Hacker News with Generative AI: Science

Weight-loss drug found to shrink heart muscle in mice, human cells (ualberta.ca)
Trendy weight-loss drugs making headlines for shrinking waistlines may also be shrinking the human heart and other muscles, according to a new University of Alberta study whose authors say should serve as a “cautionary tale” about possible long-term health effects of these drugs.
Health, Weight Loss, Medical Research, Drugs, Science
197 points by Eumenes 7 hours ago | 228 comments
Bird flu in Canada may have mutated to become more transmissible to humans (theguardian.com)
The teenager hospitalized with bird flu in British Columbia, Canada, may have a variation of the virus that has a mutation making it more transmissible among people, early data shows – a warning of what the virus can do that is especially worrisome in countries such as the US where some H5N1 cases are not being detected.
Bird Flu, Public Health, Science, Canada
79 points by amichail 7 hours ago | 31 comments
Atlas of cells transforms understanding of human body (bbc.co.uk)
An ambitious plan to map all 37 trillion cells in the human body is transforming understanding of how our bodies work, scientists report.
Biology, Science, Human Body, Research
10 points by JohnHammersley 10 hours ago | 0 comments
New Calculation Finds we are close to the Kessler Syndrome [video] (youtube.com)
Space Debris, Kessler Syndrome, Science, Video
71 points by cratermoon 10 hours ago | 81 comments
All Life on Earth Today Descended from a Single Cell. Meet LUCA (quantamagazine.org)
The clearest picture yet of our “last universal common ancestor” suggests it was a relatively complex organism living 4.2 billion years ago, a time long considered too harsh for life to flourish.
Evolution, Biology, Science
19 points by EA-3167 12 hours ago | 0 comments
Between the Booms: AI in Winter – Communications of the ACM (cacm.acm.org)
Observing the tsunami of artificial intelligence (AI) hype that has swept over the world in the past few years, science fiction writer Ted Chiang staked out a contrarian position. “Artificial intelligence,” he insisted, was just a “poor choice of words … back in the ’50s” that had caused “a lot of confusion.”
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Science, Communications
62 points by rbanffy 13 hours ago | 42 comments
Cells have more mini 'organs' than researchers thought (theconversation.com)
Cells have more mini ‘organs’ than researchers thought − unbound by membranes, these rogue organelles challenge biology’s fundamentals
Biology, Science, Cellular Biology, Research
9 points by PaulHoule 14 hours ago | 6 comments
Vegetarianism is causally correlated with negative mental well-being (frontiersin.org)
This study is the first to employ bidirectional two-sample MR analyses to investigate the causal relationships between genetically predicted vegetarianism and depressive symptoms, neuroticism, and SWB.
Vegetarianism, Mental Health, Science, Psychology, Genetics
7 points by noch 1 day ago | 4 comments
Can Google Scholar survive the AI revolution? (nature.com)
Google Scholar — the largest and most comprehensive scholarly search engine — turns 20 this week. Over its two decades, some researchers say, the tool has become one of the most important in science. But in recent years, competitors that use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the search experience have emerged, as have others that allow users to download their data.
Artificial Intelligence, Science, Search Engines, Academic Research
5 points by rbanffy 1 day ago | 0 comments
Fat cells have a 'memory' of obesity – why it's hard to keep weight off (nature.com)
Even after drastic weight loss, the body’s fat cells carry the ‘memory’ of obesity, research1 shows — a finding that might help to explain why it can be hard to stay trim after a weight-loss programme.
Obesity, Health, Science, Biology
11 points by Brajeshwar 2 days ago | 0 comments
Feynman on Scientific Method [video] (youtube.com)
Science, Physics, Education, Video
5 points by nickpsecurity 2 days ago | 0 comments
The world is watching the U.S. deal with bird flu, and it's scary (nytimes.com)
As a virus scientist in South Africa, I’ve been watching with dread as H5N1 bird flu spreads among animals in the United States.
Public Health, Avian Flu, Science
28 points by ctoth 2 days ago | 9 comments
Trust in scientists hasn't recovered from Covid. Some humility could help (arstechnica.com)
Scientists could win back trust lost during the COVID-19 pandemic if they just showed a little intellectual humility, according to a study published Monday in Nature Human Behavior.
Science, Public Perception, COVID-19, Research
28 points by hn_acker 2 days ago | 77 comments
Austen and Darwin converged on the question of beauty (aeon.co)
In 1833, two years into his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle, a 24-year-old Charles Darwin wrote a letter home to his sister Catherine, entreating her for supplies.
Literature, Science, History
41 points by gmays 2 days ago | 5 comments
A silly science prize changed my career (nature.com)
A levitating frog, a necrophiliac duck, taxi drivers’ brains — the Ig Nobel prizes have shined a spotlight on offbeat work. Here’s an inside look at how winners feel about this sometimes unwanted ‘honour’.
