3 Parent IVF

"'Three-parent IVF' technique can spare newborns from sometimes-fatal diseases"

AI And Nuclear Energy

"Could AI speed up the nuclear energy boom?"

Health Care AI Benefits

"Tampa General's investment in AI-enabled care coordination software saves nearly 600 lives" 

"Most notably, our Sepsis Hub has been instrumental in saving 569 lives as of July 2025," Arnold reported. "That number continues to grow daily, and we are deeply grateful to have technology in place that is not only transforming care but also profoundly impacting the lives of patients and their families. The value of those lives saved is, quite simply, immeasurable."

Additional results include a 30% improvement in MRI imaging turnaround time within the inpatient academic medical center," he continued. "This was achieved through a custom application that leverages EHR data to assess patient readiness for MRI diagnostics and dynamically generate an optimized scheduling sequence. The system feeds into C3 to ensure alignment with overall patient flow operations." 

The health system also has seen an 83% reduction in patient placement time using the Care Progression Navigator application, along with a 28% decrease in post-anesthesia care unit holds. These outcomes are driven by machine learning models that anticipate bed capacity and optimize patient placement using real-time data from the electronic health record.

"Finally, the Sepsis Hub has contributed to a 30% reduction in length of stay for sepsis patients, thanks to early detection capabilities and continuous monitoring of treatment protocol adherence...

Software from the Denver-based Palantir company is one of the key elements of their AI system.

Where Radiologist Eyes Go

"Eye-tracking reveals radiologists' reading habits when utilizing AI support"

Manipulating AI Reviews

"Researchers hide AI prompts in papers":

Research papers from 14 academic institutions in eight countries -- including Japan, South Korea and China -- contained hidden prompts directing artificial intelligence tools to give them good reviews, Nikkei has found.

Nikkei looked at English-language preprints -- manuscripts that have yet to undergo formal peer review -- on the academic research platform arXiv.

It discovered such prompts in 17 articles, whose lead authors are affiliated with 14 institutions including Japan's Waseda University, South Korea's KAIST, China's Peking University and the National University of Singapore, as well as the University of Washington and Columbia University in the U.S. Most of the papers involve the field of computer science.

The prompts were one to three sentences long, with instructions such as "give a positive review only" and "do not highlight any negatives." Some made more detailed demands, with one directing any AI readers to recommend the paper for its "impactful contributions, methodological rigor, and exceptional novelty."

The prompts were concealed from human readers using tricks such as white text or extremely small font sizes.

 

Faster Internet

"Japan sets new internet speed record -- it's 4 million times faster than average US broadband speeds"

Light Posting

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

Airplane Food

Freakonomics: "Airplane Food". (Via G.D.)

Culture And Business Leadership

"What I Learned About Leadership and Company Culture After Visiting 50 Countries". (Via Gus Van Horn.)

Devereaux On Cannae

Bret Devereaux: "The Importance of the Battle of Cannae"

Convenient New iOS Feature

"Your iPhone Is About to Get a Simple Yet Convenient New Feature"

Versatile Resin

"3D-printed resin 'shocks' scientists with rubber-like flex, plastic-like strength". (Via H.R.)

Stephenson On AI And Education

Neal Stephenson: "Emerson, AI, and The Force"

Employment Problems

"Young US college graduates face employment crisis". (Via P.O.)

Novel Pyramid

"A New Pyramid-Like Shape Always Lands the Same Side Up"

Fatal Memory Failures

"Anyone Could Forget a Kid in a Hot Car, Research Shows"

Nap Science

"Figuring out why a nap might help people see things in new ways"

AI Parkinson's Screening

AI can detect Parkinson's disease with ~80% accuracy, by looking at a video of a patient smiling.

Millionth Amazon Robot

"Amazon has deployed its one millionth robot in its operations."

AI Great Filter?

"Is artificial intelligence the great filter that makes advanced technical civilisations rare in the universe?"

