Tag Archives: University of California at San Diego (UCSD)

Toronto’s ArtSci Salon is hosting a couple more October 2025 events

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I have two art/science events and one art/science conference/festival (IRL [in real life or in person] and Zoom) taking place in Toronto, Ontario.

October 16, 2025

There is a closing event for the “I don’t do Math” series mentioned in my September 8, 2025 posting,

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ABOUT
“I don’t do math” is a photographic series referencing dyscalculia, a learning difference affecting a person’s ability to understand and manipulate number-based information.

This initiative seeks to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents, and to normalize its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. In addition, it seeks to reflect on and question broader issues and assumptions about the role and significance of Mathematics and Math education in today’s changing socio-cultural and economic contexts. 

The exhibition will contain pedagogical information and activities for visitors and students. The artist will also address the extensive research that led to the exhibition. The exhibition will feature two panel discussions following the opening and to conclude the exhibition.

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I have some information from an October 12, 2025 ArtSci Salon announcement (received via email) about the “I don’t do math” closing event,

in us for 

Closing Exhibition Panel Discussion
Thursday, October 16 2025
10:00 am -12:00 pm room 309
The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (or online)

Artist Ann Piché will be in conversation with
Andrew Fiss, Jacqueline Wernimont, Amenda Chow, Ellen Abrams, Michael Barany and JP Ascher

RSVP here

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October 21, 2025

The second event mentioned in the October 12, 2025 ArtSci Salon announcement, Note 1: A link has been removed, Note 2: This event is part of a larger series,

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Marco Donnarumma 
Monsters of Grace: bodies, sounds, and machines

Tuesday, October 21, 2025
3:30-4:30 PM
Sensorium Research Loft 
4th floor
Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts
York University

About the talk
What is sound to those who do not hear it? How does one listen to something that cannot be heard? What kind of sensory gaps are created by aiding technologies such as prostheses and artificial intelligence (AI)? As a matter of fact, the majority of non-deaf people hear only partially due to age and personal experience. Still, sound is most often considered through the normalizing viewpoint of the non-deaf. If I become your body, what does sound become for me? Join us to welcome Marco Donnarumma  ahead of his new installation/performance at Paul Cadario Conference Room (Oct 22, 8-10 PM University College [University of Toronto] – 15 King’s College Circle). His talk will focus on this latest work in the context of a largest body of work titled “I Am Your Body,” an ongoing project investigating how normative power is enforced through the technological mediation of the senses.

About the artist:
Marco Donnarumma is an artist, inventor and theorist. His oeuvre confronts normative body politics with uncompromising counter-narratives, where bodies are in tension between control and agency, presence and absence, grace and monstrosity. He is best known for using sound, AI, biosensors, and robotics to turn the body into a site of resistance and transformation. He has presented his work in thirty-seven countries across Asia, Europe, North and South America and is the recipient of numerous accolades, most notably the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education’s Artist of the Science Year 2018, and the Prix Ars Electronica’s Award of Distinction in Sound Art 2017. Donnarumma received a ZER01NE Creator grant in 2024 and was named a pioneer of performing arts with advanced technologies by the major national newspaper Der Standard, Austria. His writings are published in Frontiers in Computer Science, Computer Music Journal and Performance Research, among others, and his newest book chapter, co-authored with Elizabeth Jochum, will appear in Robot Theaters by Routledge. Together with Margherita Pevere he runs the performance group Fronte Vacuo.

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I wonder if Donnarumma’s “Monsters of Grace: bodies, sounds, and machines’ received any inspiration from “Monsters of Grace” (Wikipedia entry) or if it’s just happenstance, Note: Links have been removed,

Monsters of Grace is a multimedia chamber opera in 13 short acts directed by Robert Wilson, with music by Philip Glass and libretto from the works of 13th-century Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi. The title is said to be a reference to Wilson’s corruption of a line from Hamlet: “Angels and ministers of grace defend us!” (1.4.39).

So, the October 21, 2025 event is a talk at York University taking place before the “Who’s afraid of AI? Arts, Sciences, and the Futures of Intelligence” (more below).

“Who’s afraid of AI? Arts, Sciences, and the Futures of Intelligence,” a conference and arts festival at the University of Toronto

The conference (October 23 – 24, 2025) is concurrent with the arts festival (October 19 – 25, 2025) at the University of Toronto. Here’s more from the event homepage on the https://bmolab.artsci.utoronto.ca/ website, Note: BMO stands for Bank of Montreal, Note: No mention of Edward Albee and “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?,”

2025 marks an inflection point in our technological landscape, driven by seismic shifts in AI innovation.

Who’s Afraid of AI? Arts, Science, and the Futures of Intelligence is a week-long inquiry into the implications and future directions of AI for our creative and collective imaginings, and the many possible futures of intelligence. The complexity of these immediate future calls for interdisciplinary dialogue, bringing together artists, AI researchers, and humanities scholars.

In this volatile domain, the question of who envisions our futures is vital. Artists explore with complexity and humanity, while the humanities reveal the histories of intelligence and the often-overlooked ways knowledge and decision-making have been shaped. By placing these voices in dialogue with AI researchers and technologists, Who’s Afraid of AI? examines the social dimensions of technology, questions tech solutionism from a social-impact perspective, and challenges profit-driven AI with innovation guided by public values.

The two-day conference at the University of Toronto’s University College anchors the week and features panels and debates with leading figures in these disciplines, including a keynote by 2025 Nobel Laureate in Physics Geoffrey Hinton, the “Godfather of AI” and 2025 Neil Graham Lecturer in Science, Fei-Fei Li, an AI pioneer.

Throughout the week, the conversation continues across the city with:

  • AI-themed and AI powered art shows and exhibitions
  • Film screenings
  • Innovative theatre
  • Experimental music

Who’s Afraid of AI? demonstrates that Toronto has not only shaped the history of AI but continues to prepare its future.Step into this changing landscape and be part of this transformative dialogue — register today!

Organizing Committee:

Pia Kleber, Professor-Emerita, Comparative Literature, and Drama, U of T
Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, Department of Psychology, Program Director, Cognitive Science, U of T
David Rokeby, Director, BMO Lab, Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, U of T
Rayyan Dabbous, PhD candidate, Centre for Comparative Literature, U of T

…

This looks like a pretty interesting programme (if you’re mainly focused on AI and the creative arts), from the event homepage on the https://bmolab.artsci.utoronto.ca/ website, Note 1: All times are ET, Note 2: I have not included speakers’ photos,

The conference will explore core questions about AI such as its capabilities, possibilities and challenges, bringing their unique research, creative practice, scholarship and experience to the discussion. Speakers will also engage in an interdisciplinary conversation on topics including AI’s implications for theories of mind and embodiment, its influence on creation, innovation, and discovery, its recognition of diverse perspectives, and its transformation of artistic, cultural, political and everyday practices.

Thursday, October 23, 2025

Mind the World

9 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

What are the merits and limits of artificial intelligence within the larger debate on embodiment? This session brings together an artist who has given AI a physical dimension, a neuroscientist who reckons with the biological neural networks inspiring AI, and a humanist knowledgeable of the longer history in which the human has tried to decouple itself from its bodily needs and wants.

Suzanne Kite
Director, The Wihanble S’a Center for Indigenous AI

James DiCarlo
Director, MIT Quest for Intelligence

N. Katherine Hayles
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emerita of Literature

Staging AI

11 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

How is AI changing the arts? To answer this question, we bring together theatre directors and artists who have made AI the main driving plot of their stories and those who opted to keep technology secondary in their productions.

