Archaeology: General Ecology: Trees Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

New research suggests drought accelerated empire collapse      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The collapse of the Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age has been blamed on various factors, from war with other territories to internal strife. Now, scientists have used tree ring and isotope records to pinpoint a more likely culprit: three straight years of severe drought.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

AI can predict the effectiveness of breast cancer chemotherapy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Engineers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict if women with breast cancer would benefit from chemotherapy prior to surgery.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

AI-Powered FRIDA robot collaborates with humans to create art      (via sciencedaily.com) 

FRIDA, a robotic arm with a paintbrush taped to it, uses artificial intelligence to collaborate with humans on works of art. Ask FRIDA to paint a picture, and it gets to work putting brush to canvas. The robot uses AI models similar to those powering tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, which generate text or an image, respectively, in response to a prompt. FRIDA simulates how it would paint an image with brush strokes and uses machine learning to evaluate its progress as it works. FRIDA's final products are impressionistic and whimsical. The brushstrokes are bold. They lack the precision sought so often in robotic endeavors. If FRIDA makes a mistake, it riffs on it, incorporating the errant splotch of paint into the end result.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Mathematics: Modeling
Published

Solving a machine-learning mystery      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have explained how large language models like GPT-3 are able to learn new tasks without updating their parameters, despite not being trained to perform those tasks. They found that these large language models write smaller linear models inside their hidden layers, which the large models can train to complete a new task using simple learning algorithms.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Can pigeons match wits with artificial intelligence?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Can a pigeon match wits with artificial intelligence? Researchers tested pigeons' learning abilities and concluded the birds employ the same basic process, called associative learning, as the most advanced AI technologies.

Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Changing climate conditions likely facilitated early human migration to the Americas at key intervals, research suggests      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have pinpointed two intervals when ice and ocean conditions would have been favorable to support early human migration from Asia to North America late in the last ice age, a new paper shows.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
Published

Prehistoric human migration in Southeast Asia driven by sea-level rise      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An interdisciplinary team of scientistshas found that rapid sea-level rise drove early settlers in Southeast Asia to migrate during the prehistoric period, increasing the genetic diversity of the region today.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Interactive cyber-physical human: Generating contact-rich whole-body motions      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Performing human-like motions that involve multiple contacts is challenging for robots. In this regard, a researcher has envisioned an interactive cyber-physical human (iCPH) platform with complementary humanoid (physical twin) and simulation (digital twin) elements. iCPH combines human measurement data, musculoskeletal analysis, and machine learning for data collection and augmentation. As a result, iCPH can understand, predict, and synthesize whole-body contact motions.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: General Archaeology: General
Published

Remapping the superhighways travelled by the first Australians reveals a 10,000-year journey through the continent      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research has revealed that the process of 'peopling' the entire continent of Sahul -- the combined mega continent that joined Australia with New Guinea when sea levels were much lower than today -- took 10,000 years. Sophisticated models show the scale of the challenges faced by the ancestors of Indigenous people making their mass migration across the supercontinent more than 60,000 years ago. This pattern led to a rapid expansion both southward toward the Great Australian Bight, and northward from the Kimberley region to settle all parts of New Guinea and, later, the southwest and southeast of Australia.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Robot: I'm sorry. Human: I don't care anymore!      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Humans are less forgiving of robots after multiple mistakes -- and the trust is difficult to get back, according to a new study.

Archaeology: General
Published

Vikings crossing the North Sea to Britain brought their horses, dogs and other animals      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An analysis of cremated bone fragments from burial mounds in Derbyshire, UK, provides the first solid evidence that Vikings crossed the North Sea with horses, dogs and other animals as early as the ninth century AD. Researchers analyzed samples of human and animal remains, finding that they most likely originated from Scandinavia and that they died soon after arrival in Britain.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Computer Science: General Mathematics: Modeling
Published

New approach to 'punishment and reward' method of training artificial intelligence offers potential key to unlock new treatments for aggressive cancers      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new 'outside-the-box' method of teaching artificial intelligence (AI) models to make decisions could provide hope for finding new therapeutic methods for cancer, according to a new study.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Legged robots need more testing before real-world use      (via sciencedaily.com) 

When it comes to the 'evolution' of mobile robots, it may be a long time before legged robots are able to safely interact in the real world, according to a new study.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Environmental: Biodiversity Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

A fairy-like robot flies by the power of wind and light      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The loss of pollinators, such as bees, is a huge challenge for global biodiversity and affects humanity by causing problems in food production. Researchers have now developed the first passively flying robot equipped with artificial muscle. Could this artificial fairy be utilized in pollination?

Biology: Developmental Biology: Evolutionary Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Offbeat: Computers and Math Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

AI technology generates original proteins from scratch      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have created an AI system capable of generating artificial enzymes from scratch. In laboratory tests, some of these enzymes worked as well as those found in nature, even when their artificially generated amino acid sequences diverged significantly from any known natural protein.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Versatile robo-dog runs through the sandy beach at 3 meters per second      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Meet the new addition to the robo-dog family, 'RaiBo', that can run along the sandy beach without losing balance and walk through grassy fields and back on the hard-floored tracking fields all on its own -- no further tinkering necessary.

Chemistry: Thermodynamics Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research Offbeat: Computers and Math
Published

Person-shaped robot can liquify and escape jail, all with the power of magnets      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Inspired by sea cucumbers, engineers have designed miniature robots that rapidly and reversibly shift between liquid and solid states. On top of being able to shape-shift, the robots are magnetic and can conduct electricity. The researchers put the robots through an obstacle course of mobility and shape-morphing tests.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

Fish sensory organ key to improving navigational skills of underwater robots      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists have been studying a fish sensory organ to understand cues for collective behavior which could be employed on underwater robots.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Published

Altered speech may be the first sign of Parkinson's disease      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers attempted to identify early symptoms of Parkinson's disease using voice data. In their study, the researchers used artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze and assess speech signals, where calculations are done and diagnoses made in seconds rather than hours.

Computer Science: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineering: Robotics Research
Published

New soft robots poised to be more agile, controlled      (via sciencedaily.com) 

One of the virtues of untethered soft robots is their ability to mechanically adapt to their surroundings and tasks. Now they are poised to become even more agile and controlled.