Tootfinder

San Diego-based Aether AI, which is building "causal world models" to teach robots cause and effect instead of pattern-matching, raised a $20M seed led by MPCi (Cristian Dina/The Next Web)
https://thenextweb.com/news/aether-ai-causal-world-models-20m-…

VC funding in physical AI companies totaled $47.4B across 521 deals in H1, up 80% from H1 2025, and more than the $41.9B invested from 2022 to 2024 (Mary Ann Azevedo/Crunchbase News)
https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/physical-ai-funding-startups…

VCs Pour Billions Into Physical AI As The Next Wave Of AI Investing Takes Shape
In the first half of 2026, global venture funding in the physical AI space totaled $47.4 billion across 521 deals, per Crunchbase data. That’s up dramatically — almost 4x — compared to the second half of 2025 when startups in the sector raised $12 billion across 470 deals.

Had an #acting #coaching client make a single physical change be the focus of a take and shot to see and hear their voice expand into the character in a whole new way. So good to hear their voice more fully animate the moments with new depths.

We expected rain (but no ⚡⛈️).
So we got our jackets, did our errands with our little bike trailer - and were lucky because it didn't even rain 💪
✅ Saved fuel again
✅ Physical activity
✅ Faster way to detach from work
✅ Saw a couple of cats
Totally recommended!
#cycling #BikeTooter

Training Camp Notebook 8/18: Improvements made in physical joint practice with Houston Texans https://www.raiders.com/news/training-camp-notebook-8-18-physical-joint-practice-with-houston-texans-2026-preseason

from my link log —
Textbook review: Is Parallel Programming Hard, And, If So, What Can You Do About It?
https://ahelwer.ca/post/2026-09-21-concurrency-textbook/
saved 2026-09-21

Textbook review: Is Parallel Programming Hard, And, If So, What Can You Do About It?
Here are my thoughts on the free online textbook Is Parallel Programming Hard, And, If So, What Can You Do About It? by Paul E. McKenney, author of the Linux kernel’s RCU synchronization mechanism. I read a lot of this textbook, got my fill, and probably won’t read more of it in the near future so wanted to write this review while it is all still fresh. Set & Setting Here I’ll talk about the mindset/life phase and physical setting I was in when I started reading this textbook. This might …

#today I have done supervision and will potter on with some #research, and also prepare to release one moderately physical product idea developed into the public domain with the help of my supervisors. Now off to lunch. My son is on campus this week for work experience, so I may bump into him...

From The Conversation
Where else can you peer into the labs and lecture halls of Canadian researchers and academics, who draw on their life's work to explain what being sedentary does to your body, why male chimps repeatedly throw rocks at trees and how the international legal order has collapsed?
We share their vast expert knowledge to educate Canadians so they can make informed decisions about politics, their health, the environment, the education of their children and the…

Not getting enough physical activity may be harming your health: Here’s what being sedentary does to your body
From a biological perspective, being inactive is more than the opposite of being active. Being sedentary results in unique physiological changes that can lead to a variety of health risks.

When physical media of a show or movie you want to have are only sold on Amazon, which is the more ethical option?
#poll #amazon #piracy

What's with Broncos' Sean Payton's crouching? It's not about anything on the field https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7617823/2026/09/21/broncos-sean-payton-back-issue/

genetic_multiplex: Multiplex genetic interactions (2014)
Multiplex networks representing different types of genetic interactions, for different organisms. Layers represent (i) physical, (ii) association, (iii) co-localization, (iv) direct, and (v) suppressive, (vi) additive or synthetic genetic interaction. Edge direction (i,j) indicates gene i interacting with gene j.
This network has 216 nodes and 259 edges.
Tags: Biological, Gene regulation, Protein interactions, Unweigh…

www.maptap.gg June 22
100🎯 91👑 98🎯 91👑 82🌟
Final score: 906
1. x: 4,686 pts, 97 km, 29 sec, 0 steps
2. x: 4,483 pts, 163 km, 25 sec, 0 steps
3. x: 498 pts, 3,441 km, 58 sec, 0 steps
4. x: 0 pts, 15,022 km, 53 sec, 0 steps
5. x: 0 pts, 13,783 km, 22 sec, 0 steps
Total: 9,667 pts, 32,506 km, 3 min, 8 sec, 0 steps
(out of physical time for the last two...)
TimeGuessr #1118 — 36,821/50,000
1️⃣ 🏆8666 - 📅4y - 🌍134.0 km
2️⃣ 🏆9908 - 📅0y…

Dak Prescott: 'It is time' for Cowboys to break through https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/dak-prescott-it-is-time-for-cowboys-to-break-through

Federal agents across the United States were told in recent days that the FBI will no longer investigate physical confrontations involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
The guidance was shared with FBI managers on Thursday, with some ICE agents notified by their FBI counterparts the same day.
The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement denying that any change had taken place.
They insisted the relationship between …

FBI Told to Stop Investigating ICE After Patel Halted Renee Good Probe, Now ICE Investigates Itself
The FBI will no longer investigate ICE confrontations, shifting responsibility to Homeland Security Investigations. This change raises concerns about accountability and scrutiny of ICE's use of force.

