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Categories: Mathematics: Modeling, Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published Cracking the code of life: new AI model learns DNA's hidden language



With GROVER, a new large language model trained on human DNA, researchers could now attempt to decode the complex information hidden in our genome. GROVER treats human DNA as a text, learning its rules and context to draw functional information about the DNA sequences.
Published When it comes to DNA replication, humans and baker's yeast are more alike than different



Humans and baker's yeast have more in common than meets the eye, including an important mechanism that helps ensure DNA is copied correctly, reports a pair of studies. The findings visualize for the first time a molecular complex -- called CTF18-RFC in humans and Ctf18-RFC in yeast -- that loads a 'clamp' onto DNA to keep parts of the replication machinery from falling off the DNA strand.
Published Half a billion-year-old spiny slug reveals the origins of mollusks



Exceptional fossils with preserved soft parts reveal that the earliest mollusks were flat, armored slugs without shells. The new species, Shishania aculeata, was covered with hollow, organic, cone-shaped spines. The fossils preserve exceptionally rare detailed features which reveal that these spines were produced using a sophisticated secretion system that is shared with annelids (earthworms and relatives).
Published Method prevents an AI model from being overconfident about wrong answers



Thermometer, a new calibration technique tailored for large language models, can prevent LLMs from being overconfident or underconfident about their predictions. The technique aims to help users know when a model should be trusted.
Published Demographics of north African human populations unravelled using genomic data and artificial intelligence



A new study places the origin of the Imazighen in the Epipaleolithic, more than twenty thousand years ago. The research concludes that the genetic origin of the current Arab population of north Africa is far more recent than previously believed, placing it in the seventh century AD. The team has designed an innovative demographic model that uses artificial intelligence to analyze the complete genomes of the two populations.
Published Scientists devise method to secure Earth's biodiversity on the moon



New research led proposes a plan to safeguard Earth's imperiled biodiversity by cryogenically preserving biological material on the moon. The moon's permanently shadowed craters are cold enough for cryogenic preservation without the need for electricity or liquid nitrogen.
Published Researchers explore the potential of clean energy markets as a hedging tool



Clean energy investments offer potential stability and growth, especially during volatile market conditions. A recent study explored the relationship between clean energy markets and global stock markets. Significant spillovers were observed from major indices like the SP500 to markets such as Japan's Nikkei225 and Global Clean Energy Index. These interactions suggest opportunities for optimizing investment portfolios and leveraging clean energy assets as hedging tools in volatile market environments.
Published Super-black wood can improve telescopes, optical devices and consumer goods



Thanks to an accidental discovery, researchers have created a new super-black material that absorbs almost all light, opening potential applications in fine jewelry, solar cells and precision optical devices.
Published Injury dressings in first-aid kits provide a new technique to reveal shark species after bite incidents



Scientists have revealed that injury dressings found in first-aid kits can reliably be used to identify shark species involved in bite incidents by deploying medical gauze to gather DNA samples from aquatic equipment, such as surfboards.
Published Breaking MAD: Generative AI could break the internet, researchers find



Researchers have found that training successive generations of generative artificial intelligence models on synthetic data gives rise to self-consuming feedback loops.
Published Platypus and chicken reveal how chromosomes balance between the sexes



Geneticists uncover new insights into how sex chromosome systems work in the platypus and the chicken -- which will lead to better understandings of our own sex chromosome evolution and gene regulation.
Published How researchers turn bacteria into cellulose-producing mini-factories



Researchers have modified certain bacteria with UV light so that they produce more cellulose. The basis for this is a new approach with which the researchers generate thousands of bacterial variants and select those that have developed into the most productive.
Published When allocating scarce resources with AI, randomization can improve fairness



Researchers argue that, in some situations where machine-learning models are used to allocate scarce resources or opportunities, randomizing decisions in a structured way may lead to fairer outcomes.
Published The ancestor of all modern birds probably had iridescent feathers



Birds tend to be more colorful in the tropics, and scientists wanted to find out how they got there: if colorful feathers evolved in the tropics, or if tropical birds have brightly-colored ancestors that came to the region from somwhere else. Scientists built a database of 9,409 birds to explore the spread of color across the globe. They found that iridescent, colorful feathers originated 415 times across the bird tree of life, and in most cases, arose outside of the tropics -- and that the ancestor of all modern birds likely had iridescent feathers, too.
Published Lampreys possess a 'jaw-dropping' evolutionary origin



Lampreys are one of only two living jawless vertebrates Jaws are formed by a key stem cell population called the neural crest New research reveals the gene regulatory changes that may explain morphological differences between jawed and jawless vertebrates.
Published Ancient marine animal had inventive past despite being represented by few species



Brachiopods were evolving in new directions but this did not turn into evolutionary success in terms of the numbers of species, researchers have found.
Published Exploring consciousness with eureka moments



We all know what it's like when the penny suddenly drops. Animals too experience such moments of insight. They could prove useful for research of consciousness.
Published Rock art and archaeological record reveal humans' complex relationship with Amazonian animals



Rock art explored by archaeologists in the Colombian Amazon has provided an insight into the complex relationship between the earliest settlers on the continent and the animals they encountered.
Published In clinical trial, fecal matter transplant helped half of patients with gastrointestinal cancers overcome resistance to immunotherapy treatment



Findings from a small, proof-of-concept clinical trial have suggested that fecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) can boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy in a range of gastrointestinal cancers. In the study, six of 13 patients who had previously shown resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors benefited from receiving FMTs from donors who had previously responded to treatment. The investigators also identified specific strains of bacteria associated with better or worse responses to FMT and immune checkpoint drugs.
Published Raindrops grow with turbulence in clouds



Tackling a long-time mystery, scientists have found that the turbulent movements of air in clouds play a key role in the growth of water droplets and the initiation of rain. The research can improve computer model simulations of weather and climate and ultimately lead to better forecasts.