Graphcore, a UK-based semiconductor company that launched its first Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) for AI acceleration in 2018 has now unveiled its second-generation chip that’s the world’s most complex chip: The Colossus Mk2 GC200 IPU. The Colossus Mk2 surpasses the Nvidia’s A100 which was their most powerful solution towards AI.
Each Colossus Mk2 GC200 IPU consists of 59.4Bn transistors, 250TFlops AI compute and 900MB of in-processor-memory. Each Mk2 contains 8832 separate parallel threads and 1472 independent processor cores.
The Mk2 that is a 7nm IPU powers the IPU-Machine M2000. The M2000 comprises of four Colossus Mk2 GC200 IPU and 5888 independent processor cores. The machine also packs 1 PetaFlop of AI compute and up to 450GB Exchange Memory along with 2.8Tbps IPU-Fabric for ultra-low latency communication all in a slim 1U blade. The machine provides 180TB/s Exchange Memory bandwidth.
The design of IPU-M2000 is so flexible and modular that you can just start with one and scale to thousands. The machine works as a standalone system. The IPU-M2000 can reach the extent of supercomputing when eight are stacked together or racks of 16 tightly interconnected IPU-M2000 are placed in IPU-POD64 systems.
The IPU-POD64 by Graphcore provides building blocks for deploying thousands of machines for large AI/ML problems. According to the Graphcore, the IPU-PODs features ultra-high bandwidth and near-zero latency all thanks to its own IPU-Fabric technology. These IPU-PODs can scale up to 64,000 IPUs and deliver 16 ExaFlops of AI compute.
According to a conjecture by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists there exist a parallel universe – where time runs in reverse. This discovery was made by a NASA research group using the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA). ANITA – a radio detector mounted on a balloon that can identify cosmic-ray air showers in the cold, dry air above the frozen Antarctica, where there is little or no radio noise to distort the findings. The group was funded $35 million to look for and study the ghostly particles that fill the universe. Now the team has come up with the particles that could be from some another realm.
For this study, a purposely built giant-balloon was used by the experts to carry the antenna high above the Antarctica’s frozen land to scan over a million square kilometres for high-energy particles coming down from the space. This balloon was sent two times over the Antarctica over the course of two years, but each time the trip only yielded background noise nothing else.
During the balloon’s third flight, the scientists decided to revisit the data from the past two flights, conducted in 2006 and 2014, basically those signals that were dismissed as noise. After re-examining the signals, they discovered them as the signature of high-energy particles. But that seemed impossible because these particles instead of bearing down from above, they were exploding out of the Earth’s surface.
Explaining these signals require existence of a upside down universe created in the same Big Bang as our and existing in parallel with it, where right is left, positive is negative and time runs in reverse. It is the most perplexed idea that emerged from the Antarctica.
There is a constant wind of high-energy particles coming from the space. Some of these particles are million times more stronger than anything that can be generated on Earth. What usually happens is, high-energy particles are stopped by the Earth’s mass while the low-energy neutrinos with a mass close to zero can pass through our planet completely. This means that only high-energy particles can be detected coming “down” from space, but apparently what ANITA detected was opposite to this phenomenon. It detected high-energy particles that were coming “up” out of the Earth.
ANITA’s principal investigator and an experimental particle physicist at the University of Hawaii, Peter Gorham said that this bizarre phenomenon leads to the existence of a parallel universe. But he also said that the ANITA team has seen several of these impossible events and not everyone was comfortable with this hypothesis.
Quantum computing is a way that will change the world completely. It could change the current scenario of dealing with pharmaceuticals, encryption and revolutionize the communication and artificial intelligence. Many big firms like IBM, Microsoft, Rigetti and Google are in the race to build reliable quantum computers. While many countries across the globe like, US, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Russia, China are investing billions in this race.
Before beginning the discussion on quantum computing lets understand how the conventional computers work. The conventional computers use bits to represent data. The bits are either 0 or 1 but not both at a time, as in the case of switches either the switch is on or off but can’t both. In current scenario all the data, applications we use, websites, photographs etc. are made up of millions or billions of bits in some combination of zeroes and ones.
But the problem is that all the things in the universe aren’t just yes or no, or 0 or 1. There are things that lead to uncertainty. But even our best supercomputers today are not capable of coping with these uncertainties. And here comes what we call Quantum Computing.
Quantum Computers are based on the principles of quantum physics. Instead of using bits, quantum computers make use of quantum bits or qubits. So, rather than just being on or off, qubits also exist in a third state called superposition – where they’re on and off at the same time, or lies somewhere on a spectrum between the two. This superposition also states that the identical states will not always give the same result.
Quantum computing can make a way to teleportation by using quantum entanglement. Entanglement means that two pairs exist in a single state. Changing the state of one of the qubits will instantaneously change the state of the other in a predictable way even they are separated by huge distance. Doubling the number of bits in conventional computers will doubles the processing power of the machine. But here in quantum computing, just adding an extra qubit to a quantum machine will exponentially increase its processing ability, all this because of entanglement.
