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Many policy discussions on AI safety regulation have focused on the need to establish regulatory 'guardrails' to protect the public from the risks of AI technology. Experts now argue that, instead of imposing guardrails, policymakers should demand 'leashes.'

Researchers gave participants face tattoos that can track when their brain is working too hard. The study introduces a non-permanent wireless forehead e-tattoo that decodes brainwaves to measure mental strain without bulky headgear. This technology may help track the mental workload of workers like air traffic controllers and truck drivers, whose lapses in focus can have serious consequences.

Researchers gave participants face tattoos that can track when their brain is working too hard. The study introduces a non-permanent wireless forehead e-tattoo that decodes brainwaves to measure mental strain without bulky headgear. This technology may help track the mental workload of workers like air traffic controllers and truck drivers, whose lapses in focus can have serious consequences.

Researchers compared their long-standing diagnostic decision support systems AI tool, DXplain, with modern large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini, finding DXplain performed slightly better. They say their findings suggest that combining DXplain with LLMs could enhance clinical diagnosis and improve both technologies.

Earthquakes create ripple effects in Earth's upper atmosphere that can disrupt satellite communications and navigation systems we rely on. Scientists have now used Japan's extensive network of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers to create the first 3D images of atmospheric disturbances caused by the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Their results show sound wave disturbance patterns in unique 3D detail and provide new insights into how earthquakes generate these waves.

Reducing travel speeds and using an intelligent queuing system at busy ports can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from oceangoing container vessels by 16-24%, according to researchers. Not only would those relatively simple interventions reduce emissions from a major, direct source of greenhouse gases, the technology to implement these measures already exists.

Just because we can find ozone in the atmosphere of other planets doesn't mean there's life. Ozone is a sign of life on Earth, but its detection on Venus shows that it can also be produced abiotically. This indicates that there are different pathways for its creation, not only on Venus but also on other Venus-like exoplanets.

What happens when you see something that just doesn’t make sense? Perhaps you rub your eyes and consider it an anomaly. But what if you see it in an experiment? Say, travelling electrons that make different patterns depending upon whether they were detected? Then, you might want to change your sense of reality. Now, if you can develop a theory for the observations, then maybe you can start a new field of science. It has happened. Quantum mechanics is the name given to this relatively new field and it’s the topic that Sean Carroll writes in his book, “The Biggest Ideas in the Universe – Quanta and Fields”. In his book, there’s much ado about particles, fields, groups and diagrams; all with the aim of enabling any reader to make sense of it.

Today we feature some lovely flower pictures from Thomas Webber. Thomas’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them. (The images are stacked but, at the photographer’s request, I’ve omitted the info for each photo.)

The theme for today’s installment is Lawn Weeds. All the plants shown here are from roadsides, vacant lots, parks, yards, and the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, at the north end of the Florida peninsula. All are mowed from time to time, and as far as I can tell they weren’t planted where I found them. I think I’ve identified all of them correctly to genus, and most to species, but I’ve added the qualifier “cf.” to the species epithets I’m less sure of. I invite corrections.

White clover, Trifolium repens. Individual flowers 8 mm long. Native to Europe and Central Asia:

Oakleaf fleabane, Erigeron quercifolius. 1 cm diameter at full size. Native:

Lyre-leaf sage, Salvia lyrata. 1.5 cm long. Native:

Marsh pennywort, Hydrocotyle cf. umbellata. Individual flowers 2 mm. Native:

Pennywort leaves (2-5 cm) make an arresting pattern when they grow together in a thick mass. This is part of a patch that covered about 25 square meters of a University of Florida lawn:

Wood sorrel, Oxalis cf. corniculata. 6 mm. Native:

Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolium. 1 cm. Native:

Hawksbeard, Youngia japonica. 1.5 cm. Native to east Asia, now world-wide. The informative article linked here is devoted largely to means of exterminating this plant:

Vetch, Vicia cf. sativa. 8 mm across. Native to Europe and the Middle East, now cultivated and naturalized around the world:

Perennial peanut, Arachis glabrata. 1.5 cm across. Native to South America, cultivated and escaped in the southeastern United States:

False pimpernel, Lindernia dubia. 1 cm across lower petals. Native. These two were among over a thousand that carpeted the bottom of a small seldom-flooded retention basin:

Sunshine mimosa, Mimosa strigillosa. Flower head 3 cm tall. Native:

Peppergrass, Lepidium virginicum. Individual flowers 2 mm. Native:

The failure of SpaceX’s ninth Starship launch has raised fresh concerns about the future of the rocket, but is there any alternative to Elon Musk’s approach to space?

Now that they have power, Drs. Marty Makary, Vinay Prasad, and Jay Bhattacharya have different standards than they set for their predecessors.

The post Our Medical Establishment In Power Versus Our Medical Establishment Out of Power first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

City-sized droplets and twisting streams of plasma have been picked up by incredibly detailed images of the sun’s corona, showing our star as we’ve never seen it before

Quantum computers that correct their own errors usually require hundreds of thousands of qubits. Start-up Nord Quantique claims it can dramatically decrease that number – but many challenges remain

China's Tianwen-2 mission blasted off on Wednesday, embarking on an epic 8-year journey that will help to unlock the secrets of an asteroid and a comet before delivering the precious cargo back to Earth. The spacecraft will first hunt down Kamoʻoalewa (asteroid 2016 HO3) which it will study for a year, extracting samples from its surface. After returning the sample to Earth, Tianwen-2 will head back out into the Solar System taking another 7 years to intercept the main belt comet 311P/Pan-STARRS. It will undertake a flyby study of this object that has never been studied before.

Lunar exploration is gaining momentum, but one of the biggest challenges remains the Moon’s long, cold night, which lasts about two weeks. To address this, a team of researchers has proposed deploying a constellation of solar power satellites in lunar orbit. These satellites would beam energy wirelessly to a base on the Moon, providing a continuous supply of 1,600 kW of power, day or night. Their proposal includes launching 300 satellites by 2035, supporting long term plans for establishing permanent lunar bases.

Antioxidants like cocoa flavanols may benefit heart health, brain ageing and the microbiome. Columnist Alexandra Thompson investigates whether it’s time to rethink chocolate

Interactive robots should not just be passive companions, but active partners -- like therapy horses who respond to human emotion -- say researchers.

Interactive robots should not just be passive companions, but active partners -- like therapy horses who respond to human emotion -- say researchers.

A network of trenches, walls and enclosures built across the steppes of China and Mongolia 800 years ago seems to have been erected to control the flow of people, perhaps for tax reasons

A team of geophysicists from the University of Chicago showed how clouds on exoplanets could enhance the search for biosignatures. Their findings could have significant implications for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) and other next-generation telescopes that will study exoplanets via direct imaging.