This week, GPT-4 managed to trick a human into passing a CAPTCHA test for it, the discovery of a new fossil hints at a dinosaur with the longest neck in the known animal kingdom, and we investigate just how (in)accurate modern depictions of the Vikings are.
Earth Just Dodged One Of The Fastest Coronal Mass Ejections Ever
Late on Monday, March 13, the Sun blasted out a coronal mass ejection (CME) traveling at least 3,000 kilometers per second (6,700,000 miles per hour), possibly the fastest ever recorded. Had it hit the Earth, the results could have been catastrophic but fortunately, the CME was directed almost directly opposite. However, the explosion is a reminder the next time we may not be so lucky. Read the full story here
Baby Mice Born From Two Fathers Thanks To Egg Cells Derived From Males
Stem cells from male mice have been successfully converted into cells containing two X chromosomes. These cells were then differentiated into eggs and fertilized with sperm, resulting in the births of seven healthy baby mice. It’s a landmark finding, and it was made possible thanks to an issue that’s long been a headache for scientists attempting to culture stem cells. Read the full story here
GPT-4 Hires And Manipulates Human Into Passing CAPTCHA Test
The announcement of OpenAI’s latest artificial intelligence (AI) model, GPT-4, has many people concerned, but perhaps the most concerning part of it all was detailed in a report by OpenAI outlining how GPT-4 actually lied to a human to trick them into passing a CAPTCHA test for it, bypassing most websites’ frontline defense against bots. Read the full story here
Giant Dinosaur Had The Longest Neck Of Any Animal Ever Discovered
Giant giraffes walked the Jurassic in the form of long-necked Titanosaurs and Sauropods, but among them was one species to out-neck them all. A new fossil analysis has crowned the Chinese sauropod Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum as the longest-known neck in the animal kingdom, stretching to a whopping 15.1 meters (49.5 feet). Read the full story here
The “Triple-Dip” La Niña Is Finally Over, But Now El Niño Looms
It looks like it’s all over for the exceptional “triple-dip” La Niña weather event that cooled the Pacific Ocean and shaped the Earth’s weather for the past three years. However, scientists have already warned that an El Niño warming phase could be brewing. If true, then it could have some worrying implications for the warming of the planet. Read the full story here
Feature of the week:
Is Everything We Thought We Knew About Vikings Wrong?
There is no historical evidence that Vikings wore those famous horned helmets, nor that they were hyper-aggressive warriors. So, is everything we think we know about the Vikings actually complete rubbish? Read the full story here
Source Link: TWIS: One Of The Fastest Coronal Mass Ejections Ever Blasted From The Sun, Baby Mice Born From Two Fathers, And Much More This Week