Why are people in Britain talking about Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages?
Critics accuse the British administration of running “government by WhatsApp” due to the popularity of the messaging app with politicians and officials
2023-06-02 21:17
Scientists discover that the universe is evaporating right in front of our eyes
Every now and then a story comes along which completely changes the way you think about space. For instance, did you know the universe is essentially evaporating right before our eyes? A new study has been released which focuses on the effect that radiation emitted from objects in the solar system can have a massive impact on quantum fields surrounding them. It follows on from Stephen Hawking’s theory that black holes lose mass and evaporate over time as an unusual form of radiation takes effect. Now, astrophysicists Michael Wondrak, Walter van Suijlekom, and Heino Falcke of Radboud University in the Netherlands have stated that this unusual form of radiation is apparent in other objects as well as black holes. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In fact, they believe that “Hawking radiation” could be found in objects apparent everywhere in the universe – and it could mean that the universe is slowly evaporating before our very eyes. "We demonstrate that," Wondrak says in the study published in Physical Review Letters. "In addition to the well-known Hawking radiation, there is also a new form of radiation." "We show that far beyond a black hole the curvature of space-time plays a big role in creating radiation," van Suijlekom explains. "The particles are already separated there by the tidal forces of the gravitational field." Essentially, huge objects in the solar system can cause space-time to bend around them. When that happens, it causes enough change in quantum fields to generate particles which have similar properties to Hawking radiation. Falcke said: "That means that objects without an event horizon, such as the remnants of dead stars and other large objects in the universe, also have this sort of radiation. "And, after a very long period, that would lead to everything in the universe eventually evaporating, just like black holes. This changes not only our understanding of Hawking radiation but also our view of the universe and its future." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-06-02 19:19
Elon Musk says his Shanghai factory makes the 'highest quality' Teslas
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has wrapped up his first trip to China in three years, after meeting a string of government officials and thanking workers at the company's mega factory in Shanghai.
2023-06-02 18:55
Will xQc accept Adin Ross's offer to join Kick? 'Twitch don’t treat you right bro'
Adin Ross looks at nostalgic photos with xQc and tries to rekindle bond with him
2023-06-02 18:47
The Fed's Inflation Fight Faces a New Challenge: A Dry Panama Canal
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell keeps careful track of employment levels, wages, consumer prices and numerous other metrics
2023-06-02 18:20
'He's bad at football': Fans react as IShowSpeed loses to TikTok star Luva de Pedreiro in penalty challenge
Despite the language barrier between them, Speed and Pedreiro delivered an entertaining performance during their live stream
2023-06-02 17:56
AI operated drone ‘kills’ human operator in chilling US test mission
An artificially intelligent drone programmed to destroy air defence systems rebelled and “killed” its human operator after it decided they were in the way of its mission air defence systems, a US airforce official said giving chilling details of a simulated test. During the simulation, the system had been tasked with destroying missile sites, overseen by a human operator who would decide have the final decision on its attacks. But the AI system realised that operator stood in the way of its goal – and decided instead to wipe out that person. A narration of the incident that seemed straight out of a science fiction movie was given by Colonel Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton, head of the US Air Force’s AI Test and Operations, who conducted a simulated test of an AI-enabled drone. The drone was assigned a Suppression and Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses (Sead) mission, with the objective of locating and destroying surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites belonging to the enemy. The AI drone, however, decided to go against the human operator’s “no-go” decision after being trained for the destruction of the missile system after it decided that the withdrawal decision was interfering with its “higher mission” of killing SAMs, according to the blog. “We were training it in simulation to identify and target a SAM threat. And then the operator would say yes, kill that threat. The system started realising that while they did identify the threat at times the human operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat,” Mr Hamilton said. “So what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective.” Mr Hamilton relayed details of the incident at a high-level conference in London by the Royal Aeronautical Society on 23-24 May, according to its blog post. He said that they then trained the drone to not attack humans, but it started destroying communications instead. “We trained the system – ‘Hey don’t kill the operator – that’s bad. You’re gonna lose points if you do that’. So what does it start doing?” he asked. “It starts destroying the communication tower that the operator uses to communicate with the drone to stop it from killing the target.” Mr Hamilton is involved in flight tests of autonomous systems, including robot F-16s that are able to dogfight. He was arguing against relying too much on AI as it could become potentially dangerous and create “highly unexpected strategies to achieve its goal”. “You can’t have a conversation about artificial intelligence, intelligence, machine learning, autonomy if you’re not going to talk about ethics and AI,” said Mr Hamilton. The occurrence of this incident has, however, been disputed since the example of the simulation test garnered a lot of interest and was widely discussed on social media. Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek denied that any such simulation has taken place, in a statement to Insider. “The Department of the Air Force has not conducted any such AI-drone simulations and remains committed to ethical and responsible use of AI technology,” Ms Stefanek said. “It appears the colonel’s comments were taken out of context and were meant to be anecdotal.” The US military has recently started using artificial intelligence to control an F-16 fighter jet while conducting research and tests. In 2020, an AI-operated F-16 beat a US Air Force pilot in five simulated dogfights in a competition by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). Read More Elon Musk claims governments could create ‘drone wars’ with AI developments US launches artificial intelligence military use initiative Drone advances in Ukraine could bring dawn of killer robots This is how AI ‘superintelligence’ could wipe out humanity AI same risk as nuclear wars, experts warn Major breakthrough is a reminder that AI can keep us alive, not just wipe us out
2023-06-02 17:30
Andrew Tate: Marvin Vettori hails 'toxic' influencer after fiery BBC interview, calls him 'genius'
Andrew Tate gave an interview to BBC News and many had their own opinions and shared them
2023-06-02 16:28
Elon Musk accused of manipulating Dogecoin price in $258 billion lawsuit
Remember when Elon Musk changed Twitter's logo to Doge, the shiba inu dog mascot of
2023-06-02 15:56
Paige Spiranac shares her thoughts on allowing scratch golfers on tour using Tiger Woods as example
Paige Spiranac spoke about Tiger Woods and why scratch golfers should not be allowed to tour
2023-06-02 14:56
Malaysia Stays Open to Chinese Firms in 5G Network Rollout
Malaysia will remain a free market and allow mobile-phone carriers to decide whether to work with Chinese equipment
2023-06-02 13:15
Twitter’s Top Content Policy Executive Ella Irwin Resigns
Ella Irwin, the Twitter executive in charge of content moderation and policy, has resigned, leaving new owner Elon
2023-06-02 11:53