Jacek Krywko /

Recent stories by Jacek Krywko

1. We’re building nuclear spaceships again—this time for real 

   The military and NASA seem serious about building demonstration hardware.

   Jacek Krywko – Jul 22, 2024 11:00 am UTC

2. Researchers track individual neurons as they respond to words

   When processing language, individual neurons respond to words with similar meanings.

   Jacek Krywko – Jul 17, 2024 7:39 pm UTC

3. Giant salamander species found in what was thought to be an icy ecosystem

   Found after its kind were thought extinct, and where it was thought to be too cold.

   Jacek Krywko – Jul 11, 2024 8:00 pm UTC

4. Lightening the load: AI helps exoskeleton work with different strides

   A model trained in a virtual environment does remarkably well in the real world.

   Jacek Krywko – Jul 1, 2024 5:31 pm UTC

5. ChatGPT outperforms undergrads in intro-level courses, falls short later

   Software that promises to detect AI-produced text fails to deliver.

   Jacek Krywko – Jun 28, 2024 9:23 pm UTC

6. Saturn’s moon Titan has shorelines that appear to be shaped by waves

   The liquid hydrocarbon waves would likely reach a height of a meter.

   Jacek Krywko – Jun 25, 2024 5:24 pm UTC

7. DARPA’s planned nuclear rocket would use enough fuel to build a bomb

   The US is still regulating some enriched uranium based on an analysis from the 1950s.

   Jacek Krywko – Jun 10, 2024 6:56 pm UTC

8. New camera design can ID threats faster, using less memory

   New system is a mix of traditional camera and one that only highlights changes.

   Jacek Krywko – Jun 7, 2024 7:19 pm UTC

9. Bizarre armor from Mycenaean Greece turns out to have been effective

   People suspected the Dendra armor was ceremonial, but new tests show its utility.

   Jacek Krywko – May 30, 2024 10:55 am UTC

10. Whale songs have features of language, but whales may not be speaking

    The features that whale calls share with language are very abstract.

    Jacek Krywko – May 22, 2024 3:55 pm UTC

11. Nova explosion visible to the naked eye expected any day now

    Sometime between May and September, a white dwarf is expected to go thermonuclear.

    Jacek Krywko – May 21, 2024 2:13 pm UTC

12. Exploration-focused training lets robotics AI immediately handle new tasks

    Maximum Diffusion Reinforcement Learning focuses training on end states, not process.

    Jacek Krywko – May 10, 2024 6:22 pm UTC

13. Two seconds of hope for fusion power

    A fusion reactor in San Diego surpasses a limit on plasma density.

    Jacek Krywko – May 3, 2024 4:10 pm UTC

14. Tiny rubber spheres used to make a programmable fluid

    The spheres collapse under pressure, giving the fluid very unusual properties.

    Jacek Krywko – Apr 23, 2024 6:26 pm UTC

15. The largest marine reptile ever could match blue whales in size

    Bones from the head of a reptile suggest a body that was well over 20 meters long.

    Jacek Krywko – Apr 18, 2024 4:07 pm UTC

16. The best robot to search for life could look like a snake

    Snaking into the ice on Enceladus might work better than drilling through it.

    Jacek Krywko – Apr 3, 2024 7:45 pm UTC

17. After Concorde, a long road back to supersonic air travel

    Supersonic flight without loud booms? NASA is working on that.

    Jacek Krywko – Mar 29, 2024 10:45 am UTC

18. Dogs’ brain activity shows they recognize the names of objects

    Their reaction to the person naming an object might have masked signs of recognition.

    Jacek Krywko – Mar 22, 2024 3:00 pm UTC

19. Seeding steel frames brings destroyed coral reefs back to life

    It won't help with heat-driven bleaching, but other human damage can be fixed.

    Jacek Krywko – Mar 13, 2024 4:24 pm UTC

20. Shields up: New ideas might make active shielding viable

    Active shielding was first proposed in the '60s. We’re finally close to making it work.

    Jacek Krywko – Mar 11, 2024 10:00 am UTC

21. How would an AI turn out if you raised it like a child?

    Stick a camera on a child, then feed what it captures to an AI, and it almost works.

    Jacek Krywko – Feb 27, 2024 2:39 pm UTC

22. Can we drill for hydrogen? New find suggests additional geological source.

    Problems at a chromium mine in Albania traced to nearly pure hydrogen in a fault.

    Jacek Krywko – Feb 23, 2024 6:16 pm UTC

23. Building robots for “Zero Mass” space exploration

    Ultra-lightweight building blocks can be assembled by simple robots.

    Jacek Krywko – Feb 8, 2024 7:17 pm UTC

24. Definitely not Windows 95: What operating systems keep things running in space?

    The updates don't come every spring and fall, but space operating systems keep evolving.

    Jacek Krywko – Oct 2, 2020 11:15 am UTC

25. Space-grade CPUs: How do you send more computing power into space?

    Figuring out radiation was a huge "turning point in the history of space electronics."

    Jacek Krywko – Nov 11, 2019 12:30 pm UTC

26. Deep space dial-up: How NASA speeds up its interplanetary communications

    “Not much room to improve radio frequency tech... We're running out of low-hanging fruit."

    Jacek Krywko – Mar 1, 2019 12:45 pm UTC

27. To make Curiosity (et al.) more curious, NASA and ESA smarten up AI in space

    The future of deep-space exploration? "We can't deal with it without autonomy.”

    Jacek Krywko – Jul 16, 2018 2:30 pm UTC

28. Siri can’t talk to me: The challenge of teaching language to voice assistants

    Getting voice assistants to speak Slovakian first means getting better AI learning.

    Jacek Krywko – Dec 21, 2017 3:14 pm UTC

29. The premature quest for AI-powered facial recognition to simplify screening

    "This technology at the airport... is premature. It’s not the right way to go."

    Jacek Krywko – Jun 2, 2017 11:30 am UTC