Kay Voges
Artistic Director, Schauspiel Köln

Roland Schimmelpfennig
Playwright and Director, Berlin

Hito Steyerl
Artist, Filmmaker and Writer, Berlin

Recognizing ‘Noise’

2 PM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

How can we design a more inclusive AI? This session brings together an artist who has worked with AI and has been sensitive to groups who may be excluded by its practice, an inclusive design scholar who has grappled with AI’s potential for personalized accessibility, and a humanist who understands the longer history on pattern and recognition from which emerged AI.

Marco Donnarumma
Artist, Inventor, Theorist, Berlin

Jutta Treviranus
Director, OCADU [Ontario College of Art & Design University],
Inclusive Design Research Centre

Eryk Salvaggio
Media Artist and Tech Policy Press Fellow, Rochester

Art, Design, and Application are the Solution to AI’s Charlie Chaplain Problem

4 PM | Hart House Theatre – 7 Hart House Circle

Daniel Wigdor
CoFounder and Chief Executive Officer, AXL

Keynote and Neil Graham Lecture in Science

4:15 PM | Hart House Theatre – 7 Hart House Circle

Fei-Fei Li
Sequoia Professor in Computer Science, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI

Geoffrey Hinton
2024 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Professor Emeritus in Computer Science

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Friday, October 24, 2025

Life with AI

9 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

How do machine minds relate to human minds? What can we learn from one about the other? In this session we interrogate the impact of AI on our understanding of human knowledge and tool-making, from the perspective of philosophy, computer science, as well as the arts.

Jeanette Winterson
Author, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Great Britain

Leif Weatherby
Professor of German and Director of Digital Theory Lab at
New York University

Jennifer Nagel
Professor, Philosophy, University of Toronto Mississauga

Discovery & In/Sight

11 AM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

This session explores creative practice through the lens of innovation and cultural/scientific advancement. An artist who creates with critical inspiration from AI joins forces with an innovation scholar who investigates the effects of AI on our decision making, as well as a philosopher of science who understands scientific discovery and inference as well as their limits.

Vladan Joler
Visual Artist and Professor of
New Media, University of Novi Sad [Serbia]

Alán Aspuru-Guzik
Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science, University of Toronto

Brian Baigrie
Professor, Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science & Technology, University of Toronto

Social history & Possible Futures

2 PM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

How does AI ownership and its private uses coexist within a framework of public good? It brings together an artist who has created AI tools to be used by others, an AI ethics researcher who has turned algorithmic bias into collective insight, and a philosopher who understands the connection between AI and the longer history of automation and work from which AI emerged.

Memo Akten
Artist working with Code, Data and AI, UC San Diego

Beth Coleman
Professor, Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, University of Toronto

Matteo Pasquinelli
Professor, Philosophy and Cultural Heritage Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia [Italy]

A Theory of Latent Spaces | Conclusion: Where do we go from here?

4 PM | Clark Reading Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

Antonio Somaini, curator of the remarkable ‘World through AI’ exhibition at the Museé du Jeu de Paume in Paris, will discuss the way in which ‘latent spaces’, a core characteristic of current AI models as “meta-archives” that shape profoundly our relation with the past.

Following this, we will engage in a larger discussion amongst the various conference speakers and attendees on how we can, as artists, humanities scholars, scientists and the general public, collectively imagine and cultivate a future where AI serves the public good and enhances our individual and collective lives.”

Antonio Somaini
Curator and Professor, Sorbonne Nouvelle [Université Sorbonne Nouvelle]

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You can register here for this free conference, although, there’s now a waitlist for in person attendance. Do not despair, there’s access by Zoom,

In case you can’t make it in person, join us by Zoom:

Link: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/82603012955

Webinar ID: 826 0301 2955

Passcode: 512183

I have not forgotten the festival, from the event homepage on the https://bmolab.artsci.utoronto.ca/ website,

Events Also Happening

October 22 | 2 PM | Student Forum and AI Commentary Contest Award | Paul Cadario Conference Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

October 22 | 8 – 10 PM | Marco Donnarumma, world première of a new performance installation | Paul Cadario Conference Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

October 23 | 2 PM | Jeanette Winterson: Arts & AI Talk | Paul Cadario Conference Room, University College – 15 King’s College Circle

October 24 | 7 PM | The Kiss by Roland Schimmelpfennig | The BMO Lab, University College – 15 King’s College Circle (Note: we are scheduling more performances. Check back for more info soon!)

October 25 | 8 PM | AI Cabaret featuring Jason Sherman, Rick Miller, Cole Lewis, BMO Lab projects and more| Crow’s Theatre, Nada Ristich Studio-Gallery – 345 Carlaw Avenue..

Get tickets for the AI Cabaret

(Use promo code AICAB for 100% discount)

Enjoy!

Spotlighting space science and transformative science at SXSW 2025 March 7 – 15, 2025

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Thank goodness for Julian Dossett’s March 3, 2025 posting on space.com for helping me find the science (more or less) oriented events at the upcoming 2025 South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals in Austin, Texas, US.

Space

Dossett’s March 3, 2025 posting describes the best (always a subjective category) space-themed panels,

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Meet the astronauts flying on NASA’s Artemis 2 moon mission

March 7 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST, Austin Convention Center, Ballroom EF

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Learn about Europe’s Euclid ‘dark universe’ space telescope

March 10 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. CST; Austin Marriott Downtown, Waterloo Ballroom 1-2

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The era of the private moon lander

March 10 at 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST; Austin Marriott Downtown, Waterloo Ballroom 1-2

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Telescopes of the future

March 9 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST; Austin Marriott Downtown, Waterloo Ballroom 3

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The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)has a complete list of their events on its NASA Events at South by Southwest 2025 webpage, Note: The first event listed here is pre-SXSW 2025’s March 7 – 15, 2025 conference/festival,

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Perspectives on Working at Scale in K-12 STEAM [science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics] Education

March 6 at 10 a.m. CST

A growing focus of workforce development efforts are linkages to K-12 in and out-of-school time programs that spark curiosity in STEAM. A cross-section of organizations from the non-profit, commercial and government sector who have used high interest content to build and scale programs in the US and beyond will share lessons learned and perspectives. Topics include building community and youth voice in design, engaging the entire STEM ecosystem, supporting educators and stakeholders in implementation, along with lessons on evaluation and metrics. More Details about Perspectives on Working at Scale in K-12 STEAM Education

Featured Session: Meet the Astronauts Going to the Moon with NASA’s Artemis II

March 7 at 11:30 a.m. CST

Fly me to the Moon! Learn firsthand from the Moon-bound astronauts of NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission to deep space in over half a century. Following the successful Artemis I flight test in 2022, Artemis II will test the deep exploration systems needed to establish long-term infrastructure for human lunar exploration. Take a walk in their spacesuits as they share their stories before their much-anticipated flight. More Details

NASA’s Science and Art of Imaging Extra-Terrestrial Samples

March 7 at 2:30 p.m. CST

Meet NASA’s artists and scientists who use specialized imaging techniques to bring extra-terrestrial samples to the public and important data to scientists. From ultra high-resolution photographs to X-ray computed tomography (XCT) that allows you to virtually slice through Moon rocks, meteorites, and the OSIRIS-REx asteroid Bennu samples, their work opens access to other-worldly geologic treasures and could help answer questions about the early days of our solar system. More Details

