In March, Joanna Sadler, an organic chemist at the University of Edinburgh, received an unusual email. It promised £35,000 to advance her research—no strings attached. The offer came from a program at Imperial College London that had developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to spot promising climate-related research that was close to commercialization.

Sadler’s work on engineering bacteria to convert disposable cutlery into acetone—an industrial solvent currently derived from fossil fuels—had made the cut. At first, Sadler didn’t really understand what the email was. But after meeting with members from Imperial’s Climate Solutions Catalyst (CSC) team, she realized it was legitimate and decided to take them up on the offer.

As AI continues to improve, universities, public funding agencies, and venture capitalists are all considering how machines could be used to identify breakthrough research. In addition to speeding up grant reviews, some researchers say the technology could help level the playing field for researchers who may be hesitant to seek out commercialization opportunities. But others warn that relying on AI for funding decisions could introduce biases and compromise confidentiality.

A leading cause of a rising pH value in the world’s oceans is human CO2 emission. As more CO2 is released into the atmosphere and absorbed by the oceans, the water becomes more acidic. This poses problems for many organisms – including sharks, a new study showed. Scientists incubated shark teeth in water with pH levels that reflect the current ocean pH, and in water with a pH value that oceans are predicted to reach by 2300. In the more acidic water of the simulated scenario, shark teeth, including roots and crowns, were significantly more damaged. This shows how global changes reach all the way to the microstructure of sharks’ teeth, the researchers said.

Research.

We tend to credit animals like cats and dogs with a certain degree of mental complexity. But fish aren't usually afforded that kind of praise.

"They do not talk, they do not bark," says Caio Maximino, a neuroscientist at the Federal University of the South and Southeast Pará in Brazil. "We usually think, 'Well, these are very simple-minded animals. They are like little robots that do not do much.'"

But personally, Maximino doesn't believe that. "Those animals, they have very rich behavior that is mediated by these internal, emotional-like states," he says.

Previous research has largely focused on the negative experiences of fish that are driven by fear, anxiety and discomfort. "It has been demonstrated that they feel pain, for example," says Marta Soares, a behavioral physiologist at the University of Porto in Portugal. "And that was a huge step, actually."

It's amazing to me that we can still find new heavenly bodies within our own solar system in 2025. Not to mention the possibility that we have data that suggests there might be yet another beyond Pluto, but that's still speculative.

Science: one of the only topics that doesn't suck in 2025.

• Most human and animal teams suffer from the Ringelmann effect: individuals contribute less the more the team grows
• Weaver ants avoid the Ringlemann effect as they work in a team to fold leaves into nest chambers
• A study showed that weaver ants use division of labor to not only avoid the Ringlemann effect but to achieve super efficiency

cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/48384923

This study shows that playing an open-world game, such as The The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and nostalgia evoked by Studio Ghibli films significantly foster a sense of exploration and calm in life, as well as a feeling of mastery and skill, and purpose and meaning, hence ultimately contributing positively to one’s overall happiness in life.

Source: Arigayota A, Duffek B, Hou C, Eisingerich A Effects of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Studio Ghibli Films on Young People’s Sense of Exploration, Calm, Mastery and Skill, Purpose and Meaning, and Overall Happiness in Life: Exploratory Randomized Controlled Study JMIR Serious Games 2025;13:e76522 DOI: 10.2196/76522