I would be more okay with the loss of physical game media if it came with promises of working with archivists or some group that could help perseve the games without needing to depend on pirates.
There really is no attempt to give any back while taking things away.
#videogames

Exploring a scene with an #acting #coaching client, we tried 3 different physical changes/postures. We discovered very cool changes in intention, the relationship and the whole tone, including a nice underlying friendship the characters have through it.

Training Camp Notebook 8/18: Improvements made in physical joint practice with Houston Texans https://www.raiders.com/news/training-camp-notebook-8-18-physical-joint-practice-with-houston-texans-2026-preseason

Text2Villa: Hierarchical Generation of 3D Indoor Environments with Physics-Aware Analysis-by-Synthesis
Xiang Tang, Ruotong Li, Xiaopeng Fan
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.17145 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.17145 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.17145
arXiv:2607.17145v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Generating 3D indoor scenes from natural language holds tremendous potential, yet existing methods predominantly fail to generate multi-room structures with vertical connectivity and arbitrary polygonal boundaries. Furthermore, they lack a deep grounding in continuous 3D physical laws, leading to severe geometric penetrations and floating artifacts. In this work, we propose Text2Villa, a novel hierarchical generative framework. At the macro level, we construct a multi-story dataset to fine-tune an autoregressive layout generator, ensuring the direct parsing of text into 3D building foundations featuring polygonal boundaries and multi-story connectivity. To enforce physical laws during micro-level asset arrangement, we introduce the Affordance-driven Physical-Semantic Scene Graph (A-PSSG) to explicitly abstract physical affordances (such as support surfaces and containment cavities) into node attributes, establishing strict geometric and semantic edge constraints. Guided by the A-PSSG, we formulate scene instantiation as a constrained closed-loop optimization problem following the analysis-by-synthesis paradigm. By integrating an underlying geometric collision detection engine with the high-level semantic reasoning of multimodal large language models (MLLMs), our heuristic solver dynamically executes physics-aware actions under the observation-evaluation-modification mechanism to effectively resolve mesh collisions, floating artifacts, and fine-grained cavity containment failures. Extensive experiments demonstrate that Text2Villa outperforms previous methods across various metrics, robustly generating high-fidelity and physically plausible villa-level 3D environments from text, thereby providing a reliable and interactive 3D content foundation for downstream applications.
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Alphabet-owned robotics software company Intrinsic open-sources Intrinsic Core under Apache 2.0, giving developers building blocks for physical AI systems (Mike Wheatley/SiliconANGLE)
https://siliconangle.com/2026/09/22/go

Google's robotics unit Intrinsic open-sources its foundational infrastructure for intelligent robots - SiliconANGLE
Google's robotics unit Intrinsic open-sources its foundational infrastructure for intelligent robots - SiliconANGLE

Ultra-processed foods linked to hidden muscle fat that may threaten your knees #nutrition

Ultra-processed foods linked to hidden muscle fat that may threaten your knees
Eating more ultra-processed foods was linked to greater fat buildup inside thigh muscles, according to MRI scans of 615 adults at risk for knee osteoarthritis. Surprisingly, the association remained even after researchers accounted for calorie intake, physical activity, and other factors. Fatty changes in these muscles may weaken support around the knee and potentially increase osteoarthritis risk.

Physical Properties of 6.7 Million Galaxies from the DESI Bright Galaxy Survey: Spectral Fitting and Systematic Tests with Mock Spectra
Niu Li, Hu Zou, Jinfu Gou, Weijian Guo, Wenxiong L, Haoming Song, Jipeng Sui, Xi Tan, Yunao Xiao, Jingyi Zhang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.19162 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.19162 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.19162
arXiv:2607.19162v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: We present a comprehensive analysis of the physical properties of galaxies in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 1 (DR1) Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS), based on full spectral fitting of $\sim 6.7$ million galaxy spectra. Using a customized spectral fitting pipeline, we derive key physical parameters including stellar mass, stellar velocity dispersion, stellar population age, dust attenuation, and emission-line properties. To quantify the reliability and systematic uncertainties of our measurements, we construct a large set of mock spectra that closely reproduce the observed properties of DESI data, including realistic noise and spectral features. By comparing the recovered parameters with the known inputs, we assess the performance of the spectral fitting as a function of stellar continuum signal-to-noise ratio (S/N, defined as the ratio of the median continuum flux to its associated error) and redshift. We find that stellar masses can be robustly recovered with negligible bias for spectra with $\mathrm{S/N} \gtrsim 5$, while low-S/N spectra ($\mathrm{S/N} \lesssim 5$) show a mild systematic overestimation of $\sim 0.1$ dex and increased scatter. Similar trends are observed for stellar population parameters, while emission-line fluxes are recovered with high accuracy and minimal bias. We further validate our stellar mass estimates by comparison with independent measurements from photometric spectral energy distribution fitting, finding good overall consistency within the expected systematic uncertainties. The value-added catalog presented in this work enables a wide range of statistical studies of galaxy evolution with DESI, and provides a foundation for future analyses.
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Evaluation-Recording Contamination in Learned Nano-Quadrotor Dynamics: A Fresh-Seed Audit
David Shulman
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.18482 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.18482 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.18482
arXiv:2607.18482v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Learned flight-dynamics models are often trained on short windows extracted from longer recordings. Randomly splitting these windows can place dependent samples from the same physical flight in both training and evaluation sets. We audit this issue using a fixed snapshot of the NanoBench Crazyflie 2.1 dataset. The experiment holds evaluation flights, rollout starts, training-window count, validation data, and optimization budget fixed. In the contaminated protocol, [LeakagePercent] percent of a recording-disjoint training set is replaced with windows from evaluation recordings, while both arms use the same clean validation set. We compare a world-coordinate delta multilayer perceptron with a relative-coordinate control across [NumSeeds] fresh training seeds and [NumEvalFlights] complete evaluation recordings. The primary endpoint is failure-aware position RMSE over 1-second rollouts, analyzed with paired crossed recording-by-seed inference. Contamination lowers apparent world-model error by 12.1 percent, from 0.299 m to 0.262 m, but the predeclared 95 percent confidence interval for contaminated minus disjoint error is -0.0735 to 0.0011 m. Because the interval crosses zero, the confirmatory result is negative. Secondary horizons and the relative-coordinate model show similar trends, but no coordinate-representation interaction is supported. Reliable leakage assessment therefore requires recording-level splits, failure-aware rollouts, replication across fresh seeds, and inference over both recordings and optimization seeds.
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The Guardian's tech team share their shoe-leather experiences covering AI data centers, as field investigation becomes increasingly important in tech coverage (Gautam Malkani/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/membership/202

