How good are neuron models?
For several decades now, physicists, mathematicians, neurobiologists and other specialists have been joining efforts to build realistic mathematical models of neurons. A typical model consists on one or several differential equations that are able to predict the evolution of the […]
Epistemology in the courts. Or, Sherlock Holmes is dead, long live to Thomas Bayes.
Strange as it may sound to many people, the fact is that some of the most interesting work on epistemology that is being currently done in Spain is carried out at the headquarters of the Spanish gendarmerie (the well known […]
Deep learning
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most actives fields of computer science. The idea of a computer learning, in an autonomous way, complicate tasks is exciting from both the fundamental and applied points of view.
One very recent and […]
Thinking the 20th century
How can we begin to ‘think’ the twentieth century? How do we start to make sense of the masses of figures, events and ideas that gave shape to it? How can we reconcile its horrors and its achievements in […]
MI weekly selection #17
Scientists use 3D printer to create networks of artificial cells
Researchers have developed networks of water droplets that can act like biological tissue cells. The researchers created the networks using a three-dimensional printer. The networks can support up to 35,000 […]
The wandering Venus southern polar vortex
Poles are truly interesting places for planetary scientists. On Earth, the southern pole and its low surface temperatures sustain a polar vortex, most famous for the related hole in the ozone layer. On Saturn, for example, both poles have astonishing […]
Reinforcement learning in the brain
The term reinforcement learning is well known among researchers in the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence. It refers to a type of algorithms which are designed to solve a task by maximizing some kind of reward. In […]
The perfect armour
If you have ever faced that thankless task of cleaning fish, for sure you will have realized, at least envisaged, the complex architecture of the fish’s natural armour. Fish scales play the role of a skeleton which provides both protection […]
Do I flower now or do I wait a little bit more?
Flowers are the reproductive organs of angiosperms (flowering plants) and flowering is therefore the phenomenon by which the undifferentiated cells from the meristems (similar to animal stem cells) differentiate into a floral meristem that will then produce the different components […]
Closer to quantum Internet
Quantum computers are one of the most promising technologies under development, and all their promises are completely justified. Quantum systems are extremely expensive to compute, where “expensiveness” can be measured either by the memory or the computational time required in […]