Nvidia's AI Surge, Alabama IVF Halts, Whales' Noise Unveiled

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Centrist Chronicle
February 23, 2024

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Yesterday, Nvidia Corp. unveiled its fourth-quarter earnings, setting new highs for the company in both the quarterly and annual metrics, propelled by a surge in demand for its semiconductors during a burgeoning artificial intelligence frenzy. The Silicon Valley-based semiconductor company reported a record-breaking fourth-quarter revenue of $22.1 billion, marking a 22% increase from the preceding quarter and a staggering 265% growth year-over-year. Additionally, Nvidia's net income for the quarter reached $12.3 billion, representing a monumental 769% jump from the $1.4 billion reported the previous year. Following the announcement, Nvidia's stock experienced a 9% uplift in after-hours trading.

Established in 1993, Nvidia has ascended to become the fifth-largest entity by market value within the S&P 500, with its valuation soaring by over $400 billion this year to hit $1.67 trillion. This surge positions Nvidia as a leading beneficiary amidst growing investor excitement surrounding the AI sector's prospects. Currently, Nvidia is ranked just behind tech behemoths Microsoft ($2.99T), Apple ($2.82T), Alphabet ($1.78T), and Amazon ($1.75T), having briefly outpaced Alphabet and Amazon in market valuation earlier this month.

Notably, Nvidia's top clientele includes major industry players such as Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet’s Google, which collectively account for approximately 40% of Nvidia's total revenue.


Yesterday, the University of Alabama at Birmingham announced a temporary halt to all in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments in response to a recent decision by the state's supreme court that grants legal rights to frozen embryos utilized in these procedures.

IVF is a medical technique designed to assist with various reproductive difficulties by extracting eggs and sperm from prospective parents and then fertilizing the egg externally. This method is often sought after for conditions such as damaged fallopian tubes, endometriosis, and low sperm counts, among others. Typically, around 70% of mature eggs in a given cycle are successfully fertilized, with some of the non-fertilized eggs potentially being stored cryogenically for future attempts. It's estimated that clinics across the country hold approximately 1 million frozen embryos, contributing to about 2% of annual births through IVF.

The Supreme Court's judgment determined these embryos to be considered "extrauterine children," making their disposal subject to the state's laws on the wrongful deaths of minors, thereby affording them legal protections.


A recent study unveiled that baleen whales have developed a distinct mechanism for sound production underwater, answering a question that has intrigued scientists ever since the initial recordings of baleen whale songs were captured in 1967.

Whales, which transitioned from land-dwelling mammals to marine life around 50 million years ago, typically have larynxes—organs used for vocalization. However, baleen whales, known for their filter-feeding system utilizing keratin plates instead of teeth, lack the nasal sound emission structures found in their toothed relatives, like orcas and sperm whales. Through studying airflow in the larynxes of three baleen whales that had stranded on beaches, researchers discovered that these whales create sounds by air being funneled through their larynx, causing vocal folds to vibrate against a pad of fat in a manner, unlike any other known animal.

Furthermore, computational simulations revealed that these whales are restricted to emitting low-frequency sounds and can only do so at limited depths. This finding implies that the noise from ships might interfere with the whales' ability to communicate effectively underwater.