Posts by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
(DIR) Post #AnfWCEWOBuwxiEf904 by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:50:22Z
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Their method delivered significantly more accurate results compared to traditional techniques. In fact, it reduced the uncertainty by more than half for the parameter that describes the clumpiness of matter in the universe. The AI-powered estimates also aligned closely with values derived from other cosmic phenomena, such as the oldest light in the universe.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCH3mkiqtaOIqKe by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:31Z
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“Each of these surveys costs hundreds of millions to billions of dollars,” Ho says. “The main reason these surveys exist is because we want to understand these cosmological parameters better. So if you think about it in a very practical sense, these parameters are worth tens of millions of dollars each. You want the best analysis you can to extract as much knowledge out of these surveys as possible and push the boundaries of our understanding of the universe.”
(DIR) Post #AnfWCK9vEMXlCICHoW by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:31Z
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The six cosmological parameters describe the amount of ordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy in the universe and the conditions following the Big Bang, such as the opacity of the newborn universe as it cooled and whether mass in the cosmos is spread out or in big clumps. The parameters “are essentially the ‘settings’ of the universe that determine how it operates on the largest scales,” says Liam Parker, co-author of the Nature Astronomy study and a research analyst at the CCA.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCLsGqxc2W7xDZw by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:32Z
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One of the most important ways cosmologists calculate the parameters is by studying the clustering of the universe’s galaxies. Previously, these analyses only looked at the large-scale distribution of galaxies.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCNmfkkK4RLLm88 by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:32Z
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“We haven’t been able to go down to small scales,” says ChangHoon Hahn, an associate research scholar at Princeton University and lead author of the Nature Astronomy study. “For a couple of years now, we’ve known that there’s additional information there; we just didn’t have a good way of extracting it.”
(DIR) Post #AnfWCPslx2OGwqDfuq by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:32Z
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Hahn proposed a way to leverage AI to extract that small-scale information. His plan had two phases. First, he and his colleagues would train an AI model to determine the values of the cosmological parameters based on the appearance of simulated universes. Then they’d show their model actual galaxy distribution observations.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCS7NdhGPsj4Mxk by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:32Z
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Hahn, Ho, Parker, and their colleagues trained their model by showing it 2,000 box-shaped universes from the CCA-developed Quijote simulation suite, with each universe created using different values for the cosmological parameters.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCUyyzNKSlYACn2 by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:33Z
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The researchers even made the 2,000 universes appear like data generated by galaxy surveys — including flaws from the atmosphere and the telescopes themselves — to give the model realistic practice. “That’s a large number of simulations, but it’s a manageable amount,” Hahn says. “If you didn’t have the machine learning, you’d need hundreds of thousands.”
(DIR) Post #AnfWCXbhEPU6uCI9PU by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:33Z
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By ingesting the simulations, the model learned over time how the values of the cosmological parameters correlate with small-scale differences in the clustering of galaxies, such as the distance between individual pairs of galaxies. SimBIG also learned how to extract information from the bigger-picture arrangement of the universe’s galaxies by looking at three or more galaxies at a time and analyzing the shapes created between them, like long, stretched triangles or squat equilateral triangles.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCZkHHTXNXOK240 by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:33Z
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With the model trained, the researchers presented it with 109,636 real galaxies measured by the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. As they hoped, the model leveraged small-scale and large-scale details in the data to boost the precision of its cosmological parameter estimates.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCcXcsyCSD1QTGC by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:54:33Z
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Those estimates were so precise that they were equivalent to a traditional analysis using around four times as many galaxies. That’s important, Ho says, because the universe only has so many galaxies. By getting higher precision with less data, SimBIG can push the limits of what’s possible.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCew9yj0rdgv5mK by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:55:28Z
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will be the cosmological crisis known as the Hubble tension. The tension arises from mismatched estimates of the Hubble constant, which describes how quickly everything in the universe is spreading out.
(DIR) Post #AnfWChRQfRDJPFZ5nM by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:55:29Z
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Calculating the Hubble constant requires estimating the universe’s size using ‘cosmic rulers.’ Estimates based on the distance to exploding stars called supernovae in distant galaxies are around 10 percent higher than those based on the spacing of fluctuations in the universe’s oldest light.
(DIR) Post #AnfWCjiAEBmwRjPU9o by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-03T13:55:29Z
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New surveys coming online in the next few years will capture more of the universe’s history. Pairing data from those surveys with SimBIG will better reveal the extent of the Hubble tension, and whether the mismatch can be resolved or if it necessitates a revised model of the universe, Hahn says. “If we measure the quantities very precisely and can firmly say that there is a tension, that could reveal new physics about dark energy and the expansion of the universe,” he says.
(DIR) Post #AnkYSpvE4kwQ2Z7lXE by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-06T00:56:15Z
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Cancer deaths expected to nearly double worldwide by 2050https://www.newscientist.com/article/2454732-cancer-deaths-expected-to-nearly-double-worldwide-by-2050/
(DIR) Post #AnkYSqosjpScpBADHk by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-06T00:56:15Z
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They found that the total number of cancer cases worldwide is expected to grow by nearly 77 per cent between 2022 and 2050, which would mean an additional 15.3 million cases in 2050 on top of the 20 million in 2022. Global cancer deaths are also projected to rise by almost 90 per cent during this period, resulting in 8.8 million more in 2050 compared with 2022, in which 9.7 million people died from the disease.
(DIR) Post #AnkYSrKmpCyuQ85h0y by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-06T00:56:16Z
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The largest increases are expected in countries with low or middle rankings on the UN’s Human Development Index, which is based on average life expectancy, education level and income per person. Cancer cases and deaths are, on average, anticipated to nearly triple by 2050 in countries with a low score, such as Niger and Afghanistan.
(DIR) Post #AnkYSrnV6RwxrBWcls by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-06T00:56:16Z
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Meanwhile, countries with a very high score – such as Norway – are projected to see cases and deaths increase, on average, by more than 42 per cent and 56 per cent, respectively.
(DIR) Post #AoJzRinWxlj7LLkeWW by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-23T02:55:30Z
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How many Americans have guns? New poll finds spike in ownership among one grouphttps://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/how-many-americans-have-guns-new-poll-finds-spike-in-ownership-among-one-group/
(DIR) Post #AoJzRjfli7703Z7y40 by HandgunYoga@mastodon.world
2024-11-23T02:55:30Z
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Men are still far more likely to own guns than women — 43% versus 20%. However, the gender gap has narrowed from 30 points in 2007 to 2012 to 23 points in 2019 to 2024.The partisan gap, on the other hand, has grown.In 2007 to 2012, there was a 16-point gap between the gun ownership rates of Republicans (38%) and Democrats (22%). Now, that gap stands at 28 points — with nearly half of Republicans, 47%, and just 19% of Democrats owning guns.