Tag Archives: Science Magazines

Magazines, Podcasts, Previews, Research, Reviews, Science

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – August 10, 2023

August 9, 2023 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

nature Magazine – August 10, 2023 issue: Algorithm designs 3D shapes to follow specific pathways; Why Indigenous youth need a voice in the climate debate; DNA leaks linked to inflammageing in the brains of mice; JWST spots what could be a quasar from the early Universe….

JWST spots what could be a quasar from the early Universe

Composite-colour image of the central core of a massive galaxy cluster.

The object’s deep red colour suggests it existed when the Universe was less than 700 million years old.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has seen what is probably a quasar from the early Universe¹.

ChatGPT-like AIs are coming to major science search engines

The Scopus, Dimensions and Web of Science databases are introducing conversational AI search.

A hand holds a phone displaying the OpenAI website ChatGPT.

The conversational AI-powered chatbots that have come to Internet search engines, such as Google’s Bard and Microsoft’s Bing, look increasingly set to change scientific search, too. On 1 August, Dutch publishing giant Elsevier released a ChatGPT-like artificial-intelligence (AI) interface for some users of its Scopus database, and British firm Digital Science announced a closed trial of an AI large language model (LLM) assistant for its Dimensions database. Meanwhile, US firm Clarivate says it’s working on bringing LLMs to its Web of Science database.

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – August 3, 2023

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nature Magazine – August 3, 2023 issue: Lithium-metal batteries promise to charge rapidly and to hold more energy than batteries based on lithium ions. Recharging these batteries requires lithium metal to be reformed at the anode, but this process is affected by the battery’s electrolyte and current collector, which causes the shape of the lithium deposits to vary unpredictably, impairing the battery’s performance.

Water crisis: how local technologies can help solve a global problem

Climate change is making water stress worse for billions worldwide. Scaling up both new and traditional solutions must be a priority.

Why heart trouble can lead to sleep trouble

An immune response triggered by cardiac disease affects the function of a gland with a key role in the sleep–wake cycle.

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 27, 2023

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nature Magazine -July 27, 2023 issue: HADAR (heat-assisted detection and ranging) combines thermal physics and infrared imaging with machine learning to discern an object in pitch darkness as though it is illuminated by broad daylight.

ChatGPT is a black box: how AI research can break it open

Despite their wide use, large language models are still mysterious. Revealing their true nature is urgent and important.

A lethal fungal infection gets a hand from the body’s own defences

Bloodstream infections by a common fungus are less deadly in mice engineered to have lower levels of a protein secreted by immune cells.

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 20, 2023

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nature Magazine -July 20, 2023 issue: Launched in 2018, the Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) aims to map how cell types are arranged in the human body. The initiative is both developing and then deploying the necessary technology to create maps of organs at single-cell resolution.

This quiet lake could mark the start of a new Anthropocene epoch

The dawn of a new geological epoch is recorded in the contaminated sediment at the bottom of Crawford Lake in Canada.

The official marker for the start of a new Anthropocene epoch should be a small Canadian lake whose sediments capture chemical traces of the fallout from nuclear bombs and other forms of environmental degradation. That’s a proposal out today from researchers who have spent 14 years debating when and how humanity began altering the planet.

How to introduce quantum computers without slowing economic growth

To smooth the path of the quantum revolution, researchers and governments must predict and prepare for the traps ahead.

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 13, 2023

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nature Magazine -July 13, 2023 issue: Usually, sea urchins procure blades of seagrass or small pieces of rubble to help them blend in with the sea floor, but the fire urchin (Asthenosoma varium) on the cover has instead appropriated the remnants of a blue plastic bag and is entangled in a discarded fishing line stuck on a reef.

How ancient monkeys rode the waves to the Americas — and survived

Artist’s reconstruction of the primate Ashaninkacebus.

Analysis suggests that three types of primate made the transoceanic journey to South America from Africa millions of years ago.

Some of the first primates to reach South America might have been tiny, insect-loving monkeys that had been swept out to sea.

Great bolts of lightning foretell Earth-warming clouds

Coverage of wispy cirrus clouds is linked to episodes of electrical activity.

Lightning is typically seen when imposing cumulonimbus clouds fill the sky. But new research shows that these bolts of electricity can also be used to forecast thin and wispy clouds that warm the world by reflecting heat back to the surface.