NASA House: CreateSpace

March 8 at 10 a.m. CST

NASA’s CreateSpace transforms Austin’s Central Library into an immersive experience where visitors don’t just learn about space – they help shape it. Spanning multiple floors of this state-of-the-art library in the heart of downtown Austin, CreateSpace blends hands-on creation, interactive exhibits, and sensory experiences that showcase NASA’s full spectrum of exploration and discovery. Local families will discover through self-guided adventures, while innovation leaders can engage with NASA data and expertise. CreateSpace invites everyone to explore space science through their own lens – whether that’s art, music, technology, or pure imagination. More Details

Performing Space: Weaving Art and Science on the Stage

March 8 at 4 p.m. CST

The intersection of art and science is a consistent hot topic in communication theory, the art realm, academic research, and related industries. Join professionals from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) to discuss projects, research, and communication strategies focused on the relationship between science and the arts that can be brought to the stage to inspire audiences from various backgrounds. A special performance viewing will follow this panel. More Details

NASA’s Love Letter: Stunning Webb Images and More

March 9 at 10 a.m. CDT

Join us for an extraordinary journey through the cosmos, guided by stunning images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and other cutting-edge observatories. This session offers a rare opportunity to explore the most distant galaxy ever observed, delve into the atmosphere of an extraterrestrial planet, and marvel at stunningly beautiful star nurseries. Featuring insights from NASA’s Astrophysicists Amber Straughn, Stefanie Milam, and Knicole Colón, our panel will discuss how these groundbreaking observatories are transforming our understanding of the universe. Moderated by Laura Betz. More Details

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NASA Uses Space Tech to Tackle Earth’s Food and Water Issues

March 9 at 2:30 p.m. CDT

In this era of satellite technology, Earth-observing data plays a crucial role in managing food production, farming, and water resources. NASA uses satellite data and advanced technology to gain profound insights into Earth’s systems and the vital environments that sustain us with food and water. By utilizing space-based observations, cutting-edge computer modeling, and AI/ML, NASA collaborates with partner agencies, organizations, farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and global decision-makers to address the challenges related to food and water on Earth. More Details

Through Astronaut Eyes: VR Propels Deep Space Exploration

March 10 at 10 a.m. CDT

Discover how cutting-edge virtual reality technology is revolutionizing deep space exploration. This panel will delve into the ways VR is being used at NASA to simulate and plan next-gen Artemis missions, design spacecraft, help ensure astronaut’s safety, and more. Explore how VR is not just a tool but a transformative technology that is unlocking new frontiers, making the impossible achievable, and preparing humanity for its next giant leap. More Details

Using ESA’s Euclid Telescope To Probe The Dark Universe

March 10 at 2:30 p.m. CDT

95% of the universe is dark: dark matter and dark energy. While we cannot observe them directly, an incredible amount of information about the dark universe is encoded in the shapes, positions, and motions of galaxies. The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope (with contributions from NASA), launched in July 2023, is the first telescope purpose built to understand the dark universe. Euclid will survey 2 billion galaxies, generating a huge data set that will transform astrophysics using innovative AI/machine learning tools. Euclid’s first release of survey data will be in March 2025. More Details about Using ESA’s Euclid Telescope To Probe The Dark Universe

NASA’s Quesst To Change The Supersonic Speed Limit

March 11 at 10 a.m. CDT

NASA’s Quesst mission may open the future to a new market of commercial supersonic air travel by cutting flight times in half. Learn more about the 50+ year old ban on commercial supersonic travel over land and what NASA is doing to change the speed limit in the sky to a sound limit.
The Quesst mission’s goals are to design and build NASA’s X-59 research aircraft with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom and fly the X-59 over several U.S. communities to gather data on public responses to the sound generated during supersonic flight and deliver that data set to regulators. More Details

NASA and the Next Frontier in the Battle Against Cancer

March 11 at 11:30 a.m. CDT

Research on the International Space Station has already led to drug and therapy breakthroughs for cancer patients on Earth, with more advancements ahead. NASA is working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and researchers across the federal government to help cut the nation’s cancer death rate by at least 50% in the next 25 years, a goal of the administration’s Cancer Moonshot. Join NASA and industry leaders to discuss the transformative potential of space for cancer research and its promising future, and learn how you can get involved.. More Details

Live, From Space! Visualizing the Future With NASA

March 11 at 11:30 a.m. CDT

For over six decades, NASA has led the way in exploring the cosmos, from historic Moon landings and planetary missions to deploying space telescopes, deflecting asteroids, and returning samples to Earth. By sending both humans and robots equipped with advanced instruments and cameras, NASA offers an immersive journey into the universe, unraveling mysteries about our cosmic existence. Join a panel of communications and imagery experts as they provide a look into NASA’s visual triumphs and preview the innovations that will bring viewers along for the ride as we head back to the Moon and beyond. More Details

Messaging the Moon: Collaborative Storytelling in Space Exploration

March 11 at 2:30 p.m. CDT

NASA is working with the commercial space industry in support of establishing a lunar economy. These Moon missions require advanced coordination and planning to support communication campaign goals across multiple stakeholders and audiences. With so many stakeholders involved, synchronization is the key for success. Join NASA and the first American commercial companies co-piloting this mission to discuss how they’ve refined their approach to collaborative messaging while working toward an actual moonshot. More Details

Transformative science

A March 3, 2025 University of California at San Diego (UC San Diego or UCSD) news release (also on EurekAlert) highlights their participation in the 2025 SXSW programme, which includes an unexpected foray into the world of K-pop and BTS,

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals — a renowned convergence of pioneers, storytellers, and global visionaries — will take place this year from March 7-15 in Austin, Texas, bringing together a vibrant mix of ideas and innovations. Once again, UC San Diego will take center stage, showcasing cutting-edge research, transformative discussions on critical global challenges and a film premiere.

“UC San Diego’s participation in the 2025 South by Southwest Conference and Festivals reinforces our institution’s passion for interdisciplinary innovation and our commitment to leveraging the intersection of technology, art and science to drive positive change,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “At SXSW, our researchers, innovators and creatives will come together with global visionaries to showcase cutting-edge solutions, spark meaningful conversations, and ignite new ideas that can help address the world’s most pressing challenges.”

From tackling climate change to exploring human longevity and studying cancer in space, UC San Diego’s brightest minds will be featured prominently in a series of thought-provoking presentations, panels and the world premiere of a documentary feature.

Details for each UC San Diego-affiliated event are below, and events are accessible to SXSW attendees unless noted otherwise.

At the panel, “The Quest to Capture Carbon and Bend the Curve”, Ralph Keeling, Ph.D., a climate scientist and director of the Scripps CO2 Program at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, will delve into how rising greenhouse gas emissions are impacting our planet and the new technologies emerging to capture carbon. The panel will discuss what it will take to  reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide and the collaborative efforts required to achieve a more sustainable future.

The “Guardians of Youth: Stem Cells & Human Longevity” presenter Rob Signer, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and deputy director of the Stem Cell Discovery Center at the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute (SSCI), is presenting a pioneering shift in biomedical science by tackling aging as the fundamental driver of diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. By positioning stem cells as the blueprint for longevity, this transformative approach is paving the way for a new era in treating age-related diseases at its very core.

“Reconstructing the Human Brain in the Lab” presenter Alysson Muotri, Ph.D., professor of medicine and director of the UC San Diego SSCI Integrated Space Stem Cell Orbital Research Center, will showcase how brain organoids — tiny, lab-grown brain-like structures — are unlocking the secrets of brain evolution, consciousness, and aging. Muotri will also discuss how studying these organoids aboard the International Space Station advances interplanetary exploration and medical research.

