Can ChatGPT help researchers understand how the human brain handles language?

"Toward the end of 2018, MIT neuroscientist Evelina Fedorenko started hearing about a new wave of 'large language models' (or LLMs) coming out of the AI labs of Silicon Valley. But when Fedorenko saw outputs from these models — also called 'generative AI,' thanks to their skill at generating prose as well as comprehending it — she had to wonder if someone was quietly editing the text for public consumption. 'It was just too good,' says Fedorenko, who studies how language works in the brain. The long, machine-generated passages were too coherent, too natural-sounding, too… human."

PNAS »

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In a first for humanity, scientists may have finally seen dark matter

"In the early 1930s, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky noticed that many galaxies were moving far faster than their visible mass could account for. This led him to propose that an unseen structure — dark matter — was providing the extra gravitational pull needed to keep these galaxies intact. Nearly a century later, data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope may offer the first direct glimpse of this hidden material, potentially allowing scientists to 'see' dark matter for the first time."

SciTechDaily »

An Alzheimer's researcher walks 2 miles a day to keep his brain healthy as he ages. Here's the science.

"Every weekday afternoon, Harvard neurologist Jasmeer Chhatwal gets up from his desk, heads out of the office, and walks about three-quarters of a mile to get a cup of coffee from a neighborhood cafe. There's a perfectly good coffee maker in the office, but the afternoon ritual isn't (just) about caffeine. The 20-minute stroll is helping to stave off symptoms of brain aging like memory loss, according to Chhatwal's research. His latest study, published November 3 in Nature Medicine, helps pinpoint how little movement you can get away with and still see benefits for the brain."

Business Insider »

Newsflash: thread count actually matters

Remember when you thought "thread count" was just marketing fluff? Same. These bamboo-blend sheets will convert you fast — 1,800 threads of silky softness that feel way pricier than $30. They're breathable, hypoallergenic, and wrinkle-free, so your bed looks effortlessly put-together even if you aren't. It's luxury-level comfort for under forty bucks, and yes, your younger self would be jealous. [Ad]

Rest up »

This video of a robot playing basketball is extremely impressive

"It's one small step for man — and one giant, badass layup for robot kind. Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have programmed a Unitree G1 humanoid robot to play basketball, almost perfectly mimicking the skills of a human athlete. A video shared by HKUST PhD student Yinhuai Wang shows the robot dribbling, taking jump shots, and even pivoting on one of its feet to evade the student's attempts to block it from taking a shot. Wang called it the 'first-ever real-world basketball demo by a humanoid robot,' boasting that he 'became the first person to record a block against a humanoid.'"

Futurism »