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Perfection: the Enemy of Evolution
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Perfection: the Enemy of Evolution

Scientists are often trained to seek out the absolute best solution to a given problem. On a chalk board, this might look something like drawing a graph to find a function’s minimum or maximum point. When designing a turbojet engine, it might mean tweaking the rotor blades’ angles a tiny degree to achieve a tenth...

Hollywood Writers Strike: Ai Concerns, Industry Consequences
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Hollywood Writers Strike: AI Concerns, Industry Consequences

Hollywood screenwriters have gone on strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) seeks higher pay, upfront fees from streaming services, better working conditions and reassurance that studios won’t use artificial intelligence programs to generate scripts. The last WGA strike, 15 years ago, led to permanent changes in the entertainment landscape, such as the rise of...

Is Sex in Space Being Taken Seriously by the Emerging Space Tourism Sector?
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Is Sex in Space Being Taken Seriously by the Emerging Space Tourism Sector?

Sex in space is a real possibility with the expected growth in space tourism over the next decade, says Cranfield University-led paper Researchers say the expected motivations and behaviours of space tourists will differ from that of professional astronauts Green paper published today highlights the biological and commercial risk of human conception in space and...

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Fear Not the Deadlines, New Research Finds

Deadlines are part and parcel of modern knowledge work. Journalists must serve their weekly columns, managers must turn in their monthly reports, and researchers must submit their papers and proposals on time. Despite their ubiquity, deadlines conjure up negative feelings and are perceived as challenging events. Accordingly, there has been a trend to do away...

This is What Happens When Your Phone is Infected with Spyware
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This is What Happens When Your Phone is Infected with Spyware

Smartphone spyware apps that allow people to spy on each other are not only hard to notice and detect, they also  will easily leak the sensitive personal information they collect,  says a team of computer scientists from New York and San Diego.  While publicly marketed as tools to monitor underage children and employees using their...

Lab-Grown Fat Could Give Cultured Meat Real Flavor and Texture
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Lab-Grown Fat Could Give Cultured Meat Real Flavor and Texture

Researchers at Tufts University have successfully bulk-produced fat tissue in the lab that has a similar texture and make-up to fat tissue naturally occurring in animals. The results, described in a study published in eLife, could be applied to the production of cultured meat grown entirely from cells, giving it a more realistic texture and...

Researchers Identify 6 Challenges Humans Face with Artificial Intelligence
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Researchers Identify 6 Challenges Humans Face with Artificial Intelligence

A UCF professor led a study that identifies six challenges humans must overcome to enhance our relationship with artificial intelligence and to ensure its use is ethical and fair. A University of Central Florida professor and 26 other researchers have published a study identifying the challenges humans must overcome to ensure that artificial intelligence is...

Picture a Dream: Dream Collaboration’ for Neuroscientists and Artists
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Picture a Dream: Dream Collaboration’ for Neuroscientists and Artists

Dreams are being turned into reality as new research investigating the unusual experiences of people with depersonalisation symptoms is being brought to life in an art exhibition at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, England. ARU neuroscientist Dr Jane Aspell has led a major international study into depersonalisation, funded by the Bial Foundation. The “Living...