Saturday, January 14, 2023

NASA is continuing to build the Titan Dragonfly helicopter, with a focus on its rotors

NASA is Continuing to Build the Titan Dragonfly Helicopter. Here are its Rotors
Researchers looking at the rotors under test at TDT. Credit: NASA / Harlen Caplen

Ingenuity, the helicopter assisting NASA's Mars Perseverance rover on its mission, has been a huge success. It gathered the achievement of the first controlled flight on another heavenly body, has performed spectacularly over its 28 flights and holds records for both speed and distance. But it might not for long, as a much bigger, more capable helicopter is currently under development. And when it eventually explores Titan in the next decade, it has an excellent chance to smash many of Ingenuity's records

That helicopter, known as Dragonfly, is currently still in development on Earth. But, it achieved a  recently by completing the testing of its rotor blades at a unique testing chamber located at NASA's Langley Research Center.

The Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) differs from a standard wind tunnel in several ways. Most helpful in this case is its ability to use gases other than just Earth-normal air. In the case of Dragonfly's test, the TDT filled itself with a heavy gas meant to mimic Titan's nitrogen-heavy atmosphere.

UT Video describing the Dragonfly mission.

In that environment, the  were twisted, turned, sped up, and slowed down. In some tests, one of the two rotors that make up one of Dragonfly's four coaxial pairs (for eight rotors in total). This was meant to mimic a potential failure scenario where one (or more) of the rotors don't work.

Dragonfly should be able to get along without several of its rotor blades being operational, making it much more robust than its smaller predecessor. In fact, the issue that will eventually kill Ingenuity (lack of electrical power) won't be as much of a problem for Dragonfly, as it uses a radioisotope thermal generator rather than a set of solar panels on its smaller predecessor.

In order to fulfill that promise, though, the rotors have to work well enough to allow Dragonfly to fly on another world, which is what the testing at the TDT is for. In the chamber, sensors, such as accelerometers and , were added to the rotors under test. Their data was used to validate computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models of how the rotors would perform.

UT makes the case for Titan.

Some of the CFD models used to simulate the stresses and strains on the rotors were initially developed to work with wind turbine farms. However, the data from the TDT matched those models used to design Dragonfly well, which suggests that the rotors should be able to withstand the challenging environment on Titan's surface.

It's a good thing, too, because the craft they have to hold up is massive. Sizing up to be about 12 ft long and 12 ft wide, Dragonfly looks like a typical terrestrial drone on steroids. Its eight rotors will allow it to hop from one place to another on the planet's surface, allowing it to collect data at various sites on the shrouded moon.

That  goal is still a long way off, though, as rotor testing is a very early step in the overall test program that the project will undergo. But the designers and engineers still have some time until the launch window of 2027. And even more time until the craft finally arrives at its destination in 2034. Until then, there is plenty more testing to do.

Provided by Universe Today 

Improving drone performance in headwinds

  

Enzymes from bacteria and fungi break down plastic

Enzymes from bacteria and fungi break down plastic
Graphical abstract. Credit: bioRxiv (2022). DOI: 10.1101/2022.11.01.514593

Every year, the world produces 380 million tons of plastic. A lot of it ends up in nature and stays there for a long time. It can take 450 years to break down a plastic bottle.

"Plastic is a  that is challenging to break down," says Gaston Courtade, an associate professor at NTNU's Department of Biotechnology and Food Science.

Plastic is found in packaging, toys, decorative items—well, in most categories of products.

"We need technology that enables plastics to be broken down more efficiently to achieve a more sustainable future," says Courtade.

Finding enzymes that break down plastic

The researchers and students in biotechnology at NTNU have now come a few steps closer to producing enzymes that can break down plastic in an .

Enzymes are substances that speed up  without breaking down themselves—like is being done to break down plastic. Courtade is heading the study, and the research team has already come a long way.

"We want to understand the reactions behind the enzymes that can break down plastic," says Courtade.

The aim is to use enzymes from bacteria and fungi and improve their ability to break down plastic faster.

