Network Special Presentation
What is it like to program with artificial intelligence?
Large language models, such as OpenAI’s codex and Deepmind’s AlphaCode, can
generate code to solve a variety of problems expressed in natural language.
This technology has already been commercialised in at least one widely-used
programming editor extension: GitHub Copilot.
In this paper, we explore how programming with large language models
(LLM-assisted programming) is similar to, and differs from, prior
conceptualisations of programmer assistance. We draw upon publicly available
experience reports of LLM-assisted programming, as well as prior usability and
design studies. We find that while LLM-assisted programming shares some
properties of compilation, pair programming, and programming via search and
reuse, there are fundamental differences both in the technical possibilities as
well as the practical experience. Thus, LLM-assisted programming ought to be
viewed as a new way of programming with its own distinct properties and
challenges.
Finally, we draw upon observations from a user study in which non-expert end
user programmers use LLM-assisted tools for solving data tasks in spreadsheets.
We discuss the issues that might arise, and open research challenges, in
applying large language models to end-user programming, particularly with users
who have little or no programming expertise.
Pre-Supernova Alert System for Super-Kamiokande
In 2020, the Super-Kamiokande (SK) experiment moved to a new stage (SK-Gd) in
which gadolinium (Gd) sulfate octahydrate was added to the water in the
detector, enhancing the efficiency to detect thermal neutrons and consequently
improving the sensitivity to low energy electron anti-neutrinos from inverse
beta decay (IBD) interactions. SK-Gd has the potential to provide early alerts
of incipient core-collapse supernovae through detection of electron
anti-neutrinos from thermal and nuclear processes responsible for the cooling
of massive stars before the gravitational collapse of their cores. These
pre-supernova neutrinos emitted during the silicon burning phase can exceed the
energy threshold for IBD reactions. We present the sensitivity of SK-Gd to
pre-supernova stars and the techniques used for the development of a
pre-supernova alarm based on the detection of these neutrinos in SK, as well as
prospects for future SK-Gd phases with higher concentrations of Gd. For the
current SK-Gd phase, high-confidence alerts for Betelgeuse could be issued up
to nine hours in advance of the core-collapse itself.
Artemis I on the pad for an August 29, 2022 launch attempt to the Moon at Kennedy Space Center
Obtaining estimates of Earth’s magnetic field strength in deep time is
complicated by nonideal rock magnetic behavior in many igneous rocks. In
this study, we target anorthosite xenoliths that cooled and acquired
their magnetization within ca. 1,092 Ma shallowly emplaced diabase
intrusions of the North American Midcontinent Rift. In contrast to the
diabase which fails to provide reliable paleointensity estimates, the
anorthosite xenoliths are unusually high-fidelity recorders yielding
high-quality, single-slope paleointensity results that are consistent at
specimen and site levels. An average value of ∼83 ZAm2 for the virtual dipole moment from the anorthosite xenoliths, with the highest site-level values up to ∼129 ZAm2,
is higher than that of the dipole component of Earth’s magnetic field
today and rivals the highest values in the paleointensity database. Such
high intensities recorded by the anorthosite xenoliths require the
existence of a strongly powered geodynamo at the time. Together with
previous paleointensity data from other Midcontinent Rift rocks, these
results indicate that a dynamo with strong power sources persisted for
more than 14 My ca. 1.1 Ga. These data are inconsistent with there being
a progressive monotonic decay of Earth’s dynamo strength through the
Proterozoic Eon and could challenge the hypothesis of a young inner
core. The multiple observed paleointensity transitions from weak to
strong in the Paleozoic and the Proterozoic present challenges in
identifying the onset of inner core nucleation based on paleointensity
records alone.
Identification of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet atmosphere
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a key chemical species that is found in a wide range
of planetary atmospheres. In the context of exoplanets, CO2 is an indicator of
the metal enrichment (i.e., elements heavier than helium, also called
“metallicity”), and thus formation processes of the primary atmospheres of hot
gas giants. It is also one of the most promising species to detect in the
secondary atmospheres of terrestrial exoplanets. Previous photometric
measurements of transiting planets with the Spitzer Space Telescope have given
hints of the presence of CO2 but have not yielded definitive detections due to
the lack of unambiguous spectroscopic identification. Here we present the
detection of CO2 in the atmosphere of the gas giant exoplanet WASP-39b from
transmission spectroscopy observations obtained with JWST as part of the Early
Release Science Program (ERS).
The data used in this study span 3.0 - 5.5 μm in wavelength and show a prominent CO2 absorption feature at 4.3 μm (26σ significance).
The overall spectrum is well matched by
one-dimensional, 10x solar metallicity models that assume
radiative-convective-thermochemical equilibrium and have moderate cloud
opacity. These models predict that the atmosphere should have water, carbon
monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide in addition to CO2, but little methane.
Furthermore, we also tentatively detect a small absorption feature near 4.0 μm that is not reproduced by these models.
Detecting Voyager 1 with the Allen Telescope Array
Almost 45 years after its launch, Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from our home planet. Located 156 AU, or 23.3 billion km, (at the time of writing) away in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus, Voyager 1, along with its twin Voyager 2, is set on a mission to explore the boundaries of the heliosphere and the interstellar medium. Communications with the space probe is still underway using large dishes of the Deep Space Network, and commands/data are sent back and forth between earth and Voyager 1, most of the time at a rate of 160 bits per second.
This write-up describes the observation and detection of the Voyager 1 carrier signal using the Allen Telescope Array.
In 1970, Ronald Reagan was running for reelection as governor of California. He had first won in 1966 with confrontational rhetoric toward the University of California public college system and executed confrontational policies when in office. In May 1970, Reagan had shut down all 28 UC and Cal State campuses in the midst of student protests against the Vietnam War and the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. On October 29, less than a week before the election, his education adviser Roger A. Freeman spoke at a press conference to defend him.
Freeman’s remarks were reported the next day in the San Francisco Chronicle under the headline “Professor Sees Peril in Education.” According to the Chronicle article, Freeman said, “We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. … That’s dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow [to go to college].”
Orcas Are Breaking Rudders Off Boats in Europe
It’s unclear why these animals seem to be drawn to the boats, though researchers have a few hypotheses. Perhaps they enjoy the pressure created by a moving propeller, Renaud de Stephanis, president and coordinator at CIRCE Conservación Information and Research, a Spain-based cetacean conservation group, tells NPR’s Scott Neuman. When the propeller isn’t running, the orcas might get frustrated and break off the rudder.
Or, maybe this is just a new “fad” for juvenile orcas that could go out of fashion as they grow up, Jared Towers, director of Canadian research organization Bay Cetology, tells NPR. In the 1990s, scientists observed another strange orca trend, but it has since faded away.
“They’d kill fish and just swim around with this fish on their head,” Towers tells NPR. “We just don’t see that anymore.”
Dogs cry more when reunited with their owners
Dogs and humans clearly have a special bond. But do dogs, like humans, produce more tears at times when they are flooded with emotion? A new study reported in Current Biology on August 22—which may be the first to look at this question—says that, indeed, the eyes of our canine companions do well up with tears. In fact, it happens regularly when they’re reunited with you.
“We found that dogs shed tears associated with positive emotions,” says Takefumi Kikusui of Azabu University in Japan. “We also made the discovery of oxytocin as a possible mechanism underlying it.”
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