Category: Science and Nature

  • How OpenAI’s text-to-video tool Sora could change science

    How OpenAI’s text-to-video tool Sora could change science

    Sora is one of several AI tools that generates video from text promptsCredit: OpenAI The release of OpenAI’s Sora text-to-video AI tool last month was met with a mix of trepidation and excitement from researchers who are concerned about misuse of the technology. The California-based company showcased Sora’s ability to create photorealistic videos from a…

  • Why the world cannot afford the rich

    Why the world cannot afford the rich

    As environmental, social and humanitarian crises escalate, the world can no longer afford two things: first, the costs of economic inequality; and second, the rich. Between 2020 and 2022, the world’s most affluent 1% of people captured nearly twice as much of the new global wealth created as did the other 99% of individuals put…

  • Environmental Science Center’s ‘Heroes for Nature’ Gala will be Saturday, Mar. 16 – The B-Town (Burien) Blog

    Want to support an incredible nonprofit providing free environmental and science education to South King County? Want to enjoy a low key, casual evening with catered food and drink, dessert dash, photo booth, and Live Raptor encounters? Consider joining a few of your neighbors at Environmental Science Center’s Heroes for Nature Gala on Saturday, Mar.…

  • Pushing the limits of OFDFT with neural networks

    Pushing the limits of OFDFT with neural networks

    A neural network-based method for advancing orbital-free density functional theory (OFDFT) is developed, which reaches DFT accuracy and maintains lower cost complexity. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Access through your institution Change institution Buy or subscribe /* style specs start */ style{display:none!important}.LiveAreaSection-193358632 *{align-content:stretch;align-items:stretch;align-self:auto;animation-delay:0s;animation-direction:normal;animation-duration:0s;animation-fill-mode:none;animation-iteration-count:1;animation-name:none;animation-play-state:running;animation-timing-function:ease;azimuth:center;backface-visibility:visible;background-attachment:scroll;background-blend-mode:normal;background-clip:borderBox;background-color:transparent;background-image:none;background-origin:paddingBox;background-position:0 0;background-repeat:repeat;background-size:auto auto;block-size:auto;border-block-end-color:currentcolor;border-block-end-style:none;border-block-end-width:medium;border-block-start-color:currentcolor;border-block-start-style:none;border-block-start-width:medium;border-bottom-color:currentcolor;border-bottom-left-radius:0;border-bottom-right-radius:0;border-bottom-style:none;border-bottom-width:medium;border-collapse:separate;border-image-outset:0s;border-image-repeat:stretch;border-image-slice:100%;border-image-source:none;border-image-width:1;border-inline-end-color:currentcolor;border-inline-end-style:none;border-inline-end-width:medium;border-inline-start-color:currentcolor;border-inline-start-style:none;border-inline-start-width:medium;border-left-color:currentcolor;border-left-style:none;border-left-width:medium;border-right-color:currentcolor;border-right-style:none;border-right-width:medium;border-spacing:0;border-top-color:currentcolor;border-top-left-radius:0;border-top-right-radius:0;border-top-style:none;border-top-width:medium;bottom:auto;box-decoration-break:slice;box-shadow:none;box-sizing:border-box;break-after:auto;break-before:auto;break-inside:auto;caption-side:top;caret-color:auto;clear:none;clip:auto;clip-path:none;color:initial;column-count:auto;column-fill:balance;column-gap:normal;column-rule-color:currentcolor;column-rule-style:none;column-rule-width:medium;column-span:none;column-width:auto;content:normal;counter-increment:none;counter-reset:none;cursor:auto;display:inline;empty-cells:show;filter:none;flex-basis:auto;flex-direction:row;flex-grow:0;flex-shrink:1;flex-wrap:nowrap;float:none;font-family:initial;font-feature-settings:normal;font-kerning:auto;font-language-override:normal;font-size:medium;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal;font-style:normal;font-synthesis:weight style;font-variant:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-position:normal;font-weight:400;grid-auto-columns:auto;grid-auto-flow:row;grid-auto-rows:auto;grid-column-end:auto;grid-column-gap:0;grid-column-start:auto;grid-row-end:auto;grid-row-gap:0;grid-row-start:auto;grid-template-areas:none;grid-template-columns:none;grid-template-rows:none;height:auto;hyphens:manual;image-orientation:0deg;image-rendering:auto;image-resolution:1dppx;ime-mode:auto;inline-size:auto;isolation:auto;justify-content:flexStart;left:auto;letter-spacing:normal;line-break:auto;line-height:normal;list-style-image:none;list-style-position:outside;list-style-type:disc;margin-block-end:0;margin-block-start:0;margin-bottom:0;margin-inline-end:0;margin-inline-start:0;margin-left:0;margin-right:0;margin-top:0;mask-clip:borderBox;mask-composite:add;mask-image:none;mask-mode:matchSource;mask-origin:borderBox;mask-position:0 0;mask-repeat:repeat;mask-size:auto;mask-type:luminance;max-height:none;max-width:none;min-block-size:0;min-height:0;min-inline-size:0;min-width:0;mix-blend-mode:normal;object-fit:fill;object-position:50%…