The “NASA and the Next Frontier in the Battle Against Cancer” panel will feature Catriona Jamieson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine and director of the UC San Diego Sanford Stem Cell Institute, alongside NASA scientists. This groundbreaking discussion will explore how research conducted in microgravity is driving new breakthroughs in cancer treatments, delivering hope to patients on Earth.

The panel, “Want to Achieve Health Equity? Democratize Health Data”, will bring together Jamieson and Muotri to advocate for democratizing access to health data. By empowering patients to take charge of their health care, the panel will propose actionable steps to bridge health equity gaps.

Finally, the documentary feature “Forever We Are Young” will make its world premiere at SXSW 2025. The documentary – co-directed by Patty Ahn, Ph.D., UC San Diego associate teaching professor of communication, with esteemed documentary filmmaker Grace Lee – dives into the passionate fandom that catapulted the K-pop band BTS into a global household name and captures the powerful spirit of activism and collectivity that make BTS fans a symbol of hope and unity in our ever-fractured world.

SXSW 2025 and its 2050 track (the sciencish sessions)

I found an October 22, 2024 SXSW news release by Jordan Roberts with a preliminary announcement of the various programme tracks for the 2025 SXSW conference, which includes some information about the 2050 track,

Each year, we call upon our incredible creative community to help select the bold ideas for the next SXSW conference through PanelPicker®, our official session proposal and voting platform. From those community votes, insights from our dedicated staff, and guidance from our PanelPicker Evaluators, we’re thrilled to announce over 450 sessions for the 2025 SXSW Conference.

“The SXSW Conference always delivers fresh, forward-thinking and fun content. The sessions announced today once again embody this spirit of innovation and discovery. Come to Austin in March to be informed and inspired by so many thought-leaders from so many different industries who lend their creativity to the life-changing experience that is SXSW.” – Hugh Forrest, Co-President and Chief Programming Officer

Human belonging and connection is a powerful theme across the 2025 Conference programming. Whether it’s examining the line between how tech and AI can bring us closer together or push us apart, or diving into new markets and opportunities, these sessions will inspire new perspectives and help us shape a future we’re excited to step into.

Below is a snapshot of the hundreds of speakers, across 23 curated tracks, who will spark conversations, creativity, and ideas for positive change that will last well beyond March. These industry experts hail from a range of cutting-edge and innovative institutions, including Adidas, Atlantic Records, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Epic Games, Forbes, Frontline, Google, IBM, IDEO, Major League Soccer, McKinsey, Microsoft, NASA, National Basketball Association, Netflix, Scale AI, The Atlantic, VMWare, and Zillow.

And this is just the first announcement! We’re still adding programming, including music demo listening sessions, opportunities for continuing legal education and much more to the March conference lineup. Stay tuned for more information by subscribing to event updates or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and X for more announcements all season long.

Session Highlights By Track

2050

March 7-10 | The 2050 track focuses on long-term, big-picture thinking with an emphasis on scientific discovery. The programming features topics ranging from quantum computing and space exploration to robotics and foresight best practices — and beyond.

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Here are a couple of events that caught my eye, from the 2050 track of the 2025 SXSW conference (sorry, forgot to link to the 2050 page and can’t find it again), Note: For the following, I have kept only the link to the session.

Talking Telescopes: The Future of American Observation

Mar 9, 2025 11:30am – 12:30pm CT Austin Marriott Downtown / Waterloo Ballroom 3

Type: Session

Format: Presentation

Track: 2050

Tag: Space

Octavia Knew: How Black Women are Predicting the Future

Octavia Knew: How Black Women are Predicting the Future

Mar 9, 2025 11:30am – 12:30pm CT Austin Marriott Downtown / Waterloo Ballroom 1-2

Type: Session

Format: Panel

Track: 2050

Tag: Women

Tag: DEIB

Tag: Futurism

Preparing for a Quantum Leap

Mar 9, 2025 2:30pm – 3:30pm CT Austin Marriott Downtown / Waterloo Ballroom 1-2

Type: Session

Format: Panel

Track: 2050

Tag: Futurism

Tag: Quantum

Hindsight to Foresight: Indigenous Wisdom for the Future

Mar 10, 2025 11:30am – 12:30pm CT Museum of the Future

Presented by: Dubai Future Foundation

Type: Session

Format: Panel

Track: 2050

Tag: MENA Voices

Tag: Futurism

Tag: Community

Final note: for anyone unfamiliar with Octavia E. Butler, from her Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,

Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.[2][3]

Good luck with finding your way around the website and around SXSW 2025 in Austin, Texas.

Explaining topological insulators with dance

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This must have been some high school physics class. A November 5, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily explains how physics topological insulators and dance intersected for three classes,

Science can be difficult to explain to the public. In fact, any subfield of science can be difficult to explain to another scientist who studies in a different area. Explaining a theoretical science concept to high school students requires a new way of thinking altogether.

This is precisely what researchers at the University of California San Diego did when they orchestrated a dance with high school students at Orange Glen High School in Escondido as a way to explain topological insulators.

The experiment, led by former graduate student Matthew Du and UC San Diego Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Joel Yuen-Zhou, was published in Science Advances.

…

A November 5, 2024 University of California at San Diego (UC San Diego) news release (also on EurekAlert), which originated the news item, provides more detail about how the researchers employed dance to teach physics concepts, Note: A link has been removed,

“I think the concept is simple,” stated Yuen-Zhou. “But the math is much harder. We wanted to show that these complex ideas in theoretical and experimental physics and chemistry are actually not as impossible to understand as you might initially think.”

Topological insulators are a relatively new type of quantum material that has insulating properties on the inside, but have conductive properties on the outside. To use a Southern California staple, if a topological insulator was a burrito, the filling would be insulating and the tortilla would be conducting.

Since topological insulators are able to withstand some disorder and deformation, they can be synthesized and used under conditions where imperfections can arise. For this reason, they hold promise in the areas of quantum computing and lasers, and in creating more efficient electronics.

To bring these quantum materials to life, the researchers made a dance floor (topological insulator) by creating a grid with pieces of blue and red tape. Then to choreograph the dance, Du created a series of rules that governed how individual dancers moved.

These rules are based on what is known as a Hamiltonian in quantum mechanics. Electrons obey rules given by a Hamiltonian, which represents the total energy of a quantum system, including kinetic and potential energy. The Hamiltonian encodes the interactions of the electron in the potential energy of the material.

Each dancer (electron) had a pair of flags and was given a number that corresponded to a movement:

  •  1 = wave flags with arms pointing up
  •  0 = stand still
  • -1 = wave flags with arms pointing down

Subsequent moves were based on what a neighboring dancer did and the color of the tape on the floor. A dancer would mimic a neighbor with blue tape, but do the opposite of a neighbor with red tape. Individual mistakes or dancers leaving the floor didn’t disrupt the overall dance, exhibiting the robustness of topological insulators.

In addition to topology, Yuen-Zhou’s lab also studies chemical processes and photonics, and it was in thinking of light waves that they realized the movement of a group of people also resembled a wave. This gave Yuen-Zhou the idea of using dance to explain a complex topic like topological insulators. Implementing this idea seemed like a fun challenge to Du, who is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago and takes salsa lessons in his free time.

Du, who comes from a family of educators and is committed to scientific outreach, says the project gave him an appreciation for being able to distill science into its simplest elements.

