Sunday, December 22, 2024

BIG Wrap

AI model detects sarcasm in social media … like, as if that ever even happens. Sheesh!

Researchers at the University of Central Florida have developed a sarcasm detector, Tech Xplore reports. The team taught the computer model patterns that often indicate sarcasm and combined that with teaching the program to correctly pick out cue words in sequences that were more likely to indicate sarcasm. They taught the model to do this by feeding it large data sets and then checked its accuracy. "The presence of sarcasm in text is the main...

Study indicates unique infectious profile makes COVID-19 especially difficult to treat

A review of what is known about COVID-19 and the way it functions suggests the virus has a unique infectious profile, which explains why it can be so hard to treat and why some people experience so-called "long COVID," struggling with significant health issues months after infection, Medical Xpress reports. Growing evidence indicates that the virus infects the upper and lower respiratory tracts — unlike "low pathogenic" human coronavirus sub-species, which typically settle in the upper respiratory tract...

Human origin narrative ‘a big mess’

A new review in the journal Science looks at the major discoveries in hominin origins in the 150 years since Charles Darwin speculated that humans got their start in Africa and argues that fossil apes can inform us about essential aspects of ape and human evolution, including the nature of our last common ancestor. To understand hominin origins, paleoanthropologists aim to reconstruct the physical characteristics, behaviour, and environment of the last common ancestor of humans and chimps. "When...

Trillions emerging from soil in 17-year cicadan rhythm

Entomologist Michael Raupp has a colourful description of a remarkable feat occurring in nature this week, as CBC reports: "You've got a creature that spends 17 years in a COVID-like existence, isolated underground sucking on plant sap, right? In the 17th year, these teenagers are going to come out of the earth by the billions if not trillions. They're going to try to best everything on the planet that wants to eat them during this critical...

MIT’s ‘magic’ material findings could shed light on superconductivity

MIT researchers and colleagues have turned a "magic" material composed of atomically thin layers of carbon into three useful electronic devices. The work could usher in a new generation of quantum electronic devices for applications including quantum computing, according to an MIT article by Elizabeth A. Thomson. The devices can be superconducting, or conduct electricity without resistance. They do so through an unconventional mechanism that could give new insights into the physics of superconductivity. The researchers report...

Conversation with robot is a touching tale

People who were touched by a humanoid robot while conversing with it reported an improved emotional state and were more likely to comply with the robot, a small study indicates. In response to the robot's touch, most participants smiled and laughed. None pulled away. Those who were touched were more likely than those not touched to go along with the robot urging that they show interest in a particular academic course discussed, reports Tech...

Researchers who stuck out necks to shell out data no longer at loggerheads over turtle migration

Researchers have a new understanding about the migration of loggerhead sea turtles, thanks to satellite tagging and the largest dataset of its kind, CBC Radio reports. North Pacific loggerhead sea turtles breed on the beaches of Japan. Once they hatch, the turtles disappear into the ocean for decades before returning to breed. Some scientists referred to this as their "lost years". "For a long time we've known that the loggerhead sea turtles are on both sides of the...

And we thought Usain Bolt was fast

NASA's Parker Solar Probe smashed two space records, and its journey is just beginning, reports CNET. Using Venus as a slingshot, the spacecraft on April 29 travelled at a speed at which one could circle the Earth 13 times in one hour. Parker established two records: fastest human-made object: 532,000 km/h; and closest spacecraft to the sun – 10.4 million km. The spacecraft is revealing some of the sun's great mysteries. In December 2019, Parker's first batch of...

Splashdown marks end of long trip to space station

SpaceX's Crew-1 capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico carrying four astronauts early today, CNET reports. The Crew-1 landed just before 3 a.m. ET. It was the second time humans have returned to Earth on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. "We welcome you back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX," SpaceX's Mission Control radioed moments after splashdown. "For those of you enrolled in our frequent flyer program, you've earned 68 million...

Researchers make advances in war against solid cancer tumours

Immunobiologists in China have designed a synthetic T-cell receptor for anticancer therapy, engineering the protein with great endurance in its mission to destroy solid tumours, reports Medical Xpress. The research has been conducted in animal models only, but it is a step toward a new form of therapy for solid tumours. The current treatment is composed of specially endowed cells that are engineered to destroy cancers of the blood. The emerging form promises the same action –...