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Published Plans to plant billions of trees threatened by massive undersupply of seedlings
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Major government and private funding is being invested in planting trees as a powerful tool to fight climate change. But new research shows a troubling bottleneck that could threaten these efforts: U.S. tree nurseries don't grow close to enough trees--nor have the species diversity needed--to meet ambitious planting and restoration goals.
Published New clues on the source of the universe's magnetic fields
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers offer insight into the source of cosmic magnetic fields. The research team used models to show that magnetic fields may spontaneously arise in turbulent plasma. Their simulations showed that, in addition to generating new magnetic fields, the turbulence of those plasmas can also amplify magnetic fields once they've been generated, which helps explain how magnetic fields that originate on small scales can sometimes eventually reach to stretch across vast distances.
Published New algorithm ensnares its first 'potentially hazardous' asteroid
(via sciencedaily.com) An asteroid discovery algorithm -- designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky -- has identified its first 'potentially hazardous' asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth's vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on. The roughly 600-foot-long asteroid, designated 2022 SF289, was discovered during a test drive of the algorithm with the ATLAS survey in Hawaii. Finding 2022 SF289, which poses no risk to Earth for the foreseeable future, confirms that the next-generation algorithm, known as HelioLinc3D, can identify near-Earth asteroids with fewer and more dispersed observations than required by today's methods.
Published That's funny -- but AI models don't get the joke
(via sciencedaily.com) Using hundreds of entries from the New Yorker magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest as a testbed, researchers challenged AI models and humans with three tasks: matching a joke to a cartoon; identifying a winning caption; and explaining why a winning caption is funny.
Published GPT-3 can reason about as well as a college student, psychologists report
(via sciencedaily.com) The artificial intelligence language model GPT-3 performed as well as college students in solving certain logic problems like those that appear on standardized tests. The researchers who conducted the experiment write that the results prompt the question of whether the technology is mimicking human reasoning or using a new type of cognitive process. Solving that question would require access to the software that underpins GPT-3 and other AI software.
Published When electrons slowly vanish during cooling
(via sciencedaily.com) Many substances change their properties when they are cooled below a certain critical temperature. Such a phase transition occurs, for example, when water freezes. However, in certain metals there are phase transitions that do not exist in the macrocosm. They arise because of the special laws of quantum mechanics that apply in the realm of nature's smallest building blocks. It is thought that the concept of electrons as carriers of quantized electric charge no longer applies near these exotic phase transitions. Researchers have now found a way to prove this directly. Their findings allow new insights into the exotic world of quantum physics.
Published 3D display could soon bring touch to the digital world
(via sciencedaily.com) Engineers have designed a new, shape-shifting display that can fit on a card table and allows users to draw 3D designs and more.
Published Elusive pygmy right whale is a homebody
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The smallest member of the filter-feeding family is one of the only whale species not to embark on seasonal migrations, new research finds.
Published Secondary forests more sensitive to drought than primary forests
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The dry summer of 2018 hit Swedish forests hard -- and hardest affected were the managed secondary forests.
Published New method improves proton acceleration with high power laser
(via sciencedaily.com) Bringing protons up to speed with strong laser pulses -- this still young concept promises many advantages over conventional accelerators. For instance, it seems possible to build much more compact facilities. Prototypes to date, however, in which laser pulses are fired at ultra-thin metal foils, show weaknesses -- especially in the frequency with which they can accelerate protons. An international working group has tested a new technique: In this approach, frozen hydrogen acts as a 'target' for the laser pulses.
Published Insolation affected ice age climate dynamics
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In past ice ages, the intensity of summer insolation affected the emergence of warm and cold periods and played an important role in triggering abrupt climate changes, a study by climate researchers, geoscientists, and environmental physicists suggests. Using stalagmites in the European Alps, they were able to demonstrate that warm phases appeared primarily when the summer insolation reached maxima in the Northern Hemisphere.
Published Way cool: 'freeze ray' technology
(via sciencedaily.com) An unusual discovery is now being developed as an on-demand cooling solution for high-flying military electronics.
Published Bees evolved from ancient supercontinent, diversified faster than suspected
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The origin of bees is tens of millions of years older than most previous estimates, a new study shows. A team led by Washington State University researchers traced the bee genealogy back more than 120 million years to an ancient supercontinent, Gondwana, which included today's continents of Africa and South America.
Published Researchers successfully train a machine learning model in outer space for the first time
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have trained a machine learning model in outer space, on board a satellite. This achievement could revolutionize the capabilities of remote-sensing satellites by enabling real-time monitoring and decision making for a range of applications.
Published Novel Raman technique breaks through 50 years of frustration
(via sciencedaily.com) Researchers have developed a new technique that vastly improves readings of protein-to-ligand interactions through Raman spectroscopy.
Published A wearable ultrasound scanner could detect breast cancer earlier
(via sciencedaily.com) In hopes of improving the survival rate for breast cancer patients, researchers designed a wearable ultrasound device that could allow women to detect tumors when they are still in early stages.
Published Mutation accessibility fuels influenza evolution
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists showed that fixed mutations within a viral population most likely stem from how easy it is to acquire that mutation (i.e., mutation accessibility) rather than just its benefit.
Published Billions in conservation spending fail to improve wild fish stocks in Columbia Basin
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Four decades of conservation spending totaling more than $9 billion in inflation-adjusted tax dollars has failed to improve stocks of wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin.
Published Astronomers shed new light on formation of mysterious fast radio bursts
(via sciencedaily.com) International team reports on a radio pulsar phase of a Galactic magnetar that emitted a fast radio burst in 2020; observations suggest unique origins for 'bursts' and 'pulses,' which adds to FRB formation theory.
Published Scientists discover secret of virgin birth, and switch on the ability in female flies
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists have pinpointed a genetic cause for virgin birth for the first time, and once switched on the ability is passed down through generations of females.