Hacker News with Generative AI: Science

Obelisks (wordpress.com)
Wow! Biologists seem to have discovered an entirely new kind of life form. They’re called ‘obelisks’, and you probably have some in you.

Biology, Science, Discovery, Life Forms

4 points by hackandthink 5 hours ago | 0 comments

Planet-warming gas levels rose more than ever in 2024 (bbc.com)
Levels of the most significant planet-warming gas in our atmosphere rose more quickly than ever previously recorded last year, scientists say, leaving a key global climate target hanging by a thread.

Climate Change, Science, Environment, Global Warming

5 points by silverquiet 13 hours ago | 0 comments

Planet-warming gas levels rose more than ever in 2024 (bbc.co.uk)
Levels of the most significant planet-warming gas in our atmosphere rose more quickly than ever previously recorded last year, scientists say, leaving a key global climate target hanging by a thread.

Climate Change, Environment, Science, Global Warming

5 points by GeoAtreides 17 hours ago | 0 comments

Show HN: Real-time nonlinear optics simulation (JS/GLSL) (github.com/westoncb)
An interactive study of controlled nonlinear dynamics, implemented through the concrete example of coupled optical fields.

Science, Physics, Simulation, Javascript, Web Development

38 points by westoncb 1 day ago | 12 comments

All-Optical Computer Unveiled with 100 GHz Clock Speed (discovermagazine.com)

Optical Computing, Hardware, Technology, Science

32 points by amelius 1 day ago | 3 comments

Comment on 2015 mRNA paper suggests data re-used in different contexts (pubpeer.com)

Science, Research, Data Integrity, Academic Publishing

153 points by picture 1 day ago | 81 comments

Municipal tap water higher in microplastic particles than most bottled water (plos.org)
The EU Directive 2020/2184 on consumable water quality recently proposed methodological approaches to the detection of MPs in potable water in the size range of 20–5000 μm.

Environment, Science, Health, Water Quality, Plastic Pollution

4 points by ck2 1 day ago | 2 comments

The Conundrum of Life's Origin (nautil.us)
How to solve biology’s chicken-or-egg dilemma

Biology, Science, Philosophy

70 points by Brajeshwar 1 day ago | 54 comments

Air pollution and brain damage: what the science says (nature.com)
Epidemiological studies have linked dirty air to dementia and other brain disorders. Now researchers are trying to determine how pollutants do their damage, and how much harm they cause.

Air Pollution, Brain Health, Science, Health, Research

4 points by Brajeshwar 1 day ago | 0 comments

The Curious History of Venn Diagrams (scientificamerican.com)
In his book The Mathematical Universe, mathematician William Dunham wrote of John Venn’s namesake legacy, the Venn diagram, “No one in the long history of mathematics ever became better known for less.”

Mathematics, History, Science, Data Visualization

3 points by Brajeshwar 1 day ago | 0 comments

Retractions caused by honest mistakes are extremely stressful, say researchers (nature.com)
Most researchers whose papers are retracted owing to an honest mistake find the ordeal stressful, according to a survey of almost 100 authors1.

Science, Research, Academia, Stress, Retractions

6 points by bookofjoe 1 day ago | 0 comments

Mathematicians discover new way for spheres to 'kiss' (quantamagazine.org)
A new proof marks the first progress in decades on important cases of the so-called kissing problem. Getting there meant doing away with traditional approaches.

Mathematics, Geometry, Science

156 points by isaacfrond 2 days ago | 69 comments

Researchers use AI to design proteins that block snake venom toxins (arstechnica.com)
It's a good example of how computer developments can be used for practical problems.

AI, Biotechnology, Science, Medicine, Venom

12 points by isaacfrond 2 days ago | 0 comments

PEI homeowner captures possible world-first meteorite strike (ctvnews.ca)
A researcher studying meteorites thinks P.E.I. is home to a world-first. A homeowner's camera captured the video and sound of a meteorite hitting the ground.

Meteorites, Science, Canada, Video

9 points by pseudolus 2 days ago | 1 comments

Svalbard's radioactive 'Bear Island' surrounded by cloud swirls and algal bloom (livescience.com)

Environment, Science, Climate Change, Biology

4 points by wglb 2 days ago | 0 comments

NDEA: A new intelligence science lab founded by François Chollet and Mike Knoop (ndea.com)
Ndea is building frontier AI systems that blend intuitive pattern recognition and formal reasoning into a unified architecture.

