You Can Now Rent a Flesh Computer Grown in a British Lab
Each CL1 computer is formed of 800,000 neurons grown across a silicon chip, and their life-support system. While it can't yet match the mind-blowing capabilities of today's most powerful computers, the system has one very significant advantage: it only consumes a fraction of the energy of comparable technologies.
AI centers now consume countries' worth of energy, whereas a rack of CL1 machines only uses 1,000 watts and is naturally capable of adapting and learning in real time.
"The neuron is self-programming, infinitely flexible, and the result of four billion years of evolution. What digital AI models spend tremendous resources trying to emulate, we begin with," Australian biotech startup Cortical Labs claims on its website. They teamed up with UK company bit.bio to further develop DishBrain, an experimental platform designed to explore the "wetware" concept.
Related:
When neuroscientist Brett Kagan and colleagues pitted their creation against equivalent levels of machine learning algorithms, the cell culture systems outperformed them.
Users can send code directly into the synthetically supported system of neurons, which is capable of responding to electrical signals almost instantly. These signals act as bits of information that can be read and acted on by the cells.
But perhaps the greatest potential for this biological and synthetic hybrid is as an experimental tool for learning more about our own brains and their abilities, from neuroscience to creativity.
"Epileptic cells can't learn to play games very well, but if you apply antiepileptics to the cell culture, they can suddenly learn better as well as a range of other previously inaccessible metrics," Kagan told Shannon Cuthrell at IEEE's Spectrum, pointing out the system's ethical drug testing capacity.
The computing neurons are grown from skin and blood samples provided by adult human donors. While there are still many limitations – for one, the neurons only survive for six months at a time – the energy-saving potential of this technology alone suggests such systems are worth developing further. Especially given the dire state of our own life support system.
The first CL1 units will reportedly ship soon for US$35,000 each, or remote access can apparently be rented for $300 per week.
This Strange 'Bubble Wrap' Can Produce Drinking Water in The Desert
Disturbing Signs of AI Threatening People Spark Concern
Scientists Figured Out How to Extract Gold From Old Phones And Laptops
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
How to see the letters X and V on the moon tonight
The full moon is a glorious sight, and the sliver of a brand-new moon a wispy delight, but tonight's first-quarter moon has its own unique treat — for a few hours, you can make out the letters X and V on the lunar surface. Here's how. As the photo shows, the lunar X appears about a third of the way from the bottom of the moon, while the Lunar V is a little above the centre. Both features straddle the line between the light and dark sides of the moon, known as the terminator, with the X appearing a little into the dark side, and the V closer to the light side. They're not really there on the surface, and you can't see them at any other time. What you're looking at is called the 'clair-obscur' effect, in which the play of light and shadow on the surface creates the appearance of shapes; in this case, giant letters, formed by the partially lit edges of craters. According to British astronomer Mary McIntyre, the effect kicks off tonight at about 7:30 p.m. ET, and should last about four hours. That means by the time the sun has set and the moon is at its brightest, you should be able to get a good look, clouds permitting. Naked eye is a little tricky, since they are quite small. But decent binoculars (or better yet a small telescope) should bring them into focus. Humans have been looking at the moon since we were human, and through telescopes since they were invented, so it's not surprising that other transient shapes have been noticed and given evocative names, including the jewelled handle, Cassini's moon maiden, Plato's hook and the eyes of Clavius, not to mention the so-called 'man in the moon' that many people see in the full moon. McIntyre has a chart of when to look for them, while BBC's Sky at Night Magazine has a nice picture that shows their locations. The best part about all this is that if you miss them, they'll come back again every 28 days, forever. The European Space Agency just made Lego bricks out of moon dust China plans to wave its flag on the surface of the moon — literally Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here.