One challenge is how well these enzymes can bind to plastic. The researchers are therefore looking at ways to use proteins with special binding properties to regulate how the enzymes attach to plastic.

Enzymes only part of the solution

However, the danger in this is that more people might then think that it's no problem to use plastic.

"We hope this doesn't lead to more people thinking it's okay to produce more plastic simply because we now have a better way to break down the  with the enzymes," says Courtade.

"We'd rather have our research contribute to producing more sustainable by-products," he says. "We need to become less dependent on plastics from fossil sources and get better at investing in biotechnological solutions."

The findings are published on the bioRxiv preprint server.

More information: Kristina Naasen Hellesnes et al, Biochemical characterization and NMR study of a PET-hydrolyzing cutinase fromFusarium solani pisi, bioRxiv (2022). DOI: 10.1101/2022.11.01.514593


Provided by Norwegian University of Science and Technology New enzyme discovery is another leap towards beating plastic waste

Images capture 850-year-old aftermath of stellar collision

Images capture 850-year-old aftermath of stellar collision
The unusual fireworks-like structure of nebula Pa 30 may result from the merger of two
 dying stars. Credit: Robert Fesen

A Dartmouth professor's images of the explosive aftermath from the collision of two dying stars could help scientists better understand this rare type of astronomical event—and may finally confirm the identity of a brilliant but short-lived star observed nearly 850 years ago.

Robert Fesen, a professor of physics and astronomy, captured telescopic images that show a fireworks-like burst of thin filaments radiating from a highly unusual star at the center of an object called Pa 30, according to findings he announced Jan. 12 at the 241st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Fesen is lead author of a paper reporting the findings that has been submitted to the The Astrophysical Journal Letters for publication.

Pa 30 is a dense region of illuminated gas, dust and other matter known as a nebula. Fesen and his co-authors report that Pa 30 appears to contain little to no hydrogen and helium but is instead rich in the elements of sulfur and argon.

The nebula's unusual structure and characteristics match the predicted result of a collision between end-stage stars known as , Fesen said. White dwarfs are faint, extremely dense stars about the size of Earth that contain the mass of the Sun. The merger of two white dwarfs is one proposed explanation for a subclass of supernovae—or star explosions—called Iax events, in which the star is not completely destroyed, Fesen said.

"I have never seen any object—and certainly no supernova remnant in the Milky Way galaxy—that looks quite like this, and neither have any of my colleagues," Fesen said. "This remnant will allow astronomers to study a particularly interesting type of supernova that up to now they could only investigate from  and examples in distant galaxies."

The size of Pa 30 and the speed at which it is expanding—about 2.4 million miles per hour—suggest the explosive collision occurred around the year 1181, the researchers report. That coincides with observations by Chinese and Japanese astronomers at the time of a very bright star that suddenly appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia and was visible for about six months as it slowly faded. These fleeting stars are known as "guest stars."

The images Fesen captured of the nebula's structure and luminosity not only provide the most accurate estimate yet of its age, but also could allow astronomers to refine existing models of white dwarf mergers. Pa 30 was discovered in 2013 by co-author and amateur astronomer Dana Patchick, but up until now, images of the nebula had shown only an extremely faint and diffuse object, Fesen said.

"Our deeper images show that Pa 30 is not only beautiful, but now that we can see the nebula's true structure, we can investigate its chemical makeup and how the  generated its remarkable appearance, then compare these properties to predictions from specific models of rare white dwarf mergers," Fesen said.

Fesen took the images of Pa 30 in late 2022 using the 2.4-meter Hiltner Telescope at the MDM Observatory—which Dartmouth owns and operates with four other universities—adjacent to Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. Fesen equipped the telescope with an optical filter sensitive to a particular emission line of sulfur. He captured Pa 30 in three 2,000-second exposures under very clear skies and took additional data on the nebula's structure, size and velocity.