‘These are some of the most complex structures ever created’: how tech reporting moved into the physical world
The Guardian’s global tech reporting team are investigating the impact of the vast datacentres being built to power the AI revolution. We spoke to them about how their beat has become increasingly offline

Vantora, formerly UP.Labs, which builds AI-native startups designed to solve problems for corporate customers, raised $100M from Silversmith Capital Partners (Kirsten Korosec/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/a-sta…

A startup that builds other startups raised $100M and is all-in on physical AI | TechCrunch
UP.Labs, now doing business under the name Vantora, is building startups for industrial corporations.

Recently got my hands on a 3D-printer, that I got from a friend (Bambulab P1S with AMS).
It is kinda addicting to print out physical things that actually works

Dak Prescott: 'It is time' for Cowboys to break through https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/dak-prescott-it-is-time-for-cowboys-to-break-through

New blog post on the importance of owning physical (and digital) media, when possible: https://spacetimetech.wordpress.com/2026/06/28/the-importance-of-owning-physical-and-digital-media-when-possible

The importance of owning physical (and digital) media when possible
I wrote some about the continued popularity of physical media here in 2024, but I wanted to do one more post on it this year, to also feature some other formats, history, tips and tricks, and outri…

Zur Situation der Menschheit: https://annas-archive.gl/blog/physical-destruction.html

AI companies destroy physical books — let’s scan rare books before it’s too late
AI companies are secretly buying, scanning, and destroying millions of physical books to train their models, permanently locking human knowledge inside private corporate servers. Anna’s Archive is urgently calling on volunteers worldwide to scan and upload books to their shadow library before this cultural heritage disappears forever.

I grew up with 2 sisters. I never heard either of them discuss guys in physical/visual terms.
My first girlfriend, later my first wife, said she was first attracted to me because I looked “like a man” whatever that meant. It only took her 5 years of intermittent dating & 10 of marriage to decide that maybe that was a poor basis.
My last girlfriend, later & still my second/last wife, hadn’t see a photo of me when she deemed me suitable from afar in `98

Spending my day at the #IETF126 Hackathon, talking to people about the Open Fibre Data Standard, #OFDS, https//ofds.info/ a specification for describing the *physical* infrastructure of the #Internet. It&…

A hacker known as Cyberleek leaks two GTA VI gameplay clips and the full map in protest of Rockstar Games' digital-only release; Rockstar issues DMCA takedowns (Jowi Morales/Tom's Hardware)
https://www.

Hacker leaks GTA VI gameplay and map to protest digital-only release — claims pre-orders are a legacy of physical game releases
The hacker wants Rockstar to stop pre-selling digital games.

Unlike π, which relates to a physical shape, e naturally describes dynamic systems that grow or decay continuously. In calculus,
the exponential function \(y = e^x\)
has the unique property that its rate of change (its derivative) is exactly equal to the function itself.

"Spotify's effective payout averages roughly $0.003 to $0.005 per stream... By contrast, Bandcamp pays artists roughly 82% of each sale. A direct $10 album sale can exceed revenue from thousands of streams. Buying music or books directly from artists, whether physical or DRM-free digital, is one of the most direct ways to support them."
Artists are likely better off when you #buy o…

Physical Film Files
From the film itself, to the artwork, the packaging, and the special features—this is about celebrating movies the physical way...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralianpods.com/physical-film-files/

Nvidia unveils Cosmos 3 Edge, a world model designed for robots and vision AI agents to perceive and navigate physical environments in real time (Jenny Lee/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/16/nvidia-reveals-new-ai-model-and-expands-…

Nvidia unveils new AI model and expands Japan’s physical AI ecosystem
Nvidia announces new AI model, Cosmos 3 Edge, and expansion of its physical AI ecosystems in Japan.

