– Ian Scheffler By now, the challenges posed by generative AI are no secret. Models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Meta’s Llama have been known to “hallucinate,” inventing potentially misleading responses, as well as divulge sensitive information, like copyrighted materials. One potential solution to some of these issues is “model disgorgement,” a set of techniques that force models to...
Horses crossed the Baltic Sea in ships during the Late Viking Age and were sacrificed for funeral rituals, according to research from Cardiff University. Published in the journal Science Advances, studies on the remains of horses found at ancient burial sites in Russia and Lithuania show that they were brought overseas from Scandinavia utilising expansive trade...
Kim Botteicher hardly thinks of herself as a criminal. On the main floor of a former Catholic church in Bolivar, Pennsylvania, Botteicher runs a flower shop and cafe. In the former church’s basement, she also operates a nonprofit organization focused on helping people caught up in the drug epidemic get back on their feet. The...
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A review of Peter Pomertantsev, “How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler” (PublicAffairs, 2024) “And who, in this moment, is the real Sefton Delmer?” asks Peter Pomerantsev about the subject of his new book, “How to Win an Information War.” “Which is his real voice, the one that expresses his ‘true’...
In 2023 alone, the board game industry topped US$16.8 billion and is projected to reach $40.1 billion by 2032. Classics like “Scrabble” are being refreshed and transformed, while newer inventions such as “Pandemic” and “Wingspan” have garnered millions of devotees. This growing cardboard empire was on my mind when I visited the American Antiquarian Society...
Humans have the capacity to imagine civilizations and creatures that have never existed, and our language reflects that ability. It would therefore be understandable if the stories we tell ourselves stretched beyond the bounds of local ecology. However, research has shown that many cultural artifacts and ideas are strongly affected by environmental factors. Researchers in...
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Nearly three years into Taliban rule, the Afghan economy remains weak. What can the U.S. and other donors do about it? Editor’s note: The following article is based on remarks given by the author at the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce’s private-sector conference in Istanbul on March 4, 2024. Nearly three years into Taliban rule of...
A new study of air pollution in U.S. homes reveals how much gas and propane stoves increase people’s exposure to nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant linked to childhood asthma. Even in bedrooms far from kitchens, concentrations frequently exceed health limits while stoves are on and for hours after burners and ovens are turned off. Households with...
Most people have heard the famous phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Now, Northwestern University researchers have used statistical physics to confirm the theory that underlies this famous axiom. The study published on May 3 in the journal Science Advances. In the 1940s, Austrian psychologist Fritz Heider introduced social balance theory, which explains...
If you’re like me, you enjoy savoring a well-poured cocktail, glass of wine, or regional ale with your partner, on a fairly regular basis. You might also enjoy sharing sips of each other’s drinks and taking notes, comparing and contrasting each other’s beverages. We thought we were indulging in this because it just tasted good...
