Category Archives: Computer Science
Can you upload your brain to a computer? A neuroscientist explains the crushing reality – Inverse
We often imagine that human consciousness is as simple as the input and output of electrical signals within a network of processing units therefore comparable to a computer. The reality, however, is much more complicated. For starters, we dont actually know how much information the human brain can hold.
Two years ago, a team at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, US, mapped the 3D structure of all the neurons (brain cells) comprised in one cubic millimeter of the brain of a mouse a milestone considered extraordinary.
Within this minuscule cube of brain tissue, the size of a grain of sand, the researchers counted more than 100,000 neurons and more than a billion connections between them. They managed to record the corresponding information on computers, including the shape and configuration of each neuron and connection, which required two petabytes, or two million gigabytes of storage. And to do this, their automated microscopes had to collect 100 million images of 25,000 slices of the minuscule sample continuously over several months.
Now if this is what it takes to store the full physical information of neurons and their connections in one cubic millimeter of the mouse brain, you can perhaps imagine that the collection of this information from the human brain is not going to be a walk in the park.
Data extraction and storage, however, is not the only challenge. For a computer to resemble the brains mode of operation, it would need to access any and all the stored information in a very short amount of time: the information would need to be stored in its random access memory (RAM), rather than on traditional hard disks. But if we tried to store the amount of data the researchers gathered in a computers RAM, it would occupy 12.5 times the capacity of the largest single-memory computer (a computer that is built around memory, rather than processing) ever built.
The human brain contains about 100 billion neurons (as many stars as could be counted in the Milky way) one million times those contained in our cubic millimeter of the mouse brain. And the estimated number of connections is a staggering ten to the power of 15. That is ten followed by 15 zeroes a number comparable to the individual grains contained in a two-meter thick layer of sand on a 1km-long beach.
If we dont even know how much information storage a human brain can hold, you can imagine how hard it would be to transfer it into a computer. Youd have to first translate the information into a code that the computer can read and use once it is stored. Any error in doing so would probably prove fatal.
A simple rule of information storage is that you need to make sure you have enough space to store all the information you need to transfer before you start. If not, you would have to know exactly the order of importance of the information you are storing and how it is organized, which is far from being the case for brain data.
If you dont know how much information you need to store when you start, you may run out of space before the transfer is complete, which could mean that the information string may be corrupt or impossible for a computer to use. Also, all data would have to be stored in at least two (if not three) copies, to prevent the disastrous consequences of potential data loss.
This is only one problem. If you were paying attention when I described the extraordinary achievement of researchers who managed to fully store the 3D structure of the network of neurons in a tiny bit of mouse brain, you will know that this was done from 25,000 (extremely thin) slices of tissue.
The same technique would have to be applied to your brain because only very coarse information can be retrieved from brain scans. Information in the brain is stored in every detail of its physical structure of the connections between neurons: their size and shape, as well as the number and location of connections between them. But would you consent to your brain being sliced in that way?
Even if would agree that we slice your brain into extremely thin slices, it is highly unlikely that the full volume of your brain could ever be cut with enough precision and be correctly reassembled. The brain of a man has a volume of about 1.26 million cubic millimeters.
If I havent already dissuaded you from trying the procedure, consider what happens when taking time into account.
After we die, our brains quickly undergo major changes that are both chemical and structural. When neurons die they soon lose their ability to communicate, and their structural and functional properties are quickly modified meaning that they no longer display the properties that they exhibit when we are alive. But even more problematic is the fact that our brain ages.
From the age of 20, we lose 85,000 neurons a day. But dont worry (too much), we mostly lose neurons that have not found their use, they have not been solicited to get involved in any information processing. This triggers a program of self-destruction (called apoptosis). In other words, several tens of thousands of our neurons kill themselves every day. Other neurons die because of exhaustion or infection.
This isnt too much of an issue, though, because we have almost 100 billion neurons at the age of 20, and with such an attrition rate, we have merely lost 2-3% of our neurons by the age of 80. And provided we dont contract a neurodegenerative disease, our brains can still represent our lifelong thinking style at that age. But what would be the right age to stop, scan, and store?
Would you rather store an 80-year-old mind or a 20-year-old one? Attempting the storage of your mind too early would miss a lot of memories and experiences that would have defined you later. But then, attempting the transfer to a computer too late would run the risk of storing a mind with dementia, one that doesnt quite work as well.
So, given that we dont know how much storage is required, that we cannot hope to find enough time and resources to entirely map the 3D structure of a whole human brain, that we would need to cut you into zillions of minuscule cubes and slices, and that it is essentially impossible to decide when to undertake the transfer, I hope that you are now convinced that it is probably not going to be possible for a good while, if ever. And if it were, you probably would not want to venture in that direction. But in case youre still tempted, Ill continue.
Nobody said youd get a body inside the computer.John Lund/Photodisc/Getty Images
Perhaps the biggest problem we have is that even if we could realize the impossible and jump the many hurdles discussed, we still know very little about underlying mechanisms. Imagine that we have managed to reconstruct the complete structure of the hundred billion neurons in Richard Dixons brain along with every one of the connections between them, and have been able to store and transfer this astronomical quantity of data into a computer in three copies. Even if we could access this information on demand and instantaneously, we would still face a great unknown: how does it work?
After the what question (what information is there?), and the when question (when would be the right time to transfer?), the toughest is the how question. Lets not be too radical. We do know some things. We know that neurons communicate with one another based on local electrical changes, which travel down their main extensions (dendrites and axons). These can transfer from one neuron to another directly or via exchange surfaces call synapses.
At the synapse, electrical signals are converted to chemical signals, which can activate or deactivate the next neuron in line, depending on the kind of molecule (called neuromediators) involved. We understand a great deal of the principles governing such transfers of information, but we cant decipher them by looking at the structure of neurons and their connections.
