Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have created a cap with artificial intelligence (AI) that “reads” the user’s thoughts using electroencephalography, or EEG. Even while the system is far from flawless, it is impressive—if not a little unsettling—that it can roughly translate internal mental processes into text and speech without the need for extra inputs like eye tracking.

The system, named DeWave, is made up of two main parts: a large language model (LLM) and an EEG-reading cap. The non-invasive EEG electrodes included in the cap start to detect the wearer’s mental activity as soon as they put it on since electrical impulses from the brain run through them. These brain waves are fed into the DeWave LLM, which the UTS group developed based on the ZuCo dataset, which associates natural reading activities with eye-tracking and EEG patterns. The user reads the statement aloud while matching each pattern with a word or phrase.

DeWave obtained a highest accuracy score of 42.8% on the BLEU-1 machine translation metric in testing with 29 individuals. The researchers observe that DeWave matches verbs more accurately than nouns, with the latter frequently translating into synonymous pairings, in a preprint study uploaded to the arXiv. (For instance, although DeWave uses the word “version,” the user could think of “edition.”)

They state, “Our analysis points to two possible causes for this.” First, semantically related words may cause comparable brain wave patterns during brain processing.Secondly, compared to traditional language translation, a far smaller volume of EEG-to-text pairs is accessible for training. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect some degree of mistake when translating unknown nouns or sentences.

DeWave should ideally score 90% or above for accuracy. However, in terms of usefulness, EEG-only “mind-reading” technologies are already thought to be superior to comparable techniques like eye tracking or Elon Musk’s Neuralink. A system like DeWave doesn’t actually require training when it comes to teaching stroke survivors or patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) how to utilize an eye-tracking interface; all you have to do is read or think, and DeWave takes care of the rest. It’s also far simpler to swallow donning a swimming cap with EEG electrodes than having an implant physically inserted into your brain, particularly if that implant was created by a wild millionaire with a questionable sense of ethics.

After nearly three Earth years on Mars, the Perseverance rover has accomplished a milestone that is exclusive to Mars. Now, the wheeled explorer has spent 1,000 Martian days, or sols, on the red planet. While there is still more work for the rover to undertake, NASA notes that it will take some time to showcase the mission’s successes and display Perseverance’s rock sample gathering. Although that initiative has encountered difficulties, NASA and the ESA intend to return these samples to Earth in the future.

On February 18, 2021, Perseverance touched down in Jezero Crater, a 28-mile (45-kilometer) hole in the barren terrain that was created some 4 billion years ago. NASA selected this landing site because satellite photos revealed a distinct river delta in the crater, suggesting that a lake formerly occupied the area. These kinds of deltas gather debris that comes in with the water and bury it under strata that reveal the topography of the area.

The rover started its investigation by looking at the Jezero Crater floor, discovering that it is made of igneous rock, which was created by volcanic activity. Later, the rover found mudstone and sandstone, providing more evidence that an old river had once poured into the crater. There are salt layers above those rocks, which are probably the consequence of water evaporating when the lake dried up. Large stones were dispersed around the region in later ages as the crater was filled with water that washed into it.

There are currently twenty-three rock core samples that tell the story of Jezero. An innovative sample caching system included into the rover’s architecture allows it to sample, image, analyze, and store rocks for further research. Perseverance can gather up to 38 samples altogether. There are duplicate tubes inside the robot’s belly in addition to the ones it has already left in the improvised sample storage on the surface (see above).

One of the rovers’ missions is to look for life, and a few of the samples include organic chemical evidence. Organics may have non-biological origins, but they may also indicate the presence of prehistoric Martian life. The rover has also collected materials that have elevated phosphate concentrations, a substance present in DNA and cell membranes. Certain samples also include fine silica, which is perfect for conserving Earthly fossils. While perseverance can provide some analysis while on the ground, it is preparing the way for a future mission that may provide far more information.

NASA and ESA are working together on the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. The intention is to retrieve the samples of Perseverance from Mars and return them to Earth. New technology will be needed for this expedition, and many specifics are still unknown. NASA recently said that in order to resolve financial concerns, MSR work will need to be put on hold. The mission may be trimmed back, but Perseverance is already on Mars and doing a great job carrying out its portion of the task. To let the chance pass up would be unfortunate. Nevertheless, Perseverance has a long way ahead of it if it is anything like its twin Curiosity rover. Perseverance might be prepared to provide a robotic grasper when needed, even in the event that MSR is delayed.

