The work of a science writer, including this one, includes reading journal papers filled with specialized technical terminology, and figuring out how to explain their contents in language that readers without a scientific background can understand. Now, a team of scientists at MIT and elsewhere has developed a neural network, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), that can do much the same thing, at least to a limited extent: It can read scientific papers and render a plain-English summary in a sentence or two. Even in this limited form, such a neural network could be useful for helping editors, writers, and scientists scan a large number of papers to get a preliminary sense of what they're about. But the approach the team developed could also find applications in a variety of other areas besides language processing, including machine translation and speech recognition. The work is described in the journal Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics, in a paper by … [Read more...] about Can Science Writing be Automated?
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Why swearing is good for us, according to science
“When I was about nine-years-old, I was smacked for calling my little brother a ‘t***’,” remembers scientist Dr Emma Bryne. “I thought it was just a silly way of saying ‘twit’ – but that smack taught me that some words are more powerful than others and that I had to be careful how I used them. That experience probably went some way towards piquing my fascination with profanity.” That fascination resulted in Bryne’s book, Swearing Is Good for You: The Amazing Science of Bad Language, where she explores the history and health benefits of swearing. After all, it seems there’s a good reason we often utter something quite rude when we stub our toe: studies show that swearing can help to reduce pain... To continue reading this article Start your free trial of Premium Access all Premium articles Subscriber-only events Cancel any time Free for 30 days then only £2 per week Try Premium … [Read more...] about Why swearing is good for us, according to science
The science behind the human urge to tell stories
Although it has been more than 60 years since Ernst Gombrich delivered his Mellon lectures on art and illusion – the title of his subsequent bestselling book – the application of empirical thinking to works of culture or creativity is still considered a minority interest, even a kind of novelty. There are academic courses in critical approaches such as “evolutionary literary theory” and “cognitive poetics”, but they are taught by academics with devoted professorships in other fields of study. With notable exceptions, most of the movement has been from the humanities towards the sciences, as was the case with Gombrich, who used cognitive psychology to illuminate the processes of visual representation; with the film scholar David Bordwell, who has cited Gombrich’s example; and with the Nabokov biographer Brian Boyd, who in his book On the Origin of Stories (2010) mentioned the “revelatory” experience of discovering Bordwell’s … [Read more...] about The science behind the human urge to tell stories
President Sarkissian meets with director of A.I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory Foundation
YEREVAN, APRIL 17, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian met with director of the A.I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory (Yerevan Physics Institute) Foundation Ani Aprahamian, the Presidential Office told Armenpress. During the meeting the sides exchanged views on issues relating to the computational physics and information technologies. The Foundation is conducting research in the field of elementary particles and nuclear physics, astrophysics, and cosmic ray physics. Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan … [Read more...] about President Sarkissian meets with director of A.I. Alikhanyan National Science Laboratory Foundation
Gateacre School wins prestigious National Science Award
Four inspirational Year 10 girls from Gateacre School, Liverpool were announced Junior Science Winner of The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Competition 2019 for their project “Naturally Infused”. The UK finals took place at the Big Bang Fair at the Birmingham NEC. The students designed and produced a range of natural bath and skin care which is kind to skin and the environment, using innovative, eye-catching designs because they decided that ‘natural needn’t be boring!’ Their ‘Naturally Infused’ products have natural healing properties to combat skin conditions such as eczema, as well as having anti-bacterial fighting agents. Gina Kane, business development manager at Gateacre School and the girls’ project mentor said: “We are so proud of them, presenting to VIP judging panels and thousands of excited visitors over two days was a great opportunity for the girls to develop their interpersonal skills, inspire others … [Read more...] about Gateacre School wins prestigious National Science Award