To know which types of connections apply between two neurons, we need to apply molecular techniques and genetic tests. This means again fixating and cutting the tissue into thin slices. It also often involves dying techniques, and the cutting needs to be compatible with those. But this is not necessarily compatible with the cutting needed to reconstruct the 3D structure.
So now you are faced with a choice even more daunting than determining when is the best time in your life to forego existence, you have to choose between structure and function the three-dimensional architecture of your brain versus how it operates at a cellular level. Thats because there is no known method for collecting both types of information at the same time. And by the way, not that I would like to inflate an already serious drama, but how neurons communicate is yet another layer of information, meaning that we need much more memory than the incalculable quantity previously envisaged.
So the possibility of uploading the information contained in brains to computers is utterly remote and might forever be out of reach. Perhaps, I should stop there, but I wont. Because there is more to say. Allow me to ask you a question in return, Richard: why would you want to put your brain into a computer?
I may have a useful, albeit unexpected, answer to give you after all. I shall assume that you would want to transfer your mind to a computer in the hope of existing beyond your lifespan, that youd like to continue existing inside a machine once your body can no longer implement your mind in your living brain.
If this hypothesis is correct, however, I must object. Imagining that all the impossible things listed above were one day resolved and your brain could literally be copied into a computer allowing a complete simulation of the functioning of your brain at the moment you decide to transfer, Richard Dixon would have ceased to exist. The mind image transferred to the computer would therefore not be any more alive than the computer hosting it.
Thats because living things such as humans and animals exist because they are alive. You may think that I just stated something utterly trivial, verging on stupidity, but if you think about it there is more to it than meets the eye. A living mind receives input from the world through the senses. It is attached to a body that feels based on physical sensations. This results in physical manifestations such as changes in heart rate, breathing, and sweating, which in turn can be felt and contribute to the inner experience. How would this work for a computer without a body?
All such input and output arent likely to be easy to model, especially if the copied mind is isolated and there is no system to sense the environment and act in response to input. The brain seamlessly and constantly integrates signals from all the senses to produce internal representations, makes predictions about these representations, and ultimately creates conscious awareness (our feeling of being alive and being ourselves) in a way that is still a total mystery to us.
Without interaction with the world, however subtle and unconscious, how could the mind function even for a minute? And how could it evolve and change? If the mind, artificial or not, has no input or output, then it is devoid of life, just like a dead brain.
In other words, having made all the sacrifices discussed earlier, transferring your brain to a computer would have completely failed to keep your mind alive. You may reply that you would then request an upgrade and ask for your mind to be transferred into a sophisticated robot equipped with an array of sensors capable to seeing, hearing, touching, and even smelling and tasting the world (why not?) and that this robot would be able to act and move, and speak (why not?).
But even then, it is theoretically and practically impossible that the required sensors and motor systems would provide sensations and produce actions that are identical or even comparable to those provided and produced by your current biological body. Eyes are not simple cameras, ears arent just microphones and touch is not only about pressure estimation. For instance, eyes dont only convey light contrasts and colors, the information from them is combined soon after it reaches the brain in order to encode depth (distance between objects) and we dont yet know-how.
And so it follows that your transferred mind would not have the possibility to relate to the world as your current living mind does. And how would we even go about connecting artificial sensors to the digital copy of your (living) mind? What about the danger of hacking? Or hardware failure?
So no, no, and no. I have tried to give you my (scientifically grounded) take on your question and even though it is a definite no from me, I hope to have helped alleviate your desire to ever have your brain put into a computer.
I wish you a long and healthy life, Richard because that definitely is where your mind will exist and thrive for as long as it is implemented by your brain. May it bring you joy and dreams something androids will never have.
This article was originally published on The Conversation by Guillaume Thierry at Bangor University. Read the original article here.
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Can you upload your brain to a computer? A neuroscientist explains the crushing reality - Inverse
Research Associate in Computer Science job with KHALIFA UNIVERSITY | 297123 – Times Higher Education
Description
Job Purpose
Key Roles & Responsibilities
Strategic Responsibilities
NA
Operational Responsibilities
To maintain and contribute to the development of multiple code bases written in C++, Python, and MATLAB. The code runs on physical robotics hardware, as well as simulation. Many researchers improve on existing algorithms, and contribute to the existing code base. Such evolution of the code base needs to be managed properly to maintain quality such that it is accessable to human coders, portable across platforms, and ready to keep evolving.
In summary, it is expected that the candidate would work on the following tasks:
As the code base evolves, and the research results mature, it is expected that the candidate would:
Supervisory Responsibilities
NA
Qualifications
Qualifications & Experience
Required Qualifications
BSc Degree in Computer Science or Engineering. MSc Degree in Computer Science or Engineering is preferred.
Required Experience
Should you require further assistance or if you face any issue with the online application, please feel to contact the Recruitment Team (recruitmentteam@ku.ac.ae).
Primary Location:KUK Khalifa UniversityJob:Research AssociateSchedule:RegularShift:StandardJob Type:Full-time
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Research Associate in Computer Science job with KHALIFA UNIVERSITY | 297123 - Times Higher Education
Inspiring Tech Pipelines – Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
There is no doubt that the development of ways to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline has been a priority in discussions and initiatives at multiple levels of the criminal justice and educational systems. There have been advancements like the growth of diversion programs that give youth a second chance, mentorship initiatives, and some relaxation of certain draconian drug laws.
