This doesn’t sound like a good idea to me: …[A] new artificial intelligence research project coming out of Japan…can analyze a person’s brain scans and provide a written description of what they have been looking at. To generate its captions, … Continue reading →
As you can see. I especially like the short sequence that begins around 5:35: Why do parrots parrot? See this. It turns out that not only do they have a well-developed vocal apparatus as vocal learners, but they also want … Continue reading →
I keep reading online discussions in which people assume that there’s been a big increase in teen killings, both murder and suicide. It’s taken almost as a given, but I rarely if ever see anyone citing statistics to back up … Continue reading →
When I read the news of a possible breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research, it sounded at least somewhat encouraging. Maybe, maybe someday it could lead to a cure or at least an effective treatment for this dreadful scourge of an illness: … Continue reading →
In Windsor, Ontario, some people are troubled by a persistent low-level hum, the origins of which no one has been able to detect: Those who hear it have compared it to a fleet of diesel engines idling next to your … Continue reading →
This is pretty astounding news. A new technology called Lidar: …unveils archaeological finds almost invisible to the naked eye, especially in the tropics. It is a sophisticated remote sensing technology that uses laser light to densely sample the surface of … Continue reading →
…than are dreamt of in your philosophy: From a seam in one of these [ancient Australian] hills, a jumble of ancient, orange-Creamsicle rock spills forth: a deposit called the Apex Chert. Within this rock, viewable only through a microscope, there … Continue reading →
A little non-political item from the NY Post: The universe shouldn’t technically exist, according to top scientists who have spent their careers trying to figure out how the beginning of everything didn’t immediately destroy itself. I believe they actually mean … Continue reading →
Two teeth may not seem like a lot, but these teeth could wind up being an important clue in the history of human development: At a press conference announcing the discovery, the mayor of Mainz said: ‘I don’t want to … Continue reading →
A while back, commenter “parker” wrote—and I think he spoke for a lot of people when he said it: It is simple, because I admit I am a simpleton. Born XY you are male, Born XX you are female. Now … Continue reading →
The terrible earthquake that occurred on September 19 in Mexico brings to mind the one that happened exactly 32 years—to the day—earlier. The 1985 earthquake had a large death toll, variously estimated to have been between 5,000 and 10,000 people, … Continue reading →
A new report acknowledges what I recall reading for some years now: Computer modelling used a decade ago to predict how quickly global average temperatures would rise may have forecast too much warming, a study has found. The Earth warmed … Continue reading →