The Cowboys' offense looks totally original again. Meet the man helping design it https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7524874/2026/08/20/cowboys-offensive-coordinator-klayton-adams-preseason/

Ahahhaha just because I verified that the pixel 10 comes with a physical sim card slot doesn't mean that it actually comes with a physical sim card slot*. I fucking despise Pixel hardware from the very core of my being.
* turns out it comes with a sim card slot everywhere else except the US

Need to learn more about #TheFlyingScotsman Graeme #Obree who broke #bicycle world records with selfmade, innovative bicycles and enormous physical and psychological strength.

Fast ungated five-dimensional cardiac MRI on a 1.5 T MR-linac for MRI-guided radiotherapy
M. L. Terpstra, T. E. Olausson, M. M. N. Aubert, C. Beijst, A. Sbrizzi, C. A. T. van den Berg, M. F. Fast
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.16033 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.16033 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.16033
arXiv:2607.16033v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Background: Stereotactic arrhythmia radio-ablation (STAR) for patients with ventricular tachycardia is currently limited by complex cardiorespiratory motion. Current 5D-MRI motion models require long acquisition and reconstruction times, limiting clinical viability. Objective: To develop a fast, ungated 5D-MRI reconstruction method for personalized motion characterization to support MRI-guided STAR treatments. Methods: We propose a fast, ungated 5D-MRI reconstruction method based on the CMR-MOTUS framework. The method uses a 3D Cartesian acquisition with a joint optimization framework to reconstruct a motion-corrected reference image and low-rank deformation vector fields (DVFs). By exploiting the low rank structure, we explicitly disentangle respiratory and cardiac motion during optimization. Then, the DVFs are used for 5D-MRI reconstruction with a retrospectively adjustable number of motion states. Validation was performed using digital and physical cardiorespiratory phantoms. Furthermore, the approach was evaluated using 10 healthy volunteers, comparing motion consistency with 2D cine MRI. Results: Validation of 5D CMR-MOTUS using digital and physical phantoms demonstrated accurate 5D-MRI reconstruction. In the physical phantom, 5D CMR-MOTUS achieved a left-ventricle DICE of 0.96 /- 0.01. In the volunteer cohort, the 5D-MRI scans showed strong motion to 2D cine MRI, with a cardiac motion error of 0.1 /- 0.9 mm and a respiratory motion error of 0.2 /- 2.9 mm. Crucially, 5D-MRI data were acquired in 1 minute and reconstructed in 6 minutes. Conclusions: The proposed 5D-MRI method enables rapid, high-quality, and personalized motion characterization, demonstrating potential for integration into MRI-guided STAR treatments. Data Availability: The 3D k-space data and 5D reconstructions for the ten volunteers are publicly available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21278894
toXiv_bot_toot

genetic_multiplex: Multiplex genetic interactions (2014)
Multiplex networks representing different types of genetic interactions, for different organisms. Layers represent (i) physical, (ii) association, (iii) co-localization, (iv) direct, and (v) suppressive, (vi) additive or synthetic genetic interaction. Edge direction (i,j) indicates gene i interacting with gene j.
This network has 105 nodes and 137 edges.
Tags: Biological, Gene regulation, Protein interactions, Unweigh…

v v excited for weak signal's return to union pool. #nyc

Weak Signal • Masaaki Tickets | 30 Sept | Union Pool, New York | DICE
The return... ***Weak Signal • Masaaki*** This is a 21+ event (Physical ID required. Photos of ID + NYC City ID are not accepted)

Hello Fedi lazyweb.
There will be a solar eclipse on August 12th (only partial in the UK) and I was wondering how to take photos of it.
A quick web search indicates that pointing a camera directly at the sun can be just as quick to burn out digital sensors as it is to burn out human retinas. And I don't want to do either!
I have some ISO-certified eclipse glasses for my eyes, does anyone have any suggestions for how to protect a camera lens (either a physical digital camera or a smartphone camera).
Thanks!
#Eclipse #Photography #advice

I am happy to see news emulation picking up for PS5 due to Sony’s catastrophic decision on physical disks.
“Corporate greed knows no bounds but so does human ingenuity”
#sony

Even if getting up from your chair isn’t an issue for you now,
lots of older adults have difficulty rising without pushing off from the armrests, said Liu-Ambrose.
Working the sit-to-stand
— one of the top moves both Liu-Ambrose and Na recommend to older clients and a good measure of overall fitness
— into your daily routine can help preserve that functional motion.

The move strengthens your quads, hamstrings and glutes,
and it trains the mobility of mult…

5 movements physical therapists say every adult over 50 should do daily
These simple moves can help you maintain mobility and independence as you age.