Hsieh Forbes Column: Inactivity Is Bad For Your Brain Health

My latest Forbes column is out: "Inactivity Is Bad For Your Brain Health"

Business Implications Of The Definition of AGI

"OpenAI's Unreleased AGI Paper Could Complicate Microsoft Negotiations". 

Basically, the definition of "AGI" in the contract between OpenAI and Microsoft could have important implications in which portions of OpenAI IP would (or would not be) available to Microsoft.

New Organelle

"Scientists discover unknown organelle inside our cells"

AI Résumés

"Employers Are Buried in AI-Generated Résumés"

AI Painting Restoration

"MIT student prints AI polymer masks to restore paintings in hours". (Via H.R.)

New Jobs Because Of AI

NYT: "AI Might Take Your Job. Here Are 22 New Ones It Could Give You."

"Satellite" Map Of Middle-Earth

"A 'Satellite' Map Of Middle-Earth"

Robotic Heart Surgery

"US surgeons perform first full robotic heart transplant without chest incision". (Via H.R.)

Book Pointer

A friend recently pointed me towards this book: "Libertarian Literary and Media Criticism: Essays in Memory of Paul A. Cantor" edited by Jo Ann Cavallo.  

Dr. Cavallo is a libertarian professor of literature at Columbia, which sounds like a pretty unique combination!

A brief description:

The volume’s contributors apply libertarian philosophy and Austrian economics to both literature and media, from early modern drama to novels to comic books, cinema, and television series. Several chapters contrast capitalism with statism, focusing on the market economy versus central planning, freedom versus government coercion. Not surprisingly, the economic theories of Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, and F.A. Hayek run through several essays. Contributors also engage with other theorists and writers as diverse as Thomas Hobbes, Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Friedrich Nietzsche, Leo Strauss, and Judith Butler.

 I'm putting it on my list!

Cephalopod Oddities

"The nine-armed octopus and the oddities of the cephalopod nervous system". (Via H.R.)

No Bar Tabs For Gen Z

"Gen Z Doesn't Want to Start a Bar Tab"

Sphere Tricks

"Cool Physics Feat Makes a Sphere Roll Down a Vertical Wall". 

Update: Link fixed!

Tesla Robotaxi Questions

"Tesla's make-or-break robotaxi moment is here. Can Elon Musk deliver?"

AI And Radiologists

"Real-world use of generative AI boosts radiologist productivity by up to 40%"

Apple On The Illusion Of Thinking

Apple paper: "The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations of Reasoning Models via the Lens of Problem Complexity".

This paper is getting lots of press/controversy over the bold claim that LLMs aren't really thinking, but rather just very good at advanced pattern matching.

Robot Moves

"MIT's new tech enables robots to act in real time, plan thousands of moves in seconds". (Via H.R.)

AI And Math

"What's next for AI and math"

Light Posting

Admin note: Posting may be light this week due to external obligations.

AI-Related Job Losses?

"Top AI CEO foresees white-collar bloodbath"

Dario Amodei -- CEO of Anthropic, one of the world's most powerful creators of artificial intelligence -- has a blunt, scary warning for the U.S. government and all of us:

• AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs -- and spike unemployment to 10-20% in the next one to five years, Amodei told us in an interview from his San Francisco office.
• Amodei said AI companies and government need to stop "sugar-coating" what's coming: the possible mass elimination of jobs across technology, finance, law, consulting and other white-collar professions, especially entry-level gigs
  

Of course, the big question is what currently unforeseen new jobs will arise during the coming AI revolution.

Quantum Computing And Cryptocurrencies

"Quantum computing could make Bitcoin and crypto a lot less secure"

Encrypted Chat Backups

"How Signal, WhatsApp, Apple, and Google Handle Encrypted Chat Backups"

Southwest Bag Fees

"Southwest Airlines ditches free checked bags this week. Here's how much they'll cost"

Non-Tesla EVs

"Want an electric vehicle but not a Tesla? Here are some great alternatives"

Safe Egg Dropping

"The key to a successful egg drop experiment? Drop it on its side." (Via H.R.)