Intel is celebrating the debut of its Meteor Lake family of mobile CPUs with an event titled “AI Everywhere” today. With the launch of the new chip family, the business is taking a major step ahead by utilizing tiles rather than a monolithic design to create its CPUs. It also marks the company’s first CPU on the new Intel 4 process, which replaced the 7nm, demonstrating that it can transition to a new node without having to wait years for a transition. Eight new CPUs are being introduced, and three more will follow in 2024. By the time you read this, a large range of computers should have them available.

All things considered, Intel is releasing the Core Ultra 7 and Core Ultra 5 CPUs today; the “Ultra” designation refers to Meteor Lake. These chips have six performance and eight efficiency cores at their highest capacity, as predicted, and each SKU also has two low-power cores. At the top end, that translates to a processor with 16 cores and 22 threads and a maximum boost rate of 5GHz. Meteor Lake doesn’t flaunt about its core counts because it places a lot of emphasis on efficiency. This focus is demonstrated by the fact that every Meteor Lake CPU has two low-power and eight efficiency cores; hence, the only core count that varies between SKUs is the number of P-cores.

In summary, the company is releasing four Core Ultra 7/5 CPUs for its mainstream H-series and four additional CPUs in its ultra-thin laptop-focused U-series. The U-series chips only consume 15W of power, compared to the 28W rating of the H-series chips. The Ultra 7 and Ultra 5 CPUs found in both product lines are indicated by the letters H or U in their names to make it clear which CPU belongs where.

Apart from the CPUs mentioned above, Intel has three more in store for 2024: two additional 9W U-series chips and a flagship 45W Core ultra 9 CPU. There won’t be a Core Ultra 3 version because those will probably be rebranded 13th and 14th Gen chips.

The Core Ultra 9 is a peculiar CPU because it is the only portion of the Meteor Lake lineup rated at 45W, while the remainder of the H-series is rated at 28W. With the same number of cores, cache size, and iGPU configuration as the Core Ultra 7 165H, it is known as the Core Ultra 9 185H. We are left wondering why Intel even bothered with this SKU, though, given that it has a 50MHz higher speed on the Xe GPU and a 100MHz higher boost clock on its P-cores. What’s even more puzzling is that it won’t even be available at launch. It has now been confirmed that this chip was delayed, as previously reported.

Otherwise, efficiency, artificial intelligence, and the performance of its integrated GPU are Intel’s three main Meteor Lake advantages—pardon the pun. The AI capability of Intel’s inbuilt Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and gaming performance are heavily promoted by the company, suggesting that Meteor Lake outperforms its predecessors and rivals in both areas.

For instance, if true—and we don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be—Intel claims that the Xe-based GPU in Meteor Lake can achieve up to two times the performance of the iGPU in Raptor Lake at 28W. Notably, the iGPU supports Intel’s XeSS upscaling technology, which the company claims can yield frame rates up to 39% higher—all on a thin and light laptop. Ray tracing is also supported by the iGPU in Meteor Lake, but enjoy it on a thin-and-light notebook.

Intel isn’t boasting about smashing benchmark records for pure computing power because that’s all based on TDP, which is 28W for the H-series. By using that measure, Intel claims that the Core Ultra 7 165H CPU has 11% more processing power than the 28W Ryzen 7 7840U mobile chip from AMD. Additionally, according to Intel, this CPU is more powerful than Apple’s new M3 chip at 28W. As previously said, Intel is primarily concerned with performance per watt with these chips, particularly in extremely light notebooks, so expectations need to be moderated while taking these things into account.

The NPU’s performance is a little more unclear because it appears Intel is marketing this hardware in anticipation of a time when “AI PCs” will be commonplace. It easily defeats AMD’s 7840U CPU and its 13th generation chips in benchmarks for programs like Stable Diffusion and DaVinci Resolve. It’s unclear, though, how future real-world AI applications will help the typical customer. AMD is also playing the “AI is everywhere” card, but mainstream customers haven’t seen it yet. By 2024, that might have changed.