  • This geologist communicates science from the ski slopes

    This geologist communicates science from the ski slopes

    Karin Kirk skiing.Credit: Chris Kerr Karin Kirk is a freelance science journalist who has built a career on icy ground. She lives in Bozeman, Montana, a corner of the northwestern United States known for its snow-capped mountains and vast wilderness areas. There, she balances her work as a science writer and climate educator with her…

  • The science of Oppenheimer: meet the Oscar-winning movie’s specialist advisers

    The science of Oppenheimer: meet the Oscar-winning movie’s specialist advisers

    Cillian Murphy picked up the best actor award for his portrayal of Oppenheimer.Credit: Landmark Media/Alamy Oppenheimer won big at last night’s Oscars, scooping 7 awards out of 13 nominations, including best picture. The film has been lauded for its accurate portrayal of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s life, and its examination of both the human and…

  • ‘A beautiful way of saying a lot’: sign language brings benefits to the organic chemistry classroom

    ‘A beautiful way of saying a lot’: sign language brings benefits to the organic chemistry classroom

    Christina Goudreau Collison signs the term ‘steric hindrance’ while teaching the hydroboration reaction in her organic chemistry class at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.Credit: Olivia Schlichtkrull Sign language in science The lack of scientific terms and vocabulary in many of the world’s sign languages can make science education and research careers inaccessible…

  • Natural History Specimens Have Never Been So Accessible

    Natural History Specimens Have Never Been So Accessible

    With the help of 16 grants from the National Science Foundation, researchers have painstakingly taken computed topography (CT) scans of more than 13,000 individual specimens to create 3D images of more than half of all the world’s animal groups, including mammals, fishes, amphibians and reptiles. The research team, made of members from The University of…

  • A new era of science and innovation dawns in Rio de Janeiro

    A new era of science and innovation dawns in Rio de Janeiro

    Rio de Janeiro recently met its constitutionally mandated goal of allocating 2% of its net revenue to science for the first time.Credit: lunopark/ Shutterstock Rio de Janeiro may be among the smallest of Brazil’s 26 states, but it’s also an economic powerhouse, second only to São Paulo, its larger and more populous neighbour to the…

  • Science for society: a 60-year legacy of research that makes a difference

    Science for society: a 60-year legacy of research that makes a difference

    The São Paulo Research Foundation created the Amazon +10 Fund to develop science, technology and innovation in AmazoniaCredit: LeoFFreitas / Getty Images Driving to a pump and filling the tank with hydrogen could soon be a reality for many. In mid-2024, oil and gas company Shell and FAPESP, the São Paulo Research Foundation, plan to…