Science & Technology

How did China’s DeepSeek outsmart ChatGPT?

Friday, January 31, 2025
A new AI rival from China is shaking up Silicon Valley. DeepSeek matches ChatGPT’s power but says it was built faster and for a fraction of the cost. How did they do it, and what comes next?

In this episode:

    Caiwei Chen, reporter, MIT Technology Review

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Sarí el-Khalili, Sonia Bhagat, and Amy Walters, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Melanie Marich, Hagir Saleh, Hanah Shokeir, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz.  

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad Al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

How will US tech firms react to DeepSeek?

Wednesday, January 29, 2025  
Investors have poured billions of dollars into artificial intelligence research and development over the past year, hoping to capitalise on this rapidly advancing technology.

Generative AI could automate countless tasks and change how many sectors do business.
 
The US has largely led this revolution but now a Chinese rival has emerged.

DeepSeek's models are faster, smaller and a lot cheaper.

Will investors still be willing to put up billions if a more cost-effective alternative exists?

And who is in the best position to benefit from AI's vast potential?

Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam

Guests:
R Ray" Wang -- CEO and principal analyst of Constellation Research, a technology research and advisory firm in Silicon Valley

Toby Walsh -- Professor of AI at the University of New South Wales and author of "Faking It: AI in a Human World".
 
Brian Wong - Independent geopolitical strategist and fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World.

What did the WHO expert say on comparing MPox with COVID?

Tuesday, 20 August 2024

A leading expert of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that MPox is not a 'new COVID' because it is known how to control it.

WHO Europe Director Dr. Hans Kluge told reporters that there are concerns about the new variant of the MPox virus and a global alert has been issued in this regard. But MPox can be controlled together.

Dr. Hans Kluge said that the most important thing is that its vaccines reach the most needy areas so that another cycle of panic and neglect can be broken.

Last week, a new variant of monkeypox, Clade IB, was found in Sweden. It is being linked to its increasing outbreak in Africa.

Cases of infectious monkeypox (MPox) are increasing rapidly in Central and East Africa.

In view of this, the World Health Organization has declared it a public health emergency.

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said, "The emergence of a new variant of monkeypox and its rapid spread is very worrying."

Earlier, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had declared it a public health emergency.

The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that monkeypox is more worrying than last time. This is because the new variant is more deadly.

Elon Musk's company SpaceX and NASA sign a deal worth $843 million

Thursday, June 27, 2024

US space agency NASA and Elon Musk's company SpaceX have signed a deal worth $843 million.

According to this agreement, SpaceX will play an important role in bringing the International Space Station (ISS) back to Earth after its term ends in 2030.

Under the agreement, SpaceX will build a spacecraft called Deorbit Vehicle to bring the approximately 430-ton ISS back to Earth.

The ISS will expire in the year 2030. To build it, its parts were sent into space one by one in the 1980s.

NASA says that after completing its tenure, the ISS will float in space and become part of space garbage, and it may fall back to Earth. If its fall is not controlled, it can pose a risk to the population.

Since 1998, five space agencies - US space agency NASA, Canadian space agency CSA, European space agency ESA, Japanese space agency JAXA and Russian space agency Roscosmos - have been responsible for the maintenance and needs of the International Space Station.

NASA says that it is the responsibility of all five agencies to deorbit and bring back the ISS safely.

This station is present in space 400 kilometers above the earth and revolves around the earth once every 90 minutes.

China landed spacecraft on the part of the moon not visible from Earth

Sunday, June 2, 2024

China says that its unmanned spacecraft has landed on the part of the moon which is not visible from Earth.

This is the area of ​​the moon where no one has gone yet and no one has even tried to go there yet.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has said in a statement- The Chang-E-6 aircraft managed to land in the Aitken Basin near the south pole of the moon at 06:23 am Beijing time.

China launched this mission on May 3, 2024. The purpose of this mission is to collect rocks and soil from this part of the moon and bring it to Earth.

