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A reflection on intelligence, epistemic fatigue, and its consequences

#evolution #intelligence #epistemic fatigue

"The idea was to see whether patterns hidden in that data could help us predict which children might later be diagnosed with ADHD..."

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects millions of children, yet many go years without a diagnosis, missing the chance for early support that can change long-term outcomes even when early signs are present. According to the new study, by reviewing patterns in everyday medical data, the approach could help flag children who may benefit from earlier evaluation and follow-up. The research in Nature Mental Health highlights how powerful insights can come from information already collected during regular health care visits to help support early decision making by primary care providers.

The behaviour of sub-atomic particles in the LHC seems to disagree with the Standard Model.

Recent findings from research we have been carrying out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at Cern in Geneva suggest that we might be closing in on signs of undiscovered physics. If confirmed, these hints would overturn the theory, called the Standard Model, that has dominated particle physics for 50 years. The findings suggest the way that specific sub-atomic particles behave in the LHC disagrees with the Standard Model. Fundamental particles are the most basic building blocks of matter – sub-atomic particles that cannot be divided into smaller units. The four fundamental forces – gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force and the strong force – govern how these particles interact. The LHC is a giant particle accelerator built in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss border. Its main purpose is to find cracks in the Standard Model. This theory is our best understanding of fundamental particles and forces, but we know it cannot be the whole story. It does not explain gravity or dark matter – the invisible, so far unmeasured type of matter that makes up approximately 25% of the universe.

#physics

Many aspects of human anatomy are just “good enough” solutions – functional, but far from perfect.

The human body is often described as a marvel of “perfect design”: elegant, efficient and finely tuned for its purpose. Yet, when we look closer, a rather different picture emerges. Far from being a flawless machine, the body reads more like a patchwork of compromises shaped by millions of years of evolutionary tinkering. Evolution does not design structures from scratch. Rather, it modifies what already exists. As a result, many aspects of human anatomy are just “good enough” solutions – functional, but far from perfect. Some of the most familiar medical problems and ailments arise directly from these inherited constraints.

#evolution

Neuroscientists have uncovered new insights into a key evolutionary question: Why can humans talk when most animals can't?

The journal Science published the research led by Emory University and the New College of Florida.The findings suggest that seals and sea lions may have vocal flexibility as a side effect of developing a brain “bypass” for voluntary breath control. That same bypass allowed them to adapt to aquatic life.The comparative study examined the brains of coyotes along with those of sea lions, elephant seals, and harbor seals—marine carnivores with varying degrees of vocal control that are evolutionary cousins to canines.Seals are among the few animal species known to have the super vocal flexibility that allows them to mimic human voices. Sea lions have also demonstrated good vocal plasticity on a more limited scale. The neurobiology of these capabilities, however, was not known.

For decades, ADHD stimulant medications have been thought to sharpen attention, but new research has uncovered something very different is at play. These drugs don't actually provide laser-sharp focus but may instead boost wakefulness and engagement, helping the brain stay with tasks rather than…

For decades, ADHD stimulant medications have been thought to sharpen attention, but new research has uncovered something very different is at play. These drugs don't actually provide laser-sharp focus but may instead boost wakefulness and engagement, helping the brain stay with tasks rather than hold attention. In a landmark study, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WashU) have shown for the first time that stimulant medications mainly act on the brain’s reward and wakefulness centers, rather than on its attention circuitry. This upends traditional thought on how drugs like Adderall and Ritalin work.

#brain stimulation #ADHD

So we close the year as we lived it: aware, conflicted, and oddly hopeful...

#future #sentience #yours truly

One-third of students in an OECD survey said school has not taught them anything useful for a job.

The government has recently released its national youth strategy, which promises better career advice for young people in England. It’s sorely needed: for teenagers today, the future of work probably feels more like a moving target than a destination. Barely three years after ChatGPT went mainstream, the labour market has already shifted under young people’s feet. In the US, job postings for roles requiring no degree have dropped by 18% since 2022, and roles requiring no prior experience by 20%. Administrative and professional service jobs – once key entry points for school-leavers – are down by as much as 40%. While headlines often warn of looming mass job losses due to GenAI, the reality is more complex. Jobs are not simply disappearing but transforming, and new kinds of jobs are appearing. Research has projected that the adoption of new technologies will displace around two million jobs in the UK by 2035. However, this loss is expected to be offset by the creation of approximately 2.6 million new roles, particularly in higher-skilled occupations and healthcare roles. Despite a transformed job market, OECD data from 80 countries shows that most young people still aim for traditional roles – as architects, vets and designers as well as doctors, teachers and lawyers – even as demand rises in digital, green and technical sectors. One-third of students in the OECD survey said school has not taught them anything useful for a job.

#future #education

Japanese company Science is commercially producing its Mirai Ningen Sentakuki – Human Washing Machine of the Future – after an overwhelming response at the Osaka-Kansai Expo this year. Only 50 models will be made, with a price tag of US$385,000.

Japanese company Science is commercially producing its Mirai Ningen Sentakuki – Human Washing Machine of the Future – after an overwhelming response at the Osaka-Kansai Expo this year. Only 50 models will be made, with a price tag of US$385,000. The pod, which was six years in the making, is set to retail locally for ¥60 million – and at that price, you know it's no ordinary tub. It measures the bather's biometrics via a sensor that makes contact with the individual's back, and tailors the experience to be as much about wellbeing as cleaning. Personalized images are projected on the inside walls and the water is adjusted in real time to suit the mood of the user.

#artificial intelligence

A study of 86,000 older adults across Europe shows people who speak multiple languages tend to age more slowly than monolinguals.

