Color Perception For Marketing

"The Real Reason Why Oranges Are Sold In Those Red Net Bags"

A red or orange plastic net around the fruit helps to give the impression that the orange peel is a richer orange color, thereby making it look juicy and appealing to consumers. If the fruit is unripe, the colored net will also downplay its greenness and boost its orangeness, making it look ripe and more appetizing. 

AI Voice Enhancement For ALS

NYT: "ALS Stole His Voice. AI Retrieved It." (Via H.R.)

AI Subtitles

I love this idea of glasses with AI generated subtitles for the hearing impaired. (Via H.R.)

This is what AI is for. Just this use case alone is worth every dollar invested in it. pic.twitter.com/vaOm3dpyxK

— Andriy Burkov (@burkov) August 10, 2024

Deep Hole

"Epic Drilling Mission Sets New Record With 4,160-Foot Mantle Core". (Via H.R.)

Not A Free Lunch, Snake Edition

Unusual snake has a tail appendage shaped like a realistic spider. Which can lure an unsuspecting bird looking for a easy meal. More info. (H/T: Bruce S.)

Checking Your Data Safely

"Don't get tricked: How to check if your Social Security number was part of data breach"

Some websites are reputable and will allow people to check if their data was stolen without requiring them to submit a Social Security number.

The following are reputable websites that don't require Social Security numbers to be submitted, according to CNBC...

 

Return From Hiatus

Admin note: Regular posting will resume tomorrow! Thank you, all, for your patience.

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for a few weeks due to external obligations.

Turing Hologram

"AI Alan Turing: World-1st interactive hologram of WWII British codebreaker". (Via H.R.)

Snake Shot

"Sweden's Truls Möregårdh pulls off a snake shot in table tennis at the Olympics final"

Dragon's Teeth

"Komodo dragons have iron-coated teeth, scientists find"

Robo-Pilots For USAF

"AI pilots will soon join the Air Force"

The AI-powered, unmanned aircraft will fly alongside human-operated fighter jets. Their development is part of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, which aims to put 1,000 of the so-called robot wingmen in the sky by 2030. The recipients of the contracts for AI systems development are unknown, but the actual aircraft will be manufactured by General Atomics and Anduril. The drone-maker and military tech startup are developing prototypes.

What if the technology gets it wrong? “That’s what we’ll have to find out,” Kurt Knutsson, a.k.a The CyberGuy, said on Fox News Sunday.

Science Fiction Movie Evolution

"How Sci-Fi Movies Have Changed Since the 50s"

Hsieh Forbes Column: Treatable Causes Of Dementia May Be More Common Than Realized

My latest Forbes column is out: "Treatable Causes Of Dementia May Be More Common Than Realized". 

I cover some encouraging news in the diagnosis of dementia, and some public policy implications.

NYT On AI Dangers

NYT: "A.I. May Save Us, or May Construct Viruses to Kill Us"

I was especially interested in the fact that the NYT was invoking the "AI arms race" metaphor that I'm seeing a lot lately:

All this underscores why it is essential that the United States maintain its lead in artificial intelligence. As much as we may be leery of putting our foot on the gas, this is not a competition in which it is OK to be the runner-up to China.

Nasty Scammers

"How One Man Lost $740,000 to Scammers Targeting His Retirement Savings"

AI BS'ing

"Scholars: AI isn't 'hallucinating' -- it's bullshitting". (Via W.R.)

TSA Facial Recognition

"Traveling this summer? Maybe don't let the airport scan your face."

Quantum Computing Update

"New quantum computer smashes 'quantum supremacy' record by a factor of 100 -- and it consumes 30,000 times less power"

Exoskeleton Update

"SF woman first to receive $100K exoskeleton through health insurance in Bay Area". (Via C.M.)

Fusion Ever?

Brian Potter: "Will We Ever Get Fusion Power?"

AI Math Update

"AI achieves silver-medal standard solving International Mathematical Olympiad problems". (Via D.J.)

Apple Flip Phone?

"Apple's iPhone of the future is a flip phone"

Smartphones And Horror Moview

"A Smartphone Can't Help You Now: How Horror Movies Solve Their Cell Problem"

Dynamic Pricing

CNN: "You're not going crazy -- you may actually be paying higher prices than other people"

Nuclear Spaceships

"We're building nuclear spaceships again -- this time for real"

NPR On xz

Planet Money: "The hack that almost broke the internet"

Seven Logical Fallacies

"Logical fallacies: Seven ways to spot a bad argument"

Breaching Air Force Security

"This Air Force security team can breach an 'impenetrable' SCIF in one minute"

AI Wildfire Detection

"Douglas County wildfire first detected by cameras equipped with AI". (Via H.R.)

Kidneys In Space

"Would astronauts' kidneys survive a roundtrip to Mars?" (Via W.R.)

Asteroid Defense Update

"Outdoing the dinosaurs: What we can do if we spot a threatening asteroid"

AI Vs. Human Translators

"If AI is so good, why are there still so many jobs for translators?" (Via W.R.)

