People have been interested in the Antikythera mechanism for more than 120 years, and new research has shed more light on this amazing machine in recent years. The pieces that are still there show that it was probably used to figure out things like eclipses and where the planets were in the sky. With some statistical methods that are often used in gravitational wave research, astronomers from the University of Glasgow have found more proof that it is linked to the Moon.

Professor Graham Woan and Dr. Joseph Bayley each used a different method after an interesting X-ray analysis of the object was done years ago. Some people don’t know how many holes are in one of the rings, which is thought to be a calendar. There is only a small piece of the ring left, and it’s hard to say for sure what it is because it spent 2,000 years underwater.

Based on the X-ray data, Woan and Bayley used bayesian statistics to determine how many holes there were in the rings. The most likely number was either 354 or 355 holes, they found. Around 354 days make up a lunar calendar. Based on the research, this number is 100 times more likely than 360 holes, which is what the Egyptian solar calendar has. This means that a 365-hole ring, which would be like a real solar year, is very unlikely.

“Towards the end of last year, a colleague showed me data that YouTuber Chris Budiselic had collected. Budiselic was trying to make a copy of the calendar ring and was looking into ways to find out how many holes it had,” Professor Woan said in a statement. “I thought it was an interesting problem that I might be able to solve in a new way over the Christmas break, so I started using some statistical methods to find the answer.”

The Markov Chain Monte Carlo and nested sampling methods were used. These are common ways to figure out how likely one result is given incomplete data. These techniques lead us to believe that the whole ring was 77.1 millimeters across and had either 354 or 355 holes spaced 0.028 millimeters apart.

“Previous research had suggested that the calendar ring probably followed the lunar calendar, but the two methods we used in this project make it much more likely that this was the case,” Dr. Bayley said. “It’s made me appreciate the Antikythera mechanism and the work and care that Greek craftsmen put into making it even more. To punch the holes so precisely, they would have needed to be measured very accurately and punched with a very steady hand.”

The study has been written up in The Horological Journal.

A group of YouTubers have created a remarkable retractable lightsaber that they classify as “potentially hazardous.”.

HeroTech recently released a video outlining their intention to develop a lightsaber that mimics the retractable nature of the lightsabers seen in the Star Wars movies, as opposed to the currently available models with fixed extended blades.

The team stated on YouTube that they were well aware of the challenges they would face when embarking on the project to create an actual retractable lightsaber. “Our primary obstacles were evident: achieving complete containment of blade extension and retraction, creating a compact hilt design that is proportional to the original, and producing a blade and sound that closely resemble reality.”

Creating a retractable lightsaber proved challenging, but the team successfully accomplished this by utilizing a magician’s cane, a tool that can contract to a compact size and extend to a length of over 0.9 meters (3 feet). After extensive tinkering, the outcome is a remarkable lightsaber that elongates upon activation.

The team clarifies on their website that this lightsaber showcases a dazzling blade of light that genuinely extends from and retracts into the hilt. “Equipped with a 12V COB LED strip, 4S LiPo battery, the Proffieboard V3.9, and a high-performance speaker, this lightsaber delivers authentic lighting effects and lifelike sound effects.”

The team also aimed to enable others to construct the lightsaber in their own homes, by furnishing their subscribers with comprehensive instructions on how to do so. Nevertheless, they have strongly cautioned against attempting it.

“This lightsaber is an experimental model and has the potential to be hazardous if attempted to be made by oneself,” they mention on their YouTube channel. “Although I am actively working towards improving this situation, I am unable to currently endorse this product for individuals lacking engineering proficiency and the determination to spend several hours resolving technical issues.”

Disney has developed its own collapsible lightsabers specifically for use in performances at Disney World, although they are probably not produced at a low cost.

Neither of the blades is capable of cutting through stormtroopers, as they are purely ornamental. Nevertheless, an inexperienced YouTuber successfully constructed a functional lightsaber with the ability to retract, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2022.

Alex Burkan, the proprietor of the YouTube channel Alex Lab, engineered a contraption capable of generating a plasma blade measuring 1 meter (equivalent to 3.28 feet) in length upon activation. The blade, which reaches a temperature of 2,800°C (5,072°F), possesses the ability to effortlessly slice through steel.

“An electrolyser is the crucial element of my lightsaber,” Burkan informed Guinness World Records. An electrolyser is a device capable of producing a substantial quantity of hydrogen and oxygen, and it can compress the gas to any desired pressure without the need for a mechanical compressor.

However, in contrast to an authentic lightsaber or the ones demonstrated by Disney, the blade has a limited operational duration of approximately 30 seconds at maximum intensity. Consequently, lightsaber duels are brief unless they occur in close proximity to charging stations.

Burkan also mentioned that occasionally the lightsaber may explode in your hand due to a hydrogen flashback.

A new study looked at the safety of self-driving cars (AVs) and found that while they are better than humans in some everyday driving tasks, they are not yet as good as humans when it comes to turning or driving in low light.

We need to know that our cars are safe before we can just get in and let them take us where we need to go. The hope is that one day they will be able to drive better than humans. Cars don’t get tired, irritable at other drivers, or lose focus while thinking about something else, after all.

Tests of the technology have been done all over the world, and we now have a lot of information from semi-autonomous systems in cars that are used in real-life traffic situations. The new study from the University of Central Florida looked at accident data from 35,113 human-driven vehicles (HDVs) and data from 2,100 Advanced Driving Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. The goal was to find out how safe AVs and HDVs are in different situations.

In general, the team found that AVs are safer than human drivers, though there are a few big exceptions.

“The analysis suggests that accidents involving vehicles equipped with advanced driving systems generally have a lower chance of occurring than accidents involving human-driven vehicles in most of the similar accident scenarios,” the team said in their paper.

AVs did better than HDVs at routine traffic tasks like staying in their lanes and adjusting to the flow of traffic. They also had fewer accidents while doing these tasks. Sideswipe accidents were 0.2% less likely in AVs, and rear-end accidents were 0.5% less likely in AVs.

In other traffic situations, though, humans are still better than AI.

“Based on the model estimation results, it can be concluded that ADS [automatic driving systems] in general are safer than HDVs in most accident scenarios for their object detection and avoidance, precision control, and better decision-making,” the team said.

“However, the chances of an ADS accident happening at dawn or dusk or when turning are 5.250 and 1.988 times higher, respectively, than the chances of an HDV accident happening at the same times and places.” The reasons could be a lack of situational awareness in difficult driving situations and a lack of experience driving an AV.

Finding these key problem areas could help researchers improve how well AVs work. It would be helpful to think about finding dangers in new ways right now.

“At dawn and dusk, for instance, the sun’s shadows and reflections may confuse sensors, making it hard for them to distinguish between objects and identify potential hazards,” they wrote. “Furthermore, the fluctuating light conditions can impact the accuracy of object detection and recognition algorithms used by AVs, which can result in false positives or negatives.”

The study might disappoint supporters of self-driving cars. They may be waiting for the crossover point where AVs are better than human drivers. But if performance gets better, it can be sent to all AVs at the same time. Researchers who find a way to make turning better can use it on these kinds of vehicles through software updates, which is something we can’t do with people.

We hope that one day we can get into AVs without having to worry about lights changing or other people on the road getting distracted.

Nature Communicationsis where the study can be found.