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b'An Open Letter Asks AI Researchers To Reconsider Responsibilities\\nIn recent months, it\\u2019s been hard to escape hearing about artificial intelligence platforms such as ChatGPT, the AI-enabled version of Bing, and Google\\u2019s Bard\\u2014large language models skilled at manipulating words and constructing text. The programs can conduct a believable conversation and answer questions fluently, but have a tenuous grasp on what\\u2019s real, and what\\u2019s not.\\nLast week, the Future of Life Institute released an open letter that read \\u201cWe call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.\\u201d They asked researchers to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols governing the use of AI. That letter was signed by a collection of technologists and computer researchers, including big names like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Tesla\\u2019s Elon Musk. However, some observers called the letter just another round of hype over the AI field.\\nDr. Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at Berkeley, director of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, and co-author of one of the leading AI textbooks was a signatory to that open letter calling for a pause in AI development. He joins Ira Flatow to explain his concerns about AI systems that are \\u2018black boxes\\u2019\\u2014difficult for humans to understand or control.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nNASA Announces Artemis II Crew For Next Moon Mission\\nThis week, NASA announced the four person crew of the Artemis II mission to the moon: Commander Reid Weisman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.\\nThe crew has three firsts for a moon mission, the first woman, first person of color and first Canadian.\\nWhile these Artemis II astronauts will not actually step foot on the moon, it\\u2019s an important milestone for NASA\\u2019s first moon mission since Apollo.\\nIra talks with Swapna Krishna, host of the PBS digital series, Far Out about this week\\u2019s announcement and the future of the Artemis mission.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nWill Rising Temperatures Help Batters Swing for the Bleachers?\\nAs the planet warms, melting ice and shifting seasons aren\\u2019t the only things changing\\u2014the traditions of baseball may be affected as well. A report published this week in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society finds that warmer air temperatures are connected to a slight increase in the number of home runs hit in major league baseball. The effect, the researchers say, is due to a decrease in air density at warmer temperatures, which allows a hit ball to fly slightly further than it would in cooler air.\\nSo far, the effect is small. After correcting for other factors, the researchers say they can attribute about 500 additional MLB home runs since 2010 to warmer temperatures. Most of the observed increase in home run hitting isn\\u2019t attributable to the climate. However, they say, each additional one degree Celsius increase in temperature may lead to a two percent increase in home runs. And while ballparks with an insulating dome won\\u2019t see big shifts from increased temperatures, open-air parks with a lot of daytime games, such as Wrigley Field, will see more significant effects.\\nChristopher Callahan, a Ph.D. candidate in geography at Dartmouth and lead author of the report, joins Ira to talk baseball and climate.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nThis Video Game Prioritizes Restoring An Ecosystem Over Profits\\nIf you\\u2019ve played Rollercoaster Tycoon, Cities: Skylines, the Civilization series\\u2014even Animal Crossing\\u2014you\\u2019re probably familiar with this gameplay pattern: extract some kind of resource from the land, industrialize it into a theme park or a city, and (step three) profit, ad infinitum.\\nBut Terra Nil, a new game from the studio Free Lives, fundamentally challenges this oft-used game loop. Instead of maximizing profit at the expense of the local ecosystem, the player\\u2019s focus is to make a healthier, natural one instead. You start with a barren wasteland (one that you assume has been completely desolated by human activity, perhaps the aftermath from one of the previously mentioned games), and with the help of advanced eco-tech\\u2014like wind turbines, soil purifiers, irrigators, and more\\u2014restore it to a thriving, diverse ecosystem. The player\\u2019s ultimate goal is to take all the tech they used to restore the land, recycle it into an airship, and fly away, leaving no human presence behind.\\nSciFri producer D Peterschmidt speaks with Sam Alfred, the lead designer and programmer of Terra Nil, about how Free Lives designed this \\u201creverse city-builder,\\u201d how the studio took inspiration from the flora of their local Cape Town, and how he hopes the game challenges players how they think about traditional gameplay systems and their effect on our world.\\n\\n\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nWorkout Worms May Reveal New Parkinson\\u2019s Treatments\\nScientists built an exercise pool for tiny worms. Why?\\nA team of researchers at University of Colorado Boulder are looking into ways to help treat people with Parkinson\\u2019s and other neurodegenerative diseases. They\\u2019re turning to tiny collaborators, C. elegans, worms which measure just one millimeter in length.\\nThese scientists wanted to see how exercise affects brain health by putting a bunch of these worms in an exercise class\\u2014in a tiny pool.\\nIra talks with the co-author of this fascinating new research, Dr. Joyita Bhadra, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nTranscripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on\\xa0sciencefriday.com.'