Science bits: AI-driven physics; Male birth control

AI-driven physics: This is about using AI (artificial intelligence) to find fundamental variables that control phenomena. This one is really interesting and fun. It is ripe for conspiracy theory crackpots,  grifters and liars to have tons 'o fun with in fun places like Trumplandia and Crackpotlandia. Instead of being useful only for mischief, scientists can use it too for actual research. Interesting Engineering writes:

In physics news, researchers at Columbia University in the City of New York may have discovered a new realm of physics. They did this using a new AI program, and their findings may prove revolutionary for the future of physics and our understanding of the universe.

Albert Einstein's famous equation E=MC2 comprises three main variables; mass, energy, and velocity. But, the researchers behind the new study pondered whether such variables could be discovered automatically. If they could, it should significantly improve the process of scientific discovery.

To test if this would be possible, researchers at Columbia Engineering developed a new AI algorithm to attempt to find a way. The program's purpose was to use a video camera to monitor physical processes before attempting to identify the smallest possible collection of fundamental variables that might adequately capture the dynamics being observed.

The study was published on July 25, 2022, in Nature Computational Science.

The researchers fed films of physical systems for which they lacked the explicit solution after testing a number of other physical systems with known solutions. In the first videos, a local "air dancer" could be seen swaying in front of a used car sale. Eight variables were returned by the program after several hours of analysis. Additionally, a Lava lamp video also generated eight suggested variables. The program then outputted twenty-four variables after being fed a video clip of flames from a holiday fireplace loop.

"I always wondered, if we ever met an intelligent alien race, would they have discovered the same physics laws as we have, or might they describe the universe in a different way?” said Lipson. “Perhaps some phenomena seem enigmatically complex because we are trying to understand them using the wrong set of variables.” Every time the AI restarted, the total number of variables remained constant, but the individual variables changed.

This line of research could wind up fundamentally changing physics as we know it. Right now, the researchers are having a hard time translating the AI analysis results into human language, which is necessary to understand the variables the AI finds. This kind of AI can be applied to complicated phenomena in many fields including cosmology and biology. At present, theoretical knowledge is falling behind the vast amounts of data being generated. Depending on how it plays out, this research could wind up winning a Nobel Prize for someone or two or three someones.

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Male birth control: Boys are such weenies, wuss & numbnuts. The BBC writes: 

The weird reasons there still isn’t a male contraceptive pill

Many side-effects deemed unacceptable in the male pill have been plaguing women for decades. Is there a double standard?

Though a safe, effective male pill would have the potential to finally unburden women of the responsibility for contraception, and prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies every year, some men found the idea of an invisible orgasm distinctly unappealing. For a proportion of men, the so-called "clean sheets" pill was seen as emasculating. The method eventually lost its funding, and researchers went back to the drawing board (more on this later).

Today the male contraceptive pill is still yet to materialise. This week, research in mice identified a promising new target – a molecular switch that can stun sperm for two hours, rendering its taker temporarily infertile. But though the protein has been hailed as a game-changer, it still has a long way to go before it is approved for use in humans.

In fact, finding effective drugs has never been the problem.

Over the last half century, numerous possible methods for male birth control have been proposed, including some that have made it to clinical trials in humans. However, each one has eventually met a brick wall – even those that are safe and effective have been written off due to undesirable side effects. Several male pills have been rejected on the grounds that they lead to symptoms that are extremely common among women taking female versions.

Which brings us to the next reason male contraceptive pills are held to a higher set of standards – both in terms of acceptable side effects, and safety more generally: to state the medically obvious, men (except transgender men) can't get pregnant.

Naturally men don't face these risks [pregnancy and childbirth] if they choose to have unprotected sex, so the safety standards for any contraceptives they might take have a higher bar to get across.

However, a number of non-hormonal contraceptive options for men have also been proposed, including a vaccine that targets a protein involved in sperm maturation and a kind of temporary vasectomy, reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance (RISUG).

RISUG involves injecting a synthetic polymer into the tube that carries sperm out of the testes – the vas deferens – to block the exit of sperm. It was originally developed as a way to sterilise water pipes, but later adapted to be safe inside the human body. It's currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials – the final stage of testing before a treatment is approved – in India.

Men just can’t psychologically handle being messed with. And, as usual, the profit motive is also at work. Drug companies can’t make as much profit selling male contraceptives as they can selling to women. Once again, capitalism shows it cares only about profit. Everything else, including possible extinction of the human species, is just a public relations problem. 

One can also imagine that forced birthers are not enthusiastic about male contraception. They already hate female contraception. Male contraception would add to the long list of things they have to hate. Who needs more stuff to hate?

 

We all know who these little dudes are