For the persistent patterns that have led to what has been framed as the school-to-prison pipeline to be abated; very strong alternatives must continue to be developed, fortified, and supported. One strong alternative pipeline is in the area of computer science. It has great potential to redirect youth into an area of great economic viability and the potential for impactful social innovation.Dr. Marcus Bright
One strategy is to build upon existing assessments that measure computational thinking and identify students as early as middle school who have advanced abilities in these areas. According to research from the International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction there are large differences in computational ability among middle school students even before they start to learn coding.
The article posited that computational thinking (CT) is arising as a set of problem-solving skills that must be acquired by the new generations of students to fully understand and participate in our computer-based world. Students who have been identified by these assessments with high levels of computational talent can be put on an accelerated pathway that includes a dedicated coding curriculum, robotics competitions, industry specific instruction, tech-sector mentorship, and other developmental activities.
Many communities have done a great job of identifying those with athletic talent at an early age and creating many camps, activities, and infrastructures that produce environments for their ability to flourish. Players are often pushed to the edge of their ability by members of the community, parents, coaches, peers, and teammates. The standard excellence that is produced by the cumulative expectations from these groups has generated generations of exceptional athletes and teams in the face of significant economic odds in many cases.
Stereotypes also play a role in what route students pursue and the level of energy, effort, and identity that they invest in their pursuit.The term stereotype, which the Merriam-Webster Dictionarydefinesas something conforming to a fixed or general pattern especially: a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment, often carries a negative connotation with it. A stereotype can take on a different level of impact when it is believed and internalized by the person that it is projected on.
The level of ones internal investment in a stereotype that is projected on them from the outside can impact how much they adjust their decision-making and actions to fulfill the stereotype in some way. The power of a stereotype lies in how much it is believed by those who are projecting it and by those who are on the receiving end of it.
I contend that there are circumstances where stereotypes can cause people to raise their level of performance in a certain area because of their desire to fulfill it. For example, if one is expected to be an athlete or participate in a certain sport or sports based on societal stereotypes, then this could result in a range of consequences depending on the influences that one is exposed to.Researchfrom Denis Dumas and Kevin Dunbar on what they describe as The Creative Stereotype Effect found that stereotypes related to creativity can both enhance and diminish individuals performance and that stereotypes can also produce better performance if the individual believes their group should or will perform well on a given task.
The athletic stereotype is put on many people, and it may help them to perform at a higher level because they rise to meet that expectation and there can be an extra sense of confidence as if they are doing something that they were designed to do. There can be an enhanced level of fluidity in how they perform. A confidence that emerges from the subconscious and supports athletic achievement at a high level.
Similar methods can be employed to build new pipelines to computer science and other tech sector careers. The level of individual and community beliefs about certain narratives is a key component to how related patterns of behavior can become institutionalized. Both communities and the media can choose whatever it wants to make important. They can choose whoever they deem as being valuable and give them an elevated status.
Through highlighting and uplifting those who have excelled in tech sector careers, communities can develop and nurture the required confidence, knowledge, and skills to excel in tech pipelines. Athletes from a particular area who make it into the professional ranks often become symbols for many others who hope to follow in their footsteps.
An example of a superstar in the tech field that should be a household name for people is Randy Raymond. Raymond should be highlighted not just because he excelled at Suncoast High School in West Palm Beach, FL, graduated from Harvard University with a degree in computer science, or is a software engineer. Those accomplishments are among the things that make him successful, but what makes him especially significant is that he has led the charge to establish a new cohort of theGoogle Computer Science Summer Institutein Florida. Raymond attended the institute after his senior year in high school and it was a transformative experience for him that helped to shape his future career path.
His desire and efforts towards blazing new pathways for students coming behind him to have access to the same kind of opportunities that he had should be celebrated.The cultivation and fortification of supported pathways into tech fields like computer science and the mass marketing of examples of excellence like Raymond are both key to building new pipelines to prosperity that can serve as powerful alternatives to the destructive school-to-prison pipeline.We need an acceleration of intentional efforts to utilize the power of positive stereotypes, produce more pipelines into tech fields, and heavily promote role models in these areas.
Dr. Marcus Bright is a scholar and social impact strategist.
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Inspiring Tech Pipelines - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
Science: Misinformation and the role of social media – Digital Journal
Medical Laboratory Scientist at bench with micropipettes. Courtesy U.S. National Institutes of Health (Public Domain)
With science papers, these are subject to rigorous peer review. However, there are times when it later comes to light that the research was flawed, and the normal course of action is for the research paper to be retracted. This removes the research from the public domain, guiding everyone from the general public, professionals, and researchers away from erroneous conclusions.
In practice, the process for removing flawed research may not be sufficiently quick, according to a new study. The finding comes from Northwestern University and University of Michigan and the researchers put forward the notion that the delay in retraction leads to the risk of disinformation spreading. The issue also needs to be considered in the context of the vast numbers increasing significantly of research papers that are being issued each year.
One of the reasons for this is due to papers that are later retracted often being widely circulated online. This is driven by the traditional media and through social media. Sometimes the information sharing happens before the paper is retracted and by this time any removal of the paper is too later it has already filtered into the public consciousness. It also stands that many people do not hear about the retraction.
It is also the case at times that the papers and research that end up receiving the most attention are the ones that are later retracted. A case in point is with the various health and diet stories, which are sometimes based on flawed findings.
This is picked up by gnes Horvt, an assistant professor of communication and computer science at Northwestern, who says: Social media and even top news outlets the most prestigious venues that cover science are more prone to talk about papers that end up being retracted.
These occasions, especially with wilder research claims, tend to have wider ranging and long-lasting impacts. Another area where this has occurred is with disinformation around vaccines, which can have real world impacts in terms of vaccine hesitancy.
As well as social media being one vector for the spread of incorrect information, social media may also provide a means to slowdown, or at least flag, incorrect slices of information. Here the researchers look at Twitter and the role that the microblogging site could potentially play in providing early signals of dubious research.