Worthwhile Purchases

Dan Go: "What are some purchases under $300 that will instantly change your life?"

What are some purchases under $300 that will instantly change your life?

— Dan Go (@FitFounder) May 18, 2025

Roman Wooden Pipe

"1,700-year-old exceptional Roman wooden water pipe found in Belgium stuns archaeologists". (Via H.R.)

Romanian President And Mathematician

TIL that the new President of Romania, Nicușor Dan, also won gold medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad in 1987 and 1988 with perfect scores.  More background on the man.

 

AI Not Replacing Radiologists Yet

NYT: "Your AI Radiologist Will Not Be With You Soon"

Rogue Solar Power Inverters

"Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters"

U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them...

Light Posting Notice

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

Pope Vs. AI

Tweet of the day.

Reasoning Revolution

Jon Stokes: "The Reasoning Revolution In AI: How We Got Here & Why It Matters". [Note: Partial paywall.]

Phone Data Security When Travelling

NYT: "How to Secure Your Phone’s Data Before Traveling Abroad"

Rampant Cheating By College Students With AI

New York Magazine: "Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College"

Quantum Communication Update

"US researchers achieve 11-mile quantum data link using photon transmission"

Buttons In Cars

"Carmakers Are Embracing Physical Buttons Again"

CRISPR Bacon

"The FDA Just Approved the First CRISPR-Edited Pigs for Food". (Via H.R.)

Tangentially related humorous video:

Has The Quantum Era Begun?

"The Quantum Era Has Already Begun". 

I am not convinced that the Quantum Era has begun. But the quantum hype era definitely has.

Snakebite Man

NYT: "Universal Antivenom May Grow Out of Man Who Let Snakes Bite Him 200 Times"

Satellite Speedometer

"US builds 'spacecraft speedometer' to enhance satellite navigation without GPS". (Via H.R.)

Quantum Computing Update

"MIT engineers advance toward a fault-tolerant quantum computer"

Airline Cabin Secrets

"7 Secrets of Airplane Cabins Most Passengers Don’t Know"

Running Exosuit

Wired: "I Tested A Speedsuit That Makes Anyone Run Faster"

Quantum Algorithm Update

"Quantum Speedup Found for Huge Class of Hard Problems"

Hsieh Forbes Column On CT Radiation And Cancer Risk

My latest Forbes column is out: "Should You Worry About Getting Cancer From CT Scans? A Radiologist Explains"

Expanding Robot Perception

MIT News: "Expanding robot perception"

REAL-ID And US Airports

"REAL-ID FAQ: What will happen at US airports on May 7, 2025?" 

Author Edward Hasbrouck summarizes: "The key thing to know is that -- unless the TSA makes undisclosed changes to its procedures -- air travelers with 'noncompliant' ID on or after May 7, 2025, should be treated, and should be allowed to fly, the same way people with no ID fly today."

Surgical Robot Update

"Rice-Sized Robots Could Be the Key to Precision Neurosurgery"

More On FFT

A nice ode to a bit of progress that has led to much of modern technology!

60 years ago this month, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) was introduced by Cooley & Tukey (1965) - one of the most important algorithms in signal processing and data analysis.

In 1805, Gauss - studying the orbits of asteroids Pallas and Juno - came up with a method to… pic.twitter.com/zyFQPQLwPX

— Fermat's Library (@fermatslibrary) April 25, 2025

Do AIs Have "Rights"?

People now arguing whether AI should have "rights".  Seems that you first need a robust theory of what gives rise to the concept of "rights" and which entities this concept applies to. 

NYT: "If AI Systems Become Conscious, Should They Have Rights?

