December 30: Dark Matter, Diamandis, Omicron

Dark matter and dark energy: the mysterious ingredients in our universe Science is an ongoing flirtation with the unknown. ...... The history of modern cosmology is one of the great triumphs of the human imagination. ........ most religions have also wondered about our origins ........ (1) Galaxies are receding from one another with speeds proportional to their distance, carried by the expansion of space itself; (2) A bath of microwave photons (i.e., the particles that make up light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation) permeates the whole universe, serving as fossils from the time when the first hydrogen atoms formed, some 400,000 years after the Big Bang — as predicted by theory; and (3) Between a second and three minutes after the Big Bang, the first light atomic nuclei were formed by a process called “primordial nucleosynthesis” in quantities also predicted by theory and verified by observations. ......... If we think of the material composition of the universe as a cake recipe, we find ourselves currently in the odd situation of knowing that we have three main ingredients — regular matter, dark matter, and dark energy — and how much of each we need, but we don’t really know what the two most abundant are. ......... Having mass (and thus gravitational pull), it affects the stuff we can see. But efforts to collect particles of dark matter have been unsuccessful so far, a somewhat stressful tension between astronomical observations and fundamental theory. .........

Dark energy was discovered in 1998 and is even more mysterious and elusive.

........ Like subtle tracks of a fox on a vast snowfield, we know they are out there in some form due to the way they impress their presence on what we can see in the world.

HOW TO CREATE A WORLD OF POSSIBILITY Before the invention of the wheel… the cart, the carriage, the automobile, the wheelbarrow, the roller skate, and a million other offshoots of circularity were not imaginable. They existed in a realm that was off-limits until the wheel was discovered. But once discovered, these pathways became clear. This is the adjacent possible. ............. We have wandered into a world where the expansive nature of technology has begun to connect with our inner desires. ........ “For most of history, the unique mix of talents, skills, insights, and experiences of each person had no outlet. If your dad was a baker, you were a baker. As technology expands the possibility space, it expands the chance that someone can find an outlet for their personal traits . . . When we enlarge the variety and reach of technology, we increase options, not just for ourselves and not for others living, but for all generations to come.” .......... one’s emotional satisfaction moves in lockstep with one’s income—as income rises, well-being rises—but only to a point. Before the average American earns $75,000 a year, there is a direct correlation between money and happiness. ............

Above that number, the correlation disappears.

.......... 70% to 80% percent of the money we earn goes to meet basic needs such as water, food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education. ........... On average, across the globe, the point where well-being and money diverge is roughly $10,000. ......... Thirty years ago, most well-off US citizens owned a camera, a CD player, a stereo, a video game console, a cell phone, a watch, and a whole bunch of other assets that easily add up to more than $10,000. All these now come standard on today’s smartphones. ............

In our exponentially enabled work, that’s how quickly $10,000 worth of expenses can vanish. And importantly, they can vanish without much outside intervention. No one set out to zero the costs of two dozen products.

.............. Unlike earlier eras, we don’t have to wait for corporations to get interested in solutions, or for governments to get around to our problems. We can take matters into our own hands. ......... Meanwhile, the one-quarter of humanity that has forever been on the sidelines—the rising billion—has finally gotten into the game. ............

where there is vision, the people flourish.

