Using AI and Photoshop to Fake ‘Photos’ of Ancient Roman Emperors

Machine learning “can even bring ancient statues to life, transforming the chipped stone busts of long-dead Roman emperors into photorealistic faces you could imagine walking past on the street,” reports the Verge, citing a new project by a film-industry VR specialist. Slashdot reader shirappu summarizes their report:
Daniel Voshart’s work on creating life-life images of Roman emperors from their statues started as…

Looks like Venus has dozens of active volcanoes

“This study significantly changes the view of Venus from a mostly inactive planet to one whose interior is still churning and can feed many active volcanoes,” one scientist said. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/venus-3d-model-evidence-active-volcanoes…

Looking Glass Starts Shipping Its 8K Holographic Display

Looking Glass is now shipping its 8K holographic display, which utilizes 33.2 million pixels and 45-element light field to provide a 3D effect. TechCrunch reports: The target markets here are medical imaging, mapping, automotive, architecture and engineering. A press release tied to the announcement features a handful of folks in these categories who are excited at what such a technology could…

‘Call of Duty’ Wins First Amendment Victory Over Use of Humvees

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hollywood Reporter: Call of Duty maker Activision has prevailed in a closely watched trademark dispute brought by AM General, the government contractor for Humvees. On Tuesday, a New York federal judge responded favorably to Activision’s argument that it had a First Amendment right to depict contemporary warfare in its game by featuring Humvees….

What ‘Ad Astra’ and Brad Pitt Get Wrong About Space Travel, Science and Life In the Cosmos

Freshly Exhumed writes: Adam Frank, professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester and consultant on numerous movie scripts, was excited to watch “Ad Astra,” the new Brad Pitt space thriller. The film was promoted with the promise of scientific realism in depicting a solar system well on its way to being settled by humanity. Unfortunately, Professor Frank finds that despite…