Timeline of computing 2020–present

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from 2021 in computing)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This article presents a detailed timeline of events in the history of computing from 2020 to the present. For narratives explaining the overall developments, see the History of computing.

2020[edit]

2021[edit]

A study finds that carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining in China – where a majority of the proof-of-work algorithm that generates current economic value is computed, largely fueled by nonrenewable sources – have accelerated rapidly and would soon exceed total annual emissions of countries like Italy, interfering with climate change mitigation commitments.
Researchers publish the first in-depth study of Web browser tab interfaces.
  • Researchers publish the first in-depth study of Web browser tab interfaces. They found that many people struggle with tab overload and conducted surveys and interviews about people's tab use. Thereby they formalized pressures for closing tabs and for keeping tabs open. The authors then developed related UI design considerations which could enable better tools and changes to the code of Web browsers – like Firefox – that allow knowledge workers and other users to better manage their tabs.[37][38]
  • A new record for the smallest single-chip system is achieved, occupying a total volume of less than 0.1 mm³.[40][41]
Scientists demonstrate the first brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for handwriting and has a record output speed of up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record.
  • Scientists demonstrate the first brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for handwriting. The character output speed of a patient with a paralyzed hand was up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record. Each letter is associated with a highly distinctive pattern of activity in the brain, making it relatively easy for the algorithm to distinguish them.[42][43]
  • Archivists initiate a rescue mission to secure enduring access to humanity's largest public library of scientific articles, Sci-Hub, due to the site's increased legal troubles, using Web and BitTorrent technologies.[44]
Scientists debate and research cognitive impacts of smartphones and digital technology in general and by prevalent forms of use.
  • In the debate the cognitive impacts of smartphones and digital technology a group reports that, contrary to widespread belief, scientific evidence doesn't show that these technologies harm biological cognitive abilities and that they instead change predominant ways of cognition – such as a reduced need to remember facts or conduct mathematical calculations by pen and paper outside contemporary schools. However, some activities – like reading novels – that require long attention-spans and don't feature ongoing rewarding stimulation may become more challenging in general.[49][50]
  • Researchers used a brain-computer interface to enable a man who was paralyzed since 2003 to produce comprehensible words and sentences by decoding signals from electrodes in the speech areas of his brain.[51][52]
DeepMind's AlphaFold AI predicts the structures of over 350,000 proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body, along with degrees of confidence for accuracy.
  • DeepMind announces that its AlphaFold AI has predicted the structures of over 350,000 proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body. The 3D data along with their degrees of confidence for accuracy is made freely available with a new database, doubling the previous number of protein structures in the public domain.[57]
A researcher reports that solar superstorms would cause large-scale global months-long Internet outages.
Researchers develop machine learning models for genome-based early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential zoonotic viruses.
  • Scientists conclude that personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could be a component of climate change mitigation. They find that the economic recovery from COVID-19 and novel digital technology capacities open a window of opportunity for first implementations. PCAs would consist of – e.g. monetary – credit-feedbacks and decreasing default levels of per capita emissions concessions. The researchers find that recent advances in machine learning technology and "smarter home and transport options make it possible to easily track and manage a large share of individuals' emissions" and that feedback effective in engaging individuals to reduce their energy-related emissions and relevant new personalized apps could be designed.[63][64][65] Issues may include privacy, evaluating emissions from individuals co-running multinational companies and the availability and prices of products and services.
  • Pathogen researchers report the development of machine learning models for genome-based early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential zoonotic viruses in animals prior to spillover to humans. They conclude that their tool could be used for virus surveillance for pandemic prevention via (i.a.) measures of "early investigation and outbreak preparedness" and would have been capable of predicting SARS-CoV-2 as a high-risk strain.[67][68]

Deaths[edit]

2020[edit]

2021[edit]

See also[edit]

COVID-19

References[edit]

