GoKawiilA genetic bottleneck appears to have been behind the downfall of the Neanderthals. Plus, AI-generated medical X-rays are getting too realistic to spot and ways to grapple with a tsunami of experimental data.
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Real X-ray images of different body parts are on the left, AI-generated X-rays are on the right. Can you spot the difference?Credit: Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)
Radiologists and large language models (LLMs) both struggle to discern real X-ray scans from those generated by artificial intelligence. In a study that asked 17 radiologists about the technical quality of a series of X-ray images, only 41% raised concerns that AI scans had infiltrated the data. When asked to identify fake images, LLMs such as ChatGPT were only 57–85% accurate. These AI‑generated images could pollute the scientific literature or compromise insurance claims, says radiologist and study co-author Mickael Tordjman. Such images could also creep into the training data of AI models being used to read medical imaging data, distorting their output.
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Radiology paper
DNA from the remains of ten Neanderthals, including 17 tiny bones from a fetus, have revealed the genetic bottleneck that might have contributed to the downfall of the species. The DNA shows that the population shrunk about 65,000 years ago, when most Neanderthals sheltered in a relatively ice-free ‘glacial refugium’ in what is now southwestern France. Those who later spread out across Europe emerged from that genetically similar group. Their homogeneity might have been a fatal weakness when later climatic changes and other factors drove the species to extinction around 40,000 years ago, researchers suggest.
National Geographic | 7 min read
Reference: PNAS paper
Eco-hydrologist Emily Fairfax traded muddy fieldwork for the red carpet at the premier of Hoppers, an animated kids’ movie about beavers. As the film’s scientific advisor, Fairfax did not let any clangers slide: her notes about how the animals sit (on top of their tails) and the colour of their teeth (definitely not pearly white) strongly influenced the film. She’s even got a cartoon cameo as a biology professor. “Honestly, it’s surreal,” she says. “Sometimes I’m sitting here and I’m like, ‘Well, none of that could have possibly been real. Back to my everyday life.’”
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