Tootfinder

Facing down a new week of too many deadlines like this chestnut-backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens) in Stanley Park, Vancouver
#naturalist #wildlife #photography

Warm-Starting PCE for Traveling Salesman Problem
Rafael S. do Carmo, Renato Gomes dos Reis, Samuel Fernando F Silva, Luiz Gustavo E. Arruda, Felipe F. Fanchini
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.14414

Warm-Starting PCE for Traveling Salesman Problem
Variational quantum algorithms are promising for combinatorial optimization, but their scalability is often limited by qubit-intensive encoding schemes. To overcome this bottleneck, Pauli Correlation Encoding (PCE) has emerged as one of the most promising algorithms in this scenario. The method offers not only a polynomial reduction in qubit count and a suppression of barren plateaus but also demonstrates competitive performance with state-of-the-art methods on Maxcut. In this work, we propose …

Tokyo-based Sakana AI becomes Japan's most valuable unicorn at a ~$2.6B valuation, following a ~$130M raise from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and US VC firms (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/business/technology/a…

Sakana AI takes crown as Japan's most valuable unicorn
AI developer valued at $2.63bn in latest funding round

🌽 To get that perfect ear of corn, weather has to cooperate. But climate change is making it dicier
#corn

To get that perfect ear of corn, weather has to cooperate. But climate change is making it dicier
Robb Rynd and his brother grew up farming and wanted to do more of it outside their day jobs, so they went in together on what's now a little over 200 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum. Last year was a good year, and Rynd said he enjoyed walking the fields with his kids to see how the corn was doing.

{testthat} is great for automatic testing. Here are some tricks for the heavy user: #rstats

From Dogwood
Zain Haq, was deported to Pakistan seven months ago for nonviolent climate activism. Mark Carney’s Immigration Minister, Lena Metlege Diab, has the power to reunite Zain and his wife Sophie with a single e-mail.
Sophie has launched an official House of Commons petition, sponsored by Elizabeth May, to publicly pressure the Minister in the lead-up to Parliament resuming on Monday, September 15. You must be a Canadian citizen or resident to sign.

On the Propagation and Damping of Alfvenic Fluctuations in the Outer Solar Corona and Solar Wind
Nikos Sioulas, Marco Velli, Chen Shi, Trevor A. Bowen, Alfred Mallet, Andrea Verdini, B. D. G. Chandran, Anna Tenerani, Jean-Baptiste Dakeyo, Stuart D. Bale, Davin Larson, Jasper S. Halekas, Lorenzo Matteini, Victor R\'eville, C. H. K. Chen, Orlando M. Romeo, Mingzhe Liu, Roberto Livi, Ali Rahmati, P. L. Whittlesey

On the Propagation and Damping of Alfvenic Fluctuations in the Outer Solar Corona and Solar Wind
We analyze \textit{Parker Solar Probe} and \textit{Solar Orbiter} observations to investigate the propagation and dissipation of Alfvénic fluctuations from the outer corona to 1~AU. Conservation of wave-action flux provides the theoretical baseline for how fluctuation amplitudes scale with the Alfvén Mach number $M_a$, once solar-wind acceleration is accounted for. Departures from this scaling quantify the net balance between energy injection and dissipation. Fluctuation amplitudes follow wav…

Remote Sales
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: #GreatAusPods

London-based Attio, which offers a CRM service where AI agents and humans work together, raised a $52M Series B led by GV, bringing its total funding to $116M (Lucy Adams/Tech.eu)
https://tech.eu/2025/08/26/attio-raises-52m-series-b-to-scale-crm-platform/…

Attio raises $52M Series B to scale CRM platform
London-based CRM startup Attio has raised $52 million in Series B funding to expand its CRM platform. The round was led by GV (Google Ventures), with participation from existing investors Redpoint Ventures, 01A, Point Nine, and Balderton Capital, bringing Attio’s total funding to $116 million.With the new funding, Attio plans to scale its engineering team, accelerate product development, and double down on go-to-market outreach. Investment will focus particularly on features that enhance agen…