Science, Awards, Career, Humor
6 points by sohkamyung 2 days ago | 1 comments
How to Build a Quantum Supercomputer: Scaling Challenges and Opportunities (arxiv.org)
In the span of four decades, quantum computation has evolved from an intellectual curiosity to a potentially realizable technology.
Quantum Computing, Supercomputing, Technology, Science
4 points by jimminyx 2 days ago | 1 comments
Rats learned to drive (theconversation.com)
Rats will choose to take a longer route if it means they get to enjoy the ride to their destination.
Animal Behavior, Science, Research
230 points by uprootdev 2 days ago | 96 comments
'Achilles heel' of antibiotic-resistant bacteria discovered (studyfinds.org)
SAN DIEGO — In the ongoing battle against antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” researchers have uncovered an unexpected vulnerability that could change how we fight these deadly infections – and it all comes down to a microscopic competition for resources.
Antibiotic Resistance, Microbiology, Science, Medicine
29 points by Brajeshwar 2 days ago | 5 comments
Scientific American's departing editor and the politicization of science (reason.com)
When magazines like Scientific American are run by ideologues like Helmuth, producing biased dreck as a result, it only makes it more difficult to defend the institution of science itself from relentless attack.
Science, Journalism, Politics
473 points by Bostonian 2 days ago | 956 comments
AI Can 'Hear' When a Lithium Battery Is About to Catch Fire (nist.gov)
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a way to use sound to detect when lithium-ion batteries are about to catch fire.
Artificial Intelligence, Battery Safety, Science, Research
3 points by gmays 3 days ago | 1 comments
Coincidences that make our existence possible (bigthink.com)
There are a few small cosmic details that, if things were just a little different, wouldn’t have allowed our existence to be possible.
Cosmology, Existence, Science, Probability
33 points by Brajeshwar 3 days ago | 46 comments
'The sixth great extinction is happening', conservation expert warns (bbc.com)
“We’re in the midst of the sixth great extinction,” Dr Goodall tells me during our interview for BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science. “The more we can do to restore nature and protect existing forests, the better.”
Conservation, Extinction, Environment, Science
8 points by Brajeshwar 3 days ago | 1 comments
Steve Hsu (MSU) helping to look for Trump admin appointees in science (twitter.com)
Politics, Academia, Science
6 points by osnium123 3 days ago | 1 comments
Buddhist Retreat: Why I gave up on finding my religion (2003) (slate.com)
For a 2,500-year-old religion, Buddhism seems remarkably compatible with our scientifically oriented culture, which may explain its surging popularity here in America.
Buddhism, Religion, Personal Experience, Culture, Science
35 points by whereistimbo 3 days ago | 76 comments
Humans have caused 1.5 °C of long-term global warming according to new estimates (lancaster.ac.uk)
A new study published today in Nature Geoscience by Dr Andrew Jarvis at Lancaster University and Professor Piers Forster at the University of Leeds shows that humans may have already caused 1.5 °C of global warming when measured from a time genuinely before the industrial revolution and the start of large-scale carbon emissions.
Climate Change, Science, Global Warming, Research
395 points by gmays 3 days ago | 548 comments
Cannabis Use Linked to Epigenetic Changes, Cancer Risk (neurosciencenews.com)
Cannabis use causes cellular damage that increases the risk of highly cancerous tumors, according to a new paper published in the scientific journal Addiction Biology.
Cannabis, Cancer, Health, Science, Genetics
14 points by bookofjoe 4 days ago | 3 comments
Two Nobel Prize winners want to cancel their own CRISPR patents in Europe (technologyreview.com)
In the decade-long fight to control CRISPR, the super-tool for modifying DNA, it’s been common for lawyers to try to overturn patents held by competitors by pointing out errors or inconsistencies.
CRISPR, Patents, Science, Biotechnology, Law
167 points by thisismytest 4 days ago | 120 comments
Magnetic North Pole moves closer to Russia in way never seen before (independent.co.uk)
Scientists have detected unexpected activity in the high Arctic as the magnetic North Pole heads towards Russia in a way that has never been seen before.
Science, Geography, Climate Change, Earth Science
8 points by chris_overseas 4 days ago | 1 comments
Salon retracts 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. piece on alleged autism-vaccine link (2011) (retractionwatch.com)
Salon today retracted a controversial 2005 story by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. about an alleged link between autism and thimerosal, the mercury-based preservative formerly used in vaccines.
Science, Health, Media, Vaccines, Autism
26 points by leephillips 5 days ago | 1 comments
A Case Against the Placebo Effect (carcinisation.com)
The picture that emerges is that a placebo pill has almost no effect when administered by researchers who do not care about the placebo effect, but the exact same pill has an enormous effect larger than all existing treatments when administered by a researcher who really wants the placebo effect to be real. The most parsimonious explanation is that it is the research practices, rather than the placebo.
Science, Research, Psychology, Placebo Effect
82 points by Luc 5 days ago | 91 comments