The debate over understanding in AI's large language models.

We survey a current, heated debate in the artificial intelligence (AI) research community on whether large pretrained language models can be said to understand language-and the physical and social situations language encodes-in any humanlike sense. We describe arguments that have been made for and against such understanding and key questions for the broader sciences of intelligence that have arisen in light of these arguments. We contend that an extended science of intelligence can be developed that will provide insight into distinct modes of understanding, their strengths and limitations, and the challenge of integrating diverse forms of cognition.

Synergistic Enhancement of Mechanical and Electrochemical Properties in Grafted Polymer/Oxide Hybrid Electrolytes.

Lithium metal batteries operated with high voltage cathodes are predestined for the realization of high energy storage systems, where solid polymer electrolytes offer a possibility to improve battery safety. Al2O3_PCL is introduced as promising hybrid electrolyte made from polycaprolactone (PCL) and Al2O3 nanoparticles that can be prepared in a one-pot synthesis as a random mixture of linear PCL and PCL-grafted Al2O3. Upon grafting, synergistic effects of mechanical stability and ionic conductivity are achieved. Due to the mechanical stability, manufacture of PCL-based membranes with a thickness of 50 µm is feasible, yielding an ionic conductivity of 5·10-5 S cm-1 at 60 °C. The membrane exhibits an impressive performance of Li deposition in symmetric Li||Li cells, operating for 1200 h at a constant and low overvoltage of 54 mV and a current density of 0.2 mA cm-2. NMC622 | Al2O3_PCL | Li cells are cycled at rates of up to 1 C, achieving 140 cycles at >80% state of health. The straightforward synthesis and opportunity of upscaling as well as solvent-free polymerization render the Al2O3_PCL hybrid material as rather safe, potentially sustainable and affordable alternative to conventional polymer-based electrolytes.

Probiotic from human breast milk, Lactobacillus fermentum, promotes growth in animal model of chronic malnutrition.

BACKGROUND: Chronic undernutrition leads to growth hormone resistance and poor growth in children, which has been shown to be modulated by microbiota. We studied whether Lactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 (Lf CECT5716), isolated from mother's breast milk, could promote juvenile growth through the modulation of lipid absorption in a model of starvation. METHODS: Germ-free (GF) Drosophila melanogaster larvae were inoculated with Lf CECT5716 in conditions of undernutrition with and without infant formula. The impact of Lf CECT5716 on larval growth was assessed 7 days after egg laying (AED) by measuring the larval size and on maturation by measuring the emergence of pupae during 21 days AED. For lipid absorption test, Caco2/TC7 intestinal cells were incubated with Lf CECT5716 and challenged with mixed lipid micelles. RESULTS: The mono-associated larvae with Lf CECT5716 were significantly longer than GF larvae (3.7 vs 2.5 mm; p < 0.0001). The effect was maintained when Lf CECT5716 was added to the infant formula. The maturation time of larvae was accelerated by Lf CECT5716 (12 vs 13.2 days; p = 0.01). Lf CECT5716 did not have significant impact on lipid absorption in Caco2/TC7 cells. CONCLUSIONS: Lf CECT5716 is a growth-promoting strain upon undernutrition in Drosophila, with a maintained effect when added to an infant formula but without effect on lipid absorption in vitro.

Staying Well: A Follow Up of a 5-Week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme for a Range of Psychological Issues.

112 women and 37 men, with an average age of 50 years were referred for MBSR training with a range of chronic psychological issues. All participants completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (Tennant et al. in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 5:63, 2007) before and after the mindfulness training programme. A significant overall effect of pre/post training was found and this difference was not related to a specific disorder. The results suggest that a 'brief' dose of MBSR can have a positive impact on measures of well-being in a manner that is not related to patient characteristics. A follow-up of 28 participants confirms that participation in the 5-week Living Mindfully MBSR programme significantly enhances psychological well-being immediately after training, and this benefit is maintained up to 4 years after training. Continued practice in mindfulness meditation showed an insignificant relationship to well-being scores at follow up. Qualitative data suggest that the 5 week MBSR is an effective means of developing emotion regulation and psychological well-being.

Debates on the nature of artificial general intelligence.

The term "artificial general intelligence" (AGI) has become ubiquitous in current discourse around AI. OpenAI states that its mission is "to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity." DeepMind's company vision statement notes that "artificial general intelligence…has the potential to drive one of the greatest transformations in history." AGI is mentioned prominently in the UK government's National AI Strategy and in US government AI documents. Microsoft researchers recently claimed evidence of "sparks of AGI" in the large language model GPT-4, and current and former Google executives proclaimed that "AGI is already here." The question of whether GPT-4 is an "AGI algorithm" is at the center of a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI.

The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence.

