Have you ever shouted at your computer because it wasn’t working? Your computer couldn’t “yell” back – until now. AI researchers are now working on computers that can argue and perhaps even win debates with humans.

IBM scientists published a paper in Nature on March 17 about their new AI system – Project Debater. After listening to arguments from its opponent (对手), the system can search around 400 million online articles in less than five minutes. It looks for ideas that can support its own argument.

Testing on the system began in 2019 when it debated with Harish Natarajan, a professional debater who holds the world record for most debate competition victories. The debate topic was whether or not preschool should be funded, and the AI system argued in favor of this idea. Although the AI lost the debate in the end based on the audience vote, the audience said it did very well. Interestingly, 58 percent of the audience said that Project Debater increased their knowledge about the topic, while only 20 percent said the same about Natarajan. Also, Project Debater has shown strength at making impressive and logical opening statements in the debate, according to Scientific American.

Humans and technology have been battling for decades. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a reigning (卫冕的) chess champion, Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. So after two decades, have IBM’s researchers just reproduced a “Deep Blue” to debate? It’s much more than that, the researchers noted. Argument and debate are fundamental abilities of human intelligence, and it’s a step outside of AI’s comfort zone to enter this field, according to the article in Nature.

Can you imagine a bicycle that has an iPhone on its handle and provides navigation tools and fitness information, along with data collectors that measure air pollution? This is just the beginning of the list of things that this dynamic new bicycle, known as the Copenhagen Wheel, is capable of. The biggest characteristic of this bike is its red hub (轮轴) on the back wheel, where the brain of the bike stores power, increases speed, monitors the rider’s exercise, and collects data from the air and the environment. The data that is collected is put onto a public website so citizens can find out what their city’s atmosphere is like during the day.

The Copenhagen Wheel comes to us from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S.A. It was developed by a part of MIT that is putting “intelligence” into everyday things that are a part of the infrastructure (基本设施) of our cities. Researchers from MIT chose the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change to show off the new bicycle, and early feedback (反馈) was very positive.

The goal of the Copenhagen Wheel project is to promote (促进) cycling by lengthening the distance people can cover. In addition, the makers ensure the whole bike riding experience is smoother so that even steep (陡峭的) roads are no longer a problem for comfortable cycling. This new bicycle is also perfect for protecting the environment, and many big cities are making plans to encourage their citizens to use this two-wheeler when they go to and from work. The director of the Copenhagen Wheel project, Christine Outram, expects that this new bike will help lead the charge of smart transportation into the 21st century. She is fully convinced that many big cities will see the benefits of promoting this type of cycling to their citizens.

Macinley Butson was just 16 years old when she first had the idea to try and protect women from more — than — necessary radiation during breast cancer treatments—and now, her invention could be a game-changer in the medical field.

Butson, whose father works in medical physics, has always been interested in science. But she only began researching the harmful side effects of radiation treatment after her father discussed his experience with ineffective cancer treatments in his work. Since Butson had also recently lost a relative to breast cancer, she felt inspired to conduct her own research on the subject. She tried to begin her medical research by consulting scientific journals, but she found their academic terms almost impossible to understand.

She then turned to the Internet to find videos that taught how to read scientific journals. As she went deeper in her research, she stumbled upon a key bit of information: copper （铜）has been shown to be effective at protecting skin from radiation. An idea hit this Australian teen as she was viewing a film on medieval wars in her 10th grade history class. When she saw the scaled （鳞片） patterns of the mail （盔甲）,she was inspired to create a wearable protective tool out of copper. She then headed back online and watched videos on how to put together tiny scales. She made her own flexible scale-mail which she now calls SMART: Scale Mail for Radiation Therapy.

When her invention was tested in a laboratory setting, it reduced surface exposure to unnecessary radiation by 75%. And now Butson is working on getting her SMART into clinical settings for use.