‘भारतमा ‘आउट ब्रेक’ हुने स्थितिमा पुगिसक्यो, नेपालमा संकट आउन सक्छ’ संक्रामक रोग विशेषज्ञ डा. प्रभात अधिकारी भन्छन्, ‘भारतमा ओमिक्रोन ‘आउट ब्रेक’ हुने स्थितिमा पुगिसकेको छ । अबको एक महिना वा त्यसको हाराहारीमा नेपालमा पनि संकट आउन सक्छ ।’ ........... ओमिक्रोन भेरियन्ट अन्य भेरियन्टभन्दा एकदमै चाँडो फैलिने हुन्छ । डेल्टा भेरियन्टभन्दा दुई/तीन गुणा चाँडो फैलिन्छ । डेल्टा भेरियन्ट एक हप्तामा दोब्बर भएको थियो भने ओमिक्रोन दुईदेखि तीन दिनमा दोब्बर भइरहेको छ । संक्रमण वा खोप लगाएको मानिसमा इम्यूनिटी हुँदा हुँदै पनि यो भेरियन्टलाई रोक्न सकिँदैन । ........ शुरु–शुरुका लहर पनि अन्य देशमा फैलिसकेपछि नेपाल आएको थियो । डेल्टा भेरियन्ट भारतमा फैलिएको एक महिनापछि नेपालमा देखिएको थियो । सुरुमा केसहरू ५/१०/२०/५० गर्दै बिस्तारै बढ्दै जान्छ । तर, ओमिक्रोन भाइरस एकदमै चाँडो फैलिन्छ । यसका केसहरू हरेक दुई दिनमा दोब्बर हुँदै जान्छ । बेलायत, अमेरिकामा फैलिएपछि भारतमा ओमिक्रोनले प्रवेश पायो । ...... हरेक दुई दिनमा दोब्बर हुने हो भने एक महिनामा ठूलो हाहाकार हुन सक्छ । अबको दुई/तिन हप्तामा धेरै परिवर्तन हुन सक्छ । .......... डेल्टा, ओमिक्रोन र रुघाखोकीका भाइरसका लक्षण उस्तैउस्तै हुन्छ । लक्षणका आधारमा रुघाखोकी, इन्फून्लजा वा कोरोना भाइरसको डेल्टा वा ओमिक्रोन भनेर छुट्याउन सकिँदैन । ......... खोप लगाइसकेकालाई ६ महिनापछि अनिवार्य रूपमा बुस्टर डोज दिनुपर्छ । नेपालमा अहिले कोरोना खोप भण्डारणमा थुप्रिएर बसेको छ । यो अवस्थामा बुस्टर डोजलाई पनि प्राथमिकतामा राख्नुपर्छ । ........ फ्रन्टलाइनर, जेष्ठ नागरिक, दीर्घरोगी आदीलाई बुस्टर डोज दिन थालिहाल्नुपर्छ । .......... कुनै नयाँ भेरियन्ट देखा परेपछि सामान्यतः दुई महिना उच्च गतिमा फैलिइन्छ । त्यसपछि विस्तारै एक महिनामा हराएर जान्छ । तर, हरेक भेरियन्ट छिटपुट रूपमा तीन–चार महिना रहन्छ, पूरै हराउँछ भन्ने हुँदैन । ......... कोभिडका नयाँ–नयाँ भेरियन्ट आउनेवाला छ । त्यहीअनुसार नै हरेक वर्ष खोप लगाउनुपर्छ । नयाँ भेरियन्ट आउन रोक्न संसारभरका मानिसलाई खोप दिनुपर्छ । अहिले संसारमा यस्ता पनि देश छन्, जहाँका मानिसले पहिलो डोजसमेत लगाएका छैनन् । त्यही ठाउँमा कोरोना आउट ब्रेक भएको पाइन्छ । ..........

डेल्टाको आउट ब्रेक भारतमा भएको थियो । त्यहाँ सबैलाई खोप दिइएको थिएन । जनघनत्व बढी भएकाले त्यहाँ भाइरसको नयाँ म्युटेशन भयो । डेल्टा भेरियन्ट भारतबाट विश्वभर फैलियो ।

.......... ओमिक्रोनमा धेरैजसोमा सामान्य रुघाखोकी मात्र हुनेवाला छ । मानिसहरू यो रुघाखोकी मात्र हो भनेर परीक्षण गर्न मान्दैनन् । अनि थाहै नपाई अन्य मानिसमा संक्रमण सार्न सक्छन् । ........

ओमिक्रोनले पहिलेको भन्दा दुई/तीन गुणा ठूलो लहर ल्याउन सक्छ ।

....... अहिले त सरकार भित्रकै निकायबीच पनि समन्वय नभएको अवस्था छ । सरकारको एक निकायको तथ्यांक अर्को निकायको सँग मिल्दैन । तथ्यांक नै नमिलेपछि गतिलो रणनीति बन्दैन । त्यसैले, एकद्वार प्रणाली हुनुपर्छ । ..........