"Can machines think?" So asked Alan Turing in his 1950 paper, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." Turing quickly noted that, given the difficulty of defining thinking, the question is "too meaningless to deserve discussion." As is often done in philosophical debates, he proposed replacing it with a different question. Turing imagined an "imitation game," in which a human judge converses with both a computer and a human (a "foil"), each of which vies to convince the judge that they are the human. Importantly, the computer, foil, and judge do not see one another; they communicate entirely through text. After conversing with each candidate, the judge guesses which one is the real human. Turing's new question was, "Are there imaginable digital computers which would do well in the imitation game?"

How do we know how smart AI systems are?

In 1967, Marvin Minksy, a founder of the field of artificial intelligence (AI), made a bold prediction: "Within a generation…the problem of creating 'artificial intelligence' will be substantially solved." Assuming that a generation is about 30 years, Minsky was clearly overoptimistic. But now, nearly two generations later, how close are we to the original goal of human-level (or greater) intelligence in machines?

AI's challenge of understanding the world.

In thinking about the challenge of getting artificial intelligence (AI) to understand our complex world, I recalled a Twitter post from a user of Tesla's self-driving system. The user tweeted that his car kept stopping abruptly at a particular location for no apparent reason. Then he noticed a billboard advertisement on the side of the road, featuring a sheriff holding up a stop sign. The car's vision system had interpreted this as an actual stop sign, and slammed on the brakes.

Abstraction and analogy in AI.

The abilities to form concepts and abstractions, and to make analogies, are key to human intelligence, but AI systems have a long way to go before they can match the abilities of humans in these areas. To develop machines that can abstract and analogize, researchers typically focus on idealized problem domains that are meant to capture the essence of human abstraction abilities without having to deal with the complexity of real-world situations. This commentary describes why solving problems in these domains remains difficult for AI systems, and discusses how AI researches can make progress on imbuing machines with these essential abilities.

Rethink reporting of evaluation results in AI.

Aggregate metrics and lack of access to results limit understanding.

Genetic and pathogenic relatedness of Pseudoperonospora cubensis and P. humuli.

The most economically important plant pathogens in the genus Pseudoperonospora (family Peronosporaceae) are Pseudoperonospora cubensis and P. humuli, causal agents of downy mildew on cucurbits and hop, respectively. Recently, P. humuli was reduced to a taxonomic synonym of P. cubensis based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence data and morphological characteristics. Nomenclature has many practical implications for pathogen identification and regulatory considerations; therefore, further clarification of the genetic and pathogenic relatedness of these organisms is needed. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted considering two nuclear and three mitochondrial loci for 21 isolates of P. cubensis and 14 isolates of P. humuli, and all published ITS sequences of the pathogens in GenBank. There was a consistent separation of the majority of the P. humuli isolates and the P. cubensis isolates in nuclear, mitochondrial, and ITS phylogenetic analyses, with the exception of isolates of P. humuli from Humulus japonicus from Korea. The P. cubensis isolates appeared to contain the P. humuli cluster, which may indicate that P. humuli descended from P. cubensis. Host-specificity experiments were conducted with two reportedly universally susceptible hosts of P. cubensis and two hop cultivars highly susceptible to P. humuli. P. cubensis consistently infected the hop cultivars at very low rates, and sporangiophores invariably emerged from necrotic or chlorotic hypersensitive-like lesions. Only a single sporangiophore of P. humuli was observed on a cucurbit plant during the course of the studies. Together, molecular data and host specificity indicate that there are biologically relevant characteristics that differentiate P. cubensis and P. humuli that may be obfuscated if P. humuli were reduced to a taxonomic synonym of P. cubensis. Thus, we recommend retaining the two species names P. cubensis and P. humuli until the species boundaries can be resolved unambiguously.

Abstraction and analogy-making in artificial intelligence.

Conceptual abstraction and analogy-making are key abilities underlying humans' abilities to learn, reason, and robustly adapt their knowledge to new domains. Despite a long history of research on constructing artificial intelligence (AI) systems with these abilities, no current AI system is anywhere close to a capability of forming humanlike abstractions or analogies. This paper reviews the advantages and limitations of several approaches toward this goal, including symbolic methods, deep learning, and probabilistic program induction. The paper concludes with several proposals for designing challenge tasks and evaluation measures in order to make quantifiable and generalizable progress in this area.

Pyrene-Functionalized Fluorescent Nanojars: Synthesis, Mass Spectrometric, and Photophysical Studies.

Nanojars are a class of supramolecular coordination complexes based on pyrazolate, Cu2+, and OH- ions that self-assemble around highly hydrophilic anions and serve as efficient anion binding and extraction agents. In this work, the synthesis, characterization, and photophysical properties of pyrene-functionalized fluorescent nanojars are presented. Three pyrene derivatives, 4-(pyren-1-yl)pyrazole (HL1), 4-(5-(pyren-1-yl)pent-4-yn-1-yl)pyrazole (HL2), and 4-(3-(pyrazol-4-yl)propyl)-1-(pyren-1-yl)-1,2,3-triazole (HL3), and the corresponding nanojars were synthesized and characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Electronic absorption, steady-state, and time-resolved fluorescence measurements were carried out to understand the interaction between the pyrene fluorophore and copper nanojars. Optical absorption measurements have shown minor ground state interaction between the fluorophore and nanojars. The fluorescence of pyrene is significantly quenched when attached to nanojars, suggesting strong contribution from the paramagnetic Cu2+ ions. Significant static quenching is observed in the case of L1, when pyrene is directly bound to the nanojar, whereas in the case of L2 and L3, when pyrene is attached to the nanojars using flexible tethers, both static and dynamic quenching are observed.

