Cornell Chronicle: Computer derives natural laws: "If Isaac Newton had had access to a supercomputer, he'd have had it watch apples fall and let it figure out what that meant. But the computer would have needed to run an algorithm developed by Cornell researchers that can derive natural laws from observed data."
"The researchers have taught a computer to find regularities in the natural world that represent natural laws -- without any prior scientific knowledge on the part of the computer. They have tested their method, or algorithm, on simple mechanical systems and believe it could be applied to more complex systems ranging from biology to cosmology and be useful in analyzing the mountains of data generated by modern experiments that use electronic data collection.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Independent Robot Scientist Makes Discovery
April 2, 2009 - Discovery News Independent Robot Scientist Makes Discovery: "The discovery of 12 new functions for genes in one of the most studied organisms in the world wouldn't be news, except that scientists didn't discover them. A robot named Adam designed, carried out and discovered the new gene functions.
'Our goal is to make science more efficient,' said Ross King, a professor of biology and computer science at the University of Wales and author of a new paper in this week's issue of Science detailing Adam's work."
'Our goal is to make science more efficient,' said Ross King, a professor of biology and computer science at the University of Wales and author of a new paper in this week's issue of Science detailing Adam's work."
Monday, March 30, 2009
Flying on a Wing and a Half
Defense News Flying on a Wing and a Half: "If you can think fast enough and act fast enough, perhaps you, too, could fly an F/A-18 fighter jet with 60 percent of its right wing blown off.
A lot of pilots couldn't, said David Vos, senior director of Control Technologies at Rockwell Collins. But a computer algorithm that Vos helped create can.
It piloted a scaled-down F/A-18 this spring, and then kept it aloft and under control even after most of the right wing was intentionally blown off in midflight.
The computer succeeded where many human pilots would undoubtedly fail because it was able to react to the wing damage about 20 milliseconds after it occurred and because it 'knows everything there is to know about the plane,' Vos said."
A lot of pilots couldn't, said David Vos, senior director of Control Technologies at Rockwell Collins. But a computer algorithm that Vos helped create can.
It piloted a scaled-down F/A-18 this spring, and then kept it aloft and under control even after most of the right wing was intentionally blown off in midflight.
The computer succeeded where many human pilots would undoubtedly fail because it was able to react to the wing damage about 20 milliseconds after it occurred and because it 'knows everything there is to know about the plane,' Vos said."
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