Scientific American - November 2018

November 2018, ScientificAmerican.com 15

xĀÇxߞ­x³îj³xDߧāîÿ ̧ßlä ̧…Çx ̧ǧxž³îšx
visualizing group signed up to help clean a
beach, compared with 43 percent in the non-
þžäøD§žąž³ ̧³xÍ³lÿšx³ ̧†xßxlDš ̧žx ̧…
DþxxîDߞD³ ̧ß³ ̧³þxxîDߞD³§ø³šU ̧Āj nearly half the visualizers selected the envi- ronmentally friendlier meatless option—com- pared with about 28 percent of the nonvisual- izers, the researchers reported online in July in Environment and Behavior. The investigators did not track people to äxxž…îšxāUxšDþxllž†xßx³î§āž³îšxžßlDāî ̧ day lives—something further studies should xĀD­ž³xjäDāääîølā ̧Døîš ̧ß=x³
ž³šž-
ou, a professor of psychology at Taiwan’s
National Sun Yat-sen University. Moreover,
the research “should be replicated in other
places with other populations,” says Robert
ž† ̧ßljDÇß ̧…xää ̧ß ̧…Çäāš ̧§ ̧āDîîšx7³ž- versity of Victoria in British Columbia, who was not involved in the work. 5šx‰³lž³ä ̧ø§l³ ̧³xîšx§xääUxDÇǧžxl
to raise public concern about climate change,
šž ̧øäDāäÍ ̧ßxĀD­Ç§xjšxäøxäîäîšDî
news reports about the phenomenon could
ž³§ølxþžþžllxäߞÇîž ̧³ä ̧…žîäx†x`îä ̧³Çx ̧-
ǧxÜ䧞þxäD³lDä¦ßxDlxßäî ̧ž­Dž³xxĀÇxߞ-
encing such impacts. Having virtual-reality
demonstrations in local science museums of
the consequences of climate change would be
another way of putting the research into prac-
tice, Chiou adds. — Agata Blaszczak-Boxe

ÿxžšîä̧ø§l‰³lxDšßxÿDßlîšßxxxäDä
often per trial as could a network with only
‰ĀxlÿxžšîäÍ5šxäîDîž`ÇDßîä ̧…îšxäx­žDl-
justable weights apparently learned the struc-
ture of the maze, whereas the dynamic parts
learned how to adapt to new reward locations.
“This is really powerful,” says Nikhil Mishra, a
computer scientist at the University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley, who was not involved in the re -
search, “because the algorithms can adapt
more quickly to new tasks and new situations,
just like humans would.”
Thomas Miconi, a computer scientist at the
ride-sharing company Uber and the paper’s
lead author, says his team now plans to tackle
more complicated tasks, such as robotic control
and speech recognition. In related work, Miconi
wants to simulate “neuromodulation,” an
instant networkwide adjustment of adaptability
that allows humans to sop up information when
something novel or important happens.
— Matthew Hutson

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