The researcher drew on data compiled by the websites Retraction Watch and Altmetric and used the databases to compare the online footprints of 2,830 retracted papers to those of 13,599 unretracted papers. Each of the papers had similar publication venues, dates, numbers of authors, and author citation counts for a tracking period that extended for at least six months both post-publication and post-retraction.
This revealed that papers that were later retracted tended to have significantly higher numbers of initial mentions on forums like major social media platforms, online news sites, blogs and knowledge repositories like Wikipedia compared with papers that were never retracted. This is a factor of the novelty of many of the findings.
The research (into the research paper issue) appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper is titled Dynamics of cross-platform attention to retracted papers.
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Science: Misinformation and the role of social media - Digital Journal
Undergrads begin summer quantum research with support from Moore Foundation, Chicago region universities, national labs – EurekAlert
image:Open Quantum Initiative Fellowship students receive a behind the scenes look at IBMs quantum research lab at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. view more
Credit: Kate Timmerman
More than a dozen college students from underrepresented backgrounds will be spending the summer conducting quantum information science and engineering research in labs across the Midwest thanks to the Open Quantum Initiative Undergraduate Fellowship, a new program that seeks to make the burgeoning quantum workforce a more diverse and inclusive community from the start.
The Open Quantum Initiative is a group of researchers, educators, and leaders among the Chicago Quantum Exchange that champions the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in quantum science. Their new fellowship recently garnered almost half a million dollars of support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, affirming the importance of increasing the diversity of scientists and engineers in quantum information science and engineering.
The new fellowship program was founded in large part by graduate students and early-career researchers and seeks to make the expanding quantum workforce a more diverse and inclusive community by helping undergraduate students from a broad variety of backgrounds gain hands-on experience. Almost 70% of this years fellowship students are Hispanic, Latino, or Black, and half are the first in their family to go to college. In addition, while the field of quantum science and engineering is generally majority-male, the 2022 cohort is half female.
The unique thing about quantum information science is that the field is just starting to take off, said Katherine Harmon, a Maria Goeppert Mayer Fellow at U.S. Department of Energys Argonne National Laboratory, and one of the early-career researchers who helped conceptualize and launch the initiative. We have an opportunity and indeed an obligation to ensure that the field is open to everyone from the start.
The inaugural cohort of Open Quantum Initiative Fellows includes undergraduates from across the countryas close as Chicago State University and all the way to University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley. This week, these students have already received a behind the scenes look at IBMs quantum research lab at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York.
As part of the fellowship, students will spend the next 10 weeks at partnering institutions, including The University of Chicago, the U.S. Department of Energys Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and The Ohio State University, receiving one-on-one mentorship as they participate in quantum research.
Student research projects will span quantum networking, software and computing, and quantum sensing, which could lead to new kinds of unbreakable encryption and secure communication over vast distances, computers that can solve previously unsolvable problems, and sensors that can detect the tiniest change in the environment.
I have been interested in quantum computing development for some time now, but it's difficult to find formal opportunities for learning and exploring quantum. When I learned about OQI, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for such exploration, said Ariadna Fernandez, a computer science major at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a member of the inaugural fellowship cohort. Its important that everyone has access to the field to ensure that leadership includes the voices of communities that are often left behind and significantly impacted by new technology. I think the mission of OQI is an important way to make this happen in quantum.
The fellowship program was launched with support from the Chicago Quantum Exchange member and partner institutions where the students will work, along with Q-NEXT, a Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center and the National Science Foundation Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks.
The recent Moore Foundation award will enable more than 30 additional fellows to join the program over the next four years. We are looking forward to seeing the program grow and provide more opportunities for students such as Ariadna to explore the potential of quantum science and to push the frontiers of this technology, said Gary Greenburg, program officer in the science program of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
We have an extraordinary opportunity to develop a diverse and inclusive workforce for this emerging discipline in science and engineering, and this fellowship is a large step towards that goal, said David Awschalom, director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange and the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering and Physics at the University of Chicago. Our partnership with the Moore Foundation will help us create a program that can be a model for similar efforts across the country. We look forward to nurturing this next generation of quantum talent.
The fellowship also includes networking activities to help the fellows establish connections with mentors and peers in academia and industry. Fellowship cohorts will stay connected even after their summer is over: they will be able to attend online seminars designed to expand their professional network, teach science communication skills, and provide career preparation strategies, and past fellows will have opportunities to mentor future fellows. The Open Quantum Initiative also aims to provide future research experiences in subsequent summers.
About the Chicago Quantum Exchange:
The Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE) is an intellectual hub for advancing the science and engineering of quantum information between the CQE community, across the Midwest, and around the globe. A catalyst for research activity across its member and partner institutions, the CQE is based at the University of Chicagos Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and is anchored by the U.S. Department of Energys Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Northwestern University. The CQE includes more than 35 corporate partners and is a member of the IBM Quantum Network.
About the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation:
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit Moore.org and follow @MooreFound.
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
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Researchers discover a new hardware vulnerability in the Apple M1 chip – MIT News
William Shakespeare might have been talking about Apples recently released M1 chip via his prose in A Midnight Summers Dream: And though she be but little, she is fierce.
The companys software runs on the little squares made of custom silicon systems, resulting in Apple's most powerful chip to date, with industry-leading power efficiency.
Yet despite the chip's potency, theres been no shortage of vulnerability grievances, as fears of sensitive data andpersonal information leaks abound. More recently, the chip was found to have a security flaw that was quickly deemed harmless.
The M1 chip uses a feature called pointer authentication, which acts as a last line of defense against typical software vulnerabilities. With pointer authentication enabled, bugs that could normally compromise a system or leak private information are stopped dead in their tracks.
