A diet rich in the amino acid cysteine may have rejuvenating effects in the small intestine, according to a new study from MIT. This amino acid, the researchers discovered, can turn on an immune signaling pathway that helps stem cells to regrow new intestinal tissue. This enhanced regeneration may help to heal injuries from radiation, which often occur in patients undergoing radiation therapy for cancer. The research was conducted in mice, but if future research shows similar results in humans, then delivering elevated quantities of cysteine, through diet or supplements, could offer a new strategy to help damaged tissue heal faster, the researchers say. 'The study suggests that if we give these patients a cysteine-rich diet or cysteine supplementation, perhaps we can dampen some of the chemotherapy or radiation-induced injury,' says Omer Yilmaz, director of the MIT Stem Cell Initiative, an associate professor of biology at MIT, and a member of MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. 'The beauty here is we're not using a synthetic molecule; we're exploiting a natural dietary compound.'...

This is advice that the AI itself may not be taking to heart. For instance, to come to the above answer it cites five sources, four of which are Fox News articles. The fifth, inexplicably, is a 400-page report from US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's Health and Human Services Department titled 'Treatment for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria.' Truth Social owner Trump Media & Technology Group launched the chatbot, called 'Truth Search AI,' on Wednesday. The bot is powered by Perplexity AI, a search engine that answers questions using large language models and live web search. The company has garnered investments from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former Coinbase CTO and influential investor Balaji Srinivasan. In 2024, WIRED published an article detailing how Perplexity had been scraping parts of websites that developers did not want it to access, in violation of the widely accepted web standard known as the Robots Exclusion Protocol. It was also prone to making stuff up, a WIRED analysis showed....

At first glance, it looks like artificial intelligence is following the same pattern, but a new crop of studies suggests that AI might follow a different course ' one with significant implications for business, education and society. This general phenomenon has often been described as 'AI hesitancy' or 'AI reluctance.' The typical adoption curve assumes a person who is hesitant or reluctant to embrace a technology will eventually do so anyway. This pattern has repeated over and over ' why would AI be any different' Emerging research on the reasons behind AI hesitancy, however, suggests there are different dynamics at play that might alter the traditional adoption cycle. For example, a recent study found that while some causes of this hesitation closely mirror those regarding previous technologies, others are unique to AI. The idea of an AI vegan is someone who abstains from using AI, the same way a vegan is someone who abstains from eating products derived from animals. Generally, the reasons people choose veganism do not fade automatically over time. They might be reasons that can be addressed, but they're not just about getting more comfortable eating animals and animal products. That's why the analogy in the case of AI is appealing....

A mysterious chemical signature seen in the remains of Neanderthals might be explained if they often snacked on a special culinary garnish: maggots. That's according to research published today in Science Advances1. Scientists have long been perplexed by the fact that the bones of Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) from the late Pleistocene (11,700'129,000 years ago) contain a nitrogen isotope at extreme levels2 normally seen in mega-meat-eaters such as hyenas and wolves. The more meat an animal eats, the more nitrogen-15 it stores, and those at the top of the food chain have the highest amounts. But 'our guts are not carnivore guts', says Bruce Hardy, an anthropologist at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. 'Our livers can only do so much to process protein.' So the Neanderthal levels seemed impossibly high. Melanie Beasley, an anthropologist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and her colleagues wondered whether, instead of gorging on massive quantities of meat, Neanderthals raised their 15N levels by preparing their food in some unique way. Beasley, the lead author of the study, was inspired by historical examples of Indigenous groups consuming putrefied food, as well as the maggots ' or fly larvae ' that feast on it. Think of fermentation, she says. Putrefaction is similar: 'A Westerner might say it's rotting, but it's really a method of storing the food to break down the meat,' she adds....