  1. ^ "AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X is a ridiculous 64-core CPU – and it's coming February 7". Techradar. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Folding@Home Crushes Exascale Barrier, Now Faster Than Dozens of Supercomputers - ExtremeTech". www.extremetech.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Folding@home crowdsourced computing project passes 1 million downloads amid coronavirus research". VentureBeat. 31 March 2020. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  4. ^ "The coronavirus pandemic turned Folding@Home into an exaFLOP supercomputer". Ars Technica. 14 April 2020. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. ^ Tung, Liam. "CERN throws 10,000 CPU cores at Folding@home coronavirus simulation project". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Scientists create tiny devices that work like the human brain". The Independent. 20 April 2020. Archived from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Researchers unveil electronics that mimic the human brain in efficient learning". phys.org. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  8. ^ Fu, Tianda; Liu, Xiaomeng; Gao, Hongyan; Ward, Joy E.; Liu, Xiaorong; Yin, Bing; Wang, Zhongrui; Zhuo, Ye; Walker, David J. F.; Joshua Yang, J.; Chen, Jianhan; Lovley, Derek R.; Yao, Jun (20 April 2020). "Bioinspired bio-voltage memristors". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 1861. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.1861F. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-15759-y. PMC 7171104. PMID 32313096.
  9. ^ Staff (22 May 2020). "Australian researchers record world's fastest internet speed from a single optical chip". Monash University. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  10. ^ Monash University (22 May 2020). "Australian researchers record world's fastest internet speed from a single optical chip". EurekAlert!. Archived from the original on 25 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  11. ^ Corcoran, Bill; Tan, Mengxi; Xu, Xingyuan; Boes, Andreas; Wu, Jiayang; Nguyen, Thach G.; Chu, Sai T.; Little, Brent E.; Morandotti, Roberto; Mitchell, Arnan; Moss, David J. (22 May 2020). "Ultra-dense optical data transmission over standard fibre with a single chip source". Nature Communications. 11 (1): 2568. Bibcode:2020NatCo..11.2568C. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16265-x. PMC 7244755. PMID 32444605.
  12. ^ "Evidence of large groups responding more slowly to crises due to false information". phys.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  13. ^ Shirado, Hirokazu; Crawford, Forrest W.; Christakis, Nicholas A. (27 May 2020). "Collective communication and behaviour in response to uncertain 'Danger' in network experiments". Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 476 (2237): 20190685. doi:10.1098/rspa.2019.0685. PMC 7277132. PMID 32518501. CC-BY icon.svg Fragments of the text were copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Archived 2017-10-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ^ Moore, Mike. "Microsoft may finally have some encouraging news for Windows 10 users". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  15. ^ Popa, Bogdan. "Windows Grows as Linux Declines a Little in July 2020". softpedia. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  16. ^ "New video format 'halves data use of 4K and 8K TVs'". BBC News. 7 July 2020. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  17. ^ "Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI". newsletter.fraunhofer.de. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  18. ^ "Neuralink: Elon Musk unveils pig with chip in its brain". BBC. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  19. ^ "Elon Musk trots out pigs in demo of Neuralink brain implants". The Verge. Archived from the original on 29 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  20. ^ Brainard, Jeffrey (8 September 2020). "Dozens of scientific journals have vanished from the internet, and no one preserved them". Science | AAAS. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  21. ^ Kwon, Diana (10 September 2020). "More than 100 scientific journals have disappeared from the Internet". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-02610-z. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  22. ^ Laakso, Mikael; Matthias, Lisa; Jahn, Najko (2021). "Open is not forever: A study of vanished open access journals". Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. arXiv:2008.11933. doi:10.1002/ASI.24460. S2CID 221340749.
