mathematics

In recent years, the AI landscape has seen huge advancements, from the release of Dall-E 2 in April 2022 to the emergence of AI music and video models in early 2024.

While creative tools often steal the spotlight, AlphaFold 2 marked a groundbreaking AI breakthrough in biology in 2021. Since its release, this pioneering tool for predicting protein structures has been utilized by over 1.7 million scientists worldwide, influencing fields ranging from genomics to computational chemistry.

In this episode, DeepMind's VP of Research for Science, Pushmeet Kohli, and a16z General Partner Vijay Pande discuss the transformative potential of AI in scientific exploration. Can AI lead to fundamentally new discoveries in science? Let's find out.

Resources: 

Find Pushmeet on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pushmeet

Find Vijay on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vijaypande

Learn more about Google DeepMind: https://deepmind.google

Read DeepMind’s AlphaFold whitepaper: https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/a-glimpse-of-the-next-generation-of-alphafold

Read DeepMind’s AlphaGeometry: https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/alphageometry-an-olympiad-level-ai-system-for-geometry

Read DeepMind’s research on new materials: https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/millions-of-new-materials-discovered-with-deep-learning/

Read DeepMind’s paper on FunSearch, focused on new discoveries in mathematics: https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/funsearch-making-new-discoveries-in-mathematical-sciences-using-large-language-models

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

What is infinity? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Negin Farsad explore whether we are in a finite universe, the issues with infinity, string theory, and more with theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander. 

https://startalkmedia.com/show/cosmic-queries-understanding-infinity-with-stephon-alexander/

Thanks to our Patrons Ken Duffy, Austin Newman, Melvin Guerra, MirandaJanell, and Jeff from Titan for supporting us this week.

Photo Credit: Ute Kraus, Physics education group Kraus, Universität Hildesheim, Space Time Travel, (background image of the milky way: Axel Mellinger), CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

original episode notes and transcript here: 

https://future.a16z.com/podcasts/textiles-technology-science-math-cultures-civilization/

Longtime podcast showrunner (2014-2022), primary host, and editor Sonal Chokshi shares three best-of episodes as she shifts gears and the show goes on hiatus until relaunched with a new host. 

The third of these three special rerun episodes is a conversation that originally took place in October 2020, in the midst of the pandemic – and perfectly captures the signature identity of this show until now, and Chokshi's work, which is at the intersection of technology and humanity. In it, she and Virginia Postrel, author of the book The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World cover everything from science and math across several fields, to commerce to management & measurement, to the always-meta narrative of HOW innovation happens… 

As a reminder: the a16z marketing & Future team will be putting this feed on hiatus while they relaunch it with a new host; in the meantime, you can continue to follow Sonal's work both here at a16z and other projects on Twitter @smc90. Thank you as well to our brilliant audio editors, expert guests, and several others here -- but most of all, thank you to YOU: for listening, sharing, engaging, and coming along with us on this journey the past decade! Stay tuned for more. 

The sun is out, the weather is warm, and summer school is in session! Neil deGrasse Tyson, co-host Matt Kirshen, and astrophysicist Charles Liu answer fan-submitted questions on mathematics, the Big Bang, the laws of physics, neutrinos, relativity, Pluto, the smell of the Milky Way, and more.

NOTE: StarTalk All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://www.startalkradio.net/all-access/cosmic-queries-summer-school/

Photo Credit: LassenNPS [Public domain]

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Jordan Klepper explore comedy, politics, the future of American space exploration, the similarities between HI-SEAS and an improv troupe, space camp, and Jordan’s new documentary show “Klepper.”

NOTE: StarTalk All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free. Find out more here: https://www.startalkradio.net/all-access/a-conversation-with-jordan-klepper/

Photo Credit: StarTalk©.