Does anyone here have a https://wise.com account?
This is a bit embarassing, but how would I even pay using their "digital cards"?
Their website says "just like with your physical card!" but, well, cleary not. It's not in my pocket, to begin with.
How do you usually "take out&q…

Exploring Brain Networks Using Noninvasive Electrophysiological Measurements: Methods and Applications
Richard Leahy, Takfarinas Medani
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.17602 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.17602 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.17602
arXiv:2607.17602v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) provide noninvasive measurements of brain activity with millisecond temporal resolution, enabling the investigation of functional and effective interactions within large-scale brain networks. This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of the methodological foundations and practical workflows for EEG/MEG-based brain network analysis. We first review the physical principles underlying EEG and MEG, emphasizing their complementary strengths and limitations. We then describe the forward and inverse problems, including subject-specific head modeling, source reconstruction techniques, and the importance of accurate anatomical modeling for reliable source localization. Strategies for mitigating volume conduction and signal leakage are discussed, together with best practices for source-space connectivity analysis. The chapter reviews widely used functional and effective connectivity measures, including coherence, phase synchronization metrics, amplitude envelope correlation, Granger causality, dynamic causal modeling, and transfer entropy, highlighting their assumptions, advantages, and limitations. Modern end-to-end analysis pipelines are presented, with particular emphasis on Brainstorm and complementary open-source software for reproducible EEG/MEG research. Finally, we discuss emerging approaches, including time-varying connectivity, cross-frequency interactions, and network-based analyses, illustrating how noninvasive electrophysiology contributes to understanding brain organization in health and disease. The chapter provides both conceptual foundations and practical guidance for researchers and advanced students seeking to map and interpret human brain networks using EEG and MEG.
toXiv_bot_toot

I'm fond of the modern lens I compulsively watch My Dinner With Andre thru. None of the "meat" was new when I first watched it, and that's solely cuz to me, it's a film comprised of curated highlights from long DM convos between two trans women when at least one is actively suicidal, my field of expertise.
I'm glad for this more polished presentable version, and a big part of that is the added dimension of physical acting. I wish it wasn't true, but if I …

The Cowboys' offense looks totally original again. Meet the man helping design it https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7524874/2026/08/20/cowboys-offensive-coordinator-klayton-adams-preseason/

A different but related problem: in #DnD, hit dice measure both physical endurance and offensive combat ability. A large but otherwise docile foe can punch easily through armour to deliver its trivial damage repeatedly.
#ttrpg #osr

Sources: Veeda, which is developing world models and is led by ex-Nvidia VP of AI Research Sanja Fidler, raised a $90M seed and is backed by Khosla and Radical (Murad Hemmadi/The Logic)
https://thelogic.co/news/exclusive/veeda-ai-sanja-fidler-nvidia/

Star researcher Sanja Fidler raises over US$90M for world model startup - The Logic
Toronto-based Veeda is building control systems for physical AI, and is backed by Khosla Ventures and Radical Ventures, The Logic has learned

Just worked with an #acting #coaching client who is new to acting. For a take on the first scene they've done, I asked them to change one physical thing they were doing. That take, from the first sentence suddenly had a different life behind it. So good to see.

A ravenous black hole in our backyard could be our window into the ancient universe | Space
A ravenous black hole in our backyard could be our window into the ancient universe | Space https://www.space.com/astronomy/black-hole

Marine heat waves pose hidden threat to human health, researchers warn #marine

Marine heat waves pose hidden threat to human health, researchers warn
The devastating impacts of marine heat waves extend far beyond dying coral reefs and declining fisheries, with new research warning that these extreme ocean-warming events pose a growing threat to human physical and mental health.

The Quantum Mechanics of Rare Events: From Quantum Walks to Stochastic Inflation
Daniel Green, Kshitij Gupta, Akhil Premkumar
https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.06319 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.06319 https://arxiv.org/html/2608.06319
arXiv:2608.06319v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Rare fluctuations in physical systems depend on the detailed microphysics responsible for the fluctuations. In classical statistical systems, the large deviation principle has elucidated the role of semi-classics in describing this regime, and has simultaneously provided a the mathematical foundation of statistical mechanics. Large deviation theory for quantum system is considerably less developed. As all physical systems are fundamentally quantum mechanical, this leaves a major gap in our understanding of rare fluctuations relevant to statistical physics, cosmology, and more. In this paper, we develop the practical aspects of the theory of large deviations relevant for calculating rare events in physical systems from quantum walks to cosmology. We first analyze the case of the anharmonic oscillator coupled to a bath, showing explicitly how the system evolves from dominantly statistical (e.g. thermal) to quantum fluctuations. We then generalize these results, showing that the dominant rare fluctuations minimize the measurement-induced relative entropy. This perspective provides a thermodynamic description of a wide range of open quantum systems. We apply these results to random walks that arise in cosmology through stochastic inflation. We show that the evolution of the density matrix of long wavelength fields on a fixed de Sitter background breaks the KMS symmetry, giving rise to a stationary density matrix that does not respect detailed balance.
toXiv_bot_toot

Former Alibaba star researcher Junyang Lin launches Shanghai-based Pragmatik Labs to build digital and physical AI agents; Pragmatik hit a $2B valuation in June (Juro Osawa/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/f

Former Alibaba Researcher Announces New Startup on Digital and Physical AI Agents
Former Alibaba star researcher Junyang Lin announced that he had started a new AI company, confirming The Information’s earlier reports. Lin, who left Alibaba in March, said in a post on X that his Shanghai-based startup, Pragmatik Labs, is focusing on “next-generation agents across digital and physical worlds.” Lin also said Chinese venture capital firms Gaorong Ventures and HongShan led

