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Stony ground

When you start watching a film, there are some characters you can confidently predict will die. A minor character joining two major characters for an action sequence? Dead to illustrate the stakes. Wise old mentor in an epic fantasy? Sure to die at the end of act two.

Feedback knows these cliches and more, but it hadn鈥檛 previously occurred to us to consider geologists as being at risk. Nevertheless, it turns out they have a life expectancy only marginally better than characters played by Sean Bean.

We learned this from a delightful . Geologist Erik Sturkell at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and his colleagues have amused themselves over the past decade or so by compiling examples of geologists in films: who are they, how are they portrayed and what tends to happen to them?

Sturkell鈥檚 team has now documented 鈥�141 movies, spanning the period 1919鈥�2023 and starring 202 geologists鈥�. It turns out geologists mostly appear in films centred on adventure, drama, action and science fiction. 鈥淕eologist movies are rarely comedic,鈥� write the researchers. Only 11 per cent of movie geologists are female, though this has apparently picked up a bit since the 1990s. Furthermore, cinematic geologists are, if not consistently heroic, 鈥渁t least not guilty of any professional misconduct鈥�.

And yet they are frequently rubbed out. 鈥淕eologists die at an alarming rate in the movies, often very early on,鈥� the authors write. Depending on the decade, the death rate varies between 31.6 and 35.7 per cent. Of the 202 geologists, 69 die, 30 by murder. The authors cite the 1967 film The Money Jungle, which Feedback hasn鈥檛 seen, but which involves multiple oil companies scheming for control of a rich field. During this unseemly squabble, five geologists are murdered, mostly by creative means, 鈥渟uch as being electrocuted by a golf cart, poisoned when taking medicine, gassed by the fireplace and killed when his toy train explodes鈥�. This, the authors note, is 鈥渢he worst serial slaughter of geologists in any movie鈥�.

Across the years, a further 12 geologists died of 鈥渨ork related鈥� causes, such as 鈥渂eing hit by a volcanic bomb, falling into a crater or an opening fault, drowning in quicksand or lahar, and incineration in an oil pit鈥�. Equally common are deaths involving extraterrestrials, such as the geologist in Prometheus who is assimilated by aliens and 鈥渃onsequently killed by former colleagues鈥�.

This is all fascinating, but Feedback finds ourselves consumed by follow-up questions. What are the cinematic death rates for other branches of science? We can鈥檛 help but suspect that palaeontologists must be absolutely getting it in the neck, because they only show up in stories where extinct creatures come back to life and start eating people. On the other hand, movie solid-state physicists are probably having a pretty chill time.

Can anyone point us to a dataset?

Me, me, me

Feedback is alarmed to learn that the lyrics of pop music have become significantly more self-centred over the past few decades.

This is true in the US and Germany, according to a study in PLoS One, which each year from 1970 to 2019. The analysis revealed an increase in the use of first-person singular words like 鈥淚鈥�, 鈥渕e鈥� and 鈥渕ine鈥�, compared with first-person plural words like 鈥渨e鈥� and 鈥渙urs鈥�. Curiously, this didn鈥檛 occur in Japan and Hong Kong, which the study describes as 鈥渕ore collectivist鈥�.

The paper treats this in near-apocalyptic terms, noting that 鈥渃ontemporary societies are increasingly self-focused, as reflected in levels of greed, narcissism, and social disconnection鈥�.

Feedback certainly isn鈥檛 going to mount a 鈥済reed is good鈥� defence, but we do have questions. For starters, how much of the trend is driven by the highly entrepreneurial US, as opposed to the more moderately capitalistic Germany? Second, how much of the increase in 鈥渕e鈥� words can be explained by the rise of solo artists and the total collapse of bands? Do K-pop groups 鈥� at this point basically the only remaining successful bands 鈥� also exhibit this egotistical trend?