Now, researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have found a crack: Their novel hardware attack, called PACMAN, shows that pointer authentication can be defeated without even leaving a trace. Moreover, PACMAN utilizes a hardware mechanism, so no software patch can ever fix it.
A pointer authentication code, or PAC for short, is a signature that confirms that the state of the program hasnt been changed maliciously. Enter the PACMAN attack. The team showed that it's possible to guess a value for the PAC, and reveal whether the guess was correct or not via a hardware side channel. Since there are only so many possible values for the PAC, they found that it's possible to try them all to find the correct one. Most importantly, since the guesses all happen under speculative execution, the attack leaves no trace.
The idea behind pointer authentication is that if all else has failed, you still can rely on it to prevent attackers from gaining control of your system. We've shown that pointer authentication as a last line of defense isn't as absolute as we once thought it was, says Joseph Ravichandran, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science, CSAIL affiliate, and co-lead author of a new paper about PACMAN. When pointer authentication was introduced, a whole category of bugs suddenly became a lot harder to use for attacks. With PACMAN making these bugs more serious, the overall attack surface could be a lot larger.
Traditionally, hardware and software attacks have lived somewhat separate lives; people see software bugs as software bugs and hardware bugs as hardware bugs. Architecturally visible software threats include things like malicious phishing attempts, malware, denial-of-service, and the like. On the hardware side, security flaws like the much-talked-about Spectre and Meltdown bugs of 2018 manipulate microarchitectural structures to steal data from computers.
The MIT team wanted to see what combining the two might achieve taking something from the software security world, and breaking a mitigation (a feature thats designed to protect software), using hardware attacks. That's the heart of what PACMAN represents a new way of thinking about how threat models converge in the Spectre era, says Ravichandran.
PACMAN isn't a magic bypass for all security on the M1 chip. PACMAN can only take an existing bug that pointer authentication protects against, and unleash that bug's true potential for use in an attack by finding the correct PAC. Theres no cause for immediate alarm, the scientists say, as PACMAN cannot compromise a system without an existing software bug.
Pointer authentication is primarily used to protect the core operating system kernel, the most privileged part of the system. An attacker who gains control of the kernel can do whatever they'd like on a device. The team showed that the PACMAN attack even works against the kernel, which has massive implications for future security work on all ARM systems with pointer authentication enabled,says Ravichandran. Future CPU designers should take care to consider this attack when building the secure systems of tomorrow. Developers should take care to not solely rely on pointer authentication to protect their software.
Software vulnerabilities have existed for roughly 30 years now. Researchers have come up with ways to mitigate them using various innovative techniques such as ARM pointer authentication, which we are attacking now, says Mengjia Yan, the Homer A. Burnell Career Development Professor, assistant professor in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), CSAIL affiliate, and senior author on the teams paper. Our work provides insight into how software vulnerabilities that continue to exist as important mitigation methods can be bypassed via hardware attacks. Its a new way to look at this very long-lasting security threat model. Many other mitigation mechanisms exist that are not well studied under this new compounding threat model, so we consider the PACMAN attack as a starting point. We hope PACMAN can inspire more work in this research direction in the community.
The researchers will present their work at the International Symposium on Computer Architecture on June 18. Ravichandran and Yan wrote the paper alongside co-first author Weon Taek Na, an EECS student at CSAIL, and MIT undergraduate Jay Lang.
This work was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation and by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).
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Researchers discover a new hardware vulnerability in the Apple M1 chip - MIT News
It’s no longer a federal crime to probe online platforms for discrimination, thanks to help of Northeastern researchers – Northeastern University
In a big win for computer scientists and other online researchers, the U.S. Department of Justice recently updated its official charging memoan internal document used to determine whether federal prosecutors should pursue criminal chargesfor computer-fraud cases.
The updated memo includes a carve-out for researchers who create dummy accounts on social-media platforms in order to study the propriety algorithms for evidence of bias, discrimination or breaches in security. Among those researchers? Alan Mislove and Christo Wilson, two faculty members in Northeasterns Khoury College of Computer Sciences, who were part of a lawsuit that aimed to make such a change to the federal statutes.
This is a big step in the right direction for online research, says Mislove, professor of computer science and associate dean for academic affairs atin the Khoury College, but the problem still isnt completely solved.
The updated memo includes new guidelines for potential violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or CFAA. For the first time, it directs that people who violate a companys terms of service in good faith for security research should not be charged with a crime.
Computer security research is a key driver of improved cybersecurity, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in a statement released when the change was announced. The department has never been interested in prosecuting good-faith computer security research as a crime, and todays announcement promotes cybersecurity by providing clarity for good-faith security researchers who root out vulnerabilities for the common good.
For Mislove and Wilson, the change represents the end of a long legal battleand the beginning of a new challenge.
Both researchers were plaintiffs in a 2016 case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union that contended that parts of the CFAA were unconstitutional because they chilled important research. In particular for Mislove and Wilson, the threat of criminal liability hovered over their critical research into housing, credit, and job-related discrimination on social media sites. They won in federal district court for Washington, D.C.
Separately, the researchers filed an amicus brief in a 2020 Supreme Court case, Van Buren v. United States, that also challenged the constitutionality of the CFAA. In a 6-3 decision last June, the high court narrowed the scope of the federal computer fraud law. The latest update to the Justice Departments charging memo brings it in line with the Supreme Courts decision.
According to the new guidance, embellishing an online dating profile contrary to the terms of service of the dating website; creating fictional accounts on hiring, housing, or rental websites; using a pseudonym on a social networking site that prohibits them; checking sports scores at work; paying bills at work; or violating an access restriction contained in a term of service are not themselves sufficient to warrant federal criminal charges.