✅ Weekly errands done (our trailer was quite packed this time)
✅ Physical exercise after an office day
✅ Avoided afterwork traffic jams
✅ Fresh air
✅ Saved fuel / car cost
✅ Got some Interested looks from ppl around 😀
If you wonder if buying such a trailer pays off. I would say: absolutely!
Especially the exercise is priceless!
#cycling

tree-of-life: Protein interactomes across the tree of life (2019)
Protein-protein iteraction networks ("interactome") for 1,840 species. An interactome captures all physical protein-protein interactions within one species, from direct biophysical protein-protein interactions to regulatory protein-DNA and metabolic interactions. .
This network has 200 nodes and 206 edges.
Tags: Biological, Protein interactions

Seattle-based Augmodo, whose AI-powered "Smartbadges" worn by employees track shelf inventory, raised $21M led by TQ Ventures at a $350M valuation (Kurt Schlosser/GeekWire)
https://www.geekwire.com/2026/augmodo-rais

Augmodo raises $21M to push its spatial AI beyond just retail toward the broader physical workforce
Customer demand is pulling the Seattle startup's technology into warehouses, facility maintenance, delivery, and other parts of the physical workforce.

Quinnen Williams: Captain patch 'means a lot', looks to set a physical tone vs. Giants https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/quinnen-williams-captain-patch-means-a-lot-looks-to-set-a-physical-tone-vs-giants

The Large Magellanic Cloud through the lens of the James Webb Space Telescope: Binaries and the mass function in the galaxy's outskirts
M. V. Legnardi, F. Muratore, A. P. Milone, G. Cordoni, E. Dondoglio, L. N. Gorza, A. Bellini, F. Calura, S. Jang, H. Jerjen, A. Karakas, E. P. Lagioia, C. Li, A. Mastrobuono-Battisti, M. Tailo, E. Vesperini, E. Bortolan, A. F. Marino, S. Di Stefano
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.19260 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.19260 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.19260
arXiv:2607.19260v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Nearby galaxies such as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) offer an ideal laboratory to test the initial mass function under different physical conditions, but previous works have been limited by photometric depth and have therefore poorly constrained the low-mass regime. Here, we analyze ultra-deep James Webb Space Telescope observations of a field in the LMC outskirts, near the intermediate-age and massive star cluster NGC 1846. Using the $m_{\rm F322W2}$ versus $m_{\rm F115W}-m_{\rm F322W2}$ color-magnitude diagram, we derive the mass function (MF) down to unprecedentedly low masses ($M=0.17 M_{\odot}$), explicitly accounting for the contribution of unresolved binaries, whose fraction is constrained directly from the data. For systems with mass ratios $q>0.6$, we measure a binary fraction of $f_{\rm bin}^{q>0.6}=0.15\pm0.01$, implying a total binary fraction of $f_{\rm bin}^{\rm TOT}=0.34\pm0.02$ for a flat mass-ratio distribution. This is consistent with values in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and in the Milky Way field, suggesting similar binary formation efficiency across low-density environments. We also derive the MF over the mass interval 0.17-0.82 $M_{\odot}$ and fit it with a power law, obtaining a slope of $\alpha = -1.49 \pm 0.16$. This slope is shallower than the canonical Salpeter value ($\alpha=-2.35$) and slightly shallower than that measured in the SMC field, while remaining consistent with determinations for Galactic open clusters and for several clusters in the Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way. Together, these results support a scenario in which both binary formation efficiency and the shape of the low-mass MF depend only weakly on the environment.
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The Positive Experience Principle: Forecasting Conscious Choices with AI Embeddings
Zheng Su, Mingyan Fang
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.16659 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.16659 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.16659
arXiv:2607.16659v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: A fundamental challenge in the science of consciousness is the lack of a universal, predictive framework for motivated behavior. While existing theories excel at describing specific mechanisms, from neural pathways to computational models, they do not provide a foundational principle that explains the consistent direction of conscious systems toward certain states and away from others. To address this gap, we propose the Positive Experience Principle (PEP), a unifying principle stating that conscious systems have an inherent tendency to move toward states of higher positive subjective experience. This tendency is quantified by a Positive Experience Value (PEV), a scalar metric derived from the physical configurations defined by our earlier Universal Consciousness Code (UCC) theory. The PEP bridges physics, neuroscience, and psychology by positing that diverse behaviors are manifestations of a single, fundamental drive to optimize PEV. The PEP generates testable predictions for the dynamics of conscious systems, offering a path toward a unified science of behavior.
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Noetive, which is developing an industrial AI model for businesses in physical industries, emerges from stealth with a $41M seed led by Eclipse (Sarah Klearman/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/pro/venture-capital/no

Quinnen Williams: Captain patch 'means a lot', looks to set a physical tone vs. Giants https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/quinnen-williams-captain-patch-means-a-lot-looks-to-set-a-physical-tone-vs-giants

This glimpse of modern drone-enabled police surveillance,
including the highly sensitive video of the man’s physical takedown,
wasn’t voluntarily released by the SFPD
—which, like most US police departments, rarely releases drone videos even in response to public records requests.
Instead, it was accidentally livestreamed onto the open internet via Skydio’s website.
That’s where two security researchers, Sam Curry and Maik Robert, discovered that the SFPD was le…

A Leak of San Francisco Police Drone Footage Exposes the New Reality of Urban Surveillance
The SFPD’s exposure of hours of videos from drone platform Skydio reveals how broadly it’s watching the city from above—and how the results can spill online.

