<https://thedebrief.org/uk-launching-high-risk-scientific-agency-aria-to-take-great-leaps-into-the-unknown/>

UK Launching "high risk" Scientific Agency ARIA to take "great leaps into the
unknown"

ARIA To Rival US Based DARPA In Developing Cutting-Edge and Novel Technology.
MJ Banias
The Debrief
19 Feb 2021

The United Kingdom has just announced the spending of �800 mn over
five years on ARIA. This brand new scientific research agency will
focus on "high risk" science to "cement the UK's position as a global
science superpower."

ARIA, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency, will "drive forward
the technologies of tomorrow" by "stripping back unnecessary red tape,"
stated the UK's Business Secretary Kwasi Kwateng.

The idea for ARIA began a couple of years ago when Prime Minister Boris
Johnson's former senior advisor Dominic Cummings wrote a blog post
explaining that the UK should invest heavily in "high-risk high-payoff
visions." Lamenting the sale of DeepMind, a UK artificial intelligence
company, to Google in 2014, Cummings began to ponder how the UK could
keep up in the 21st century if it kept losing its best technology and
scientific minds to other countries. Citing the Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA), the precursor to the currently active Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as an example, Cummings'
vision was to have a British-based agency designed to spend big cash on
risky cutting edge projects.

...

--
Top scientists call for universal coronavirus vaccine
Medical Xpress, 18 Feb 2021 20:51Z
The prestigious journal Science on Thu published an editorial
calling for a global effort to develop a universal coronavirus vaccine
that would remain ...

Power back on for more than 90% of Austin; focus shifts to water, food access
Austin American-Statesman, 18 Feb 2021 20:48Z
More than 90% of Austin Energy customers had power as of Thu
afternoon, a warming development in the city's continued fight against
the winter storm - a ...

Biden to sign TX disaster declaration, says he plans to visit state next week
WHAS11 News, 20 Feb 2021 07:37Z
In comments made Fri, President Joe Biden said he would sign the disaster
declaration as soon as it is in front of him.

  Billions in damage across the South prompts focus on who's to blame, and who
  will pay
  Washington Post, 20 Feb 2021 07:42Z
  The cold surge may be the most expensive disaster in TX history. But
  experts worry its causes won't be addressed.

Google Fires Researcher Meg Mitchell, Escalating AI Saga
Bloomberg, 20 Feb 2021 07:02Z
Google fired the lead of its Ethical Artificial Intelligence team, Meg
Mitchell, escalating the turmoil surrounding its AI division after the
acrimonious exit of ...

Meet Elizabeth Ann, the genetic copy of a ferret that died more than 30
years ago
ABC News, 19 Feb 2021 at 8:34pm
US scientists successfully clone an endangered black-footed ferret using
frozen cells from a long-dead wild animal, the first time any native
endangered species has been cloned in the United States.

'They've outcompeted everything': The decades-long battle against the
invasive seastar
ABC News, 19 Feb 2021 at 9:25pm
For almost 4 decades Tasmanians have waged war against the invasive
northern Pacific seastar, now a group of divers are hoping their sustained
effort to remove it will make a difference -- and they have science on their
side.

'I'd never seen anything like it': Family faces $29,000 bill after living in
mouldy rental
ABC News, 19 Feb 2021 at 10:14pm
For most people, household mould is not a major issue, but for a minority,
it can have a serious impact on their health if left unchecked.

'Soul destroying': Native wildlife carers forced to euthanase animals caught
in bushfire
ABC Mid West & Wheatbelt, 19 Feb 2021 at 10:40pm
Wildlife rescuers face the difficult task of caring for animals with
"terrible injuries" in the wake of a West Australian bushfire disaster.

9 Oath Keepers indicted for conspiracy, including 7 members of the tactical
"stack" seen entering Capitol in combat gear
CBS News, 20 Feb 2021 0:38Z
Federal prosecutors announced a nine-person indictment of Oath Keepers
militia members, including new charges for 6 who were recently arrested
and ...

Power outrage: Some seeing electric bills as high as $17K in wake of TX
winter storm
WFAA, 19 Feb 2021 05:37Z

BREAKING (20 Feb): Victoria has recorded 3 new cases of UK covid in
the past 24 hrs.  Another case has worsened and the patient
transferred to ICU.  All cases were in isolation or quarantine and no
community cases were recorded.

Quantum Spacetime Measured in an Major Step to Understanding the
Fabric of Reality
Physicists at Fermilab Measured Spacetime on the Planck Scale
The Debrief, 19 Feb 2021
Scientists with Fermilab recently announced the successful measurement
of quantum spacetime at the smallest imaginable scale in known physics,
known as the Planck length.
According to quantum mechanics, everything is continuously fluctuating
on microscopic scales. However, when measuring quantum matter on the
Planck-scale, scientists discovered that quantum spacetime is perfectly
still in the smallest region possible.
While considerable unknowns remain, gaining a better understanding of
quantum spacetime's bizarre world could be a significant step to
understanding the very fabric of reality and why things happen at
definite times and places.  ...
Using an ultra-sensitive laser interferometer, the Holometer can detect
holographic fluctuations in quantum spacetime. As laser light passes
through an arrangement of mirrors in the Holometer, the mirrors can
show minute jitters of matter, or quantum-geometrical fluctuations.
Physicists call this property of spacetime "holographic" noise.  ...
Recently completing final experiments with the reconfigured Holometer,
the Fermilab team of scientists once again found quantum spacetime at
the Planck scale is perfectly still. "Our final result is again no
jitters, which can be interpreted as no Planck-scale twists, of a
certain kind, in the fabric of spacetime. It seems spacetime at the
Planck scale is very quiet indeed," said Dr. Hogan in a statement
provided by Fermilab. Results of the study were published in the
journal General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology. ...

White House Adviser Says TX Outages Show How US Is Unprepared For
Climate Change
NPR, 18 Feb 2021 23:04Z
White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall says the
extreme weather situation in TX serves as a reminder that the
US is not fully ...