Lifeboat Foundation

A recent study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters discusses how new data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has identified the second-and fourth-farthest and oldest galaxies in the universe, which are located approximately 33 billion light years from Earth and part of Abell 2744, also known as Pandora’s Cluster. The reason the galaxies are estimated to be 33 billion light years from Earth is due to the expansion of the universe, but astronomers hypothesize the two were first formed approximately 330 million years after the Big Bang, which is incredibly young in cosmic terms.

The two galaxies are named UNCOVER z-12 and UNCOVER z-13 since they were discovered by the JWST UNCOVER (Ultradeep NIRSpec and NIRCam ObserVations before the Epoch of Reionization) team. This study was conducted by an international team of more than two dozen researchers, who refer to the two galaxies as appearing like a peanut and fluffy ball, and this study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of the first galaxies after the Big Bang.

“Very little is known about the early universe, and the only way to learn about that time and to test our theories of early galaxy formation and growth is with these very distant galaxies,” said Dr. Bingjie Wang, who is a postdoctoral scholar in the Penn State Eberly College of Science and lead author of the study. “Prior to our analysis, we knew of only three galaxies confirmed at around this extreme distance. Studying these new galaxies and their properties has revealed the diversity of galaxies in the early universe and how much there is to be learned from them.”

Spacedock delves into animalistic bioship designs from across science fiction.

THE SOJOURN — AN ORIGINAL SCI-FI AUDIO DRAMA:
https://www.thesojournaudiodrama.com/

Continue reading “Biomechanical Ships in Science Fiction” »

The world’s most valuable chip maker has announced a next-generation processor for AI and high-performance computing workloads, due for launch in mid-2024. A new exascale supercomputer, designed specifically for large AI models, is also planned.

H200 Tensor Core GPU. Credit: NVIDIA

In recent years, California-based NVIDIA Corporation has played a major role in the progress of artificial intelligence (AI), as well as high-performance computing (HPC) more generally, with its hardware being central to astonishing leaps in algorithmic capability.

In the evolving landscape of space warfare, conflict is shifting into what experts commonly call the “gray zone.”

Unlike traditional conflicts defined by clear boundaries, rules of engagement and identifiable actors, space battles in the gray zone are ambiguous, with military and civilian activities that can be difficult to discern.

“It’s crucial for U.S. policymakers and military leaders to understand the nuances of future competition in space, and how it will likely play out,” said John Klein, military strategist and adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.

New materials developed at the University of Surrey could pave the way for a new generation of flexible X-ray detectors, with potential applications ranging from cancer treatment to better airport scanners.

Traditionally, X-ray detectors are made of heavy, rigid material such as silicon or germanium. New, flexible detectors are cheaper and can be shaped around the objects that need to be scanned, improving accuracy when screening patients and reducing risk when imaging tumors and administering radiotherapy.

Dr. Prabodhi Nanayakkara, who led the research at the University of Surrey, said, “This new material is flexible, low-cost, and sensitive. But what’s exciting is that this material is tissue equivalent. This paves the way for live dosimetry, which just isn’t possible with current technology.”

The Polestar 4 uses a camera setup instead of a rear window and rearview mirror, and it offers benefits beyond visibility.

The new Polestar 4 is the Swedish EV brand’s first crossover coupe, slotting between the compact and midsize segment.

Riding along in the slightly claustrophobic Polestar 4.

Continue reading “Polestar makes the rear window obsolete with its new crossover coupe” »

As cars become computers on wheels, the former BlackBerry and Dyson executive is approaching Volvo’s EV transformation with a consumer electronics mindset.

Today, I’m talking to Jim Rowan, the CEO of Volvo Cars.

Volvo’s Jim Rowan, now more than 18 months on the job, has strong opinions on EVs, car software, and autonomy.

Continue reading “Volvo CEO Jim Rowan thinks dropping Apple CarPlay is a mistake” »

In this article we look at several introductions of digital storage related products at the 2023 Supercomputing Conference.

WDC was also showing its hybrid storage JBOD Ultrastar Data102 and Data60 platforms to support disaggregated storage and software-defined storage (SDS). This comes in dual-port SAS or single-port SATA configurations. The Data102 has storage capacities up to 2.65PB and the Data60 has up to 1.56TB in a 4U enclosure that includes IsoVibe and ArticFlow technologies for improved performance and reliability. The Data102 and Data60 capacity numbers assume using 26TB SMR HDDs.

WDC was also showing a GPUDirect storage proof of concept combining the company’s RaidFlex technology with Ingrasys ES2100 with integrated NVIDIA Spectrum Ethernet switches as well as NVIDIA’s GPUs, Magnum IO GPUDirect storage, BlueField DPUs and ConnectX SmartNICs. The proof-of-concept demonstration can provide 25GB/s bandwidth for a single NVIDIA A100 Tensor Core GPU and over 100GB/s for four NVIDIA A100 GPUs.

Continue reading “Super Computing Conference Digital Storage Announcements” »

The only AI Hardware startup to realize revenue exceeding $100M has finished the first phase of Condor Galaxy 1 AI Supercomputer with partner G42 of the UAE. Other Cerebras customers are sharing their CS-2 results at Supercomputing ‘23, building momentum for the inventor of wafer-scale computing. This company is on a tear.

Four short months ago, Cerebras announced the most significant deal any AI startup has been able to assemble with partner G42 (Group42), an artificial intelligence and cloud computing company. The eventual 256 CS-2 wafer-scale nodes with 36 Exaflops of AI performance will be one of the world’s largest AI supercomputers, if not the largest.

Cerebras has now finished the first data center implementation and started on the second. These two companies are moving fast to capitalize on the $70B (2028) gold rush to stand up Large Language Model services to researchers and enterprises, especially while the supply of NVIDIA H100 remains difficult to obtain, creating an opportunity for Cerebras. In addition, Cerebras has recently announced it has released the largest Arabic Language Model, the Jais30B with Core42 using the CS-2, a platform designed to make the development of massive AI models accessible by eliminating the need to decompose and distribute the problem.