कोरोनाको दोस्रो लहरमा धेरैले परिवारका सदस्य र आफन्तहरू गुमायौं । त्यो घाउ अझै मुटुमा छ, तर त्यो कोरोना बिर्सिसक्यौं । मास्क लगाउन, दुरी कायम गर्न बिर्सिसक्यौं ।

............ सरकारले खोपमा एक डलर खर्च गरेको छ भने १६ डलर फिर्ता आउँछ । सरकारले मास्क, खोप, औषधि, क्वारेन्टाइनमा गरेको खर्च १६ गुणा भएर फिर्ता आउँछ । ........... राजनीतिक प्रतिवद्धता देखिएको छैन । ओमिक्रोन नियन्त्रणका लागि कुनै पार्टी बोलेका छैनन् । बरु, महादिवेशन/जुलस भइरहेका छन् । जबकि, ओमिक्रोन नआइसकेको मान्दा पनि डेल्टा त हामीबीच छँदैछ । डेल्टा नै फैलिने जोखिम रहेकै अवस्थामा ओमिक्रोन आउन लागेको छ ।

How the Extinction of Ice Age Mammals May Have Forced Us to Invent Civilization
The Biggest Brain Maps Ever Created Are Pushing the Frontiers of Neuroscience
Chasing Energy’s Holy Grail: Was 2021 Fusion Power’s Breakthrough Year?
These Robotic Factories Will Make Supermaterials in Space

December 20: Pi Phone, Metaverse, Omicron

USE SUBGOALS TO ACHIEVE YOUR MOONSHOT
Oxford Invited an AI to Debate Its Own Ethics—What It Said Was Startling
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through December 18)
This 'Breakthrough' in Chipmaking Could Bring Us A Phone With One-Week Battery Life Transistor stacking is getting Samsung, Intel, and IBM excited about the future of computing.
NFTs market hits $22bn as craze turns digital images into assets
Critics of non-fungible tokens say they are symptomatic of unsustainable digital gold rush
Scientists spot water ice under the 'Grand Canyon' of Mars "We found a central part of Valles Marineris to be packed full of water — far more water than we expected."
DRONE STARTUP TO FLY PALLETS WITHOUT PILOTS Dronamics will test a radical new vision of long-range cargo transport in Europe

The Metaverse Will Need 1,000x More Computing Power, Says Intel chipmaking giant Intel, the metaverse is on its way—but it’s going to take a lot more technology than we currently have to make it a reality, and the company plans to be at the forefront of the effort. .........

And what does “a persistent 3D virtual world” even mean?

....... Neal Stephenson’s book Snow Crash, published in 1992, was where the term “metaverse” first appeared; there, it described a 3D virtual world people could visit as avatars; they accessed this virtual world with virtual reality headsets that connected to a “worldwide fiber-optics network.” Another well-known reference is the 2011 book or 2018 movie Ready Player One. .......... the simplest way to describe the metaverse is as a connected network of 3D virtual worlds that is always “on” and happening alongside our real-world lives. ...... we can think of the metaverse as a “quasi-successor state to the mobile internet,” which will build on and transform the internet as we currently experience it. .........

“an even more immersive and embodied internet.”

....... powering the metaverse will require a 1,000-fold improvement on the computational infrastructure we have today ......... “You need to access to petaflops [one thousand teraflops] of computing in less than a millisecond, less than ten milliseconds for real-time uses” ....... “Your PCs, your phones, your edge networks, your cell stations that have some compute, and your cloud computing need to be kind of working in conjunction like an orchestra.” .......... “We believe that the dream of providing a petaflop of compute power and a petabyte of data within a millisecond of every human on the planet is within our reach”

Omicron Is a Dress Rehearsal for the Next Pandemic America’s response to the variant highlights both how much progress we have made over the past two years — and how much work remains. ........ Omicron is one more sign that the current pandemic, which has now claimed the lives of nearly 800,000 Americans, is not over. ...........

“We know that there are pathogens worse than SARS-CoV-2 that are emerging and re-emerging and waiting for their moment to take off”

.............. “We have this Balkanized health care system, and the system is a giant mess” ....... Just as a more equitable distribution of vaccines might help squelch the next variant of concern, preventing the next big global outbreak will require ensuring that every country has the resources to detect and respond to emerging pathogens. ........

The United States is a large and fractured country — politically polarized and burdened with glaring inequities, rampant misinformation and disinformation, and a considerable distrust of public officials.

These are enormous, thorny problems and are much harder to address than ensuring that labs have the capacity to detect Omicron or any new pathogen. ........ “I’m confident in our ability to detect the variant,” Dr. Fauver said. “What I’m not confident in is our ability to do anything about it. We’re detecting the Delta variant every single day, every time we sequence.” .......

Scientists are finding more Omicron cases every day, and the variant could soon overtake Delta.