“We wanted to demystify these concepts in a way that was unconventional and fun,” he stated. “Hopefully, the students were able to see that science can be made understandable and enjoyable by relating it to everyday life.”   

Full list of authors: Matthew Du, Juan B. Pérez-Sánchez, Jorge A. Campos-Gonzalez-Angulo, Arghadip Koner, Federico Mellini, Sindhana Pannir-Sivajothi, Yong Rui Poh, Kai Schwennicke, Kunyang Sun, Stephan van den Wildenberg, Alec Barron and Joel Yuen-Zhou (all UC San Diego); and Dylan Karzen (Orange Glen High School).

This research was supported by an National Science Foundation CAREER grant (CHE 1654732).

Here’s what it looked like,

series of overhead images of dancers on dance floor grid
Snapshots showing dancers on the edge of the topological insulator moving in a clockwise direction. Courtesy of University of California at San Diego

You may find this helps you to understand what’s happening in the pictures,

Before getting to a link and citation for the paper, here’s the paper’s abstract,

Topological insulators are insulators in the bulk but feature chiral energy propagation along the boundary. This property is topological in nature and therefore robust to disorder. Originally discovered in electronic materials, topologically protected boundary transport has since been observed in many other physical systems. Thus, it is natural to ask whether this phenomenon finds relevance in a broader context. We choreograph a dance in which a group of humans, arranged on a square grid, behave as a topological insulator. The dance features unidirectional flow of movement through dancers on the lattice edge. This effect persists when people are removed from the dance floor. Our work extends the applicability of wave physics to dance. [emphasis mine]

I wonder if we’re going to see some ‘wave physics’ inspired dance performances.

Finally, here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Chiral edge waves in a dance-based human topological insulator by Matthew Du, Juan B. Pérez-Sánchez, Jorge A. Campos-Gonzalez-Angulo, Arghadip Koner, Federico Mellini, Sindhana Pannir-Sivajothi, Yong Rui Poh, Kai Schwennicke, Kunyang Sun, Stephan van den Wildenberg, Dylan Karzen, Alec Barron, and Joel Yuen-Zhou. Science Advances 28 Aug 2024 Vol 10, Issue 35 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh7810

This paper is open access.

I think this is the first year I’ve stumbled across two stories about physics and dance in one year. Here’s the other one, “Happy Canada Day! Breakdancing at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics: physics in action + heat, mosquitoes, and sports” in a July 1, 2024 posting.

Spontaneous assembly of nanocubes in water lock like tiny floating checkerboards

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This is what the tiny checkerboards look like,

SEM image of a checkerboard pattern created by self-assembly of the nanocubes. Scale bar = 500 nm, inset = 100 nm. Image by Wang et al., Nature Communications [downloaded from https://today.ucsd.edu/story/nanosized-blocks-spontaneously-assemble-in-water-to-create-tiny-floating-checkerboards]

A June 13, 2024 news item on ScienceDaily announces the research that resulted in the checkerboards,

Researchers have engineered nanosized cubes that spontaneously form a two-dimensional checkerboard pattern when dropped on the surface of water. The work, published in Nature Communications, presents a simple approach to create complex nanostructures through a technique called self-assembly.

“It’s a cool way to get materials to build themselves,” said study co-senior author Andrea Tao, a professor in the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at the University of California San Diego. “You don’t have to go into a nanofabrication lab and do all these complex and precise manipulations.”

…

A June 13, 2024 University of California – San Diego news release (also on EurekAlert) by Liezel Labios, which originated the news item, provides more detail about the work, Note: A link has been removed,

…

Each nanocube is composed of a silver crystal with a mixture of hydrophobic (oily) and hydrophilic (water-loving) molecules attached to the surface. When a suspension of these nanocubes is introduced to a water surface, they arrange themselves such that they touch at their corner edges. This arrangement creates an alternating pattern of solid cubes and empty spaces, resulting in a checkerboard pattern.

The self-assembly process is driven by the surface chemistry of the nanocubes. A high density of hydrophobic molecules on the surface brings the cubes together to minimize their interaction with water. Meanwhile, the long chains of hydrophilic molecules cause enough repulsion to create voids between the cubes, creating the checkerboard pattern.

To fabricate the structure, researchers applied drops of the nanocube suspension onto a petri dish containing water. The resulting checkerboard can be easily transferred to a substrate by dipping the substrate into the water and slowly withdrawing it, allowing the nanostructure to coat it.

This study stems from a collaborative effort between multiple research groups that are part of the UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC). The work featured a synergistic combination of computational and experimental techniques. “We’ve built a continuous feedback loop between our computations and experiments,” said Tao. “We used computer simulations to help us design the materials at the nanoscale and predict how they will behave. We also used our experimental results in the lab to validate the simulations, fine tune them and build a better model.”

In designing the material, researchers chose silver crystal nanocubes due to the Tao lab’s expertise in their synthesis. Determining the optimal surface chemistry required extensive computational experimentation, which was led by Gaurav Arya, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Duke University and co-senior author of the study. The simulations identified the best molecules to attach to the nanocubes and predicted how the cubes would interact and assemble on the water surface. The simulations were iteratively refined using experimental data obtained by Tao’s lab. Electron microscopy performed by the lab of study co-author Alex Frañó, a professor in the Department of Physics at UC San Diego, confirmed the formation of the desired checkerboard structures.

Tao envisions applications for the nanocube checkerboard in optical sensing. “Such a nanostructure can manipulate light in interesting ways,” she explained. “The spaces between the cubes, particularly near the corner edges where the cubes connect, can act as tiny hotspots that focus or trap light. That could be useful for making new types of optical elements like nanoscale filters or waveguides.”

The researchers plan to explore the optical properties of the checkerboard in future studies.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Self-assembly of nanocrystal checkerboard patterns via non-specific interactions by Yufei Wang, Yilong Zhou, Quanpeng Yang, Rourav Basak, Yu Xie, Dong Le, Alexander D. Fuqua, Wade Shipley, Zachary Yam, Alex Frano, Gaurav Arya & Andrea R. Tao. Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 3913 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47572-2 Published0: 9 May 2024

This paper is open access.

A hardware (neuromorphic and quantum) proposal for handling increased AI workload

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It’s been a while since I’ve featured anything from Purdue University (Indiana, US). From a November 7, 2023 news item on Nanowerk, Note Links have been removed,

Technology is edging closer and closer to the super-speed world of computing with artificial intelligence. But is the world equipped with the proper hardware to be able to handle the workload of new AI technological breakthroughs?

Key Takeaways
Current AI technologies are strained by the limitations of silicon-based computing hardware, necessitating new solutions.

Research led by Erica Carlson [Purdue University] suggests that neuromorphic [brainlike] architectures, which replicate the brain’s neurons and synapses, could revolutionize computing efficiency and power.

Vanadium oxides have been identified as a promising material for creating artificial neurons and synapses, crucial for neuromorphic computing.

Innovative non-volatile memory, observed in vanadium oxides, could be the key to more energy-efficient and capable AI hardware.

Future research will explore how to optimize the synaptic behavior of neuromorphic materials by controlling their memory properties.

…

The colored landscape above shows a transition temperature map of VO2 (pink surface) as measured by optical microscopy. This reveals the unique way that this neuromorphic quantum material [emphasis mine] stores memory like a synapse. Image credit: Erica Carlson, Alexandre Zimmers, and Adobe Stock

An October 13, 2023 Purdue University news release (also on EurekAlert but published November 6, 2023) by Cheryl Pierce, which originated the news item, provides more detail about the work, Note: A link has been removed,

“The brain-inspired codes of the AI revolution are largely being run on conventional silicon computer architectures which were not designed for it,” explains Erica Carlson, 150th Anniversary Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Purdue University.