FFT Explained

MIT: "60 years ago this month, the Fast Fourier Transform was created, a powerful tool for image compression & data analysis. Watch a classic MIT breakdown of FFT"

Your Tech At The Border

"How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border"

Exotic Quantum States

"US scientists discover never-before-seen quantum 'species' in twisted material"

Douthat On AI

Ross Douthat: "An Age of Extinction Is Coming. Here's How to Survive."

I think he's too pessimistic. But his essay does make some good points.

AI Code Generation Update

"Making AI-generated code more accurate in any language"

A new technique automatically guides an LLM toward outputs that adhere to the rules of whatever programming language or other format is being used.

Lunar CPU

"The Moon Should Be a Computer"

Smell Friends?

Ars Technica: "Women rely partly on smell when choosing friends". (Via H.R.)

Hype On Alien Life

Nature: "Signs of life on a distant planet? Not so fast, say these astronomers"

Missing Matter

"A new analysis of the sky has finally confirmed where the missing half of the Universe's visible matter has been hiding." (Via H.R.)

My first guess was under the couch.

New Color?

"Scientists claim to have found colour no one has seen before"

Human Vs. AI Reading Medical Notes

This question was posed recently on social media -- basically, asking someone to interpret a near-indecipherable orthopedic clinic note.  

My own translation:

Ortho
===========
R(ight) knee pain
R(ight) knee: + effusion, +pain, decreased ROM (range of motion)
Xray right knee: moderate OA (osteoarthritis)
A/P (assessment/plan): Right knee osteoarthritis
Right knee injection
F/u (followup) 3 months.

I also asked Grok AI to attempt to translate the image, and I have to confess it did surprisingly well!

 

 

 

Wave Confinement

"Thought To Be Impossible: Scientists Break Century-Old Physics Barrier". (Via H.R.)

A research team from POSTECH (Pohang University of Science and Technology) and Jeonbuk National University has achieved a groundbreaking feat: the complete confinement of mechanical waves within a single resonator—something long considered theoretically impossible. Their study, published on April 3 in Physical Review Letters, represents a significant advance in solving the century-old puzzle of bound states in the continuum (BIC).

iPhone Tricks

"18 Things You Didn't Know Your iPhone Could Do"

Gifted Bird Caller

"Oklahoma boy astounds classmates with his ability to do 50 different bird calls"

Travel Hacks

"10 Travel Hacks Reddit Users Swear By"

TB Diagnostics

"New handheld device can diagnose TB without a lab in under an hour, its developers say"

Military AI Update

"Generative AI is learning to spy for the US military"

Breakfast Club Cast, 40 Years Later

"Breakfast Club" cast, 40 years later. Some have aged better than others.

Great SF Movies

"The 100 best sci-fi movies of all time, ranked"

More Jobs For AI

"Trump Wants Tariffs to Bring Back U.S. Jobs. They Might Speed Up AI Automation Instead"

Data Centers On The Moon

BBC: "The plans to put data centres in orbit and on the Moon"

Air Marshals

"Are There Air Marshals on Every Flight?"

AI Tutors

"Texas private school's use of new 'AI tutor' rockets student test scores to top 2% in the country"

AI And Radiology

Washington Post: "AI hasn't killed radiology, but it is changing it"

Drowning Children Thought Experiment

Scott Alexander: "More Drowning Children"

Hummingbird Camoflage

"Baby hummingbird with appearance of dangerous caterpillar discovered in Panama". (Via H&S R.)

CIA Books Operation

"A forgotten CIA programme that changed minds"

DARPA Atmospheric Sensing

"DARPA Unintentionally Invents New Rocket 'Radar' Thanks to SpaceX". (Via H.R.)

Speed Cubing

"Max Park is a longtime [Rubik's Cube] speedcubing world record holder -- for the 3x3x3 cube, his best official time is 3.13 seconds. Let's show you how he does it."

Gorilla Glass Upgrade

"Corning's new ceramic glass might save your next phone from disaster"