STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, Week #57: Synthetic life; dog aggression; and artificial intelligence

Please visit the /promoted page to view this week's STEM Saturday post promotions.

This was the 57^th week of our post promotions for STEM Saturday on the Steem blockchain, and our little community now occupies the top of the /promoted page for the 57^th consecutive Saturday. This week, I promoted three Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) posts by three authors.

If you are a STEM enthusiast, please consider following the authors that you'll find in this article and also consider joining our community. If you would like your own post to be considered for STEM Saturday post promotion, please see the guidelines at the end of this post.

This week's promotions included the following posts (in alphabetical order, by author). Each author has been set as a 5% beneficiary on this post. All posts were passed through at least three different online plagiarism checks and three different checks for AI detection.

At its annual meeting, the International Society for Stem Cell Research announced that synthetic human embryos had been created from stem cells. The research team was headed by Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, who has been working for a decade on the creation of synthetic structures from stem cells. This research follows efforts from last October, when the team announced the creation of mouse embryos from stem cells. The researchers were able to grow the cells to a stage that is equivalent to 14 days of life, at which point the experiment had to be ended for legal and ethical reasons.

Statisticians from Harvard published a recent article in Nature revealing links between pollution, temperature, and dog aggression. In particular, the team found that dog aggression is elevated when temperatures, ozone, or ultraviolet radiation are higher. Although they were able to identify this link, the team couldn't identify whether one causes the other, or if other factors are also at play. The study introduces several intriguing questions, including: "What other environmental factors could influence animal behavior?"; "How might climate change and increasing air pollution levels impact animal behavior in the future?"; and "Could similar patterns of aggression be observed in other animal species under similar conditions?".

Referencing the rise of electricity and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, this article discusses the fear of AI-related risks as both rational and irrational concerns. In fact, there are real risks that arise from artificial intelligence. These include possibilities ranging from confusion due to fake content to job loss, and even to human enslavement or extinction by a superior intelligence. However, responses to these fears also run across a wide spectrum from sober and realistic to hysterical overreactions. As the EU works with OpenAI at the forefront of AI regulation, we can hope that the regulations are measured and effective, so that they can guard against the risk without squashing the promise of human betterment. It is said that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was a product of that generations fear of electricity. This article looks forward to a similar future for AI, where widespread fears are replaced by regulations along with recognition of the myriad of ways that AI can improve human life.

The Community

The Popular STEM community is intended to be a place for accessible STEM conversations (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). If you have an interest in STEM topics, please come join us!

About STEM Saturday

If members would like to have your own STEM content considered for future promotions, please come join us and start contributing. I don't know how long I'll be continuing the tradition, but while I do, here are the minimum requirements for consideration (subject to change without notice ;-).

1. Original, plagiarism-free content
2. Minimum word count: currently 300 words, but this may be adjusted.
3. The content must not be cross-posted on other web sites or blockchains. Correct use of the #steemexclusive tag is encouraged.
4. English language. (sorry, it's the only one I know)
5. Because a post leaves /promoted at payout time, posts created shortly before STEM Saturday may be more likely to be chosen than older posts.

All community members are invited to create original and exclusive content that can be considered for future promotions.

Please help grow the science & technology audience on the Steem blockchain by following the Science and Technology on the Social Blockchain Facebook page then liking & sharing our links!

Visit the /promoted page and #burnsteem25 to support the inflation-fighters who are helping to enable decentralized regulation of Steem token supply growth.)