Category Physics

Researchers have created an Artificial Intelligence tool that uses sequences of life events—such as health history, education, job and income—to predict everything from a person’s personality to their mortality.

Built using transformer models, which power large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, the new tool, life2vec, is trained on a data set pulled from the entire population of Denmark—6 million people. The data set was made available only to the researchers by the Danish government.

The tool the researchers built based on this complex set of data is capable of predicting the future, including the lifespan of individuals, with an accuracy that exceeds state-of-the-art models...

Transistor performs energy-efficient associative learning at room temperature. Taking inspiration from the human brain, researchers have developed a new synaptic transistor capable of higher-level thinking.

Designed by researchers at Northwestern University, Boston College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the device simultaneously processes and stores information just like the human brain. In new experiments, the researchers demonstrated that the transistor goes beyond simple machine-learning tasks to categorize data and is capable of performing associative learning.

Although previous studies have leveraged similar strategies to develop brain-like computing device...

A common carbon compound is enabling remarkable performance enhancements when mixed in just the right proportion with copper to make electrical wires. It’s a phenomenon that defies conventional wisdom about how metals conduct electricity.

The findings, reported in the journal Materials & Design, could lead to more efficient electricity distribution to homes and businesses, as well as more efficient motors to power electric vehicles and industrial equipment. The team has applied for a patent for the work, which was supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office.

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Research appearing in ACS Nano reveals the ballistic movement of electrons in graphene in real-time.

The observations made at the University of Kansas’ Ultrafast Laser Lab could lead to breakthroughs in governing electrons in semiconductors, fundamental components in most information and energy technology.

“Generally, electron movement is interrupted by collisions with other particles in solids,” said lead author Ryan Scott, a doctoral student in KU’s Department of Physics & Astronomy.

“This is similar to someone running in a ballroom full of dancers. These collisions are rather frequent—about 10 to 100 billion times per second. They slow down the electrons, cause energy loss, and generate unwanted heat...