This mission can collect the oldest rocks of the moon. There is a huge crater on the south pole of the moon, where this spacecraft has landed.

There were many difficulties in front of this mission, it becomes difficult to contact the spacecraft when it reaches beyond the moon.

Scientists claim regarding HIV, infected genes can be extracted from the cell

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Scientists have said that they have successfully isolated HIV from cells using gene editing technology.

According to scientists, they have used the Nobel Prize winning CRISPR gene editing technology to cut and isolate HIV from the infected cell.

Using this technique, they have separated the infected parts by cutting the DNA like scissors at the molecular level.

The team at the University of Amsterdam says that they hope that with this method HIV infection can be removed from the body.

However, giving more information about the research related to this in a medical conference this week, the team said that the current research proves the "concept" that in this way the infected part of the cell's DNA can be removed, but this method It is not that HIV will be cured soon.

The medicines available till now treat HIV by stopping it from spreading, but they cannot completely eliminate it from the body.

Scientists solved the mystery related to the largest desert on earth

Monday, March 4, 2024

The age of one of the largest and most complex deserts on Earth has been revealed for the first time.

Star Dunes or Pyramid Dunes were named for their unique shape and height of hundreds of meters.

Such deserts are found in Africa, Asia and North America as well as on Mars, but before today experts had never been able to find out when these deserts were formed.

Now scientists have discovered that the desert named Lala Lalia in Morocco was formed 13 thousand years ago.

Star Dunes are formed by cross-directional winds.

Professor Geoff Duller of the University of Aberystwyth, who published this research, said that finding out the age of these deserts will help scientists understand those winds and know about the climate of that period.

Lala Lalia is located in south-east Morocco. The sand dunes here are 100 meters high and 700 meters wide. After the formation of this desert, it did not expand for about 8000 years and then it started expanding rapidly in the last few thousand years.

The method used by scientists determined when the sand particles were last exposed to daylight.

Sand samples were taken in the dark and then studied in dim lighting in the lab, like an old photography workshop.

What did scientists find in the study for better cancer treatment?

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Scientists in England have discovered that a patient's complete genetic makeup can lead to positive changes in cancer treatment.

This study has been published in Nature Medicine. In this, information of more than 13 thousand patients has been analyzed.

In this, the mutations behind the development of the tumor are analyzed and the DNA is studied to see whether the patient was born with such a gene due to which the risk of this disease increases.

Researchers found that more than 90 percent of brain tumors and 50 percent of bowel and lung cancers have genetic changes that affect the patient's treatment, such as surgery and specific treatments.

Three scientists have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing quantum dots.

These three scientists live in America.

The Nobel laureates include Mongi G Bawendi, Lewis E Bruce and Alexey I Ekimov who will share the prize of 8.24 lakh pounds.

What are quantum dots?

Most people have probably seen tiny crystals on their TV sets whose tiny dots combine to form colors.

In fact, these quantum dots are very tiny and their number can be tens of millions in one millimeter.

Russian physicist Alexei I. Ekimov is credited with the discovery of quantum dots in the 1980s, and later Lewis E. Bruce, an American chemist, discovered that crystals could be grown in liquids.

After this, Mongi G. Bawendi, a native of Paris, discovered a method of making quantum dots particles in a more controlled manner.

These quantum dots are also used in medical imaging and solar panels for better use of cancer drugs and surgery.

Serum Institute of India (SII) has said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the world's second malaria vaccine.

WHO has given this approval on the basis of pre-clinical and clinical trial data of the vaccine. In trials, this vaccine was found to be quite effective in four countries.

According to the news of news agency PTI, SII has said in a statement that it has become the second vaccine in the world to get the approval of the World Health Organization to protect children from malaria.

This R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine has been developed by SII in collaboration with Oxford University.

SII has said that it has made arrangements to produce 10 crore doses of the vaccine every year and this production will double in the next two years.

Currently this vaccine is being used in Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. But now after the approval of the World Health Organization, it can be used all over the world.