A joint effort between Physicists from Purdue University, University of California San Diego (USCD) and École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI) in Paris, France, believe they may have discovered a way to rework the hardware…. [sic] By mimicking the synapses of the human brain.  They published their findings, “Spatially Distributed Ramp Reversal Memory in VO2” in Advanced Electronic Materials which is featured on the back cover of the October 2023 edition.

New paradigms in hardware will be necessary to handle the complexity of tomorrow’s computational advances. According to Carlson, lead theoretical scientist of this research, “neuromorphic architectures hold promise for lower energy consumption processors, enhanced computation, fundamentally different computational modes, native learning and enhanced pattern recognition.”

Neuromorphic architecture basically boils down to computer chips mimicking brain behavior.  Neurons are cells in the brain that transmit information. Neurons have small gaps at their ends that allow signals to pass from one neuron to the next which are called synapses. In biological brains, these synapses encode memory. This team of scientists concludes that vanadium oxides show tremendous promise for neuromorphic computing because they can be used to make both artificial neurons and synapses.

“The dissonance between hardware and software is the origin of the enormously high energy cost of training, for example, large language models like ChatGPT,” explains Carlson. “By contrast, neuromorphic architectures hold promise for lower energy consumption by mimicking the basic components of a brain: neurons and synapses. Whereas silicon is good at memory storage, the material does not easily lend itself to neuron-like behavior. Ultimately, to provide efficient, feasible neuromorphic hardware solutions requires research into materials with radically different behavior from silicon – ones that can naturally mimic synapses and neurons. Unfortunately, the competing design needs of artificial synapses and neurons mean that most materials that make good synaptors fail as neuristors, and vice versa. Only a handful of materials, most of them quantum materials, have the demonstrated ability to do both.”

The team relied on a recently discovered type of non-volatile memory which is driven by repeated partial temperature cycling through the insulator-to-metal transition. This memory was discovered in vanadium oxides.

Alexandre Zimmers, lead experimental scientist from Sorbonne University and École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris, explains, “Only a few quantum materials are good candidates for future neuromorphic devices, i.e., mimicking artificial synapses and neurons. For the first time, in one of them, vanadium dioxide, we can see optically what is changing in the material as it operates as an artificial synapse. We find that memory accumulates throughout the entirety of the sample, opening new opportunities on how and where to control this property.”

“The microscopic videos show that, surprisingly, the repeated advance and retreat of metal and insulator domains causes memory to be accumulated throughout the entirety of the sample, rather than only at the boundaries of domains,” explains Carlson. “The memory appears as shifts in the local temperature at which the material transitions from insulator to metal upon heating, or from metal to insulator upon cooling. We propose that these changes in the local transition temperature accumulate due to the preferential diffusion of point defects into the metallic domains that are interwoven through the insulator as the material is cycled partway through the transition.”

Now that the team has established that vanadium oxides are possible candidates for future neuromorphic devices, they plan to move forward in the next phase of their research.

“Now that we have established a way to see inside this neuromorphic material, we can locally tweak and observe the effects of, for example, ion bombardment on the material’s surface,” explains Zimmers. “This could allow us to guide the electrical current through specific regions in the sample where the memory effect is at its maximum. This has the potential to significantly enhance the synaptic behavior of this neuromorphic material.”

There’s a very interesting 16 mins. 52 secs. video embedded in the October 13, 2023 Purdue University news release. In an interview with Dr. Erica Carlson who hosts The Quantum Age website and video interviews on its YouTube Channel, Alexandre Zimmers takes you from an amusing phenomenon observed by 19th century scientists through the 20th century where it becomes of more interest as the nanscale phenonenon can be exploited (sonar, scanning tunneling microscopes, singing birthday cards, etc.) to the 21st century where we are integrating this new information into a quantum* material for neuromorphic hardware.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Spatially Distributed Ramp Reversal Memory in VO2 by Sayan Basak, Yuxin Sun, Melissa Alzate Banguero, Pavel Salev, Ivan K. Schuller, Lionel Aigouy, Erica W. Carlson, Alexandre Zimmers. Advanced Electronic Materials Volume 9, Issue 10 October 2023 2300085 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202300085 First published: 10 July 2023

This paper is open access.

There’s a lot of research into neuromorphic hardware, here’s a sampling of some of my most recent posts on the topic,

There’s more, just use ‘neuromorphic hardware’ for your search term.

*’meta’ changed to ‘quantum’ on January 8, 2024.

They glow under stress: soft, living materials made with algae

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Caption: These soft, living materials glow in response to mechanical stress, such as compression, stretching or twisting. Credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

An October 20, 2023 news item on phys.org describes research into bioluminescent materials, Note: A link has been removed,

A team of researchers led by the University of California San Diego has developed soft yet durable materials that glow in response to mechanical stress, such as compression, stretching or twisting. The materials derive their luminescence from single-celled algae known as dinoflagellates.

The work, inspired by the bioluminescent waves observed during red tide events at San Diego’s beaches, was published Oct. 20 [2023] in Science Advances.

…

An October 23, 2023 University of California at San Diego news release (also on EurekAlert but published October 20, 2023) by Liezel Labios, which originated the news item, delves further into the research,

An exciting feature of these materials is their inherent simplicity—they need no electronics, no external power source,” said study senior author Shengqiang Cai, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. “We demonstrate how we can harness the power of nature to directly convert mechanical stimuli into light emission.”

This study was a multi-disciplinary collaboration involving engineers and materials scientists in Cai’s lab, marine biologist Michael Latz at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and physics professor Maziyar Jalaal at University of Amsterdam.

The primary ingredients of the bioluminescent materials are dinoflagellates and a seaweed-based polymer called alginate. These elements were mixed to form a solution, which was then processed with a 3D printer to create a diverse array of shapes, such as grids, spirals, spiderwebs, balls, blocks and pyramid-like structures. The 3D-printed structures were then cured as a final step.

When the materials are subjected to compression, stretching or twisting, the dinoflagellates within them respond by emitting light. This response mimics what happens in the ocean, when dinoflagellates produce flashes of light as part of a predator defense strategy. In tests, the materials glowed when the researchers pressed on them and traced patterns on their surface. The materials were even sensitive enough to glow under the weight of a foam ball rolling on their surface.

The greater the applied stress, the brighter the glow. The researchers were able to quantify this behavior and developed a mathematical model that can predict the intensity of the glow based on the magnitude of the mechanical stress applied.

The researchers also demonstrated techniques to make these materials resilient in various experimental conditions. To reinforce the materials so that they can bear substantial mechanical loads, a second polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, was added to the original blend. Also, coating the materials with a stretchy rubber-like polymer called Ecoflex provided protection in acidic and basic solutions. With this protective layer, the materials could even be stored in seawater for up to five months without losing their form or bioluminescent properties.

Another beneficial feature of these materials is their minimal maintenance requirements. To keep working, the dinoflagellates within the materials need periodic cycles of light and darkness. During the light phase, they photosynthesize to produce food and energy, which are then used in the dark phase to emit light when mechanical stress is applied. This behavior mirrors the natural processes at play when the dinoflagellates cause bioluminescence in the ocean during red tide events. 

“This current work demonstrates a simple method to combine living organisms with non-living components to fabricate novel materials that are self-sustaining and are sensitive to fundamental mechanical stimuli found in nature,” said study first author Chenghai Li, a mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. candidate in Cai’s lab.

