What if the combination of stem cell research, bioengineering and biocomputing could help patients with neurological damage? Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and the University of Southern California (USC) are embarking on a research initiative to explore that very possibility. With a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Emerging Frontiers…

[Updated on September 9, 2024 with new details] The current Biden-Harris administration and Project 2025, a potential blueprint for a second Trump term, offer starkly different visions for the future of American science. Harris. While vice president, Harris joined Biden in proposing substantial investments and reforms aimed at addressing major issues like climate change, public…

Quantum Brilliance (QB), a company specializing in diamond-based quantum technology, has announced a collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop a platform that integrates quantum computing with high-performance computing (HPC). The project aims to explore the integration of QB’s quantum computing cluster into ORNL’s HPC systems. The collaboration seeks to improve the interaction…

From accelerating drug discovery to automating patent searches, AI is popping up in a growing number of R&D contexts. Two of the top stories this week had a direct NVIDIA connection — first, Elon Musk’s announced what he terms the world’s largest GPU cluster, featuring 100,000 of its H100 GPUs, designed to power his new…

The R&D World Index (RDWI) for the week ending August 30, 2024 closed at 3,969.84 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The Index was up 0.57% (or 22.41 basis points). Seventeen RDWI members gained value last week from 0.08% (Microsoft) to 7.30% (Intel). Eight RDWI members lost value last week from -0.12% (Stellantis NV)…

Sandia National Laboratories and Brown University researchers have developed a new method to accelerate computer simulations, significantly speeding up research across various scientific fields. It was recently published in the journal npj Computational Materials and presents a universal approach to enhancing the performance of virtually any type of simulation —  from researching drugs to sending…

Parallel Bio’s head of technology shares a vision for faster, cheaper, and better biological research with human organoids. Ari Gesher, Parallel Bio’s new head of technology, may be new to biotech, but that’s not stopping him from thinking big about disrupting the status quo in biological research. The biotech startup is betting on automation and…

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has often highlighted the transformative impact of AI, stating that it’s a “more profound” tool than the human discoveries of fire or electricity. Shweta Maniar, Global Director of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Google, echoed this sentiment in a recent interview. AI’s applications in the life sciences are broad, and the…

Apple, Dell, Intel… the tech layoff headlines keep coming. But don’t think for a second it’s just Silicon Valley feeling the pinch. A closer look reveals a surge in job cuts across multiple R&D-heavy industries. Tesla cut 14,000 workers in April 2024 (10% of its workforce). Other transportation companies making cuts include electric vehicle (EV)…

While the mathematical capabilities of large language models such as ChatGPT are steadily improving, math is clearly not their forté. Not only is it extremely computationally efficient to ask such a model a math question, it isn’t all that hard to find word problems that trip up even the latest LLMs — like ‘how many…

The R&D World Index (RDWI) for the week ending August 23, 2024, closed at 3,947.43 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The Index was up 1.78% (or 68.94 basis points). Twenty-two RDWI members gained value last week from 0.11% (Meta Platforms) to 7.23% (Ford Motor). Three RDWI members lost value the previous week from…

“Facebook’s parent Meta AI has unveiled Sapiens, a family of high-performance vision models designed to excel in ‘in-the-wild’ environments, overcoming the limitations of traditional models often confined to controlled studio settings. The family of models focuses on ‘four fundamental human-centric vision tasks,’ as the arXiv paper on the tech noted. Those include 2D pose estimation,…

 A more deadly strain of mpox is spreading across Africa, with more than 17,000 suspected cases and a death toll already surpassing last year’s total. With the more severe Clade I variant driving the uptick, mpox continues to pose a significant threat to global health with the World Health Organization (WHO) classifying it as…

Remember when DeepBlue mastered chess and AlphaGo conquered the game of Go, the board game with more moves than particles in the known universe? Or what about when cars learned to drive themselves? Reinforcement learning (RL) plays an essential role in each of these examples. RL is having a significant impact on R&D across an…

In August 2024, AMD made a significant move to challenge NVIDIA’s dominance in the AI chip market with the acquisition of ZT Systems, a cloud architecture solution provider, for $4.9 billion. This acquisition, projected to close in the first half of 2025, is part of AMD’s strategy to bolster its position in the AI infrastructure…

The R&D World Index (RDWI) was up 2.91% with Cisco leading at 8.78%, in spite of its lay-off announcement. In the week ending August 16, the index closed at 3878.49 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The Index was up 2.91% (or 109.53 basis points). Twenty-one RDWI members gained value last week from 0.95%…

What if you could ask a large language model a research question and get back a definitive, contextually relevant answer with verifiable sources? Or trace a scientific claim back through a century of research to uncover the foundations of a modern theory? In a talk at the AI4 conference in Las Vegas, Daniel Schauer, an…

Peel apart a smartphone, fitness tracker, or virtual reality headset, and you’ll find a tiny motion sensor tracking its position and movement. Similar larger, more expensive versions exist that are about as big as a grapefruit and a thousand times more accurate. These devices aid GPS-assisted navigation in ships, airplanes, and other vehicles. Now imagine…

Let’s face it: Half the people spouting off about AI couldn’t tell a neural network from an Einstein-inspired crochet pattern, even if it came with a step-by-step YouTube tutorial. Sure, ChatGPT might have launched back in 2022, but many of us are still floundering in a sea of AI buzzwords more confusing than quantum physics.…

Berkeley-based advanced materials startup Thintronics has secured an undisclosed Series A Extension, led by Maverick Capital and Translink Capital, to accelerate its mission of revamping insulator technology for high-performance electronics. The round, which includes strategic investments from M Ventures (Merck KGaA’s corporate venture capital (CVC) arm) and TGVP (Toppan Holdings’ U.S. CVC arm), will fuel…

Imagine a world where machines think like humans. This dream, once confined to mythology and science fiction, is now the driving force behind artificial Intelligence. While researchers didn’t coin the term “artificial intelligence” until the 1950s, the quest to create intelligent machines is centuries old. From the mythical Hephaestus forging mechanical servants in his Olympian…

Geoffrey Hinton, often hailed as the “Godfather of AI,” sees AI as a sort of Pandora’s box. And he worries that he helped pioneer may be on the verge of getting “smarter than us.” “There are many ways in which this could happen,” he said in a keynote at the AI4 event in Las Vegas.…

Can a machine truly understand? AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, Ph.D. believes the answer is a firm yes when it comes to large language models (LLMs), and it’s precisely this understanding that has him deeply concerned. “It’s very clear that we understand language in much the same way as these large language models,” Hinton said in…

The R&D World Index (RDWI) climbed 2.57% this week, with Eli Lilly leading the charge at a 10.84% gain, while tech giants ramp up AI investments amidst regulatory challenges. In the week ending August 9, 2024, the index closed at 3768.96 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The index was up 2.57% (or 94.45…

For six decades, the R&D 100 Awards have been a benchmark of achievement in science and technology, often referred to informally as “The Oscars of Innovation.” This year, we’re offering a new interactive experience, allowing you to explore the remarkable work of both winners and finalists across diverse fields. From advances in mechanical and material…