She鈥檒l be back

Last month, New 女生小视频 reviewed the book We Are Not Machines: The fight for the future of work, which argues that artificial intelligence is not exactly coming for our jobs, but rather that our jobs are being contorted to fit AI (20 June). The result is that jobs that were once interesting are becoming boring and companies鈥� products and services are getting worse.

Readers Ian Williams and Erik Foxcroft both got in touch to flag the spooky near-coincidence that the book鈥檚 author, a journalist at the Financial Times, is named Sarah O鈥機onnor. 鈥淥, how close to perfection,鈥� says Erik.

Having a name that is almost but not quite that of the lead human character in The Terminator has previously caused ripples. In 2015, O鈥機onnor was the FT鈥榮 employment correspondent and : 鈥淎 robot has killed a worker in a VW plant in Germany.鈥� The combination of seeming cyborg-murderer news and O鈥機onnor鈥檚 name went viral. The irony was that . Feedback assumes she has since watched it, and hopes she concluded her book with a three-word promise of a sequel.

Got a story for Feedback?

You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week鈥檚 and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.

A problem shared is a problem halved, or so the saying goes. That is the philosophy of the open-source software movement, which sees volunteers coming together to code, patch and improve software tools.

The approach has been a huge success: most computing devices, including closed commercial machines like Windows PCs or Apple iPhones, use some open-source software. But while openness has benefits 鈥� having many eyes on code makes it easier to find and fix bugs 鈥� there are risks, too.

Open-source software intended to pilot consumer drones is now being used to guide a cheap Ukrainian cruise missile. Traditionally, military tech is custom-built, restricted and expensive. Ukraine has shown this needn鈥檛 be the case in the war with Russia: as New 女生小视频 has reported, cheap consumer drone technology is helping Ukraine hold back the invasion.

But while many readers may cheer on Ukraine鈥檚 fight, the fact that anyone can now download a cruise-missile guidance system should give us a moment鈥檚 pause.

Open-source models have fewer guardrails and the ones that exist are easier to remove

Open source is also key to another war, though this time a commercial one. In the US, AIs like ChatGPT use mostly private codebases, with access sold for a monthly fee. In China, however, open-source models lead the way. These are generally a few months behind the US models in capability 鈥� but anyone with the necessary hardware can download and run them for free.

While the closed US models generally come with guardrails to prevent chatbots from spewing out harmful material, open-source models have fewer such limits and the ones that exist are easier to remove.

That creates headaches for attempts to regulate AI models, such as testing them for national security risks before release, as was recently suggested by Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis. But it also offers the opportunity for more people to find ways of using AI models that US tech firms may not have thought of.

Open source means problems can be shared 鈥� it鈥檚 just that some will get easier to solve, while others get much harder.

Feedback is聽New 女生小视频鈥檚聽popular sideways look at the latest science and technology news. You can submit items you believe may amuse readers to Feedback by emailing聽feedback@newscientist.com

Imagining things

Late last year, between one news event and another (honestly, who can remember?), Feedback was delighted to discover the . This is an online magazine publishing 鈥渟hort works of fiction鈥�, but only if they take the form of 鈥渋maginary research abstracts鈥�. In other words, it鈥檚 a collection of summaries of (entirely fictional) research studies, each of which is a little short story in disguise.

It鈥檚 the creation of two academics in the UK: at the University of Glasgow and at the University of Derby. It grew out of a workshop intended 鈥渢o introduce creative writing concepts to researchers鈥�, especially those 鈥渨ho felt tense, anxious, about writing, or had fallen into a negative relationship with their writing鈥� 鈥� in other words, an aid for professionals with writer鈥檚 block. But, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it has grown beyond all expectations and is now a venue for rather lateral short stories.

The came out in late June. Reader Alex Gough alerted us to it, having published in it himself 鈥渁fter strenuous peer review鈥�. Alex鈥檚 piece is titled 鈥淪even new examples of adaptive radiation and insular dwarfism in etapods鈥�. He begins by explaining that 鈥淚nsular dwarfism is a process in which species isolated on islands evolve to become smaller than their mainland counterparts, eg Lemerle鈥檚 hippopotamus.鈥� From there he goes on to describe seven miniature species from a fictional archipelago, each of which has 鈥渄eveloped behavioural traits suited to [its] unique environment鈥�.

