Tag: Simulation
World Model
A world model learns to predict (state, action) → next state. Google's Genie 3 uses this at massive scale to generate interactive worlds from images. This demo shows the core challenge: prediction errors compound. Two balls start identical — one follows true physics, the other uses a 'learned model' that adds noise to each prediction. Watch divergence accumulate frame by frame. The graph shows how small errors become large ones through autoregressive generation.
Incongruent
A biomimetic model of the corticostriatal loop discovered neurons that predict errors before they happen. About 20% of the neural population are 'incongruent' — their activity doesn't match the dominant decision signal. When researchers checked real animal data, the same pattern was hiding there, overlooked for years. These neurons maintain alternatives, enabling cognitive flexibility when the world changes. The model as scientific instrument, finding what humans missed.
Paralogs
Seeing before LUCA. Most genes trace back to the Last Universal Common Ancestor (~4.2 billion years ago) and stop — a barrier beyond which we cannot see. But universal paralogs are different: rare gene families present in all organisms today that were duplicated BEFORE LUCA. Both copies were inherited by all descendants. These ancient pairs pierce through the barrier, letting us glimpse evolution that predates the origin of all modern life. All known universal paralogs involve protein synthesis or membrane transport — the oldest functions.
Traverse
AI-planned Mars rover navigation. In December 2025, NASA's Perseverance drove 456 meters on routes planned entirely by Claude AI models — analyzing HiRISE orbital imagery to identify boulder fields and sand ripples, generating waypoints to navigate safely. The critical challenge: positional uncertainty grows with distance. By 655m, the rover could be 33m from where it thinks it is. Validated through 500,000 telemetry variables on JPL's digital twin before transmission to Mars.
MACE
Hunting for a forbidden antimatter transformation. The MACE experiment searches for muonium (a muon bound to an electron) spontaneously converting to antimuonium — a process forbidden by the Standard Model that would reveal new physics at 10-100 TeV scales. Based on the conceptual design published in Nuclear Science and Techniques (2026), aiming for 100x better sensitivity than the 1999 PSI experiment. The signature: a fast electron (MeV) and a slow positron (13.5 eV) — six orders of magnitude apart.
Assembloid
Lab-grown brain circuits reveal who's really in charge. Nagoya University researchers fused thalamic and cortical organoids derived from human iPS cells, watching axons extend bidirectionally to form synapses. Neural activity propagates from thalamus to cortex in wave-like patterns, selectively synchronizing pyramidal tract (PT) and corticothalamic (CT) neurons while intratelencephalic (IT) neurons remain unaffected. The thalamus plays a decisive role in cortical maturation — connected organoids show greater development than isolated ones.
Plectoneme
DNA through nanopores: not knots, but twisted coils. For decades, scientists thought messy electrical signals during nanopore sequencing were caused by DNA knots. Zheng & Keyser (Cavendish Laboratory, Physical Review X 2025) discovered they're actually plectonemes — twisted structures like a phone cord. Electroosmotic flow inside the pore spins the DNA helix, torque propagates along the strand, and regions outside the pore coil up. Nicked DNA (with breaks) can't propagate twist, confirming the mechanism.
Mendocino
Hidden faults revealed by microseismicity at the Mendocino Triple Junction. Based on Shelly et al. (Science, 2026): where three tectonic plates meet off Northern California, swarms of tiny earthquakes — thousands of times too weak to feel — expose two hidden fragments buried deep beneath the surface. Five moving pieces, not three. The invisible structure emerges as earthquakes accumulate.
Silk
Spider silk's molecular transformation from liquid to fiber. Based on King's College London / SDSU research (Feb 2026) revealing how arginine-tyrosine 'stickers' drive silk formation. Cation-π interactions between these amino acids initiate liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), then persist during β-sheet crystallization as shear forces convert the dope into fiber. The result: material stronger than steel, tougher than Kevlar, from a simple molecular trick.
Scaffolding
Weak gravitational lensing: invisible dark matter revealed through coherent galaxy shapes. Based on Scognamiglio et al. (Nature Astronomy, Jan 2026), who used JWST's COSMOS-Web survey to create the most detailed dark matter map ever — 800,000 galaxies, 255 hours of observation, twice the resolution of Hubble. The galaxies aren't randomly oriented. They're all slightly stretched by the same invisible structure. That coherence is the signal.
Lensing
Gravitational microlensing: an invisible object reveals itself by bending starlight. Based on Dong et al. (Science, 2026), who measured a rogue planet's mass for the first time using stereoscopic parallax between Earth and the Gaia spacecraft. A Saturn-mass world, ejected from its birth system, wandering alone 10,000 light-years away — detected only by the light it bends.
Sky Team : Y a-t-il deux pilotes dans l’avion ?
Sky Team fait partie de ces jeux auxquels je n’ai pas prêté grand intérêt au premier abord. Un jeu sur la thématique de l’aviation, mouais. Et puis la boîte et le matériel ne m’avaient pas fait grande impression non plus, je trouvais l’ensemble assez froid. J’aurais donc pu passer complètement à côté si je ne m’étais pas laissée convaincre par le vendeur de ma boutique ludique préférée. Oui, je suis influençable. Et force est de reconnaître que parfois, c’est une bonne chose. Sky Team est une jeu de dés coopératif pour deux joueurs édité par Scorpion masqué (j’adore ce nom), dans […]
Simulated Fireworks
How computers have helped to reinvent fireworks displays through timing and elaborate simulation techniques. It’s kinda like a mix of old and new technology.
Simulated Crime
The evolution of the police training simulator, and how it directly inspired one of the most fascinating video game companies of the ‘90s.
Cook Serve Delicious : gérer un resto, c’est pas du gâteau
Échauffez vos doigts et prenez une bonne respiration. Après Overcooked !, la simulation de brigade qui vous fâchera avec vos amis, voici Cook Serve Delicious, un jeu de gestion de menus qui mettra vos nerfs à rude épreuve. Cook Serve Delicious vous fait vivre le quotidien d’un patron de resto. Jour après jour, vous devez organiser votre carte, servir vos clients et vous occuper des tâches ménagères. Chaque plat que vous mettez à votre carte vous octroie des bonus ou des malus de « buzz » pendant la journée, qui attireront plus ou moins de monde à votre comptoir. Par exemple, servir du café […]
Le multi d’Animal Crossing : New Leaf
A la base de la série, Animal Crossing était essentiellement un jeu solo. Ensuite est arrivée la possibilité d’être plusieurs sur une même sauvegarde. Malheureusement on n’avait toujours pas la possibilité de jouer simultanément. Puis, itération après itération, le multijoueur a pris une place de plus en plus importante. Voilà pourquoi dans Animal Crossing : New Leaf, rendre visite à un autre joueur est devenu un jeu d’enfant. Via le système de codes amis de la 3DS, vous pouvez ouvrir votre gare à n’importe quel joueur d’Animal Crossing New Leaf qui aimerait venir vous voir. Et vous pouvez, de votre côté, demander à […]