Lifeboat Games And Backscratchers Clubs

Scott Alexander: "Lifeboat Games And Backscratchers Clubs"

The On Call Radiologist

Hah! I totally relate to this video by Dr. Glaucomflecken: "The On Call Radiologist"

Gene Editing Update

"A 'Word Processor' for Genes -- Scientists Unveil Fundamentally New Mechanism for Biological Programming". (Via H.R.)

Loneliest Man

"A Man Apart: Is Jimmy Sabatino America's Loneliest Prisoner?"

Sabatino may be the most locked-down, buried-in-oblivion prisoner in the entire federal system. The “special measures” in his case are special indeed. He is prohibited from communicating with anyone on the entire planet, inside or outside of prison, except for two people: his 75-year-old stepmother, with whom he can have fifteen-minute monitored phone conversations twice a month, and his attorney. That’s an even more limited circle of approved contacts than El Chapo is allowed. Such measures are deemed necessary because Sabatino has demonstrated an amazing talent for engineering multi-million-dollar scams even from the confines of prison.

Inner Voices (Or Not)

"Not Everyone Has an Inner Voice Streaming through Their Head"

AI Protein Generation

"Former Meta scientists unveiled an AI model that can generate new proteins"

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Due to external obligations, posting may be lighter than usual the next week or two.

Freezing Water

"The Enduring Mystery of How Water Freezes"

AI And Democracy

Bruce Schneier: "How AI will change democracy"

Pretending To Be AI

21st century headline: "Photographer Disqualified From AI Image Contest After Winning With Real Photo"

Industry Secrets Revealed

Reddit: "What is an industry secret that you know?"

Definitely agree about physicians using Google much more than patients realize.

Bad Business Buzzwords

"The 24 Worst Business Buzzwords of 2024"

Next-Gen Antibiotics

"Next-gen antibiotic kills harmful bacteria, spares healthy gut microbes". (Via H.R.)

Monitoring Remote Workers

Ars Technica: "'Simulation of keyboard activity' leads to firing of Wells Fargo employees".

A modern "cat-and-mouse" tech game, where remote employees use mouse-movement simulators to pretend they are working and supervisors try to identify employee fraud.

Apple Watch For Veterinary Use

Veterinarian Dr. Chloe Buiting explains: "The Apple Watch can measure a lions heart rate if you strap it to the tongue". (Via H.R.)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dr Chloe Buiting | Wildlife Vet (@jungle_doctor)

Lowe On Bad Science

Derek Lowe: "Keeping Up With Fakery"

Predicting Dementia

"New test promises to predict dementia nine years before diagnosis"

Link to academic article in Nature Mental Health: "Early detection of dementia with default-mode network effective connectivity".

Frozen Embryos

"How Can You Part With the Embryo That Could Have Been Your Child?"

Deciding what to do with the leftovers can be surprisingly emotional and morally thorny; even those who are not religious or who support reproductive autonomy might still feel a sense of responsibility for their embryos. 

So some patients are turning to a lesser-known alternative: a method called "compassionate transfer." The procedure is essentially an elaborate form of medical make-believe, in which clinicians place a spare embryo in a patient's body at a time in her menstrual cycle when she is unlikely to get pregnant. It mimics the steps of a traditional embryo transfer, but here, it's designed to fail; the embryo will naturally flush out.

Hiding Likes On Twitter/X

"X is about to start hiding all likes"

AI Antibiotic Generation

"AI used to predict potential new antibiotics in groundbreaking study"

Bronze Age Armor Reviewed

"Have Wine for Breakfast, Put On a 51-Pound Suit and Get to the Battlefield"

Robot Cube Record

"Watch a 6-axis motor solve a Rubik's Cube in less than a third of a second". (Via H.R.)

Good Court Decision In Libel Case

If you falsely accuse someone of murder based only on "tarot readings" and "psychic intuition", you can be held liable for libel. A good court decision.

Updated Drake Equation

"Updated Formula on Alien Intelligence Suggests We Really Are Alone in the Galaxy"

Planetary scientists Robert Stern from the University of Texas at Dallas and Taras Gerya from ETH-Zurich, the two co-authors on the study, suggest that the presence of both continents and oceans, along with long-term plate tectonics, is critical for the emergence of advanced civilizations. They consequently propose the addition of two factors into the equation: the fraction of habitable planets with significant continents and oceans and the fraction of those planets with plate tectonics operating for at least 500 million years. This adjustment, however, significantly reduces the value of N in the Drake Equation.

(Via Marginal Revolution.)

AI Weather Forecasting

"No physics? No problem. AI weather forecasting is already making huge strides." (Via H.R.)

Welcome To The Adult World

Today's adult life lesson.

My 10 year old used to be happy-go-lucky and carefree until yesterday when my parents gave him $$$. I have never seen anyone more racked with anxiety about what he should spend his money on and realizing that if he buys one thing he wants the he won’t be able to afford another.