  23. ^ "Prosecutors open homicide case after hacker attack on German hospital". Reuters. 18 September 2020. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  24. ^ Starr, Michelle (3 October 2020). "A New Chemical 'Tree of The Origins of Life' Reveals Our Possible Molecular Evolution". ScienceAlert. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  25. ^ Wolos, Agnieszka; et al. (25 September 2020). "Synthetic connectivity, emergence, and self-regeneration in the network of prebiotic chemistry". Science. 369 (6511): eaaw1955. doi:10.1126/science.aaw1955. PMID 32973002. S2CID 221882090. Archived from the original on 4 October 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  26. ^ "Why we should worry about computer suffering". IAI TV - Changing how the world thinks. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  27. ^ Thomas Metzinger (19 February 2021). "Artificial Suffering: An Argument for a Global Moratorium on Synthetic Phenomenology". Journal of Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness: 1–24. doi:10.1142/S270507852150003X. ISSN 2705-0785. Retrieved 7 March 2021. CC-BY icon.svg Available under CC BY 4.0.
  28. ^ "FAO - News Article: Food systems account for more than one third of global greenhouse gas emissions". www.fao.org. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  29. ^ Crippa, M.; Solazzo, E.; Guizzardi, D.; Monforti-Ferrario, F.; Tubiello, F. N.; Leip, A. (March 2021). "Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions". Nature Food. 2 (3): 198–209. doi:10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9. ISSN 2662-1355. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  30. ^ "Average westerner's eating habits lead to loss of four trees every year". the Guardian. 29 March 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  31. ^ Hoang, Nguyen Tien; Kanemoto, Keiichiro (29 March 2021). "Mapping the deforestation footprint of nations reveals growing threat to tropical forests". Nature Ecology & Evolution: 1–9. doi:10.1038/s41559-021-01417-z. ISSN 2397-334X. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  32. ^ Lu, Donna. "Bitcoin mining emissions in China will hit 130 million tonnes by 2024". New Scientist. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  33. ^ Jiang, Shangrong; Li, Yuze; Lu, Quanying; Hong, Yongmiao; Guan, Dabo; Xiong, Yu; Wang, Shouyang (6 April 2021). "Policy assessments for the carbon emission flows and sustainability of Bitcoin blockchain operation in China". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 1938. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-22256-3. ISSN 2041-1723. Retrieved 9 May 2021. CC-BY icon.svg Available under CC BY 4.0.
  34. ^ "Elon Musk's Neuralink 'shows monkey playing Pong with mind'". BBC. April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  35. ^ "Monkey MindPong". Neuralink. April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  36. ^ "Elon Musk startup shows monkey with brain chip implants playing video game". The Guardian. April 9, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  37. ^ "Overcoming tab overload: Researchers develop tool to better manage browser tabs". techxplore.com. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  38. ^ Chang, Joseph Chee; Hahn, Nathan; Kim, Yongsung; Coupland, Julina; Breneisen, Bradley; Kim, Hannah S; Hwong, John; Kittur, Aniket (2021-05-06). "When the Tab Comes Due:Challenges in the Cost Structure of Browser Tab Usage". Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery: 1–15. doi:10.1145/3411764.3445585. ISBN 9781450380966. S2CID 233987809. Retrieved 14 June 2021. CC-BY icon.svg Available under CC BY 4.0.
  39. ^ "Cyber attack shuts down U.S. fuel pipeline 'jugular,' Biden briefed". Reuters. 2021-05-08. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  40. ^ "Tiny, Wireless, Injectable Chips Use Ultrasound to Monitor Body Processes". Columbia University. May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  41. ^ Shi, Chen; Andino-Pavlovsky, Victoria; Lee, Stephen A.; Costa, Tiago; Elloian, Jeffrey; Konofagou, Elisa E.; Shepard, Kenneth L. (2021-05-01). "Application of a sub–0.1-mm3 implantable mote for in vivo real-time wireless temperature sensing". Science Advances. 7 (19): eabf6312. Bibcode:2021SciA....7.6312S. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abf6312. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 8104878. PMID 33962948.
  42. ^ "Brain Computer Interface Turns Mental Handwriting into Text on Screen". Howard Hughes Medical Institute. May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  43. ^ Willett, Francis R.; Avansino, Donald T.; Hochberg, Leigh R.; Henderson, Jaimie M.; Shenoy, Krishna V. (May 2021). "High-performance brain-to-text communication via handwriting". Nature. 593 (7858): 249–254. Bibcode:2021Natur.593..249W. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03506-2. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 8163299. PMID 33981047. Retrieved 14 June 2021.CS1 maint: PMC embargo expired (link)
  44. ^ "Archivists Want to Make Sci-Hub 'Un-Censorable'". Gizmodo. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  45. ^ "Google showed off its next-generation AI by talking to Pluto and a paper airplane". The Verge. May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  46. ^ "LaMDA: our breakthrough conversation technology". Google. May 18, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2021.
