Sci-Tech Science

‘AI to outsmart humans?’: Scientists warn of risk as Artificial Intelligence can now clone itself– timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Scientists warn that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has crossed a critical “red line” as researchers in China revealed that two leading large language models (LLMs) can replicate themselves, raising concerns about safety and ethical boundaries.
“Successful self-replication under no human assistance is the essential step for AI to outsmart (humans), and is an early signal for rogue AIs,” the researchers stated in their study, published on December 9, 2024, in the preprint database arXiv.

Trump Declares Energy Emergency to Push Excess Fossil Fuel Production– www.scientificamerican.com
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U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025.

Scientists design bioluminescent RNA | ScienceDaily– www.sciencedaily.com
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RNA is the molecule that reads the genetic information stored in DNA. It’s critical for the proper functioning of cells, and in a new study published in Nature Communications, University of California, Irvine scientists have discovered a way of tagging RNA with a glowing bioluminescent molecule that allows them to track RNA in real time as it moves throughout the body. The work promises to help scientists better understand everything from the way viruses propagate to how memories form in the brain.

“The first step in saying something’s going to happen in a cell — the cell is going to grow, adapt, change or anything like that — underlying all of that is RNA,” said Andrej Lupták, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at UC Irvine and one of the lead corresponding authors of the study.

Until now, little was known about how and when RNA does what it does inside cells. “It turns out it’s been really quite difficult to know in living cells, and especially in living organisms, when RNA is turned on and where it goes,” said Lupták. “If you wanted to study the first 30 seconds or the first minute — nobody knows. But we provide a tool. You can now visualize it.”

Viruses propagate throughout the body by infecting cells with their RNA, and if scientists can tag that viral RNA with the team’s so-called “RNA lanterns,” they can better understand the way a virus infiltrates the body’s defenses.

The tag could also allow for real-time imaging of living brains with cells carrying bioluminescent RNA. RNA, explained co-lead corresponding author and UC Irvine professor of chemistry Jennifer Prescher, appears to play a key role in the formation of memories in the brain.

“There’s a lot of interesting biology that’s happening at the RNA level in neurons,” said Prescher. “And being able to see early events and the transport of RNA from the cell body out to neural synapses where connections are being made to other neurons — that directly correlates with memory formation. If you have a way to watch that in real-time, that could tell you something fundamental about the brain and memory, which has been a holy grail in science for a long time.”

California wildfire season should be over. So why is L.A. burning?– www.sciencenews.org Source Link Excerpt:

 

Unusually dry conditions and hurricane-force seasonal winds are fueling multiple fast-moving and destructive wildfires in Los Angeles County. Gusts that reached over 145 kilometers per hour (90 miles per hour) quickly drove the blazes into urban areas, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate from their homes and killing at least two people as of January 8.

The largest of the blazes, known as the Palisades fire, erupted the morning of January 7 on the west side of Los Angeles and has since burned more than 6,400 hectares (15,800 acres) and destroyed around 1,000 structures. The second largest, called the Eaton fire, ignited near Pasadena that night and had burned more than 4,290 hectares by the next morning. A third blaze, the Hurst fire near Sylmar, has burned more than 200 hectares.

Wildfires raging in LA are being fueled by Santa Ana winds. What are they?– www.livescience.com
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Firefighters in Los Angeles County are battling four life-threatening wildfires almost 24 hours after the first flames broke out in the Palisades area, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reports. The fires were whipped up in a flash thanks to a combination of unusually dry weather and hurricane-force gusts that reached speeds of up to 99 mph (160 km/h).

Tens of thousands of LA residents have been evacuated from their homes and the four fires have spread across over 13,000 acres (5,260 hectares) have been burned by the four fires as of Wednesday morning (Jan. 8.) The fires have destroyed more than 1,000 structures so far and two confirmed fatalities have been reported, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The fires are flourishing due to dry conditions, while firefighters have reported that some hydrants in the Pacific Palisades are coming up dry, potentially hindering fire-extinguishing efforts, according to the Los Angeles Times. The blaze is expected to continue until Thursday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS.) Strong winds also grounded fire-fighting planes overnight, further hindering efforts to contain blazes, according to the LA Times.

The flames are being fanned by a dangerous windstorm, which could also threaten lives and cause damage to properties.

“A life-threatening, destructive, widespread windstorm is expected Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning,” NWS said in a warning early on Jan. 8. “Please stay indoors and away from windows during this time, and expect power outages.”

AI will run out of data within a decade– cosmosmagazine.com
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A leading UNSW computer scientist says a touted solution to a big problem for generative AI is better suited for other forms of artificial intelligence.

UNSW Computer Science Professor Claude Sammut says AI chatbots, like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, are running out of data to “eat.”

Generative AI models have swallowed up most of the data they’re legally allowed to process that is of high-enough quality to improve their function.

Hurricane Helene Disrupted Abortion Care in the South– www.scientificamerican.com
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CLIMATEWIRE | ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — North Carolina’s only abortion provider west of Charlotte has been closed since Hurricane Helene because it lacks potable water.

The monthlong closure of the Asheville Planned Parenthood has forced patients to travel hours for care. It has also strained other abortion clinics in North Carolina, which have seen increases in appointments over the last two years as neighboring states have limited or banned procedures following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court.

“This is a very harmful loss of access for patients in North Carolina and also surrounding states and region,” said Julia Walker, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “But this would not have been such a harmful and impactful storm if we had laws that allowed more access for people to obtain care.”

A group of international researchers conducted a study on the origins of the COVID-19 virus. They published their findings in Cell, a scientific journal. The group concluded the virus came from animals infected by the COVID-19 virus who were they sold in a wildlife trade market called the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.

They summarized, “Zoonotic spillovers of viruses have occurred through the animal trade worldwide. The start of the COVID-19 pandemic was traced epidemiologically to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market… This analysis provides the genetic basis for a shortlist of potential intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2 to prioritize for serological and viral sampling.”

Wuhan market increasingly likely origin point for COVID-19– cosmosmagazine.com
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An international team of researchers has found more evidence that COVID-19 came from animals in a Wuhan food market.

The researchers have identified wildlife present at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in early 2020 via traces of their DNA, and say it’s likely that some of these animals were infected with COVID-19.

The study is published in Cell.

“Extensive epidemiological evidence supports wildlife trade at the Huanan market as the most likely conduit for the COVID-19 pandemic’s origin,” write the researchers in their paper.

“This paper adds another layer to the accumulating evidence that all points to the same scenario: that infected animals were introduced into the market in mid- to late November 2019, which sparked the pandemic,” says co-corresponding author Professor Kristian Andersen, a researcher at Scripps Research, USA.