Sunday 9 June 2019

Researchers show glare of energy consumption in the name of deep learning

Wait, what? Creating an AI can be way worse for the planet than a car? Think carbon footprint. That is what a group at the University of Massachusetts Amherst did. They set out to assess the energy consumption that is needed to train four large neural networks.

* This article was originally published here

W.African farm 'bootcamp' gets green entrepreneurs into shape

Machetes in hand and wearing a straw hat against the sun, the participants of an "agro-bootcamp" in the farmlands of the West African nation of Benin harvest maize, cowpeas and rice.

* This article was originally published here

NASA to open International Space Station to tourists from 2020

NASA said Friday it will open up the International Space Station to business ventures including space tourism as it seeks to financially disengage from the orbiting research lab.

* This article was originally published here

Model explores how statins alter multiple sclerosis outcomes

(HealthDay)—Simvastatin's beneficial effects on clinical outcomes and brain atrophy in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) are largely independent of cholesterol levels, according to a post hoc study published in the May 28 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

* This article was originally published here

Investigating the implications of social robots in religious contexts

Researchers at Siegen University and Würzberg University, in Germany, have recently carried out a study investigating the user experience and acceptability associated with the use of social robots in religious contexts. Their paper, published in Springer's International Journal of Social Robotics, offers interesting insight into how people perceive blessing robots compared to other robots for more conventional purposes.

* This article was originally published here

NIST infrared frequency comb measures biological signatures

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and collaborators have demonstrated a compact frequency-comb apparatus that rapidly measures the entire infrared band of light to detect biological, chemical and physical properties of matter. Infrared light travels in waves longer than visible light and is most familiar as the radiation associated with heat.

* This article was originally published here