Quantum computing isn’t just doing things faster or more efficiently but can also perform the tasks that we couldn’t even have dreamed. They can do tasks that our supercomputers can’t do and they can outperform our best supercomputers. They are potentially capable of accelerating the development of artificial intelligence. In present, supercomputers can only analyze the basic molecules. But quantum computers operate using the same quantum properties as the molecules they are trying to stimulate, so they have no problem even dealing with the most complicated reactions.
Scientists said that with the help of quantum simulations there might be possibilities of developing cure against Alzheimer which was not present till date. Quantum encryption will also play a vital role in protecting our data. Because the quantum computers can easily break down large numbers into prime numbers on which a large number of encryption system depends. In 2019, Google said that they have achieved the quantum supremacy but IBM disputed their claim.
For now, quantum computers are highly sensitive towards heat, air molecules and electromagnetic fields interference. These external interferences can cause a qubit to lose its quantum properties and make them more error-prone than classical computers. This process is called quantum decoherence and it can even lead to a system crash. To protect the quantum computers, they need to be isolated and placed in extremely cold temperatures – close to zero kelvins. U.S. Army scientists along with professors of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing photonic circuits that incorporate nonlinear optical crystals, that will manipulate the entanglement required for quantum devices at room temperature.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), declared pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), is an infectious disease that can cause a respiratory tract infection affecting upper as well as lower respiratory tract. It is caused by a newly discovered coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2 that emerged in China in December 2019. The COVID-19 consists of two strains named L and S, as it is normal for the viruses to mutate themselves. The SARS-CoV-2 is called corona because of its crown-like spikes protein that are used to cause infection.
SARS-CoV-2 is one of the seven known types of coronaviruses that are known to affect people. Four common human coronaviruses are 229E, NL63, OC43 and HKU1. They only cause mild-cold or flu-like symptoms, while the remaining three poses more serious threat. Apart from SARS-CoV-2, the remaining two that causes severe diseases are Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) transmitted to humans from dromedary camels and sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) from civet cats. Although, both the viruses are believed to be originated from bats and passed on to other animals. All the diseases caused by coronaviruses are zoonotic in nature.
The coronavirus spreads through person-to-person contact. They spread through droplets of saliva or discharge from nose when an infected person sneezes or coughs. So, it’s recommendable to practice respiratory etiquette like coughing in the flexed elbow.
According to the recent reports, this virus also spreads via silent spreaders. Silent spreaders are nothing but the people who are infected with coronavirus but show little to no symptoms at all. And as a result, they are spreading the virus unwittingly by meeting their friends, family members and in a bustle to meet their essential chores.
These silent spreaders are of three types as suggested by the medical experts: mildly symptomatic, presymptomatic and asymptomatic. Mildly symptomatic are those people who have mild symptoms like mild fever, cough, muscle aches etc. Presymptomatic spreaders are those who do not develop any symptoms until a week and asymptomatic spreaders do not show any symptoms at all but incubate the virus regularly.
The symptoms of the COVID-19 include: cough, fever, muscle aches, headache, diarrhea, sore throat, breath shortening, fatigue and nausea. Aged people and those with medical problems such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes, and cancer are more prone to this. While most people infected with COVID-19 will suffer from mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without any special treatment.
According to a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, men are more likely to die from COVID-19 than women. This is because of the higher levels of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in men. The ACE2 is a protein in the blood that is used by the Sars-CoV2 to enter human cells, according to the European Heart Journal.
At present there are no vaccines or specific treatment for COVID-19. So in order to prevent yourself from COVID-19 stay at home, avoid touching your face, wash your hands regularly for at least 20 seconds, use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer, cover your face with mask while going outside, practice social distancing and stay tuned to the updates provided by the government. While several trials are under consideration that might prove panacea in this havoc situation.
The Walt Disney Company, frequently known as Disney, is an American based multinational entertainment and mass media company. They have unveiled a new series of cloth face masks in U.S. to battle against coronavirus. Disney is headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California.
These non-medical masks introduced by Disney will feature iconic characters like Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, The Pooh and those from its multiverse, including Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel. Disney will donate one million masks to underserved communities via MedShare, a humanitarian aid organization. Also, all the profits from the U.S. mask sales through September 30th, up to $1 million, will be given to MedShare.
These masks that comprises of Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, The Avengers, Anna and Elsa from Frozen, R2D2 and Baby Yoda, are designed from the CDC’s (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendation that people cover their face while letting out in public to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Disney said that these masks are not intended for use by medical professionals while treating Covid-19 patients.
“Disney’s donations will make a tremendous impact in the communities we serve,” says Charles Redding, CEO and president of MedShare. “Their contribution of one million Disney cloth face masks will be provided to families in underserved communities and organizations working to limit the spread of COVID-19, while their monetary donation will be used to support the medical community’s ongoing efforts to provide lifesaving care to those who need it most.”
The masks come in a pack of four for $19.99 and are available in various sizes – small, medium and large. In addition to this, The Walt Disney Company has already donated more than 100,000 N95 masks to New York, Florida, Washington, D.C. and California, and 175,000 rain ponchos to hospitals.
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