Edition 22 – Hurricane Helene, LLMs, and Sunlight
The big stories
How Hurricane Helene Became a Monster Storm
The hurricane is the deadliest to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005. Helene made landfall in Florida and cut a terrifying path all the way up to Tennessee. It has killed more than 200 people and caused widespread power outages and flooding. The storm was unusually large, intense, and fast, which allowed it to cause widespread damage.
No, LLMs still can’t reason like humans. This simple test reveals why.
The claim of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini taking over millions of jobs is largely inaccurate. To understand this, people must realize that LLMs are merely designed to predict the most likely next word in a body of text based on preceding words. Thus, LLMs struggle with basic reasoning tasks, often failing simple questions about cause and effect. A new project called "Simple Bench" aims to measure these failures and highlights the significant gap between human reasoning and LLM performance.
Spending time in sunlight brightens your mood
Research shows that tracking time spent in sunlight can help manage seasonal mood disorders like seasonal affective disorder (SAD). A study used smartwatches to monitor activity and sunlight exposure, revealing that people with mood disorders tend to be less active and get less sunlight during winter. This information could help individuals and clinicians better understand and address the effects of seasonal changes on mental health.
Our Atmosphere Transforms Dust From The Sahara Into Minerals That Fuel Life
Saharan dust carries vital iron that supports marine life and plant growth thousands of miles away. As this dust travels, it helps fuel organisms in the ocean as well as on distant land, such as the Amazon rainforest. This study shows how deeply interconnected and balanced Earth's ecosystems are to each other and all life forms that thrive in them.
More interesting links
Expert Explains Why You Should Clean Your Tongue Twice a Day
Plants 'Talk' to One Another in Languages We Might Soon Translate
The life of Victoria the T-Rex, and what Jurassic Park movies got wrong
Quote of the week
“Knowledge is a skyscraper. You can take a shortcut with a fragile foundation of memorization, or build slowly upon a steel frame of understanding.”
~ Naval Ravikant
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