The researchers envision that these materials could potentially be used as mechanical sensors to gauge pressure, strain or stress. Other potential applications include soft robotics and biomedical devices that use light signals to perform treatment or controlled drug release.

However, there is much work to be done before these applications can be realized. The researchers are working on further improving and optimizing the materials.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Ultrasensitive and robust mechanoluminescent living composites by Chenghai Li, Nico Schramma, Zijun Wang, Nada F. Qari, Maziyar Jalaal, Michael I. Latz, and Shengqiang Cai. Science Advances 20 Oct 2023 Vol 9, Issue 42 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi8643

This paper is open access.

AI for salmon recovery

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Hopefully you won’t be subjected to a commercial prior to this 3 mins. 49 secs. video about the salmon and how artificial intelligence (AI) could make a difference in theirs and our continued survival,

Video caption: Wild Salmon Center is partnering with First Nations to pilot the Salmon Vision technology. (Credit: Olivia Leigh Nowak/Le Colibri Studio.)

An October 19, 2023 news item on phys.org announces this research, Note: Links have been removed,

Scientists and natural resource managers from Canadian First Nations, governments, academic institutions, and conservation organizations published the first results of a unique salmon population monitoring tool in Frontiers in Marine Science.

This groundbreaking new technology, dubbed “Salmon Vision,” combines artificial intelligence with age-old fishing weir technology. Early assessments show it to be remarkably adept at identifying and counting fish species, potentially enabling real-time salmon population monitoring for fisheries managers.

…

An October 19, 2023 Wild Salmon Center news release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, provides more detail about the work,

“In recent years, we’ve seen the promise of underwater video technology to help us literally see salmon return to rivers,” says lead author Dr. Will Atlas, Senior Watershed Scientist with the Portland-based Wild Salmon Center. “That dovetails with what many of our First Nations partners are telling us: that we need to automate fish counting to make informed decisions while salmon are still running.” 

The Salmon Vision pilot study annotates more than 500,000 individual video frames captured at two Indigenous-run fish counting weirs on the Kitwanga and Bear Rivers of B.C.’s Central Coast. 

The first-of-its-kind deep learning computer model, developed in data partnership with the Gitanyow Fisheries Authority and Skeena Fisheries Commission, shows promising accuracy in identifying salmon species. It yielded mean average precision rates of 67.6 percent in tracking 12 different fish species passing through custom fish-counting boxes at the two weirs, with scores surpassing 90 and 80 percent for coho and sockeye salmon: two of the principal fish species targeted by First Nations, commercial, and recreational fishers. 

“When we envisioned providing fast grants for projects focused on Indigenous futurism and climate resilience, this is the type of project that we hoped would come our way,” says Dr. Keolu Fox, a professor at the University of California-San Diego, and one of several reviewers in an early crowdfunding round for the development of Salmon Vision. 

Collaborators on the model, funded by the British Columbia Salmon Recovery and Innovation Fund, include researchers and fisheries managers with Simon Fraser University and Douglas College computing sciences, the Pacific Salmon Foundation, Gitanyow Fisheries Authority, and the Skeena Fisheries Commission. Following these exciting early results, the next step is to expand the model with partner First Nations into a half-dozen new watersheds on B.C.’s North and Central Coast.

Real-time data on salmon returns is critical on several fronts. According to Dr. Atlas, many fisheries in British Columbia have been data-poor for decades. That leaves fisheries managers to base harvest numbers on early-season catch data, rather than the true number of salmon returning. Meanwhile, changing weather patterns, stream flows, and ocean conditions are creating more variable salmon returns: uncertainty that compounds the ongoing risks of overfishing already-vulnerable populations.

“Without real-time data on salmon returns, it’s extremely difficult to build climate-smart, responsive fisheries,” says Dr. Atlas. “Salmon Vision data collection and analysis can fill that information gap.” 

It’s a tool that he says will be invaluable to First Nation fisheries managers and other organizations both at the decision-making table—in providing better information to manage conservation risks and fishing opportunities—and in remote rivers across salmon country, where on-the-ground data collection is challenging and costly. 

The Salmon Vision team is implementing automated counting on a trial basis in several rivers around the B.C. North and Central Coasts in 2023. The goal is to provide reliable real-time count data by 2024.

This October 18, 2023 article by Ramona DeNies for the Wild Salmon Center (WSC) is nicely written although it does cover some of the same material seen in the news release, Note: A link has been removed,

Right now, in rivers across British Columbia’s Central Coast, we don’t know how many salmon are actually returning. At least, not until fishing seasons are over.

And yet, fisheries managers still have to make decisions. They have to make forecasts, modeled on data from the past. They have to set harvest targets for commercial and recreational fisheries. And increasingly, they have to make the call on emergency closures, when things start looking grim.

“On the north and central coast of BC, we’ve seen really wildly variable returns of salmon over the last decade,” says Dr. Will Atlas, Wild Salmon Center Senior Watershed Scientist. “With accelerating climate change, every year is unprecedented now. Yet from a fisheries management perspective, we’re still going into most seasons assuming that this year will look like the past.”

One answer, Dr. Atlas says, is “Salmon Vision.” Results from this first-of-its-kind technology—developed by WSC in data partnership with the Gitanyow Fisheries Authority and Skeena Fisheries Commission—were recently published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

…

There are embedded images in DeNies’ October 18, 2023 article; it’s where I found the video.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Wild salmon enumeration and monitoring using deep learning empowered detection and tracking by William I. Atlas, Sami Ma, Yi Ching Chou, Katrina Connors, Daniel Scurfield, Brandon Nam, Xiaoqiang Ma, Mark Cleveland, Janvier Doire, Jonathan W. Moore, Ryan Shea, Jiangchuan Liu. Front. Mar. Sci., 20 September 2023 Volume 10 – 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1200408

This paper appears to be open access.

Dynamic magnetic fractal networks for neuromorphic (brainlike) computing

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Credit: Advanced Materials (2023). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202300416 [cover image]

This is a different approach to neuromorphic (brainlike) computing being described in an August 28, 2023 news item on phys.org, Note: A link has been removed,

The word “fractals” might inspire images of psychedelic colors spiraling into infinity in a computer animation. An invisible, but powerful and useful, version of this phenomenon exists in the realm of dynamic magnetic fractal networks.

Dustin Gilbert, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering [University of Tennessee, US], and colleagues have published new findings in the behavior of these networks—observations that could advance neuromorphic computing capabilities.

Their research is detailed in their article “Skyrmion-Excited Spin-Wave Fractal Networks,” cover story for the August 17, 2023, issue of Advanced Materials.

…

An August 18, 2023 University of Tennessee news release, which originated the news item, provides more details,

“Most magnetic materials—like in refrigerator magnets—are just comprised of domains where the magnetic spins all orient parallel,” said Gilbert. “Almost 15 years ago, a German research group discovered these special magnets where the spins make loops—like a nanoscale magnetic lasso. These are called skyrmions.”

Named for legendary particle physicist Tony Skyrme, a skyrmion’s magnetic swirl gives it a non-trivial topology. As a result of this topology, the skyrmion has particle-like properties—they are hard to create or destroy, they can move and even bounce off of each other. The skyrmion also has dynamic modes—they can wiggle, shake, stretch, whirl, and breath[e].

As the skyrmions “jump and jive,” they are creating magnetic spin waves with a very narrow wavelength. The interactions of these waves form an unexpected fractal structure.