Artificial Intelligence, Research, Science, Labs, Startups

10 points by ayhanfuat 2 days ago | 1 comments

Solar panels should not be cleaned with dishwashing detergent (techxplore.com)
A study conducted at the University of Turku, Finland, investigated how household cleaning products affect the ability of solar panel glass to transmit light.

Solar Panels, Cleaning Products, Science

5 points by bikenaga 2 days ago | 5 comments

Clean energy pioneer's lab destroyed in suspected arson attack (theguardian.com)
A scientist in Liverpool has lost more than a decade of work after the prefabricated building that served as his research lab was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.

Clean Energy, Science, Arson, Crime

29 points by n1b0m 2 days ago | 2 comments

Henrietta Lacks Seems Like a Nice Person, but Not a Scientific Hero (astralcodexten.com)
Henrietta Lacks was a black woman who died of cancer in 1951. During her treatment, doctors took a sample of the cancer. The sample ended up with a researcher who noticed the cells were much more resilient than any other cell type then known, cancerous or otherwise. This made them extremely useful for biology experiments, and now a substantial portion of world bio research is done on cells descended from Lacks’ cancer.

Science, Ethics, History, Bioethics

16 points by NavinF 3 days ago | 17 comments

The Two Word Test as a semantic benchmark for large language models (nature.com)
Large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable abilities recently, including passing advanced professional exams and demanding benchmark tests.

Generative AI, Artificial Intelligence, Benchmarking, Science

8 points by rntn 3 days ago | 0 comments

47% of 160 Top Selling Protein Powders Tested Exceed P65 Limit for Toxic Metals [pdf] (cleanlabelproject.org)

Health, Food, Science, Safety, Consumer Products

73 points by clumsysmurf 3 days ago | 58 comments

Estimates of plant CO2 uptake rise by nearly one third (ornl.gov)
Plants the world over are absorbing about 31% more carbon dioxide than previously thought, according to a new assessment developed by scientists.

Climate Change, Science, Plants, Carbon Dioxide

192 points by akyuu 4 days ago | 189 comments

Scientist discover that AI has developed an uncanny human-like ability (psypost.org)
Recent research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that large language models, such as ChatGPT-4, demonstrate an unexpected capacity to solve tasks typically used to evaluate the human ability known as “theory of mind.”

Artificial Intelligence, Science, Human Behavior

9 points by geox 4 days ago | 6 comments

X-ray flashes from nearby supermassive black hole accelerate mysteriously (news.mit.edu)
One supermassive black hole has kept astronomers glued to their scopes for the last several years. First came a surprise disappearance, and now, a precarious spinning act.

Black Holes, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Science, Space

81 points by rbanffy 4 days ago | 4 comments

Laser technique measures distances with nanometre precision (newscientist.com)
A new way to gauge distance using lasers can measure lengths of more than 100 kilometres to within a thousandth of the width of a human hair, and could be used to make better space telescopes.

Science, Technology, Measurement, Lasers, Space

39 points by westurner 4 days ago | 18 comments

3D-printed microscope in <3 hours – costs $60, lenses, camera, and Raspberry Pi (tomshardware.com)

3D Printing, Hardware, Science, Microscopy

7 points by ashepp 4 days ago | 2 comments

The people fighting to get through to anti-science Americans (theguardian.com)
As science misinformation takes hold in the White House, those seeking to set the record straight need to meet people where they are

Science, Politics, Misinformation, Public Discourse

20 points by rntn 4 days ago | 13 comments

Earth breaches 1.5 °C climate limit for the first time: what does it mean? (nature.com)
It’s official: Earth’s average temperature climbed to more than 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels for the first time in 2024.

Climate Change, Environment, Science, Global Warming

81 points by rbanffy 5 days ago | 174 comments

The origin of the cargo cult metaphor (righto.com)
The cargo cult metaphor is commonly used by programmers. This metaphor was popularized by Richard Feynman's "cargo cult science" talk with a vivid description of South Seas cargo cults. However, this metaphor has three major problems.

Programming, History, Metaphors, Science

290 points by zdw 5 days ago | 676 comments

We need to 'gravitise' quantum mechanics, not quantise gravity [video] (youtube.com)

Quantum Mechanics, Physics, Theoretical Physics, Science

6 points by gone35 6 days ago | 1 comments