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Covert racism in AI chatbots, precise Stone Age engineering, and the science of paper cuts
Download the Nature Podcast 28 August 2024 In this episode: 00:31 Chatbots makes racist judgements on the basis of dialect Research has shown that large language models, including those that power chatbots such as ChatGPT, make racist judgements on the basis of users’ dialects. If asked to describe a person, many AI systems responded with…
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Chain retraction: how to stop bad science propagating through the literature
Article retractions have been growing steadily over the past few decades, soaring to a record-breaking figure of nearly 14,000 last year, compared with less than 1,000 per year before 2009 (see go.nature.com/3azcxan and go.nature.com/3x9uxfn). Retracting flawed research papers is part of a healthy scientific process. Not all retractions stem from misconduct — they can also…
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Good Nature by Kathy Willis review
If you’re a stressed-out office worker, one of the simplest things you can do for yourself is to buy some flowers. A study conducted by Chiba University in Japan found that employees who had a vase of pink roses on their desk became physiologically calmer, even after just four minutes. The smell of roses is…
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Metamaterials design via and for computation
This issue of Nature Computational Science features a Focus that highlights recent advancements, challenges, and opportunities in computational models for metamaterials design and manufacturing, as well as explores their potential promises in emerging information processors and computing technologies. A metamaterial is a category of artificially structured material that is engineered to achieve properties that cannot…
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A dataset of acoustic measurements from soundscapes collected worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract Political responses to the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in city soundscapes around the globe. From March to October 2020, a consortium of 261 contributors from 35 countries brought together by the Silent Cities project built a unique soundscape recordings collection to report on local acoustic changes in urban areas. We present this collection…
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The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature
The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature offers engaging experiences for all ages, fostering appreciation for science and the natural world. Visitors can explore informative exhibits and interactive educational spaces like the captivating Mosaic Backyard Universe or blast off in a cutting-edge Planetarium. The Museum is also dedicated to rehabilitating Florida manatees at the Parker…
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Waveguide-integrated metasurfaces for multi-channel crosstalk-free holography
Abstract Limited information capacity and inter-channel crosstalk in metaholograms hinder their practical use in display applications. Leveraging waveguide-based metasurfaces, the integration of spin and angle-of-incidence multiplexing facilitates the generation of broadband six-channel metaholograms free from crosstalk. Metaholograms generate holographic images using subwavelength scale structures and have garnered significant interest due to their exceptional characteristics, including…
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Can ageing be stopped? A biologist explains
Download Nature hits the books 22 August 2024 For millennia, humanity has obsessed about halting ageing and, ultimately, preventing death. Yet while advances in medicine and public-health have seen human life-expectancy more than double, our maximum lifespan stubbornly remains around 120 years. On the latest episode of Nature hits the books, Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan…
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The difficult but necessary role of political engagement for scientists
In 2021, physicist and writer, Carlo Rovelli, helped launch an open letter to the world’s politicians calling for a small proportion of military funding to address climate change, poverty and pandemics — the Global Peace Dividend. He discusses the pressing need for global cooperation on common interests. This is a preview of subscription content, access via…
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AI-recognized mitochondrial phenotype enables identification of drug targets
Revealing a drug’s mechanism of action (MOA) is costly and time-consuming. In this study, we used deep learning to extract temporal mitochondrial phenotypic features after exposure to drugs with known MOAs using re-identification algorithms. The trained model could then predict the MOAs of unidentified substances, facilitating phenotypic screening-based drug discovery and repurposing. This is a…