your science briefing for 02.14.2025

People are neglecting to check the output of their work AIs as chatbot summaries are still riddled with major errors, blowing past a global warming milestone, and more...

When your mind doesn’t need to keep track of certain things thanks to technology, it doesn’t. This is why you seldom remember a phone number these days. And yeah, in some cases, outsourcing menial tasks to computers and gadgets probably isn’t that problematic. But researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon looking into the usage of generative AI at work are concerned that use of these tools comes with a boost in confidence and a decrease in critical thinking. In short, people are delegating tasks to bots and then barely bothering to check the results… (404 Media)

In 2015, nations agreed to reduce greenhouse emissions and limit global warming to a global average just 1.5 °C above the pre-industrial baseline to protect the planet. Ten years later, it’s obvious that this agreement has failed, that we are past this threshold, and are advancing towards a warming close to 2 °C across the world. And once you pass that two degree mark, an awful lot of bad stuff will start to happen in fairly rapid succession unless we finally take this threat seriously… (The Conversation)

In potential pandemic news, new cases of bird flu continue to pop up in the U.S., with the most recent case being a dairy worker in Nevada. It seems like bird flu is starting to try and spread to cows, then infecting humans with prolonged contact with poultry and livestock. Risks remain low, the symptoms are mostly mild, and only one death so far has been recorded. But scientists warn that we all need to on stay alert for a rogue mutation which will allow for spread among humans… (AP)

Even worse than blindly trusting a generative AI to handle your work tasks is trusting them to accurately summarize emails, technical papers, and news. Despite Big Tech trying to forcibly shove LLM-generated summaries of everything down your throat as if you’re an abused goose and their families will be converted into mulch unless they turn you into foie gras, these bots routinely make mistakes or misrepresent what they are summarizing. So, no matter how impressive that chatbot looks in a commercial, odds are that it’s doing a mediocre to terrible job… (Verge)

Runaway consumerism is killing us, literally. Throwaway culture enabled by a flood of various chemicals derived from fossil fuels has not only created literal mountains of toxic, ubiquitous waste, but is currently affecting our fertility and long term health. If we want to live in a healthier world — in more ways than one — we need to figure out how to stop making convenience and a clean environment mutually exclusive, even if multinational chemical conglomerates complain about their profit margins… (ICN)