The references to hiring, housing, and rental exceptions are a veiled reference to our lawsuit with the ACLU, says Wilson, associate professor of computer science at Northeastern, and director of the bachelor degree program in cybersecurity in the Khoury College.
While the updated memo is a step toward better protections for online researchers, there is still work to be done, Wilson and Mislove say.
Weve made a lot of progress between this and Van Buren, but theres still a lot of risk, involved in probing tech companies black-box algorithms, Mislove says. And the new DOJ guidance applies only to criminal charges, not civil suits, which are less clear-cut, he adds.
Full protections for researchers will require wholesale changes to existing computer-fraud and hacking laws, Wilson says.
We can nibble at the edges of these laws by changing guidance, but really wed have to go back and fundamentally reform them if we wanted to clear a path for this kind of work, he says.
For media inquiries, please contact media@northeastern.edu.
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Phi Beta Kappa Inductees Advised to Create, Innovate the Future – Wesleyan University
Wesleyan congratulates the 79 newest members of Phi Beta Kappa honor society. (Photos by Olivia Drake MALS 08)
When Dr. Andrea Grubb Barthwell 76 arrived on campus the summer of 1972, she was in the second full class of women admitted to Wesleyan. I chose to become educated in a place that was undergoing change, she said. One principle that guides my life is, embrace change, it is inevitable.
Barthwell, who delivered the keynote address during the Spring 2022 Phi Beta Kappa initiation ceremony, graduated with a degree in psychology and went on to founding the health care policy firmEncounter Medical Group and directs Two Dreams, a comprehensive alcoholism and addiction treatment system. She previously served under President George W. Bushs sub-cabinet in the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), where she was a principal advisor on policies aimed at reducing the demand for illicit drugs.
During the ceremony, Barthwell spoke to a fully-occupied Memorial Chapel filled with 79 Class of 2022 PBK inductees and their exuberant family and friends. Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest scholastic honor society in the nation, is limited to 12% of the graduating class at Wesleyan each year. They join 15 other seniors elected during the 2021 fall semester.
You represent intellectual diversity and you are uniquely prepared to imagine a future for us, Barthwell said. You are uniquely qualified to solve a problem that we cannot at this point name or describe. Your preparation with a liberal arts education, your curious spirit, and your love of lifelong learningcoupled with your good and moral characterenables you to care for others in selfless ways. This will help you create and innovate our future.
To be elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a student must demonstrate curricular breadth by having met the General Education Expectations; have been nominated by the department of his or her major; and achieved a grade point value of 93 or above.
Wesleyans Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society was organized in 1845 and is the ninth oldest chapter in the country. The emblem contains the three Greek letters Phi, Beta, and Kappa, which essentially translate to the love of wisdom is the guide of life.
Barthwell elaborated on the idea of wisdom during her speech, and noted that the students capacity for wisdom has grown exponentially since arriving on campus. It parallels brain maturation, peaks at age 25 and starts its slow decline to senility. Wisdom gives us the capacity for innovation and judgement allows us to balance immediate needs with a long-term perspective.
Of the 79 new PBK initiates, 12 are also student-athletes.
Were thrilled to see the induction of our varsity student-athletes into Phi Beta Kappa, said Wesleyan Director of Athletics Mike Whalen 83. Were certainly proud of their work on the field but their excellence in the classroom is just another example of how our student-athletes excel in all phases of their Wesleyan experience.
In addition to a keynote address from Dr. Andrea Grubb Barthwell, the ceremony included remarks made by Assistant Professor of Letters and PBK Chapter President Daniel Smyth; Hedding Professor of Moral Science and PBK Vice President Joseph Rouse; Assistant Professor of Physics and PBK chapter treasurer and marshal Meng-Ju Renee Sher; and Wesleyan President Michael Roth. President Roth also wrote about the ceremony on hisRoth on Wesleyan blog.
I was so impressed by the variety of interests, academic research, creative practice and extra-curricular shown by the students and often that variety was found in each of the inductees, Roth said.