— Adele Scalia (@AdeleScalia) June 5, 2024

Trusting AI In Medicine

"Technology and the Future of Healthcare". One eye-opening statistic:

64% of respondents said they would trust a diagnosis made by AI over a human doctor. This percentage grows even more with Gen Z, with four out of five in this generation stating they’d trust AI over a physician. This result indicates a significant shift in public perception and trust toward technology.

(Gen Z is defined as born between 1997-2012.)

Running Math

Running math.

 

Shire Economics

"The Moral Economy of the Shire"

Diverging Diamond Interchanges

"When driving on the wrong side of the road is the right way to speed up traffic"

AI Headphones

"AI headphones let wearer listen to a single person in a crowd, by looking at them just once". (Via J.Z.)

Engineers have developed an artificial intelligence system that lets someone wearing headphones look at a person speaking for three to five seconds to 'enroll' them. The system then plays just the enrolled speaker's voice in real time, even as the pair move around in noisy environments.

Asteroid Detection Update

"Outdoing the dinosaurs: What we can do if we spot a threatening asteroid"

Selling Stocks

"When to sell your stocks: Poker provides investors with helpful guidance"

Google Gatekeeping

"Leaked Documents Reveal How Google Search Gatekeeps the Internet"

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual for a few days due to external obligations.

Unreliable ChatGPT For Programming

"Study Finds That 52 Percent of ChatGPT Answers to Programming Questions Are Wrong"

Hsieh Forbes Column On Mandatory Reporting By Physicians Of Patient Dementia

My latest Forbes column is now out: "Should Doctors Be Required To Tell The DMV If You Have Dementia?"

This is another example in which a well-intended law may create perverse unintended consequences. As a friend noted, "Mandatory reporting laws of any kind are fraught with danger. One reason is that, from the patient's point of view, they can blur the lines between talking to your doctor/nurse and talking to a cop."

CRISPR Primer

"CRISPR gene editing: Moving closer to home"

Turing And Animal Patterns

"Spots, stripes and more: Working out the logic of animal patterns"

Nice Robot Doggies

"Rifle-Armed Robot Dogs Now Being Tested By Marine Special Operators"

 

Eigenvectors And Eigenvalues

Grant Sanderson: "Eigenvectors and eigenvalues"

Bad Physics

"A wave of retractions is shaking physics"

Oil Droplets, Pilot Waves, And QM

Veritasium: "Silicone oil droplets provide a physical realization of pilot wave theories"

French Baguette Stamps

"French post office releases scratch-and-sniff baguette stamp"

Decoding "Internal Speech"

"Brain-reading device is best yet at decoding 'internal speech'"

Misusing AI In Legislative Tactics?

Canadian legislators accused of proposing 19,600 AI generated amendments to a bill in an attempt to delay passage.

M4 iPad Pros

Daring Fireball: "The M4 iPad Pros"

AI Assistants Update

"OpenAI and Google are launching supercharged AI assistants. Here's how you can try them out."

Literal Reframing

How changing the frame changes the look of a picture. (Via Tyler Cowen.)

Smart Home Warning

"How I upgraded my water heater and discovered how bad smart home security can be"

Tabarrok Family And AI

Alex Tabarrok: "A Conversation on AI with my Son"

Laser Weapon Update

Forbes: "U.S. Military Is Using Laser Weapons In Battle"

Constantin on Normativity

Sarah Constantin: "Normativity and Anti-Normativity"

Deceptive AI

"AI Has Already Become a Master of Lies And Deception, Scientists Warn"

Rings Of Power Season 2 Trailer

"The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power -- Official Teaser Trailer" (for upcoming Season 2)

Caplan On Protests

Bryan Caplain: "The Protest: A Socratic Dialogue"

New Tolkien Movie

"Peter Jackson Working on New Lord of the Rings Films for Warner Bros., Targeting 2026 Debut"

VPN Vulnerability

"Novel attack against virtually all VPN apps neuters their entire purpose"

Gene Therapy Restores Hearing

"After gene therapy, two congenitally deaf children hear for the first time". (Via H.R.)

Light Posting Notice

Admin note: Posting may be lighter than usual this week due to external obligations.

Moral Dilemmas On Reddit

"Philosophers are studying Reddit's 'Am I the Asshole?'"

Questionable AI "Safety" Law

"California's Effort to Strangle AI: On SB 1047, a dangerous attempt at safety". (Via Jason Crawford.)

Bright Laser

"The Tiny Ultrabright Laser That Can Melt Steel"

Today's Unintended Consequence

"Laws requiring doctors to report a dementia diagnosis to the DMV may backfire"

Autonomous Racing Update

"The first-ever driverless car race didn't go so well"

Don't Swallow Magnets

My latest Forbes column is out: "Why You Shouldn't Swallow Magnets".

I discuss who should (or shouldn't) swallow magnets. Hint: If you are reading this, it's not you.

Auto-Brewery Syndrome

"A Brewery Worker's Drunken Driving Defense: His Stomach Made the Alcohol"