And on the flip side, which black holes stand out to you as particularly extreme or particularly weird? I like to study the normal guys, and then I like to crank things up and see where things break. What’s also really fun are the oddball systems that just keep you up at night wondering: How… Continue reading To See Black Holes in Detail, She Uses ‘Echoes’ Like a Bat
How Quickly Do Large Language Models Learn Unexpected Skills?
Two years ago, in a project called the Beyond the Imitation Game benchmark, or BIG-bench, 450 researchers compiled a list of 204 tasks designed to test the capabilities of large language models, which power chatbots like ChatGPT. On most tasks, performance improved predictably and smoothly as the models scaled up — the larger the model,… Continue reading How Quickly Do Large Language Models Learn Unexpected Skills?
How Far Away Is the Horizon?
When most of us go to the beach, we like to play in the sand, frolic in the surf and people watch. I like all those things, too. But I am also a massive science nerd, and that means that despite the distractions, I cannot tear my attention away from the horizon. Oh, that line… Continue reading How Far Away Is the Horizon?
Pet Telepathy (Dogs, Cats, Parrots, Jaytee, N’Kisi, Rupert Sheldrake)
Podcast: Download MYS298: Some pet owners feel a special bond with their pets and at times they even seem to know what their owners are thinking. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine whether people really can have a telepathic connection to their pets and look at what the scientific evidence says. Get all new episodes… Continue reading Pet Telepathy (Dogs, Cats, Parrots, Jaytee, N’Kisi, Rupert Sheldrake)
A ‘Lobby’ Where a Molecule Mob Tells Genes What to Do
That’s why well-controlled experiments like those of the Stanford team are so useful, Kuhlman added. Usually, when researchers need to measure weak interactions like these, they have two choices: They can make a few very detailed, extremely precise measurements and generalize from them, or they can take a great many quick-and-dirty measurements and use mathematically… Continue reading A ‘Lobby’ Where a Molecule Mob Tells Genes What to Do
It’s Time to Upend the Modern University
University presidents have been in the limelight in recent months, more than at any other time in living memory. The additional scrutiny is amply warranted. They occupy powerful positions at their respective institutions. They formulate and communicate a vision for the university. They handle budgetary priorities. They approve hiring requests and promotions. They oversee the… Continue reading It’s Time to Upend the Modern University
AI Audio Deepfakes Are Quickly Outpacing Detection
Experts have long warned of a future where artificial intelligence makes it impossible to tell digital fact from fiction. Now that future is here. A recent case of a recording that sounds like a high school principal making racist comments shows the risk that widely available generative AI tools can pose and the difficulty of… Continue reading AI Audio Deepfakes Are Quickly Outpacing Detection
Medicine Now Diagnoses the Non-White ‘Oppressed’ With an Oppressive Case of ‘Weathering’
By John Murawski, RealClearInvestigationsFebruary 13, 2024 In 1986, an upstart public health researcher named Arline Geronimus challenged the conventional wisdom that condemned the alarming rise of inner-city teen pregnancies. While activist minister Jesse Jackson and health care leaders were decrying the crisis of “babies having babies” as a ghetto pathology, Geronimus contended that teenage pregnancy… Continue reading Medicine Now Diagnoses the Non-White ‘Oppressed’ With an Oppressive Case of ‘Weathering’
Cleaning Water Naturally the Ancient Maya Way
Water is life. That’s why we need to take care of it. Even plentiful water supplies are moot if they are undrinkable. Climate change, pollution and growing populations only add to the urgency of maintaining adequate water supplies and water quality for humanity. After doing archaeology for 35 years in Belize, focusing on the ancestral… Continue reading Cleaning Water Naturally the Ancient Maya Way
AI Survey Exaggerates Apocalyptic Risks
The headlines in early January didn’t mince words, and all were variations on one theme: researchers think there’s a 5 percent chance artificial intelligence could wipe out humanity. That was the sobering finding of a paper posted on the preprint server arXiv.org. In it, the authors reported the results of a survey of 2,778 researchers… Continue reading AI Survey Exaggerates Apocalyptic Risks