science

An international research team has found that recent heatwaves in the North Pacific may be linked to the massive reduction of aerosols from Chinese factories. The decrease in aerosols, which can reflect the sun’s heat back into space, has been associated with increased warming along Asia’s coastal regions, the development of high-pressure systems and subsequently more intense low-pressure systems in the central Pacific, leading to hotter conditions. Bob Yirka writes in »Computer models show heat waves in north Pacific may be due to China reducing aerosols« for phys.org ...

I learned something new! Although it’s almost obvious, it wasn’t clear to me. Right now we can’t simply fix faulty large language models when they make mistakes or spread false information. That’s because LLMs are created using neural networks. Neural networks learn on their own and build mathematical probabilities by repeatedly computing certain things with small variations. So if you want to change something in an LLM, you’d have to adjust countless such probabilities. This process is so labor-intensive that it’s easier to create a new LLM. That’s why GPTs are released as larger, major version updates. ...

Motherboard berichtet reported on a box capable of cracking an iPhone’s PIN. The GrayKey itself is a small, 4×4 inches box with two lightning cables for connecting iPhones, according to photographs published by cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes. The device comes in two versions: a $15,000 one which requires online connectivity and allows 300 unlocks (or $50 per phone), and an offline, $30,000 version which can crack as many iPhones as the customer wants. Marketing material seen by Forbes says GrayKey can unlock devices running iterations of Apple’s latest mobile operating system iOS 11, including on the iPhone X, Apple’s most recent phone. ...

Ghost Minitaur ‘Ghost Minitaur’ is a 4-legged robot that can traverse tough terrain, jump, climb stairs, open doors, and even climb fences. The company hopes it could be used as a platform for “developing commercial unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), advanced gait and locomotion research, and machine learning and training applications.” It’s crazy how far robotics has come, and the thing is apparently powered by a Raspberry Pi (see 0:45). ...