Benzinga – August 16, 2023 Harvard researcher has reportedly cloned a supercomputer using Alphabet Inc’s Google’s cloud platform for a groundbreaking heart disease study. The step is taken to address the lack of robust computing capabilities and accelerate their projects. The research modeled a treatment designed to break down blood clots and tumor cells in the human circulatory system. This demanded a vast computational capacity usually provided by supercomputers, stated Harvard’s Professor Petros Koumoutsakos. “The big problem that we had (was) we could run one simulation using a full-scale supercomputer,” Reuters reported citing Koumoutsakos, adding that refining or optimizing the…
Author: LMD International
Al Jazeera – August 14, 2023 Kim Jong Un inspected key factories producing tactical missiles, mobile launch platforms, armoured vehicles and artillery shells. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected key munitions factories, including a tactical missile production plant, and ordered a “drastic” boost in the manufacturing of missiles, rocket-launcher shells and other weapons, according to state media. The inspections, reported on Monday, are the latest in a string of visits by Kim to defence facilities, where he has emphasised the mass production of weapons. It comes as South Korea and the United States prepare for annual military drills…
Reuters – August 15, 2023 New Zealand’s government will lift all remaining COVID-19 requirements from midnight Tuesday, bringing an end to some of the toughest COVID-19 pandemic rules in the world more than three years after they were put in place. Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall said in a statement on Monday that from Tuesday people will no longer have to wear a face mask in health care facilities or isolate for seven days after contracting the virus. “While our case numbers will continue to fluctuate, we have not seen the dramatic peaks that characterised COVID-19 rates last year. This,…
Piedmont’s fresh young red is now often aged for spicier flavours, says Ben McCormack WORD ON THE VINE BARBERA THE GRAPE Native to Italy, late-ripening barbera is the most widely planted red grape in Piedmont, in the north-west. Producing medium- to deep-coloured wines with low to medium tannins and high acidity, the most famous examples come from the DOCG of Barbera d’Asti, but look out for Barbera d’Alba and Barbera del Monferrato too. THE TASTE Fresh and fruity, violet-scented barbera has traditionally been drunk young and lightly chilled like Beaujolais; the best wines display a taut balance between tart cherry…
Reuters – August 14, 2023 The Indian rupee on Monday declined below 83 to the U.S. dollar for the first time since October 2022, prompting the Reserve Bank of India to intervene, three traders told Reuters. The rupee was at 82.9650 to the dollar by 09:32 a.m. IST, down from 82.8450 on Friday. The currency had earlier dropped to 83.0725. “The price action on the D2 (the interbank order matching system) and the names we are hearing on the offer (on USD/INR) suggests that the RBI is intervening,” a dealer said. “It’s obviously not a surprise that the RBI is…
Yahoo Finance – August 8, 2023 In a recent story in the Associated Press, artificial intelligence researchers and industry leaders interrogated generative A.I.’s “hallucination” problem, wherein tools like ChatGPT make up information and write it as fact. The problem stems from the very way that ChatGPT and other generative A.I. tools function—they aren’t really “thinking,” but rather use patterns to predict the next word in a sequence. ChatGPT writes according to what makes sense in a pattern, not according to what’s true. “This isn’t fixable,” Emily Bender, a linguistics professor and director of the University of Washington’s Computational Linguistics Laboratory,…
Business Insider – August 09, 2023 In a second successful experiment, US scientists say they produced a nuclear fusion reaction that yields more energy than they put into it. After decades of trying, this is only the second time in history scientists have achieved such a feat, and it could usher in a future age of cleaner, sustainable energy, unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Why nuclear fusion is so important for global energy needs We see the colossal power of nuclear fusion in action every day — the sun. At the sun’s core, immense heat and gravity cause the fusion…
Carne Diem Grill by Dharshan Symphony of flavours A premium steakhouse by Sri Lanka’s renowned chef and restaurateur Dharshan Munidasa – the brains behind some of Asia’s best restaurants including Ministry of Crab and Nihonbashi – Carne Diem Grill was launched in 2020. This restaurant is housed in a hacienda style villa with a wine library and located at CROSSROADS, which is said to be the Maldives’ largest multi-island integrated leisure and entertainment destination. The Trinity of Fire is at the heart of the method at Carne Diem. Drawing on his dual Sri Lankan and Japanese heritage, Munidasa was inspired…
Reuters – August 9, 2023 China again asked the Philippines to tow away a grounded warship – a World War Two-era vessel now used as a military outpost – from a disputed shoal on Tuesday, after Manila rejected Beijing’s earlier demand. Tensions have soared between the two neighbours over the South China Sea under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, with Manila pivoting back to the United States, which supports the Southeast Asian nation in its maritime disputes with China. China’s embassy in Manila criticised Washington for “gathering” its allies to continue “hyping up” the South China Sea issue and the…
Space.com – Aug 7, 2023 SpaceX launched 22 more of its Starlink internet satellites tonight (Aug. 6) and landed the returning rocket on a ship at sea. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight at 10:41 p.m. EDT (0241 GMT on Aug. 7). The Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth as planned, landing about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the fourth launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. The first stage of…