This is the first time geometric structure has been found intrinsically in neural data. Certainly such a structure is to be expected since the rat’s place cells keep track of the geometry of the environment, but this result is confirmation that it can be detected using only the pattern of correlations among the neurons. And it suggests that such geometric structure is a property of the underlying place cell network and not a result of the spatial structure of the input cells.
According to their calculations, this glass performed about as well as a heavy duty commercial glass. What this report describes isn’t some miracle material, but a well-above-average performing glass that seems promising on a tiny scale.
Although the first gravitational lens wasn’t discovered for some 40 years after it was first theorized, it’s now the most prolific tool for weighing distant (foreground) galaxies, and discovering ultra-distant (background) galaxies. Although this isn’t a technique we have precision control over — the Universe puts the lenses and the lensed objects where they are, and all we can do is watch — there’s a spectacular amount of material that’s out there
The cost of living is going up, and the chance of living is going down.