Wesleyans newest Phi Beta Kappa inductees and their majors include:
Sarah Jessica Backer, GovernmentAlexandra Rose Banach, EnglishZubaida Mofe Bello, African American Studies, HistoryMolly Bradach, BiologyErnest Peter Braun, Hispanic Literatures and CulturesBelle Brown, Environmental Studies, GovernmentLiam Schneider Caplan, English, PhilosophyMarissa Rose Chang, College of Social StudiesCatherine Noelle Arendt Cheng, Education Studies, EnglishJamie Cheng, Education Studies, PsychologyNoah A. Cohen, Economics, GovernmentAriel Faye Cohen, College of Social StudiesViolet Latman Daar, American Studies, EnglishHannah Allison Docter-Loeb, Biology, PsychologyAmy Du, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Also:Osama Elgabori, PhysicsSam Olson Ephron, Computer Science, Mathematics, Science in SocietyKyla Margit Frieden, Film StudiesBetsy Bates Froiland, Government, HistoryZelda Isabel Galdenzi, Biology, Neuroscience and Behavior, PsychologyLilley Abigail Gallagher, Environmental Studies, PsychologySimon Shay Gaughan, American StudiesHannah Katherine Gearan, Environmental Studies, Film StudiesJoanna Gerber, English, SociologyIsabella Anna Gibaldi, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Also:Gabriel David Goldberg, Economics, PsychologyJackson Cole Goldman, Molecular Biology and BiochemistryGina Ravelo Gwiazda, Neuroscience and Behavior, PsychologyWilliam Matthew Halm, GovernmentSkye C. Hawthorne, Earth and Environmental SciencesSophie Anne Henderson, UniversityPhie G. Jacobs, Biology, EnglishParis Arnett Jensen, French Studies, UniversityDylan Robert Judd, Chemistry, Environmental StudiesHuzaifa Khan, College of Social Studies, GovernmentSofia Chiongbian Khu, College of Letters, German StudiesMia Sunae Kim, ChemistryMagda Kisielinska, Computer Science, Government, MathematicsNomi Jahoda Kligler, Anthropology, Art StudioAndrew Tyler Kushnir, Economics, GovernmentHannah Nikita Landel, Economics, GovernmentAnika Elizabeth Summer Legrand-Wittich, Computer ScienceZach J. Lieb, EconomicsNoah Stark Lilienthal, Music, PsychologyMaggie Jane Lind, AnthropologyCourtney Elizabeth Litts, Neuroscience and Behavior, PsychologyNatalie Serene Lobach, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, PhilosophyMorgan S. Long, Mathematics, PhysicsChunyue Ma, Computer ScienceAiden H. Malanaphy, Art History, PsychologyGriffin Maristany, Economics, Philosophy
Also:Caoimhe C. McGurrin, EnglishAudrey Elizabeth McMahon, Biology, Neuroscience and BehaviorJuan Andres Medina Florez, Economics, Science in SocietyJulia Meehan, EconomicsWilliam Dederick Miner, PsychologySarah Lynn Morgan, Neuroscience and BehaviorMatt Muldowney, Computer Science, MusicMaddie Rachel Nagler, Film Studies, PsychologyStevie OConnor, Neuroscience and BehaviorGabrielle Jolie Ouellette, English
Also:Aashni Mallika Parikh, Biology, Earth and Environmental SciencesElisa Genevieve Pettinato, Art History, Art StudioTanya Phanich, Computer Science, PsychologyAnjali Prabhu, Neuroscience and BehaviorBenjamin Sofer Rubel, Astronomy, PhysicsEmerson Calloway Sarni, Economics, PsychologyCheng Shi, Mathematics, PhysicsScott Wilson Shield, Computer Science, Economics, MathematicsWill Barish Slater, History, ReligionCambria Lynne Weaver, ReligionGillian Autumn Weeks, PsychologyIrene Catherine Clarke Westfall, HistoryAri S. Westreich, Hispanic Literatures and Cultures, PsychologyElizabeth Woolford, Government, TheaterIsobel Williams Wright, Neuroscience and BehaviorNolan Young, GovernmentYunliang Zhao, Biology, Neuroscience and BehaviorShiyu (Simon) Zhu, Computer Science, Economics
Election to membership is a great honor, but you are not just being elected into a mere honor society where your name is recorded in a great ledger and never looked at again. Election stimulates energies in each of you to do something, Barthwell concluded. PBKs do not rest on their laurels, you continue to act honorably and comport yourselves as you tackle the problems of your days- never being pedantic, arrogant, full of self-conceit, or satisfied. You aspire, with reverence and humility, because you have 1) academic depth and breadth, 2) independence of spirit, 3) curiosity, and 4) are of good and moral character.
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Phi Beta Kappa Inductees Advised to Create, Innovate the Future - Wesleyan University
Collin Stultz named co-director and MIT lead of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology – MIT News
Collin M. Stultz, the Nina T. and Robert H. Rubin Professor in Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, has been named co-director of the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST), and associate director of MITs Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), effective June 1. IMES is HSTs home at MIT.
Stultz is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, a core faculty member in IMES, a member of the HST faculty, and a practicing cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is also a member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, and an associate member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of the MIT School of Engineering and Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, praised the appointment, saying Professor Stultzs remarkable leadership, commitment to teaching excellence, and unwavering devotion to pursuing advancements in human health, will undoubtedly help to reinforce and bolster the missions of both IMES and HST.
Stultz is succeeding Emery N. Brown, who was first to serve as HSTs co-director at MIT, following the establishment of IMES in 2012. (Wolfram Goessling is the co-director of HST at Harvard University.) Brown, the Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and of Computational Neuroscience at MIT, will now be focusing on the establishment of a new joint center between MIT and MGH that will use the study of anesthesia to design novel approaches to controlling brain states, with a goal of improving anesthesia and intensive care management.
It was a pleasure and honor for me to shepherd HST for the last 10 years, Brown says. I am certain that Collin will be a phenomenal co-director. He is a highly accomplished scientist,a master clinician, and a committededucator.
George Q. Daley, dean of Harvard Medical School and an HST alumnus, says, I am thrilled that HSTs new co-director will be a Harvard Medical School alumnus who completed clinical training and practice at our affiliated hospitals. Dr. Stultzs remarkable expertise in computer science and AI will engender positive change as we reinvigorate this historic Harvard-MIT collaboration and redefine the scope of what it means to be a physician-scientist in the 21st century.
Elazer R. Edelman, the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science and the director of IMES, also an HST alumnus, lauded the appointment, saying, We are so excited by the future, using the incredible vision of Professor Stultz, his legacy of accomplishment, his commitment to mentorship, and his innate ability to meld excellence in science and medicine, engineering, and physiology to propel us forward. Everything Professor Stultz has done predicates him and HST for success.
Goessling says he looks forward to working with Stultz in his new role. I have known Collin since our residency days at Brigham and Womens Hospital where we cared for patients together. I am truly excited to work collaboratively and synergistically with him to now take care of our students together, to innovate our education programs and continue the legacy of success for HST.
Stultz earned his BA magna cum laude in mathematics and philosophy from Harvard University in 1988; a PhD in biophysics from Harvard in 1997; and an MD magna cum laude from Harvard Medical School, also in 1997. Stultz then went on to complete an internship and residency in internal medicine, followed by a fellowship in cardiovascular medicine, at the Brigham and Womens Hospital before joining the faculty at MIT in 2004.
