Ant colonies behave like neural networks when making decisions

Temperatures are rising, and one colony of ants will soon have to make a collective decision. Each ant feels the rising heat beneath its feet but carries along as usual until, suddenly, the ants reverse course. The whole group rushes out as one—a decision to evacuate has been made. It is almost as if the colony of ants has a greater, collective mind.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-science-news/ant-colonies-behave-like-neural-networks-when-making-decisions

Do benefits of physical, mental activity on thinking differ for men and women?

Studies have shown that physical and mental activity help preserve thinking skills and delay dementia. A new study suggests that these benefits may vary for men and women. The study is published in the July 20, 2022, online issue of Neurology.

Preventing scrollers' remorse: How to know what users want

A new model can help online media companies figure out what gives users long-term satisfaction—not just the instant gratification of continual scrolling—which may result in less time spent on the platform, but fewer users who quit entirely.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/preventing-scrollers-remorse-how-to-know-what-users-want

A technique to improve both fairness and accuracy in artificial intelligence

For workers who use machine-learning models to help them make decisions, knowing when to trust a model's predictions is not always an easy task, especially since these models are often so complex that their inner workings remain a mystery.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/a-technique-to-improve-both-fairness-and-accuracy-in-artificial-intelligence

All-in-one solar-powered tower makes carbon-neutral jet fuel

Researchers have designed a fuel production system that uses water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and sunlight to produce aviation fuel. They have implemented the system in the field, and the design, publishing July 20 in the journal Joule, could help the aviation industry become carbon neutral.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-technology-news/all-in-one-solar-powered-tower-makes-carbon-neutral-jet-fuel

Phosphate biosensors could lead to more efficient fertilizer usage

Shiqi Zhang spent many months sitting alone in a dark room, staring intently into the lens of a confocal microscope as she focused a laser beam on plant cells mounted on a glass slide. She was measuring changes in the intensity of fluorescent light emitted by the cells when they were hit by a laser beam. The subtle, painstaking work was worthwhile: from the resulting colorful images, she was able to measure the amount of phosphate within individual living cells of a symbiotic plant-fungus system—something that had never been done before.

source https://www.lifetechnology.com/blogs/life-technology-science-news/phosphate-biosensors-could-lead-to-more-efficient-fertilizer-usage