Hey ChatGPT, Can You Fix COVID?
Okay, ChatGPT can't cure COVID, but using AI to develop vaccines has shown promising results.
Even though COVID vaccines ultimately saved lives, many were lost in the early days of the disease because scientists couldn’t develop the vaccine faster than the virus spread, and they had to update it when the virus mutated. Now, a team at the University of Cambridge has a way to get ahead of things.
They took the genetic blueprint of multiple coronaviruses related to the one that caused COVID-19 (think: the guest list to the worst family reunion ever) and are using artificial intelligence to work on a vaccine that would protect against a range of the viruses. It’s the first time a vaccine’s key component has been designed by AI and tested on people, but the trial’s work could open up a world of possibilities. Success would signify that we can use an AI antigen that’s safe and, importantly, can represent a whole group of viruses. That would mean we could move away from chasing a particular infection when it happens and towards preventing a whole family of viruses.
It’s too soon to know for sure, but scientists are hopeful that this technology can be implemented to replace the flu vaccine, prepare for bird flu, or protect against hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola.
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It might feel odd to say you’re happy to see a shark, but that was the case for three divers for an environmental charity. The team was clearing lost fishing nets from a wreck (What? That’s not on your chores list?) when they spotted a great white shark swimming right past them. The group was far offshore between Sicily and the Tunisian coast, so there was no reason to alarm beachgoers splashing around at the beach, but the sighting was still a big deal.
Due to factors like heavy fishing and nets that accidentally catch sharks, great white sharks in the Mediterranean are critically endangered, and sightings like this one may be the push that governments need to create marine protected areas.
Feeling the heat lately? It might be because of El Niño, a climate pattern characterized by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It can affect the trade winds. These are the permanent, normally easterly winds that flow around the Earth's equator.
When we track the water temperature using tools like satellites, buoys, and ocean floats to measure temperatures below the ocean's surface, they show a large body of unusually hot water. Way bigger than the pot of water you’re boiling for your mac and cheese. Yes, even if you’re making extra mac and cheese. This is serious business! It can cause the sea-surface temperatures in parts of the tropical Pacific to rise by more than 2°C (about 3.6°F) above average, suggesting this year's El Niño is unusually strong, and could make 2027 one of the hottest years on record.
Depending on where you are in the world, El Niño is associated with both droughts and floods. These affect the lives of people living in those places, as well as their agriculture and food production, so the whole world feels the El Niño effects.
If you were looking up at the sky during any of the World Cup games in Mexico, you may have seen a few Black Hawk helicopters. You also probably missed some good soccer. Pay attention!
But the helicopters weren’t meant to be a distraction — they were patrolling as part of the efforts to help keep the people of Monterrey, Mexico, and 300,000 visiting fans safe. The area saw a lot of crime earlier this year, so the helicopters were brought in (in addition to the more than 1,500 street cameras that peppered the stadium’s area) to protect mainly against crimes like phone theft and robbery.
Working with these cameras and helicopters were robot dogs, which patrolled the stadium using facial recognition and could detect early signs of crowd trouble and alert their masters. Some people were skeptical of the robot dogs, but at least there was no danger of them going potty on the pitch.
Why did the various wildlife species cross the road? To test the new heathland bridge!
It may look like a bridge that’s just unfinished, but the dirt and grass butting up against the pavement is very intentional.
This heathland bridge separating two commons is the first of its kind to include a network of natural routes that encourage species to reunite for the first time in over 40 years. Man, we would not remember ANYONE’S names! The bridge is home to mosses and vegetative grounds, as well as sand that could be a habitat to species like sand lizards, adders, foxes, deer, and bugs. Lots of bugs.
The bridge connects the heathland on either side, which the Wildlife Trusts are working to restore, so the aim of the bridge is to let wildlife move from side to side, building up the population and their resilience. But, it wasn’t as simple as leaving the bridge half-paved. Crews had to create the heathland by distributing acidic sand before adding areas of ground taken directly from larger heathland sites.
It might feel odd to say you’re happy to see a shark, but that was the case for three divers for an environmental charity. The team was clearing lost fishing nets from a wreck (What? That’s not on your chores list?) when they spotted a great white shark swimming right past them. The group was far offshore between Sicily and the Tunisian coast, so there was no reason to alarm beachgoers splashing around at the beach, but the sighting was still a big deal.
Due to factors like heavy fishing and nets that accidentally catch sharks, great white sharks in the Mediterranean are critically endangered, and sightings like this one may be the push that governments need to create marine protected areas.
Feeling the heat lately? It might be because of El Niño, a climate pattern characterized by unusually warm sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It can affect the trade winds. These are the permanent, normally easterly winds that flow around the Earth's equator.
When we track the water temperature using tools like satellites, buoys, and ocean floats to measure temperatures below the ocean's surface, they show a large body of unusually hot water. Way bigger than the pot of water you’re boiling for your mac and cheese. Yes, even if you’re making extra mac and cheese. This is serious business! It can cause the sea-surface temperatures in parts of the tropical Pacific to rise by more than 2°C (about 3.6°F) above average, suggesting this year's El Niño is unusually strong, and could make 2027 one of the hottest years on record.
Depending on where you are in the world, El Niño is associated with both droughts and floods. These affect the lives of people living in those places, as well as their agriculture and food production, so the whole world feels the El Niño effects.
If you were looking up at the sky during any of the World Cup games in Mexico, you may have seen a few Black Hawk helicopters. You also probably missed some good soccer. Pay attention!
But the helicopters weren’t meant to be a distraction — they were patrolling as part of the efforts to help keep the people of Monterrey, Mexico, and 300,000 visiting fans safe. The area saw a lot of crime earlier this year, so the helicopters were brought in (in addition to the more than 1,500 street cameras that peppered the stadium’s area) to protect mainly against crimes like phone theft and robbery.
Working with these cameras and helicopters were robot dogs, which patrolled the stadium using facial recognition and could detect early signs of crowd trouble and alert their masters. Some people were skeptical of the robot dogs, but at least there was no danger of them going potty on the pitch.
Why did the various wildlife species cross the road? To test the new heathland bridge!
It may look like a bridge that’s just unfinished, but the dirt and grass butting up against the pavement is very intentional.
This heathland bridge separating two commons is the first of its kind to include a network of natural routes that encourage species to reunite for the first time in over 40 years. Man, we would not remember ANYONE’S names! The bridge is home to mosses and vegetative grounds, as well as sand that could be a habitat to species like sand lizards, adders, foxes, deer, and bugs. Lots of bugs.
The bridge connects the heathland on either side, which the Wildlife Trusts are working to restore, so the aim of the bridge is to let wildlife move from side to side, building up the population and their resilience. But, it wasn’t as simple as leaving the bridge half-paved. Crews had to create the heathland by distributing acidic sand before adding areas of ground taken directly from larger heathland sites.