Stultz once said that his research focus at MIT is twofold: the study of small things you cant see with the naked eye, and the study of big things that you can, and his scientific contributions have similarly spanned a wide range of length scales. As a graduate student in the laboratory of Martin Karplus winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Stultz helped to develop computational methods for designing ligands to flexible protein targets. As a junior faculty member at MIT, his group leveraged computational biophysics and experimental biochemistry to model disordered proteins that play important roles in human disease. More recently, his research has focused on the development and application of machine learning methods that enable health care providers to gain insight into patient-specific physiology, using clinical data that are routinely obtained in both clinical and ambulatory settings.
Stultz is a member of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering. He is a past recipient of an Irving M. London teaching award, a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences, and he is a recent Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar.
Following in the footsteps of a scholar as renowned as Emery Brown is daunting; however, I am extraordinarily optimistic about what HMS, HST, and MIT can accomplish in the years to come, Stultz says. I look forward to working with Elazer, Anantha, Wolfram, and the leadership at HMS to advance the educational mission of HST on the HMS campus, and throughout the MIT ecosystem.
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The 2022 Cohort Of Schmidt Science Fellows Has Been Selected – Forbes
Eric and Wendy Schmidt, co-founders of Schmidt Futures. The 2022 cohort of Schmidt Science Fellows ... [+] has been announced, featuring 29 recent PhDs identified as some of the most outstanding early-career scientists in the world.
The newest class of Schmidt Science Fellows was announced Thursday at a ceremony in Boston. This years cohort of 29 Fellows are all recent PhDs whove been identified as some of the most outstanding early-career scientists in the world.
The Schmidt Science Fellows was the first program supported by Schmidt Futures, a philanthropic initiative co-founded by former Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy, President of the Schmidt Family Foundation. The current class is the fifth cohort in the program, which is fully funded by Schmidt Futures and delivered in a partnership with the Rhodes Trust.
Considered one of the most prestigious scientific postdoctoral awards in the world, Schmidt Science Fellows receive postdoctoral support for either one or two years with an annual stipend of $100,000 along with individualized mentoring and participation in the programs Global Meeting Series, which provides training, introductions to new concepts, visits to leading interdisciplinary scientific centers, and opportunities to engage with thought-leaders from science, business, policy, and society.
The Fellows are expected to pursue research that pivots from the focus of their PhD, thereby expanding their potential as future scientific leaders. Among the 2022 Fellows are investigators aiming to develop new therapies to treat cancer and heart disease, scale-up sustainable fuel production, restore vision for blind people, protect endangered species, and generate new approaches for clean water and energy.
For example, one of this years Fellows, Paul Chen focused his PhD at the University of Toronto on ways to control the structure of nanocrystals, which have important applications in several fields, including medicine and clean energy. As a Schmidt Science Fellow, Paul will pivot from chemical engineering to nanoparticle systems. He plans to study new methods for identifying organic nanoparticles with therapeutic potential.
Interdisciplinary science is crucial to tackle big challenges and improve health for people around the world, noted Paul. I believe this will lead to new approaches to design nanoparticles to help enable new ways to treat a range of genetic disorders, potentially such as sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis.
Selection of the Fellows begins with nominations of candidates by about 100 of the worlds leading science and engineering institutions. Nominated candidates then apply and undergo a rigorous selection process that includes a paper-based academic review by experts in their home disciplines and final interviews with panels, including senior representatives from across many scientific disciplines and different business sectors.
This years Schmidt Science Fellows were drawn from 23 leading science and engineering institutions. The cohort includes 15 women and 14 men and represents 12 nationalities, including the Programs first Fellows from Ireland and South Africa. Here is the complete list:
This fifth cohort is the largest class of Schmidt Science Fellows. They join 113 active and alumni Fellows representing 30 nationalities of origin. Fellows from the earlier cohorts are already pursuing faculty roles at several renowned universities, leading start-up companies, and influencing policy.
Speaking of the new Fellows, Eric Schmidt said, Our latest group of Schmidt Science Fellows embodies our vision for this Program at its inception five years ago. We find the most talented next-generation leaders from around the world and back these impressive young adults with the resources and networks they need to realize their full potential while addressing some of the big scientific questions facing the world. Congratulations to the 2022 Schmidt Science Fellows, I am excited to see where your science takes you and what you will achieve.
Wendy Schmidt added, In the first five years of this Program, Fellows have combined biology and computer science to revolutionize drug discovery. They've introduced AI to biomedical engineering to bring cancer screening to underserved communities. And they're working across optics, atomic physics, astrophysics, ocean science and more to identify new ways to reverse climate destruction.This new cohort will join a growing network of interdisciplinary scientists and researchers engaging in critically important work that goes beyond any project they may undertake individually.
Schmidt Science Fellows are encouraged to take risks with their scientific investigations. Dr. Megan Kenna, Executive Director of Schmidt Science Fellows, said: The clock is ticking on the worlds big challenges, and we need science to play its part in finding solutions. I am proud to welcome our 2022 Schmidt Science Fellows into a community of scientists and supporters who come together to harness the power of interdisciplinary science for the benefit of the world.
About Schmidt Futures
Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, that finds exceptional people and helps them do more for others together. It builds networks of talent to work on solving some of the worlds toughest scientific and social problems.
Schmidt Futures uses gifts, grants, other capital structures, and startup activity for charitable, educational, and commercial work aimed at discovering the most promising ideas in technology, scientific breakthroughs, and paths to shared prosperity in society, and raising awareness about such issues.
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The 2022 Cohort Of Schmidt Science Fellows Has Been Selected - Forbes