The Philosopher’s Stone for Science – The Catalyst Change of AI for Scientific Creativity

The work investigates whether AI catalyzes scientific creativity and explores the theoretical explanations behind it. Employing the Logical Creative Thinking (LCT) framework, we conjecture that AI enhances scientific creativity by providing faster search algorithms and offering possibilities to explore new search paths for uncovered knowledge. AI is expected to facilitate creative knowledge hybridization (i.e., recombination in LCT) across fields and serve as a stimulus for knowledge mutation (i.e., replacement in LCT) within a field. We consider two measures of scientific creativity: novelty (as hybridization) and disruption (as mutation). We analyze publications from 2000 to 2021 and their citation networks. Our findings first inform that AI increases the novelty of mediocre (medium-level) and the top (90th-percentile) papers while enhancing the disruption of the mediocre papers only. Second, we identify nuanced variations in the impact on creativity across fields. Third, our citation-network analyses further uncover the direct and indirect effects of AI

RNAcentral: A vision for an international database of RNA sequences

During the last decade there has been a great increase in the number of noncoding RNA genes identified, including new classes such as microRNAs and piRNAs. There is also a large growth in the amount of experimental characterization of these RNA components. Despite this growth in information, it is still difficult for researchers to access RNA data, because key data resources for noncoding RNAs have not yet been created. The most pressing omission is the lack of a comprehensive RNA sequence database, much like UniProt, which provides a comprehensive set of protein knowledge. In this article we propose the creation of a new open public resource that we term RNAcentral, which will contain a comprehensive collection of RNA sequences and fill an important gap in the provision of biomedical databases. We envision RNA researchers from all over the world joining a federated RNAcentral network, contributing specialized knowledge and databases. RNAcentral would centralize key data that are currently held across a variety of databases, allowing researchers instant access to a single, unified resource. This resource would facilitate the next generation of RNA research and help drive further discoveries, including those that improve food production and human and animal health. We encourage additional RNA database resources and research groups to join this effort. We aim to obtain international network funding to further this endeavor

Just one look:Direct gaze briefly disrupts visual working memory

Direct gaze is a salient social cue that affords rapid detection. A body of research suggests that direct gaze enhances performance on memory tasks (e.g., Hood, Macrae, Cole-Davies, & Dias, Developmental Science, 1, 67–71, 2003). Nonetheless, other studies highlight the disruptive effect direct gaze has on concurrent cognitive processes (e.g., Conty, Gimmig, Belletier, George, & Huguet, Cognition, 115(1), 133–139, 2010). This discrepancy raises questions about the effects direct gaze may have on concurrent memory tasks. We addressed this topic by employing a change detection paradigm, where participants retained information about the color of small sets of agents. Experiment 1 revealed that, despite the irrelevance of the agents’ eye gaze to the memory task at hand, participants were worse at detecting changes when the agents looked directly at them compared to when the agents looked away. Experiment 2 showed that the disruptive effect was relatively short-lived. Prolonged presentation of direct gaze led to recovery from the initial disruption, rather than a sustained disruption on change detection performance. The present study provides the first evidence that direct gaze impairs visual working memory with a rapidly-developing yet short-lived effect even when there is no need to attend to agents’ gaze

Effects of instream wood reintroduction on transport and storage processes in a lowland sandy stream

The reintroduction of instream wood is a common technique to restore degraded streams, for example to reinstate transport and storage processes - primary controls of the movement of water, solutes, and particulates through the stream corridor - with the aim of initiating a shift towards a more natural or sustainable state. In the United Kingdom, this kind of restoration occurs predominantly in lowland sandy streams, yet to date no study has explicitly investigated its effects on transport and storage processes in such contexts. Here, we used a before-after-control-impact (BACI) experiment to test the effects of reintroducing instream wood on transport and storage processes in a lowland sandy stream under a range of stream discharges (Q), with an average of 0.0079 m3/s. In the restored reach, as compared to the control reach, the average hydraulic retention time increased by 27.6%, the average transient storage increased by 28.4%, and the residence time therein increased by 13%. Although these differences were not statistically significant, we attribute this to the inevitable large variability of field tests compared to controlled laboratory environments. We interpret the observed changes as an indication of a potential increase to transient storage overall but limited subsurface transient storage, especially during higher Q conditions. Overall, our results suggest limited effects of instream wood reintroduction on transport and storage processes in a lowland sandy stream, but also highlight challenges in evidencing such effects. Given the sensitivity of transport and storage processes to environmental setting, it may be challenging to predict the effects of restoration based on a small set of conditions or generalizations.</p

CAFomics: convergence to translation for precision stroma approaches

A noticeable characteristic of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumors is a dense tumor microenvironment with abundant and dense, desmoplastic stroma woven tightly with both cellular and matrix components. The high stromal density is associated with higher intratumor pressures which, until the last decade, was largely assumed to be tumor protective, confirmed by early studies demonstrating that altering the stroma was effective in genetically engineered models of PDAC. However, clinical trials using these approaches have been disappointing. There is increasing recognition that stroma heterogeneity is much greater than initially thought with an explosion of investigation into cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) subpopulations led by experimental and single-cell transcriptomic studies. This review summarizes and attempts to harmonize the current transcriptomic data of CAF subpopulations. Understanding the heterogeneity of CAFs, the matrix, and other tumor microenvironment features will be critical to developing effective therapeutic approaches. Identifying model systems that best recapitulate the clinical behavior and treatment response of human PDAC will be important. Examining subpopulations as defined by clinical outcome will remain a critical step in defining clinically impactful CAF subtypes in larger clinical cohorts. The future of precision oncology in PDAC will depend on the integration of precision tumor epithelial and precision stroma approaches

The cognitive demands of remembering a speaker’s perspective and managing common ground size modulate 8- and 10-year-olds’ perspective-taking abilities

Using “theory of mind” to successfully accommodate differing perspectives during communication requires much more than just acquiring basic theory of mind understanding. Evidence suggests that children’s ability to adopt a speaker’s perspective continues to develop through childhood to adolescence till adulthood (e.g., Dumontheil, Apperly, & Blakemore, 2010). The present study examined the cognitive factors that could account for variations in children’s abilities to use a speaker’s perspective during language comprehension, and whether the same factors contribute to age-related improvements. Our study incorporated into a commonly-used communication task two types of memory demands which are frequently present in our everyday communication but have been overlooked in the previous literature: remembering a speaker’s perspective, and the amount of common ground information. Findings from two experiments demonstrated that both 8- and 10-year-olds committed more egocentric errors when each of these memory demands was high. Our study also found some supporting evidence for the age-related improvement in children’s perspective use, as 10-year-olds generally committed fewer egocentric errors compared to 8-year-olds. Interestingly, there was no clear evidence that the memory factors that affected children’s perspective use in our experiments were also the factors that drove age-related improvement

Offending users: designing-in deterrence with mobile telephones

This paper describes research relating to the design semantics of desirable products and the crime of theft. The methods employed range from the review of existing designs of mobile phones and associated systems and technologies, the perception of crime from a student designer's viewpoint and, importantly, the opinions of young offenders about proposed design solutions. We developed conceptual designs in consultation with the Mobile Data Association and these were reviewed by a sample of groups of young offenders and 'non-offender' consumers of similar age, to reflect the different user perspectives. The conclusions reveal differences between offenders and non-offenders in their perceptions of the deterrent effect of different design solutions. It is suggested that the research offers insight into the use of empathic strategies in the design of frequently stolen 'hot products'