  47. ^ "Google and Harvard map brain connections in unprecedented detail". New Atlas. 2021-06-02. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  48. ^ Shapson-Coe, Alexander; Januszewski, Michał; Berger, Daniel R.; Pope, Art; Wu, Yuelong; Blakely, Tim; Schalek, Richard L.; Li, Peter; Wang, Shuohong; Maitin-Shepard, Jeremy; Karlupia, Neha; Dorkenwald, Sven; Sjostedt, Evelina; Leavitt, Laramie; Lee, Dongil; Bailey, Luke; Fitzmaurice, Angerica; Kar, Rohin; Field, Benjamin; Wu, Hank; Wagner-Carena, Julian; Aley, David; Lau, Joanna; Lin, Zudi; Wei, Donglai; Pfister, Hanspeter; Peleg, Adi; Jain, Viren; Lichtman, Jeff W. (2021-05-30). "A connectomic study of a petascale fragment of human cerebral cortex". bioRxiv: 2021.05.29.446289. doi:10.1101/2021.05.29.446289. S2CID 235270687. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  49. ^ "Smart technology is not making us dumber: study". phys.org. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  50. ^ Cecutti, Lorenzo; Chemero, Anthony; Lee, Spike W. S. (1 July 2021). "Technology may change cognition without necessarily harming it". Nature Human Behaviour. 5 (8): 973–975. doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01162-0. ISSN 2397-3374. PMID 34211150. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  51. ^ "Think before you 'speak': brain–computer interface restores speech in paralysed man". Physics World. 5 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  52. ^ Moses, David A.; Metzger, Sean L.; Liu, Jessie R.; Anumanchipalli, Gopala K.; Makin, Joseph G.; Sun, Pengfei F.; Chartier, Josh; Dougherty, Maximilian E.; Liu, Patricia M.; Abrams, Gary M.; Tu-Chan, Adelyn; Ganguly, Karunesh; Chang, Edward F. (15 July 2021). "Neuroprosthesis for Decoding Speech in a Paralyzed Person with Anarthria". New England Journal of Medicine. 385 (3): 217–227. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2027540. PMID 34260835.
  53. ^ "Internet : Un nouveau record de débit à 319 Tbit/S".
  54. ^ "Japan sets new Internet speed record: 319 Tbit/S".
  55. ^ "Teens around the world are lonelier than a decade ago. The reason may be smartphones". Washington Post. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  56. ^ Twenge, Jean M.; Haidt, Jonathan; Blake, Andrew B.; McAllister, Cooper; Lemon, Hannah; Le Roy, Astrid (20 July 2021). "Worldwide increases in adolescent loneliness". Journal of Adolescence. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2021.06.006. ISSN 0140-1971. PMID 34294429.
  57. ^ "DeepMind's AI predicts structures for a vast trove of proteins". Nature. 22 July 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  58. ^ "Chinese team hopes high-res image of monkey brain will unlock secrets". South China Morning Post. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  59. ^ Xu, Fang; Shen, Yan; Ding, Lufeng; Yang, Chao-Yu; Tan, Heng; Wang, Hao; Zhu, Qingyuan; Xu, Rui; Wu, Fengyi; Xiao, Yanyang; Xu, Cheng; Li, Qianwei; Su, Peng; Zhang, Li I.; Dong, Hong-Wei; Desimone, Robert; Xu, Fuqiang; Hu, Xintian; Lau, Pak-Ming; Bi, Guo-Qiang (26 July 2021). "High-throughput mapping of a whole rhesus monkey brain at micrometer resolution". Nature Biotechnology: 1–8. doi:10.1038/s41587-021-00986-5. ISSN 1546-1696. PMID 34312500.
  60. ^ "Computer scientist warns global internet is not prepared for a large solar storm". techxplore.com. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  61. ^ "A Bad Solar Storm Could Cause an 'Internet Apocalypse'". Wired. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  62. ^ Jyothi, Sangeetha Abdu (9 August 2021). "Solar superstorms: planning for an internet apocalypse". Proceedings of the 2021 ACM SIGCOMM 2021 Conference. Association for Computing Machinery: 692–704. doi:10.1145/3452296.3472916.
  63. ^ "Analysis | We Need Cap-and-Trade For Individuals As Well As Companies". Washington Post. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  64. ^ "Pandemic and digitalization set stage for revival of a cast-off idea: Personal carbon allowances". phys.org.
  65. ^ Fuso Nerini, Francesco; Fawcett, Tina; Parag, Yael; Ekins, Paul (16 August 2021). "Personal carbon allowances revisited". Nature Sustainability: 1–7. doi:10.1038/s41893-021-00756-w. ISSN 2398-9629.
  66. ^ "This massive AI chip has the compute power of a human brain". PC World. 24 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  67. ^ "AI may predict the next virus to jump from animals to humans". Public Library of Science. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
  68. ^ Mollentze, Nardus; Babayan, Simon A.; Streicker, Daniel G. (28 September 2021). "Identifying and prioritizing potential human-infecting viruses from their genome sequences". PLOS Biology. 19 (9): e3001390. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.3001390. ISSN 1545-7885.