Observation, Simulation, and AI join forces to reveal a Clear Universe

Artist’s visualization of this research. Using AI driven data analysis to peel back the noise and find the actual shape of the Universe. (Credit: The Institute of Statistical Mathematics)

Japanese astronomers have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) technique to remove noise in astronomical data due to random variations in galaxy shapes. After extensive training and testing on large mock data created by supercomputer simulations, they then applied this new tool to actual data from Japan’s Subaru Telescope and found that the mass distribution derived from using this method is consistent with the currently accepted models of the Universe. This is a powerful new tool for analyzing big data from current and planned astronomy surveys.

Wide area survey data can be used to study...

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Fibromyalgia likely the result of Autoimmune Problems

Passive transfer of fibromyalgia symptoms from patients to mice. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2021; 131 (13) DOI: 10.1172/JCI144201

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, in collaboration with the University of Liverpool and the Karolinska Institute, has shown that many of the symptoms in fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) are caused by antibodies that increase the activity of pain-sensing nerves throughout the body.

The results show that fibromyalgia is a disease of the immune system, rather than the currently held view that it originates in the brain.

The study, published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, demonstrates that the increased pain sensitivity, muscle weakness, reduced movement, and reduc...

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The First Commercially Scalable Integrated Laser and Microcomb on a Single Chip

Artist's concept illustration of electrically controlled optical frequency combs at wafer scale
Artist’s concept illustration of electrically controlled optical frequency combs at wafer scale
Photo Credit: 
ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN LONG

Fifteen years ago, UC Jim Sanchezta Barbara electrical and materials professor John Bowers pioneered a method for integrating a laser onto a silicon wafer. The technology has since been widely deployed in combination with other silicon photonics devices to replace the copper-wire interconnects that formerly linked servers at data centers, dramatically increasing energy efficiency — an important endeavor at a time when data traffic is growing by roughly 25% per year.

For several years, the Bowers group has collaborated with the group of Tobias J...

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Physicists observationally confirm Hawking’s Black Hole Theorem for the first time

black hole simulation
Physicists at MIT and elsewhere have used gravitational waves to observationally confirm Hawking’s black hole area theorem for the first time. This computer simulation shows the collision of two black holes that produced the gravitational wave signal, GW150914.
Credits:Credit: Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) project. Courtesy of LIGO

Physicists have used gravitational waves to observationally confirm Hawking’s black hole theorem. There are certain rules that even the most extreme objects in the universe must obey. A central law for black holes predicts that the area of their event horizons — the boundary beyond which nothing can ever escape — should never shrink. This law is Hawking’s area theorem, named after physicist Stephen Hawking, who derived the theorem in 1971.

Fifty ye...

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