AI-controlled stations can charge electric cars at a personal price As more and more people drive electric cars, congestion and queues can occur when many people need to charge at the same time. A new study shows how AI-controlled charging stations, through smart algorithms, can offer electric vehicle users personalized prices, and thus minimize both price and waiting time for customers. But the researchers point to the importance of taking the ethical issues seriously, as there is a risk that the artificial intelligence exploits information from motorists.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/05/2405

Restoring sight to blind kids, making babies without a womb, and challenging the benefits of clinical trials Studying color vision in with children who gain sight later in life, joining a cancer trial doesn’t improve survival odds, and the first in our books series this year

First on this week’s show, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the pros and cons of participating in clinical trials. Her story challenges the common thinking that participating in a trial is beneficial—even in the placebo group—for cancer patients.
 
Next, Lukas Vogelsang, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talks about research into color vision with “late-sighted” kids. Studying children who were born blind and then later gained vision gave researchers new insights into how vision develops in babies and may even help train computers to see better.
 
Last up on the show is the first in our series of books podcasts on a future to look forward to. Books host Angela Saini talks with author Claire Horn, a researcher based at Dalhousie University’s Health Justice Institute. They discuss the implications of growing babies from fertilized egg to newborn infant—completely outside the body—and Horn’s book Eve: The Disobedient Future of Birth.
 
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
 
About the Science Podcast
 
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel
 
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.....1126/science.z6gdgb
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https://www.science.org/doi/10.....1126/science.z6gdgb

Public have no difficulty getting to grips with an extra thumb, study finds Researchers have shown that members of the public have little trouble in learning very quickly how to use a third thumb -- a controllable, prosthetic extra thumb -- to pick up and manipulate objects. The team tested the robotic device on a diverse range of participants, which they say is essential for ensuring new technologies are inclusive and can work for everyone.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/05/2405