USA Today
2 days ago
- USA Today
'The Great Dying' mass extinction was a warning from the trees, study says
As climate change threatens tropical forests, a new study shows how the loss of those forests can be devastating to life on Earth. It happened before, and could happen again…. That's the message in a new study about the catastrophic collapse of Earth's tropical forests due to natural volcanic causes 252 million years ago. The collapse of tropical forests was the primary cause of the prolonged global warming that followed, according to a new study published July 2 in the British journal Nature Communications. This coincided with a mass extinction, likely the worst in Earth's history. 'There is a warning here about the importance of Earth's present-day tropical forests," study co-author and University of Leeds professor Benjamin Mills said, in a statement: "If rapid warming causes them to collapse in a similar manner, then we should not expect our climate to cool to preindustrial levels, even if we stop emitting CO2. 'Indeed, warming could continue to accelerate in this case even if we reach zero human emissions. We will have fundamentally changed the carbon cycle in a way that can take geological timescales to recover, which has happened in Earth's past.' 'The Great Dying' The huge climate changes back then occurred during the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction – sometimes referred to as the "Great Dying," which happened around 252 million years ago, leading to the massive loss of marine species and significant declines in terrestrial plants and animals. The event has been attributed to intense global warming triggered by a period of volcanic activity in Siberia, known as the Siberian Traps, the study says. This rapid increase in carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere and the resulting temperature increase is thought to be the primary kill mechanism for much of life at the time, according to the Conversation. However, scientists had been unable to pinpoint why super-greenhouse conditions persisted for around five million years afterwards. Now, in the new study, researchers have gathered data that supports the theory that the demise of tropical forests, and their slow recovery, limited carbon sequestration – a process where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in plants, soils or minerals. What caused Earth's tropical forests to collapse 252 million years ago? Our current understanding is that it was high temperatures which resulted from huge volcanic carbon dioxide emissions over thousands of years, Mills said in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "This volcanic event is called the Siberian Traps and may be the biggest to ever have occurred." Did the lack of tropical forests cause the climate to change? "Yes," Mills said, adding that the climate had already warmed, which initially caused the tropical forests to die back, but the removal of forests took away one of the planet's most important carbon removal processes – photosynthesis. The lack of this "carbon sink" caused CO2 levels to build up even further, which drove excess warming. Is this happening now? Could it happen again? "While the climate is currently warming (and is doing so faster than during the event 252 million years ago), we are not yet at the temperature where tropical forests are expected to reach a tipping point and transition into a carbon source rather than sink," Mills told USA TODAY. "So it is not happening now, but we may not be that far away." We have warmed the planet by about 1 degree C since the Industrial Revolution, and estimates for Amazon rainforest tipping points range from 2 to 6 degrees C. It is hard to estimate this accurately. How soon would the climate change after the tropical forests collapse? The Triassic super-greenhouse took thousands of years to establish, but because we are emitting carbon dioxide much more quickly than in the deep past, we might expect effects to begin to occur "over hundreds of years," Mills said. "To see 'super greenhouse' conditions we would need to remove almost all of the tropical forested area. It is debatable whether this could occur in the present day where the plants are different, and the shape of the continents is different than in the past. But personally I do not want us to run this experiment!" Speaking about the new study, co-author Jianxin Yu of the China University of Geosciences added: 'Let's make sure our work transcends academia: it is a responsibility to all life on Earth, today and beyond." "Earth's story is still being written, and we all have a role in shaping its next chapter," Yu said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Marcel Barelli to Get Locarno Kids Award, Annecy Winner ‘Arco' to Screen at Fest
Swiss-born director and designer Marcel Barelli will receive the Locarno Kids Award at the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival this summer. He will be awarded the honor, presented by la Mobiliare, on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 12. During the festival, Barelli will present the Swiss premiere of Mary Anning, chasseuse de fossiles, his new animated film dedicated to the British paleontologist and fossil pioneer 'who revolutionized the discipline in the early decades of the 19th century.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Keanu Reeves to Host, Exec Produce Docuseries on the Birth of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team in the U.S. CNN's Fred Pleitgen on Reporting From Iran and What the Media Narrative Doesn't Capture Bob Vylan Addresses Glastonbury Controversy: "We Are Not for the Death of Jews" The fest also unveiled the lineup for this year's Locarno Kids Screenings, the section dedicated to younger audiences. The program includes Arco, a French animated feature about unexpected friendship and the fate of a world impacted by climate change that won the best film award at this year's Annecy film festival and counts Natalie Portman among its producers. 'Barelli has established himself as one of the most promising and original voices in Swiss and international animation cinema,' Locarno organizers said. 'In short films, such as Gypaetus helveticus (2011), Vigia (2013) – winner of the Pardino d'Argento at the 66th Locarno Film Festival, Lucens (2015), and Habitat (2016), Barelli has developed a unique poetic style sensitive to themes of environmental sustainability, exploring the deep relationship between humans, animals, and nature. In 2022, he received the Swiss Film Award for best animated film with Dans la nature (2021).' Said Giona A. Nazzaro, artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival: 'Marcel Barelli represents an idea of resistance to the conformism of emotions, which becomes a light and dreamy trait to outline a world to rethink and rebuild, returning it to human beings of all ages. According to Barelli, cinema and animation are made of the same material as the most precious and generous dreams.' The 78th edition of the Locarno festival takes place Aug. 6-16. Here is the lineup for the Locarno Kids Screenings 2025: Arco by Ugo Bienvenu – Opening Film Swiss Premiere Fantastique by Marjolijn Prins World Premiere Grevlingene (The Badgers) by Paul M. Lundø – Closing Film World Premiere io non ti lascio solo by Fabrizio Cattani World Premiere L'Olívia i el terratrèmol invisible (Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake) by Irene Iborra Rizo International Premiere Skrzat. Nowy początek (Pixie. The New Beginning) by Krzysztof Komander International Premiere Tichá pošta (Secret Delivery) by Ján Sebechlebský International Premiere Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