Development and Outcomes of a Streamlined Outpatient Newborn Circumcision Clinic.

INTRODUCTION: Abnormal penile anatomy is suspected in approximately 20% of newborns whose families desire circumcision, yet there is no clear method to refer such cases for anatomical assessment and circumcision under local anesthesia when safe. The aim of this study was to describe development, implementation and outcomes of a newborn circumcision clinic for boys where concern about anatomical circumcision suitability exists. METHODS: The workflow of a pediatric urology outpatient clinic was modified and a circumcision clinic implemented. Staff educational materials and electronic medical record referral templates were created. Circumcision suitability was assessed via checklist, and suitable patients circumcised on the same day. Clinical data were reviewed to evaluate initial implementation and patient outcomes. RESULTS: Of 833 boys evaluated from January 2014 to April 2018, 657 (79%) were suitable to circumcise, all of whom underwent a circumcision. Of those suitable 244 (37%) had normal anatomy. The remaining 413 (63%) had minor anatomical abnormalities, most commonly penoscrotal web (297/657, 45%) and penile raphe deviation (60/657, 9%). No short-term complications were noted. Most (595/657, 91%) returned for followup within 6 weeks after circumcision. Success was achieved in 593/595 boys (99.7%), and 2 boys (0.3%) required acquired buried penis repair. Of the 176 boys with anatomy unsuitable for clamp circumcision (buried penis, chordee or hypospadias), 144/176 (82%) elected for surgical reconstruction. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing a newborn circumcision clinic for boys with possible anatomical abnormalities is feasible. Most boys are circumcised safely and successfully without general anesthesia. Operative circumcision under general anesthesia is reserved for boys requiring surgical reconstruction for significant anatomical abnormalities.

Studying host-microbiota mutualism in Drosophila: Harnessing the power of gnotobiotic flies.

The complex interaction between the metazoan host and its commensal gut microbiota is one of the essential features of symbiosis in the animal kingdom. As there is a burgeoning interest to decipher the molecular dialog that shapes host-microbiota mutualism, the use of gnotobiotic model organism becomes an imperative approach to unambiguously parse the specific contributions to such interaction from the microbiome. In this review, we focus on several remarkable gnotobiotic studies in Drosophila that functionally depicted how the gut microbes can alter host physiology and behavior through transcriptomic regulation, hormonal control, and diet modification. These results in concert illustrate that the gnotobiotic flies mono- or poly-associated with members of its gut microbiota deliver a versatile and powerful model that is amenable to different types of studies ranging from classic genetics to large-scale systems approaches.

Pathogen Virulence Impedes Mutualist-Mediated Enhancement of Host Juvenile Growth via Inhibition of Protein Digestion.

The microbial environment impacts many aspects of metazoan physiology through largely undefined molecular mechanisms. The commensal strain Lactobacillus plantarum(WJL) (Lp(WJL)) sustains Drosophila hormonal signals that coordinate systemic growth and maturation of the fly. Here we examine the underlying mechanisms driving these processes and show that Lp(WJL) promotes intestinal peptidase expression, leading to increased intestinal proteolytic activity, enhanced dietary protein digestion, and increased host amino acid levels. Lp(WJL)-mediated peptidase upregulation is partly driven by the peptidoglycan recognition and signaling cascade PGRP-LE/Imd/Relish. Additionally, this mutualist-mediated physiological benefit is antagonized upon pathogen infection. Pathogen virulence selectively impedes Lp(WJL)-mediated intestinal peptidase activity enhancement and juvenile growth promotion but does not alter growth of germ-free animals. Our study reveals the adaptability of host physiology to the microbial environment, whereby upon acute infection the host switches to pathogen-mediated host immune defense at the expense of mutualist-mediated growth promotion.

Cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress is greater in sexual risk takers.

Several studies have reported an association between deviant behaviour and cortisol reactivity to stress. However, relatively few studies have investigated the relationship between psychobiological stress reactivity and sexual risk-taking behaviours. In this study, cortisol reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was measured in 26 healthy young adults prior to the administration of a sexual health and behaviour questionnaire. The cortisol response to the TSST was greater in those individuals who reported that at least one of their previous two sexual partners was someone whom they had just met. Results are discussed in the context of a model which suggests that early life stress dysregulates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and increases the likelihood of later life risk-taking behaviour. The findings have implications in terms of improving our understanding of psychobiological factors which predispose individuals to engage in adverse sexual health behaviours.