Artificial intelligence (AI) still can’t see the future, but a new algorithm (算法) may come close: using nothing but written movie summaries, the AI can consistently tell which films will play well—or awfully—to critics and audiences. If the model can be further improved, it could one day help producers predict whether a movie will be a failure at the box office, before it’s even made.

To test several models, researchers used plot summaries of 42,306 movies from all over the world, many collected from Wikipedia. The models broke the summaries by sentence and used something called sentiment (情感) analysis to analyze each one. Sentences considered “positive”, such as “Thor loves his hammer”, would receive a rating closer to positive one. And sentences that were considered “negative”, like “Thor gets in a fight” would be rated closer to negative one.

Generally, successful movies such as 1951’s Alice in Wonderland—which scored 80% on the movie-rating website Rotten Tomatoes—have frequent waves in sentiment; unsuccessful ones, such as 2009’s The Limits of Control, vary less. It’s not important whether the films begin or end happily, the researchers say. What’s important is that the sentiments change frequently.

The sentiment ratings in each summary were then simplified into a single score to reflect how often the sentiment changed. The researchers tested three different methods of arriving at a final score. All three could predict fairly accurately whether a movie would be unpopular, and one method worked especially well for guessing which thrillers and comedies reviewers would hate.

The methods were not as efficient at guessing which movies would succeed, but they still predicted the results more accurately than random chance. In the future, the researchers say their methods could be bettered to predict the amount a movie could earn at the box office and help producers decide which movies to invest in. The system’s fair judgment might give an advantage to less well-known writers, the researchers add. It could also potentially save the public from having to sit through films like Jaws: The Revenge, which online critics and audience alike rate as terrible.

China just grew the first plant on the moon. That’s one small leaf for the moon, but one giant leap for moon colonies（聚居地）. As you may know, I’m not a huge fan of space travel. Well, I think it’s cool, but I just get annoyed with anyone who thinks humans will save themselves from the earth by building colonies on Mars.

However, I am a fan of plants. And the idea that you could actually create an ecosystem on a rock in space is a pretty cool one. And I’m part of an ecosystem on a rock in space. Apparently, I’m not the only one. The Chinese wanted to find out if they could grow “life” on the moon. So they sent a probe（探测器）into space with cotton seeds. Once the probe landed, the system watered the seeds, and boom-they sprouted（发芽）.

“We have done the first biological experiment on the moon of human history to make the first seed sprout on the moon,” wrote Xie Gengxin, who designed the experiment, on Chongqing University’s website. “And with time moving on, it’ll be the first plant with green leaves on the moon.” The Chinese are also attempting to grow potatoes and more vegetables on the moon. Plus, they’re working on hatching fruit fly eggs. People have gotten seeds to sprout in space before, but never on the moon. Growing food is a big deal if you want humans to travel on long missions or build space colonies.

“Experts are still discussing the chances of following projects, but it’s confirmed that there will be another three missions after Chang’e 5,” Wu Yanhua, from China’s National Space Administration, explained at a press conference. I’m confused：I’m thinking this is pretty cool, but I’m also thinking it’s using resources that could be better directed towards more useful things.

The beautiful island country of Madagascar has a serious school shortage. About a third of Malagasy children have no access to education because the schools are too far away or severely overcrowded. Thinking Hus, a non-profit dedicated to increasing global access to education, plans to tackle the issue with a series of 3D-printed schools, the first of which was completed in April 2022.

The 765-square-feet structure, named Bougainvillea, will house 30 students. The construction a began with the printer pouring a cement-like (水泥状) mixture in a pattern to create the walls. The entire process took just 18 hours! The roof, doors and windows were locally sourced, and the walls were made of a cement mixture that can resist big environmental pressures in the area. Bougainvillea was 3D printed by 14 Trees, a company with experience printing buildings throughout Kenya and Malawi.

Maggie Grouts, the 22-year-old founder of Thinking Huts, is a senior at the University of Colorado and was just 15 when she started Thinking Huts. Adopted from a rural village in China when she was 18 months old, Grout realized that not all kids were as fortunate as her and wanted to help. The idea for the 3D-printed schools came to her after brainstorming(集思广益) with her father on ways to use the technology for the greater good.

The 3D printing approach shrinks the construction turnaround time from months to days, as well as the cost. This allows more schools to be built in less time and reduces the building’s carbon footprints. And these savings in time, cost and materials meet a real need for education infrastructure (基础设施) to help bridge the global opportunity gap.

“Thinking Huts hopes to have a Thinking Hut in every community where children do not have a place for education and is fundraising to develop this goal. By using 3D printing, we are combining the potential of technology with architectural solutions that tackle real problems the world faces within education,” says Grouts.