University of Washington researchers developed the game AI Puzzlers to show kids an area where AI systems still typically and blatantly fail: solving certain reasoning puzzles. In the game, users get a chance to solve puzzles by completing patterns of colored blocks. They can then ask various AI chatbots to solve and have the systems explain their solutions — which they nearly always fail to do accurately.

Cognitive neuroscientists at Brown University investigated one of humanity’s favorite pastimes and discovered how people can spread gossip without the subject of that gossip finding out — at least not right away. In a study supported by a federal grant from the National Science Foundation, the researchers found that gossiping relies on a person’s ability to perform complex computational processes each time they decide to spread information, and that most people do this instinctively. 

Trees in tropical forests are dying at an increased rate, with consequences for biodiversity, carbon storage, and the global climate. While deforestation is the primary cause of forest loss, intact forests are also experiencing a rise in tree death. Drought, higher temperatures, and fires have been the leading suspects, but a new paper led by Evan Gora, a forest ecologist at Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, identifies an underappreciated threat: thunderstorms, which are becoming more frequent with climate change.

Engineers and plant scientists worked together to improve a basic tool of plant research. The result is more efficient and consistent gene editing. That could help researchers develop crops that withstand hot weather, provide better nutrition or contribute to renewable energy production.

A collaborative multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine and New York University has developed a miniature chip that could transform how blood cancer treatments are tested and tailored for patients. “This device addresses a significant gap in preclinical research, offering an advanced tool for studying CAR T cell therapy’s dynamic and multifaceted responses to leukemia,” says Saba Ghassemi of the Perelman School of Medicine at the Unviersity of Pennsylvania.

MIT researchers developed a new system that enables a robot to use reflected Wi-Fi signals to identify the shape of a 3D object that is hidden from view, which could be especially useful in warehouse and factory settings. 

Neuromorphic computing, which mimics architecture of brain, could support growing energy demands of AI