The study by Fesen and his co-authors built upon work published in 2019 by Russian researchers who found an extremely unusual star nearly in the dead center of Pa 30. That star exhibited several properties suggesting the collision of two white dwarfs, and it had a surface temperature of nearly 400,000 degrees Fahrenheit with an astounding outflowing wind velocity of about 35 million miles per hour.

In 2021, astronomers from the University of Hong Kong that had revisited the Russian team's results reported that Pa 30 was roughly 1,000 years old and in nearly the same sky location as the guest star recorded in 1181. These researchers proposed that Pa 30 is the aftermath of a white dwarf collision that lit up the night sky nearly a millennium ago, though their margin of error on its age was 300 years.

"Our new observations put a much tighter constraint on the object as having an expansion age of around 850 years, which is perfect for it to be the remains of the 1181 guest star," Fesen said. To the ancient , the new star would have been nearly as bright as, or brighter than, Vega, the fifth-brightest star in the sky as seen from Earth.

"The guest star was bright enough that three separate groups in China observed it within a couple of days of each other and it also was seen in Japan," Fesen said. "A new star as bright as Vega would've been quite noticeable. To the ancients, their TV set was the sky, so they would've easily noticed and certainly recorded the sudden appearance of a bright new star in the heavens."

 

Research improves ability to identify and study algae species

OU-led group improves ability to identify and study algae species
Summer Microcystis bloom in Castle Rock Pond, Norman, Oklahoma.
 Credit: Haiyuan Cai

Harmful algal blooms create challenges around the globe for water quality and health risk management for humans, wildlife and pets. A team of researchers from the University of Oklahoma is leading an effort toward better management of Microcystis blooms and toxins through a new genome-based taxonomy.

OU Regents' Professor of Biology Dave Hambright and members of his Plankton Ecology and Limnology Lab, in conjunction with OU microbiology professor Lee Krumholz, collaborated on this project with  at the University of North Carolina, James Madison University and Auburn University. The results of their work were published in Science Advances.

Through the development of a new genome-based taxonomy, researchers for the first time will be able to characterize ecological niches of Microcystis, including nutrient requirements and seasonality, and ultimately, control harmful Microcystis blooms. The team has developed  that will allow researchers to identify Microcystis species present in . In their paper, the researchers have identified 16 unique species, with as many as 30 or more likely, that are genetically distinct, but that do not correspond to current morphologically defined species.

"This new genome-based taxonomy lays the basis for researchers to formulate science-based proactive management programs to rid our waters of harmful Microcystis blooms," Hambright said. "Our improved ability to identify and study species of this algae will aid our ability to reduce health risks, as well as manage and protect our increasingly vulnerable water resources."

Understanding Microcystis ecology and evolution is foundational to lake and  management aimed toward preventing and reducing harmful Microcystis blooms. While traditional Microcystis taxonomy (classification into species) recognizes multiple species, these classifications are controversial as they are based on morphology and not ecological features. Additionally, they conflict with standard DNA-sequence-based classifications, which suggest one species with complex and variable ecologies.

Based on the work of OU biology doctoral student Katherine Cook, which was published in 2020 in Limnology & Oceanography, the group hypothesized Microcystis and its microbiome were a coevolved community of complementary interacting bacteria  (an interactome), with each necessary for the success of the others.

Their goal was to examine the genetic makeup of Microcystis from around the world using 122 published entire genomes and make predictions of potential metabolic functions that might be provided by the microbiome bacteria. Their paper represents the foundation for that goal in the form of a robust taxonomic classification, including evolutionary relationships.

The majority of the bioinformatic analyses in this paper was conducted by OU postdoctoral fellow Haiyuan Cai, with assistance from OU doctoral student Chris McLimans. Additional data analysis was supported by OU research assistant professor Jessica Beyer.

More information: Haiyuan Cai et al, Microcystis pangenome reveals cryptic diversity within and across morphospecies, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add3783www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add3783


Journal information: Science Advances 

Provided by University of Oklahoma Are zebra mussels eating or helping toxic algae?

DNA collected from slave skeletons interred in unmarked 18th-century burial ground reveals their history

burial ground
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S., working with members of The Anson Street African Burial Ground Project, have discovered some of the history behind some of the enslaved people buried in 18th century Charleston, South Carolina—home to one of the busiest slave ports in American history.

