data—it wasn’t even known,” says coauthor Pushmeet Kohli, vice president of research at Google DeepMind. After a couple of million suggestions and a few dozen repetitions of the overall process—which took a few days—FunSearch was able to come up with code that produced a correct and previously unknown solution to the cap set problem, which involves finding the largest size of a certain type of set. Imagine plotting dots on graph paper. The cap set problem is like trying to figure out how many dots you can put down without three of them ever forming a straight line.” (MIT Technology Review)
A weekly dispatch featuring exclusive interviews with deep tech founders & a roundup of the most important deep tech news.
- A top-secret Chinese spy satellite just launched on a supersized rocket
- OpenAI Demos a Control Method for Superintelligent AI
- Asteroid mining startup AstroForge faces setbacks – and successes – on demonstration mission
- US agency will not reinstate $900M subsidy for Starlink
- Lithium-ion battery pack prices hit record low
- ‘It’s all gone’: CAR-T therapy forces autoimmune diseases into remission
- A breakthrough boosts quantum on the Hill
- Blue Origin announces space launch next week, first since 2022 crash
- NASA’s space station laser comm terminal achieves first link
- Human brain cells hooked up to a chip can do speech recognition
- Ultrasound Enables Remote 3-D Printing – Even in the Human Body
- Nanomaterial stimulates and regrows severed nerves like sci-fi tech
- New method for creating transparent magnetic materials using laser heating
- A new microfabrication strategy for multifunctional 3D artificial sharkskin
- Researcher discovers new technique for photon detection
- Researchers create stable hybrid laser by 3D printing micro-optics onto fibers
- Essential AI, a startup from the co-authors of the Original Transformers Paper, raises $56M Series A
- Virtuleap raises $2.5M to use VR and AI for brain health
- Helicity Space raises $5M to unlock fusion propulsion – and fast travel in deep space
- Geothermal startup Quaise is raising $25M as it gears up for drilling
- True Anomaly raises $100M to scale space security tech
- Metafuels lands $8M for sustainable aviation fuel
- Verve Motion raises $20M to grow its exosuit business
- Playground Global closes Fund III with $410M for early-stage deep tech investments
- AI-driven drug discovery startup Deep Apple Therapeutics raised a $52M Series A
- Tome Biosciences, a programmable genomic integration startup, raised a $213M Series A and B
- Laza Medical, a cardiovascular robotics startup, raised a $36M Series A
Cats Kill a Staggering Number of Species across the World / Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Top-Secret Hawaii Compound / Congress Orders U.F.O. Records Released but Drops Bid for Broader Disclosure / New Mexico’s Spaceport America is an Economic Dream Deferred / Why scientists are making transparent wood / E-books are becoming tools of corporate surveillance / Quantum Batteries Break Causality / OpenAI suspends ByteDance’s account after it used GPT to train its own AI model / How museum items go missing / Man Holds in Sneeze, Rips Open His Windpipe / Key Ingredient for Life Spotted on Saturn’s Ocean Moon / MDMA submitted to FDA as part of PTSD therapy / Endangered species list grows by 2,000 / French ‘Baguette One’ rocket project gets funding / Voyager 1 stops communicating with Earth