Episode #802
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: Ice dendrites
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Science
A study in mice uses a new CRISPR technique called CRISPR-LNP for “lipid nanoparticle” to attack cancer cells, increasing survival by 30% in glioblastoma and 80% in ovarian cancer. https://aboutyourmag.info/2020/11/18/revolutionary-crispr-based-genome-editing-system-treatment-destroys-cancer-cells-about-your-online-magazine/
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Item #2
Fiction
A recent test of AI natural language processing (NLP) was able to generate coherent sentences from a list of common nouns and verbs that could not be distinguished from human-generated sentences by test subjects. https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2020/11/new-test-reveals-ai-still-lacks-common-sense/
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Item #3
Science
Scientists report a new technique for forming regular gem diamonds at room temperature in only minutes. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.202004695
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘One reason we must have a moral regard for the idea of reasonable communication is that caring passionately about truth, about accuracy, and about the proper relationships of statements, will diminish errors and ignorance and other kinds of foolishness.’ Steve Allen