Central features of human evolution may stop our species from resolving global environmental problems like climate change, says a new study led by the University of Maine. Humans have come to dominate the planet with tools and systems to exploit natural resources that were refined over thousands of years through the process of cultural adaptation...
Imagine blasting off on a multiyear voyage to Mars, fueled by a diet of bland, prepackaged meals. As space agencies plan for longer missions, they’re grappling with the challenge of how to best feed people. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Food Science & Technology have designed the optimal “space meal”: a tasty vegetarian salad. They chose fresh ingredients...
AI-generated content might cause the marketplace of ideas to fail. Recognition of the right to reality might safeguard space for democratic deliberation. New technologies pose new risks that require new rights. The right to privacy emerged when the camera made private affairs public. The right to be forgotten took root when data shared online for a specific purpose for...
Public opinion polls are often considered “the will of the people” but a new study on the role of polls in South Korea shows that they may not always be that transparent. “Using polls to gauge what people think about politics is not as simple as it sounds, as there are multiple mediating factors between...
A striking and extremely rare half female, half male bird has been spotted by a University of Otago zoologist. Sesquicentennial Distinguished Professor Hamish Spencer was holidaying in Colombia when an amateur ornithologist John Murillo pointed out a wild Green Honeycreeper with distinct half green, or female, and half blue, male, plumage. “Many birdwatchers could go...
Artificial intelligence tools hold promise for applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to the interpretation of medical images. However, a new study finds these AI tools are more vulnerable than previously thought to targeted attacks that effectively force AI systems to make bad decisions. At issue are so-called “adversarial attacks,” in which someone manipulates the data...
City lawmakers in Brazil have enacted what appears to be the nation’s first legislation written entirely by artificial intelligence — even if they didn’t know it at the time. The experimental ordinance was passed in October in the southern city of Porto Alegre and city councilman Ramiro Rosário revealed this week that it was written...
When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year. Even then, the dictionary publisher was late to the game. In a lexicographic form of Christmas creep, Collins English Dictionary announced its 2023 word of the year, “AI,” on...
An estimated 50,000 shipwrecks can be found around the UK’s coastline and have been acting as a hidden refuge for fish, corals and other marine species in areas still open to destructive bottom towed fishing, a new study has shown. Many of these wrecks have been lying on the seabed for well over a century,...
University of Sussex researchers have developed a more energy-efficient alternative to transmit data that could potentially replace Bluetooth in mobile phones and other tech devices. With more and more of us owning smart phones and wearable tech, researchers at the University of Sussex have found a more efficient way of connecting our devices and improving battery...