Rob Leonard on Kwity Paye's impactful Raiders' debut and instilling confidence in his players https://www.raiders.com/video/rob-leonard-kwity-paye-chargers-nfl-week-2-2026-season

Seahawks S Emmanwori set to come off PUP list https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49584391/seahawks-nick-emmanwori-passes-physical-set-come-pup-list

Getting used to a mouse clit ("trackpoint") again after swearing off thinkpads 15 years ago because of their stupid bios whitelisting of network cards.
If they're going to take away physical touchpad buttons, then I'll just stop using touchpads.

Molecular gas hidden in plain sight in the early Universe
Pasquier Noterdaeme, Jens-Kristian Krogager, Sergei Balashev
https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.18974 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.18974 https://arxiv.org/html/2607.18974
arXiv:2607.18974v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: We report the discovery of an extreme intervening molecular absorber at zabs = 4.1 towards the z = 4.7 quasar SDSS J080023.02 305101.22 revealed through strong H2 absorption that had remained unnoticed in archival data for about two decades. The system, which we analysed with new VLT/X-shooter observations, has a metallicity of about one-fifth the solar value, in line with the moderate dust reddening AV~0.06 mag. More strikingly, it exhibits the highest molecular fraction, fH2 = 2N(H2)/(2N(H2) N(HI))~=60%, measured at z>0 from direct determinations of both atomic and molecular hydrogen column densities. Notably, this fraction is comparable to the very highest values in the Local Group. The inferred fH2 still represents a conservative lower limit to the local molecular fraction since the H i absorption very likely includes atomic gas unrelated to the actual molecular component, as indicated by the wide (Delta v~500 km/s) multi-component low-ionisation metal profile.
The detection of such a system at early cosmic times is remarkable given the limited number of quasar spectra probing z>4. It suggests an unexpectedly high incidence of H2, with important implications for the evolution of molecular gas. This high incidence may be driven by high average densities and enhanced turbulence at those redshifts. At the same time, our results also highlight possible observational biases, both in quasar selection and in recognising strong H2 absorption, suggesting that a significant fraction of molecular gas may remain undetected, in particular near the peak of star formation. The present system offers a unique benchmark for developing efficient detection algorithms. Further progress will benefit from colour-independent quasar surveys, while constraining the physical conditions and environments of such extreme absorbers will require observations on future extremely large telescopes.
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"I think when you're just counting on your voice, you actually need double the energy. I find myself acting out the scenes and being very physical while I'm recording because I think you can tell when someone is just sitting on a stool."
—Judy Greer
#acting #coaching …

At Least Six Fights Reportedly Break Out During Cowboys And Saints Joint Practice https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/least-six-fights-reportedly-break-out-during-cowboys-saints-joint-practice

Some students are directing AI agents to “take” entire online courses for them,
letting the software run in the background while they focus on better uses of their time,
--like doomscrolling on their phone or gaming.
The New York Times unpacked the trend in a recent story,
and it’s a testament to how extreme AI-enabled cheating has become,
but also of the perils of getting an education in a virtual environment instead of a physical one.
Professors can’t re…

A.I. Agents Are Taking Entire Online Courses for Cheating Students
As colleges and students embrace virtual classes, the ease of A.I. cheating is raising questions about the value of an online degree.

genetic_multiplex: Multiplex genetic interactions (2014)
Multiplex networks representing different types of genetic interactions, for different organisms. Layers represent (i) physical, (ii) association, (iii) co-localization, (iv) direct, and (v) suppressive, (vi) additive or synthetic genetic interaction. Edge direction (i,j) indicates gene i interacting with gene j.
This network has 461 nodes and 620 edges.
Tags: Biological, Gene regulation, Protein interactions, Unweigh…

Velaura AI, which is developing low-power chips for data centers and physical AI applications, like robotics, raised a $110M Series A at a $1B valuation (Prathik Jayaprakash/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactiona

Ashton Jeanty: 'We're going to be the most conditioned team, most physical team https://www.raiders.com/video/ashton-jeanty-we-re-going-to-be-the-most-conditioned-team-most-physical-team-and-we-re-g…

Anthropic life sciences head Eric Kauderer-Abrams says the AI company set up a Bay Area wet lab for physical biology work, as it pushes into AI disease research (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/anthropic-quietly-sets-up-biology-…

Rockstar says physical copies of GTA 6 will contain a digital download code, not a disc; physical copies release on November 12, ahead of the November 19 launch (Tom Phillips/IGN)
https://www.ign.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-6…

Grand Theft Auto 6 Physical Copies Won't Include a Disc, Will Just Be a Code in a Box
Rockstar will sell physical copies of Grand Theft Auto 6 — though you'll only get a box containing a digital download code.