“Just like a person dancing in a pool of water, they generate waves which ripple outward,” said Gilbert. “Many people dancing make many waves, which normally would seem like a turbulent, chaotic sea. We measured these waves and showed that they have a well-defined structure and collectively form a fractal which changes trillions of times per second.”

Fractals are important and interesting because they are inherently tied to a “chaos effect”—small changes in initial conditions lead to big changes in the fractal network.

“Where we want to go with this is that if you have a skyrmion lattice and you illuminate it with spin waves, the way the waves make its way through this fractal-generating structure is going to depend very intimately on its construction,” said Gilbert. “So, if you could write individual skyrmions, it can effectively process incoming spin waves into something on the backside—and it’s programmable. It’s a neuromorphic architecture.”

The Advanced Materials cover illustration [image at top of this posting] depicts a visual representation of this process, with the skyrmions floating on top of a turbulent blue sea illustrative of the chaotic structure generated by the spin wave fractal.

“Those waves interfere just like if you throw a handful of pebbles into a pond,” said Gilbert. “You get a choppy, turbulent mess. But it’s not just any simple mess, it’s actually a fractal. We have an experiment now showing that the spin waves generated by skyrmions aren’t just a mess of waves, they have inherent structure of their very own. By, essentially, controlling those stones that we ‘throw in,’ you get very different patterns, and that’s what we’re driving towards.”

The discovery was made in part by neutron scattering experiments at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) High Flux Isotope Reactor and at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Center for Neutron Research. Neutrons are magnetic and pass through materials easily, making them ideal probes for studying materials with complex magnetic behavior such as skyrmions and other quantum phenomena.

Gilbert’s co-authors for the new article are Nan Tang, Namila Liyanage, and Liz Quigley, students in his research group; Alex Grutter and Julie Borchers from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Lisa DeBeer-Schmidt and Mike Fitzsimmons from Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Eric Fullerton, Sheena Patel, and Sergio Montoya from the University of California, San Diego.

The team’s next step is to build a working model using the skyrmion behavior.

“If we can develop thinking computers, that, of course, is extraordinarily important,” said Gilbert. “So, we will propose to make a miniaturized, spin wave neuromorphic architecture.” He also hopes that the ripples from this UT Knoxville discovery inspire researchers to explore uses for a spiraling range of future applications.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Skyrmion-Excited Spin-Wave Fractal Networks by Nan Tang, W. L. N. C. Liyanage, Sergio A. Montoya, Sheena Patel, Lizabeth J. Quigley, Alexander J. Grutter, Michael R. Fitzsimmons, Sunil Sinha, Julie A. Borchers, Eric E. Fullerton, Lisa DeBeer-Schmitt, Dustin A. Gilbert. Advanced Materials Volume 35, Issue 33 August 17, 2023 2300416 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202300416 First published: 04 May 2023

This paper is behind a paywall.

Agricultural pest control with nanoparticles derived from plant viruses

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As with many of these ‘nanoparticle solutions’ to a problem, it seems the nanoparticles are the delivery system. A September 21, 2023 news item on ScienceDaily announces the research,

A new form of agricultural pest control could one day take root — one that treats crop infestations deep under the ground in a targeted manner with less pesticide.

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed nanoparticles, fashioned from plant viruses, that can deliver pesticide molecules to soil depths that were previously unreachable. This advance could potentially help farmers effectively combat parasitic nematodes that plague the root zones of crops, all while minimizing costs, pesticide use and environmental toxicity.

…

A September 21, 2023 University of California at San Diego news release (also on EurekAlert) by Liezel Labios, which originated the news item, provides more information about the problems along with a nod to nanomedicine as the inspiration for the proposed solution, Note: Links have been removed,

Controlling infestations caused by root-damaging nematodes has long been a challenge in agriculture. One reason is that the types of pesticides used against nematodes tend to cling to the top layers of soil, making it tough to reach the root level where nematodes wreak havoc. As a result, farmers often resort to applying excessive amounts of pesticide, as well as water to wash pesticides down to the root zone. This can lead to contamination of soil and groundwater.

To find a more sustainable and effective solution, a team led by Nicole Steinmetz, a professor of nanoengineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and founding director of the Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, developed plant virus nanoparticles that can transport pesticide molecules deep into the soil, precisely where they are needed. The work is detailed in a paper published in Nano Letters.

Steinmetz’s team drew inspiration from nanomedicine [emphasis mine], where nanoparticles are being created for targeted drug delivery, and adapted this concept to agriculture. This idea of repurposing and redesigning biological materials for different applications is also a focus area of the UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), of which Steinmetz is a co-lead. 

“We’re developing a precision farming approach where we’re creating nanoparticles for targeted pesticide delivery,” said Steinmetz, who is the study’s senior author. “This technology holds the promise of enhancing treatment effectiveness in the field without the need to increase pesticide dosage.”

The star of this approach is the tobacco mild green mosaic virus, a plant virus that has the ability to move through soil with ease. Researchers modified these virus nanoparticles, rendering them noninfectious to crops by removing their RNA. They then mixed these nanoparticles with pesticide solutions in water and heated them, creating spherical virus-like nanoparticles packed with pesticides through a simple one-pot synthesis.

This one-pot synthesis offers several advantages. First, it is cost-effective, with just a few steps and a straightforward purification process. The result is a more scalable method, paving the way toward a more affordable product for farmers, noted Steinmetz. Second, by simply packaging the pesticide inside the nanoparticles, rather than chemically binding it to the surface, this method preserves the original chemical structure of the pesticide.

“If we had used a traditional synthetic method where we link the pesticide molecules to the nanoparticles, we would have essentially created a new compound, which will need to go through a whole new registration and regulatory approval process,” said study first author Adam Caparco, a postdoctoral researcher in Steinmetz’s lab. “But since we’re just encapsulating the pesticide within the nanoparticles, we’re not changing the active ingredient, so we won’t need to get new approval for it. That could help expedite the translation of this technology to the market.”

Moreover, the tobacco mild green mosaic virus is already approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use as an herbicide to control an invasive plant called the tropical soda apple. This existing approval could further streamline the path from lab to market.

The researchers conducted experiments in the lab to demonstrate the efficacy of their pesticide-packed nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were watered through columns of soil and successfully transported the pesticides to depths of at least 10 centimeters. The solutions were collected from the bottom of the soil columns and were found to contain the pesticide-packed nanoparticles. When the researchers treated nematodes with these solutions, they eliminated at least half of the population in a petri dish.

While the researchers have not yet tested the nanoparticles on nematodes lurking beneath the soil, they note that this study marks a significant step forward.

“Our technology enables pesticides meant to combat nematodes to be used in the soil,” said Caparco. “These pesticides alone cannot penetrate the soil. But with our nanoparticles, they now have soil mobility, can reach the root level, and potentially kill the nematodes.”

Future research will involve testing the nanoparticles on actual infested plants to assess their effectiveness in real-world agricultural scenarios. Steinmetz’s lab will perform these follow-up studies in collaboration with the U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory. Her team has also established plans for an industry partnership aimed at advancing the nanoparticles into a commercial product.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Delivery of Nematicides Using TMGMV-Derived Spherical Nanoparticles by Adam A. Caparco, Ivonne González-Gamboa, Samuel S. Hays, Jonathan K. Pokorski, and Nicole F. Steinmetz. Nano Lett. 2023, 23, 12, 5785–5793 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c01684 Publication Date:June 16, 2023 Copyright © 2023 American Chemical Society

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