Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending February 28, 2014)
The Brain’s Inner Language
A profile of a neuroscientist who studies the anatomy and function of the visual cortex in mice explains what large collaborative research efforts are doing to understand how neurons process information.
—Susan Young, biomedicine editor
3D Model of a Boy’s Heart Speeds Up Life-Saving Operation
With help from 3-D printing, a surgeon saves a life.
—Colby Wheeler, manager of information technology
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations
Western intelligence services are distorting and influencing Internet discourse.
—Jason Pontin, editor in chief and publisher
Artist Uses Google Glass to Interact with Museum Visitors
Through the lens of Google Glass, art goes meta.
—J. Juniper Friedman, editorial assistant
Happiness Is a Warm iPhone
Author Charles Yu reflects on what is lost as technology becomes more accessible and more mundane.
—Will Knight, news and analysis editor
Why “Big Data” Is a Big Deal
Harvard Magazine’s deep dive into the myriad reasons big data matters.
—Kyanna Sutton, senior Web producer
The Science of Solitary Confinement
A quick take on the “troubling neurological implications of long-term isolation” in U.S. prisons.
—Kyanna Sutton
A Star in a Bottle
The New Yorker goes deep inside the ITER fusion-reactor project to assess whether it will ever achieve its goal of boundless clean energy.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor
Publishers Withdraw More than 120 Gibberish Papers
Apparently, it’s surprisingly easy to get computer-generated nonsense published in conference proceedings.
—Linda Lowenthal, copy chief
Big Data, Big Business, Big Brother?
A good explainer on the implications of big data.
—Rob Finley, West Coast advertising sales executive
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Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.
And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.
The problem with plug-in hybrids? Their drivers.
Plug-in hybrids are often sold as a transition to EVs, but new data from Europe shows we’re still underestimating the emissions they produce.
Google DeepMind’s new generative model makes Super Mario–like games from scratch
Genie learns how to control games by watching hours and hours of video. It could help train next-gen robots too.
How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets
When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
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