Artificial Intelligence, Magazines, Previews, Reviews, Science

AI Preview: Science Focus Magazine – July 2023 Issue

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BBC Science Focus Magazine (July 2023) – What our future with Artificial Intelligence really looks like, according to the experts; How to take control of AI before it’s too late, and more…

ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about OpenAI’s GPT-4 tool

OpenAI is back in the headlines with news that it is updating its viral ChatGPT with a new version called GPT-4. But when will this be available, how does it work and can you use it?

AI art’s hidden echo chamber is about to implode. Here’s what that will look like

Artificial intelligence art generators train themselves on art pulled straight from the internet… but what happens when most of the art out there is now made by AI?

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – July 6, 2023

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nature Magazine -July 6, 2023 issue: Shape shifters – DNA origami allows useful supramolecular structures to be created from templates. But the process has its limitations, with most structures confined to two configurations: folded or unfolded.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/05xMUBHwffsMOYP95KpCUQ

Fungi bacon and insect burgers: a guide to the proteins of the future

Stylised illustration showing a shop display of alternative protein products with signs saying 'New' and 'Try today'.

Humanity needs to eat less meat. Here are seven alternatives.

Would you eat a burger enriched with mealworms? Fake bacon sliced from a mass of fermented fungi? Milk proteins extruded by microbes? Maybe you already have. Dozens of companies are now banking on these alternatives to animal protein becoming a regular part of your diet.

Mini-antibodies given mighty powers can stave off influenza

Complexes formed from ‘nanobodies’ and an antiviral drug halt infection in its tracks.

A dynamic duo comprising an antiviral drug joined to an antibody fragment provides strong protection against the two main types of influenza that infect humans, according to research in mice.

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – June 29, 2023

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nature Magazine -June 29, 2023 issue: RNA molecules can adopt complex 3D structures, but whether DNA can self-assemble into similar 3D folded structures has been less clear. In this week’s issue, Luiz Passalacqua and his colleagues use a DNA mimic of green fluorescent protein (GFP) to investigate this question.

Underwater volcano triggered the most intense lightning ever recorded

The huge eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai volcano generated more than 2,600 lightning flashes per minute.

Open-source AI chatbots are booming — what does this mean for researchers?

A green unlocked padlock symbol is pictured amongst a binary code sequence on a computer screen.

Freely accessible large language models have accelerated the pace of innovation, computer scientists say.

The craze for generative artificial intelligence (AI) that began with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT shows no sign of abating. But while large technology companies such as OpenAI and Google have captured the attention of the wider public — and are finding ways to monetize their AI tools — a quieter revolution is being waged by researchers and software engineers at smaller organizations.

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – June 22, 2023

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nature Magazine -June 22, 2023 issue: 00:45 Why losing the Y chromosome makes bladder cancer more aggressive; How pollution particles ferry influenza virus deep into the lungs, and why artificial lights could dazzle glow worms into extinction.

Laos cave fossils prompt rethink of
human migration map

A skull fragment and shin bone suggest that early modern humans might have passed through southeast Asia earlier than thought.

Researchers laboriously sifted through clay, bucket by bucket, using their fingers to hunt for bone fragments

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Research Preview: Nature Magazine – June 15, 2023

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nature Magazine – June 15, 2023 issue: In this week’s issue, Abhinav Kandala and his colleagues show that it is still possible for a quantum computer to outperform a classical computer, by mitigating, rather than correcting, the errors.

DeepMind AI creates algorithms that sort data faster than those built by people

A replica of a game between 'Go' player Lee Se-Dol and a Google-developed super-computer, in Seoul, Korea, 2016.

The technology developed by DeepMind that plays Go and chess can also help to write code.

An artificial intelligence (AI) system based on Google DeepMind’s AlphaZero AI created algorithms that, when translated into the standard programming language C++, can sort data up to three times as fast as human-generated versions.

“We were a bit shocked,” said Daniel Mankowitz, a computer scientist at DeepMind who led the work. “We didn’t believe it at first.”

Ukraine dam collapse: what scientists are watching

Maxar satellite imagery of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric power facility. — Large sections of the Kakhovka dam have collapsed, unleashing catastrophic floods. Credit: Satellite image (c) 2023 Maxar Technologies via Getty

Extensive flooding could have severe consequences for farming, health and the environment.

The 66-year-old Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River in south Ukraine collapsed on the morning of 6 June after a suspected explosion, triggering a catastrophic humanitarian and environmental crisis.