People are living longer than ever around the world. Longer lives bring new opportunities, but they also introduce challenges, especially the risk of age-related decline. Alongside physical changes such as reduced strength or slower movement, many older adults struggle with memory, attention and everyday tasks. Researchers have spent years trying to understand why some people stay mentally sharp while others deteriorate more quickly. One idea attracting growing interest is multilingualism, the ability to speak more than one language. When someone knows two or more languages, all those languages remain active in the brain. Each time a multilingual person wants to speak, the brain must select the right language while keeping others from interfering. This constant mental exercise acts a bit like daily “brain training”.

#anti aging #brain #language

An ambitious plan to sequence genomes for 1.85 million eukaryotic species on our planet is underway. It's a massive undertaking that will dramatically enhance our understanding of biology, and inform conservation and biodiversity restoration efforts.

An ambitious plan to sequence genomes for 1.85 million eukaryotic species on our planet is underway. It's a massive undertaking that will dramatically enhance our understanding of biology, and inform conservation and biodiversity restoration efforts. AI is making this go a little bit faster, by powering tools to not only record and catalog data from DNA, but also ensure it's accurate and free of errors across billions and billions of building blocks. The effort I'm talking about is called the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a collaborative program to catalog the genomes of all of Earth's current species over the course of a decade. It started in 2018, and is projected to cost nearly US$5 billion in total. EBP includes more than 60 global affiliated projects to record and sequence genomes, and it's contributed data for 4,386 species thus far. That covers mammals, reptiles, fish, birds, insects, all kinds of plants, and everything in between. This work is particularly crucial because on average, dozens of species go extinct every single day – and once they're gone, we won't have a chance to learn how they once lived or came to be through evolution.

#conservation #AI #genomes

Researchers have discovered a single growth factor that can spur damaged joint tissue to rebuild.

Their goal is to help the 2.1 million people in the United States living with limb loss, a population expected to more than triple by the year 2060 because of the increase in vascular diseases such as diabetes. Unlike some popular animals like the axolotl, a type of salamander that can regrow lost limbs, humans can only regrow the very tips of their fingers—and only under certain circumstances. But now, researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) at Texas A&M University have discovered a fibroblast growth factor (FGF)—a type of protein—capable of regenerating an entire finger joint, including articular cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. “We know that bone regeneration requires many different factors, one of which is FGFs,” says Lindsay Dawson, assistant professor in the VMBS’ veterinary physiology and pharmacology department.

AI chatbots are outperforming doctors in empathy ratings. But the real story isn’t about robot superiority, it’s about how we’ve broken healthcare.

Artificial intelligence has mastered chess, art and medical diagnosis. Now it’s apparently beating doctors at something we thought was uniquely human: empathy. A recent review published in the British Medical Bulletin analysed 15 studies comparing AI-written responses with those from human healthcare professionals. Blinded researchers then rated these responses for empathy using validated assessment tools. The results were startling: AI responses were rated as more empathic in 13 out of 15 studies – 87% of the time. Before we surrender healthcare’s human touch to our new robot overlords, we need to examine what’s really happening here. The studies compared written responses rather than face-to-face interactions, giving AI a structural advantage: no vocal tone to misread, no body language to interpret, and unlimited time to craft perfect responses. Critically, none of these studies measured harms. They assessed whether AI responses sounded empathic, not whether they led to better outcomes or caused damage through misunderstood context, missed warning signs, or inappropriate advice.

#ai #empathy

As the Arctic Ocean loses its sea ice due to climate change, sunlight penetrates deeper into the water and encourages the growth of tiny plant-like organisms (phytoplankton). But to thrive, they need nitrogen, a key nutrient. Think of it like fertilizer for ocean life.

Nitrogen enters the Arctic in several ways: through rivers carrying nutrients from the land, through particles falling out of the atmosphere, and through ocean currents flowing in from the Atlantic and Pacific. Until recently, scientists mostly studied these nitrogen sources using chemical and physical methods. But now, they're paying attention to microbes, invisible workers that help recycle nitrogen. Some microbes have been found to convert ammonia into usable forms through processes such as nitrification. But even more exciting is the discovery of nitrogen fixation, a process in which certain microbes called diazotrophs convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into ammonium, a form phytoplankton can use. This process wasn't thought to happen in the Arctic, but new evidence suggests it might, offering a fresh supply of nitrogen to fuel life.

#climate crisis #life

Grace Chan, author of Every Version of You, the November read for the New Scientist Book Club, explores the philosophical implications of the choices her characters make

In Every Version of You, the characters face an impossible choice: upload your mind into a virtual utopia, or crumble away in the abandoned physical world. Mind-uploading is familiar to us as a science fiction trope, often anchoring relationship dramas and philosophical inquiry. But what does it really mean to upload your consciousness into intangible space? Can the mechanics be extrapolated from our present-day science? And if you could do it, would you?

#mind

They may be better known for stir-fries than supercomputing, but shiitake mushrooms have now been harnessed to function as living processors, storing and recalling data like a semiconductor chip but with almost no environmental footprint.

Scientists at Ohio State University have shown that fungi can be trained to act like memristors – microscopic components used to process and store data in computer chips. The team found that shiitake-based devices demonstrated similar reproducible memory effects to semiconductor-based chips and could be used to create other types of low-cost, environmentally friendly, neural-inspired components. “Being able to develop microchips that mimic actual neural activity means you don't need a lot of power for standby or when the machine isn't being used,” said lead author John LaRocco, a research scientist at Ohio State’s College of Medicine. “That's something that can be a huge potential computational and economic advantage.”

#natural compounds #biochips #mushrooms

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