A Robot Wrote (Part of) This Article
Researchers develop a new technique that uses artificial intelligence to summarize long scientific papers.
If
your eyes have ever glazed over while reading scientific literature, a
new system powered by artificial intelligence may be able to help.
Researchers from MIT have used neural network-based techniques to
summarize research papers filled with technical jargon. They
published the results
in the journal Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
|
|
Scientists Release First Photo of a Black Hole
We have now seen what we thought was unseeable, team says.
The
first-ever photograph of a black hole looks something like a cosmic
wedding ring. Bright light encircles the void of a supermassive black
hole billions of times the mass of our sun, which lurks at the center of
an elliptical galaxy located 55 million light-years from Earth, known
as Messier 87.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
|
|
Race Car Drivers Are Definitely Athletes
Drivers’ bodies overheat, their hearts race, and they face extreme G-forces.
David
Ferguson, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Michigan State
University, talks about what it’s like to drive a race car: "It's
not like driving a normal car. You're having very high speeds, drivers
exposed to G loads that are higher than what NASA astronauts are
exposed, in hot humid environments, and they do it every weekend."
READ FULL ARTICLE.
|
|
Liquid Crystals Could Protect Pilots Against Laser Pointer Attacks
New proof of concept could guard against the disorienting effects of laser pointers invading the cockpit.
The
FAA received more than 6,700 reports of lasers striking aircraft in
2017, a dramatic increase from just a decade earlier. Commercially
available lasers can
disrupt a pilot's vision
and
endanger those aboard the aircraft, especially during the critical
phases of takeoff and landing. Now, researchers have developed a glass
embedded with liquid crystals that could shield a plane's cockpit from
these disruptive attacks.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
|
|
Parasitic Wasps Play the Victim to Ambush Spiders
Their larvae slowly suck the arachnids' guts out after wasps infiltrate the spiders' webs.
Sometimes,
the best way to beat a complicated ambush is to lay a
counterambush. A species of parasitic wasps uses sophisticated
strategies to lure spiders into playing the unwilling provider for the
wasps' gut-sucking offspring.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits:
Courtesy of Keizo Takasuka
|
|
Scientists Confirm Cats Recognize Their Own Names
Whether they respond when called is another matter.
Science
has finally confirmed what cat owners knew all along: Cats know their
own names. That doesn’t necessarily mean they respond when called
(another thing cat owners could have told you). Cats in the new study
turned their heads and ears toward the sound of their names, but
generally didn't bother to vocalize back or communicate using their
tails.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits
:
Florence Ivy via
Flickr
|
|
How the First Empire of the Andes Ensured a Steady Beer Supply
Drought-tolerant ingredients and local sourcing of brewing containers meant the beer could flow even in tough times.
A
reliable supply of beer made from pepper berries may have helped keep
the first empire of the Andes together for centuries, a new study finds.
Roughly a thousand years ago, before the rise of the Inca,
the Wari empire
stretched
across Peru. At its height, it extended about 1,380 kilometers along
the coast of Peru, about the same as the distance between Washington,
D.C. and Miami as the crow flies.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits
:
The Field Museum
|
|
Researchers Find a New Ancient Human Species in the Philippines
Fossils from 50,000-67,000 years ago represent Homo luzonensis, discovered in a cave on the island of Luzon.
In a jungle cave in the Philippines, scientists have discovered fossils
of what may be a new human species they call Homo luzonensis. The
newfound teeth and bones combine primitive and modern traits in a way
never previously seen together in one species, and suggest much remains
to be discovered about human evolution outside Africa.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits:
Callao Cave Archaeology Project
|
|
The Fiery Physics of Volcano Flows
Researchers find that hot ash, lava, boulders and gas can rush from a volcano at high speeds on a cushion of air.
Volcanos
can sometimes spew a deadly onslaught of hot ash, lava, boulders and
gas that gushes forth at up to 160 kilometers per hour. Now scientists
have discovered these searing deluges -- known as pyroclastic flows --
reach such speeds by riding on a cushion of air that reduces friction,
much like a puck does in a game of air hockey.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
|
Human Activity is Disrupting the Heart of Africa's Serengeti Ecosystem
Repercussions of human pressure ripple from the edges to the center of an enormous protected area.
The
Serengeti-Mara ecosystem in Tanzania and Kenya is one of the largest
and most beloved stretches of protected wilderness on Earth. But human
pressures around the edges of the protected area may be harming the
entire ecosystem, squeezing wildlife into a smaller area and depleting
the richness of grass and soil. The new findings suggest that rather
than focusing only on the core of an ecosystem, conservationists must
find ways for humans and wildlife to coexist across much larger
landscapes.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
Image credits
:
DEMOSH via
Flickr
|
|
These Instruments Can Create Pressure Thousands of Times Higher Than the Bottom of the Ocean
Super high-pressure experiments take science to extremes.
If
the filmmaker and explorer James Cameron had opened the hatch of his
submarine at Challenger Deep -- the deepest point in all of Earth’s
oceans -- the immense pressure outside would’ve crushed his skull with
the weight of 500 elephants.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
|
|
Astronomers Spy Lunar Water Droplets Scattered by Meteoroid Impacts
Their observations confirm water lurks in the moon's subsoil, not just at the poles.
Soil
samples collected by astronauts on the Apollo missions suggested that
the moon lacks water, except at the icy poles. But a new study indicates
our gray, pockmarked lunar neighbor isn't completely bone-dry after
all. It turns out that impacts by small meteoroids frequently propel
dust as well as water droplets into the atmosphere, where a NASA
spacecraft spotted them.
READ FULL ARTICLE.
|
|
OUR MISSION
Striving to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the lives of our students.
One
of the SVC’s long-term goals has always been to support charitable,
educational, and scientific activities. As its first initiative, the
Foundation created a scholarship program aimed at supporting
enterprising students and practitioners who have an interest in
furthering their education in the field of vacuum coating
technology.
The
Foundation also grants travel awards to students to attend and present
technical papers at the annual SVC Technical Symposium. Since its
inception, both programs have awarded over $250,000 in scholarships to
students from the United States, Canada, China, Lithuania and Spain.
|
|
Society of Vacuum Coaters | PO Box 10628, Albuquerque, NM 87184
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