For instance, 鈥淓tapodus malevolus is notably belligerent鈥�, in response to 鈥渢he high prevalence of predators on its island鈥�. In contrast, 鈥淓tapodus somnolentus undergoes prolonged periods of hibernation to cope with its irregular food supply.鈥�

However, not all the species could be explained in this kind of adaptive evolutionary language. 鈥淓tapodus jucundus is habitually carefree and contented, for reasons we have not yet discovered.鈥�

We assume readers have got the joke by now. If not, go sweep the floor and whistle while you work, maybe it鈥檒l become clear.

Elsewhere in the issue, we find 鈥淢ove fast and break everything: Deflecting anxiety in a tech-forward world鈥�. It explains: 鈥淔or unclear reasons, the rapid-fire continuous release of life-altering and world-transforming technological developments in artificial intelligence, without oversight of any kind, has caused an increase in anxiety, with some people even proving inexplicably resistant to emerging technologies.鈥�

Fortunately, a solution is at hand. 鈥淭he use of AI technologies reduces prefrontal cortex activity and critical thinking鈥�, which may lead to 鈥渂rain atrophy, and therefore a reduction in distracting ethical questions鈥�. The problem solves itself!

Etymological issues

Feedback is on a mission to get the word 鈥渘onomatopoeia鈥� added to the dictionary. Attentive readers will recall that the neologism was proposed by Neil McKay and means the opposite of onomatopoeia, i.e. it is a word that doesn鈥檛 sound at all like the thing it describes.

Several readers have submitted additional examples of nonomatopoeia, bolstering the evidence that the word would be a valuable addition to the language because it describes a widespread phenomenon. Elaine Coates says she has always struggled with 鈥減edagogy鈥�. It refers to the method and practice of teaching, but, she says, 鈥渋t sounds like some sort of foot fetish鈥�.

Likewise, Bob Munro nominates 鈥渧aletudinarian鈥�. It sounds like a religious order, but actually refers to 鈥渁 person who is chronically sick, or believes themselves to be鈥�. These two alternative meanings, incidentally, are so radically distinct they render the word effectively useless.

In a nicely meta twist, Sue Tudor says that 鈥渙nomatopoeia鈥� is itself an example of nonomatopoeia. She describes 鈥渙nomatopoeia鈥� as 鈥渟urely one of the most non-onomaterwhatsit words in existence鈥�, because the sequence of syllables suggests 鈥渟tanding or sitting on a mat on a pier鈥�.

There is, we should say, a question about the etymology of nonomatopoeia, which computer scientist has flagged. 鈥淢ay I be the 94th reader to point out that onomatopoeia is Greek, so its negation is anonomatopoeia, not nonomatopoeia,鈥� he writes. 鈥淭he opposite, rather than the negation, is antonomatopoeia.鈥�

We regret to inform Julian that he is so far the only reader to point this out, but if another 93 would care to write in making this same argument, we will place all this correspondence in one of our special folders.

Rats on parade

Our quest for the most niche scientific tourist attractions continues, with museums of grain and gas setting the pace.

Simon Goodman reports having found 鈥渁 lovely example鈥� in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which is the jumping-off point to visit the Angkor temple complex. There he found a for the charity APOPO, which uses trained African giant pouched rats to detect landmines. 鈥淭his is a must-see place,鈥� says Simon. 鈥淭he highlight is seeing how the rats are trained and search out mines, which the carers show you live.鈥�

If that weren鈥檛 enough, if you agree to remove potentially toxic substances like sun cream from your skin, 鈥淵ou are even allowed to cuddle the rats.鈥� They are cat-sized and 鈥渄elightful鈥�, Simon reports.

Got a story for Feedback?

You can send stories to Feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week鈥檚 and past Feedbacks can be seen on our website.