Entire Cowboys roster passes physical, ready for camp today https://insidethestar.com/entire-cowboys-roster-passes-physical-ready-for-camp-today

“We believe physics is the third modality for AI models,
after text and pixels,”
says MIT PhD student and CSAIL researcher Minghao Guo,
a co-lead author on a paper introducing GeoPT.
“Our general-purpose model has the versatility to help build a world model for physics.
Many models, such as those that generate robotics data and videos, are already well-versed in textual and visual data,
but with physical accuracy, they’ll get more-realistic results.”

With a feel for physics, AI models simulate a wider range of real-world scenarios
“GeoPT” teaches AI models the basics of physics by virtually reenacting everyday mechanical interactions in 3D. In turn, the systems can simulate how vehicles and other objects respond to things like wind and water more efficiently and accurately.

Sources: Microsoft has been working on a disc-to-digital feature for Xbox One and Xbox Series X that will let users digitize their physical game collections (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Xbox testing disc-to-digital feature that digitizes a physical game collection
Microsoft’s disc-to-digital feature could be essential for next-gen Xbox consoles.

"I think when you're just counting on your voice, you actually need double the energy. I find myself acting out the scenes and being very physical while I'm recording because I think you can tell when someone is just sitting on a stool."
—Judy Greer
#acting #coaching …

Dallas Showed Physicality Week 1, Washington Will Test It https://insidethestar.com/dallas-showed-physicality-week-1-washington-will-test-it

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
—Bruce Lee
#acting #coaching

a16z creates a $1.1B Machine Age fund focusing on hardware to "open the throttle and accelerate the physical buildout of AI" (Sean O'Kane/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/28/a16z-creates-a-1-1b-machine-…

a16z creates a $1.1B 'Machine Age' fund to 'accelerate the physical buildout of AI' | TechCrunch
The firm, known for its focus on software, is going to start throwing more money at the hardware behind AI.

2027 NFL Mock Draft Has Cowboys Landing Physical Georgia Linebacker https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/onsi/2027-nfl-mock-draft-dallas-cowboys-landing-physical-georgia-linebacker

Anthropic releases Model Hardware Standard, a framework to help AI agents use physical systems like microscopes, quantum computing hardware, and robot arms (Will Knight/Wired)
https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-standard-ai-agents-coming-to-the-physic…

This Is How Anthropic Thinks AI Agents Should Navigate the Physical World
The potential for AI to automate scientific research and manufacturing must be balanced with new risks, Anthropic says.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
—Bruce Lee
#acting #coaching

Chipmaker Onsemi agrees to buy Synaptics in a nearly $7B all-stock deal expected to close in the middle of 2027; ON drops 9% and SYNA jumps 11% after hours (Samantha Subin/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/on-semi-synaptics-deal-physical-ai.html
…

On Semiconductor strikes $7 billion deal for Synaptics in physical AI push
On Semiconductor said the deal bumps up its total addressable market by $30 billion to $243 billion by 2030.

Agility unveils Digit 5, a humanoid robot to safely work alongside humans without physical barriers by utilizing AI collision-avoidance software and new sensors (Samantha Kelly/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Spagnola: Where oh where did that defense go https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/spagnola-where-oh-where-did-that-defense-go

A look back at the 2007 heist of a Verizon data center in London, highlighting the role of physical data security as cyber defenses grow more sophisticated (Nathaniel Rich/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/12/magazin

How a Gang of Thieves Pulled Off a Multimillion-Dollar Data Center Heist
The world’s most valuable assets are stored on rows of servers in giant, anonymous buildings. And they can be stolen.

Spagnola: Where oh where did that defense go https://www.dallascowboys.com/news/spagnola-where-oh-where-did-that-defense-go

Sony says all new PlayStation games from both first- and third-party developers will be sold in digital formats from January 2028, ending physical game discs (Stephen Totilo/Game File)
https://www.gamefile.news/p/sony-drops-playstation-discs-2028-ps3-vit…

Sony will cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028
The end of an era, a potential fatal blow to video games as physical media, and a hint of what’s in store for the PS6? Also: PS3/Vita online stores scheduled for shutdown.

Antioch, which creates high-fidelity simulations to reduce the need for hardware validation in physical AI training, raised a $32M Series A led by Greylock (John Koetsier/Forbes)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/

Here’s A $32 Million Bet That Robots Don’t Need A Billion Dollars Of Real-World Data
How much real-world data do you need to train robots? A billion dollars worth? Antioch's latest funding is an argument that you don't, in fact, need that much.

Germany's Black Forest Labs launches Flux 3 and Flux-mimic, its first models for robotics, as it expands from generative AI into physical AI (Yazhou Sun/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-0…

Mistral launches Robostral Navigate, a hardware-agnostic robotics navigation model trained via simulation that utilizes a single camera and language prompts (Benoit Berthelot/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Q&A with Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson on why the startup is going public via SPAC, the physical layer as its proprietary advantage, safety, and more (Connie Loizos/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/05/this

This humanoid robotics company is going public, but its CEO isn't promising a robot in your home anytime soon | TechCrunch
While other humanoid startups chase sky-high valuations, Agility Robotics is betting its future on execution — and a SPAC.