Did Not See That Coming

I thought about whether I should use these thumbnails, or just provide a verbal description and a link, because honestly they are disturbing. Sometimes the truth hurts. But sometimes, it's necessary: "What was considered a granivorous species actually is an opportunistic omnivore and more flexible in its diet than was assumed".

Carnivorous squirrels documented in California

Dec 2024, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2024-12-carnivorous-squirrels-documented-california.html

Surprise!

via University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and University of California Davis: Vole hunting: Novel predatory and carnivorous behavior by California ground squirrels, Journal of Ethology (2024). DOI: 10.1007/s10164-024-00832-6

https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10164-024-00832-6

Above image credit: A California ground squirrel dines on a vole it hunted - Sonja Wild UC Davis - Dec 2024

A California ground squirrel eating a vole - Sonja Wild UC Davis - Dec 2024

Collaboration uncovers how gravity influences qubits

Feb 2025, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-collaboration-uncovers-gravity-qubits.html

Quantum and gravity together at last:

"Our research reveals that the same finely tuned qubits engineered to process information can also serve as precise gravity sensors—so sensitive, in fact, that future quantum chips may double as practical gravity sensors." (and that was a surprise)

via Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, Stockholm University and Google Quantum AI: Alexander V. Balatsky et al, Quantum sensing from gravity as a universal dephasing channel for qubits, Physical Review A (2025). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.111.012411

https://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.111.012411

An unexpected connection between the equations for crystalline lattice defects and electromagnetism

Mar 2025, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2025-03-unexpected-equations-crystalline-lattice-defects.html

Researchers uncovered an unexpected connection between the equations for defects in a crystalline lattice and a well-known formula from electromagnetism.

via Osaka University: Biot-Savart law in the geometrical theory of dislocations, Royal Society Open Science (2025). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.241568.

https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.241568

How To Be Human

There is a chatbot that pretends it's a kid so that it can catch child predators. It doesn't entrap them into doing anything illegal; the point is to make the offender aware that what they're doing is wrong.

The part I found most interesting about this was how the developers used real people from the sex crime world - people who had been preyed upon - to help design a believable-sounding bot.


The chatbot taking on Seattle's sex trade
Nov 2017, BBC

The challenge for developers was to make sure this chatbot was authentic. Any unusual behaviour, or nonsensical response, would tip off the target.

"We work with survivors of trafficking to ask them how a conversation like this would go," explains Mr Beiser.

It's the small touches that help here. Replies aren't instant. There is sloppy, bad English. It's by no means perfect, but during the bot's test phase earlier this year, 1,500 people interacted with the bot long enough to receive the deterrence message - a remarkable completion rate given the bot will ask for a selfie of the buyer as part of that conversation.

As more people use the bot, the smarter it could potentially become. The project has the backing of Microsoft, one of the tech firms leading the way on natural language research.