In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes how they collected  from as many of the skeletons in the  as possible and what analysis of their DNA revealed about their history.

Starting in the early 1500s, as part of a larger slave trade, white Europeans brought black people living in Africa by force to work as slaves in the colonial America. They continued to do so for the following three hundred years. Many of those slaves began their life in America in Charleston South Carolina.

Approximately half of all such slaves arrived at the port there and were summarily sold. In this new effort, the researchers conducted a DNA analysis of skeletons of slaves who had been buried in an unmarked burial ground during the 18th century near the heart of the city.

The cemetery was discovered back in 2013 and since that time, efforts have been made to identify those who were buried there. In all, 36 skeletons were found in the cemetery but only 18 had tissue samples suitable for use in a genetic study. Prior work on the project showed that all of the people in the cemetery had been placed in coffins prior to burial and that most had artifacts in the coffin with them, such as pipes, beads or even coins.

In looking at the DNA, the researchers found that all but one of the slaves had come directly from Africa, or had ancestors that had. They also found that slave ancestry was not confined to the west coast of Africa—some of the slaves had been taken from parts of sub-Saharan areas. The team found that 13 of them had been born in West Africa, the rest likely in the U.S. The researchers also found that none of the people buried in the cemetery were related to any other—a sign that suggests  were separated upon arrival.

The researchers also found that one person in the cemetery had Native American maternal lineage, which they suggest highlights the multigenerational aspect of the American slave trade.

More information: Raquel E. Fleskes et al, Community-engaged ancient DNA project reveals diverse origins of 18th-century African descendants in Charleston, South Carolina, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2201620120

 

How brachyuran crabs survive in highly acidic areas near shallow-water hydrothermal vents

How brachyuran crabs survive in highly acidic areas near shallow-water hydrothermal vents
Landscape and physiochemical features of the hydrothermal vent system study area.
 (a) Picture of the surface seawater around the upper sublittoral hydrothermal vent region 
of the study site at Kueishan Island (24°50′N, 121°57′E). Kueishan Island lies at the 
southern rifting end of the Okinawa Trough (inserted panel). A large area of the sea 
surface has a white appearance because of sulfur particles from the volcanic vent 
discharge. (b) Underwater photographs of the vent system demonstrate the low 
abundance of metazoans in these sub-tropical waters. (c) A high density of X. testudinatus 
crabs which are endemic to sulfide-rich hydrothermal vent systems can be found in 
sulfide-rich crevices in the immediate vicinity of the vents. Active feeding behavior can be
 observed where crabs scavenge sulfide-rich sediments and dead zooplankton that were 
killed by the toxic vent discharge. (d) sulfide concentrations were measured along two 
transects in the hydrothermal vent area of Kueishan Island. 
The schematic illustration shows the seafloor properties at the two sampling transects. 
The first transect included sampling sites 1–5 and was oriented in the north–south direction
 at 17 m depth. The second transect included sampling sites 6–9 with an east–west 
orientation and descended from 8 m to 20 m depth. Values are presented as mean ± s.d.
 (n = 4). (e) Content of sulfur compounds was measured in the seawater (SW) near 
Kueishan island (open bars) and the haemolymph of the native X. testudinatus (filled bars)
. Values represent the means ± s.d. (n = 3–7). (f) Sulfide tolerance as a function of 
exposure time of X. testudinatus (determined in the present study) compared to other 
marine species. Credit: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023).
 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1973

A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in Taiwan and one in Germany has discovered the means by which brachyuran crabs are able to survive in highly acidic waters near shallow-water hydrothermal vents. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the group describes how they studied crab specimens and the environment in which they live to solve the puzzle of their existence.

Hydrothermal vents are hot springs that exist on the sea floor. In most instances, they occur along mid-ocean ridges. Such vents spew heated water, along with other materials, into the surrounding water creating a mix. In this new effort, the researchers were curious about a species of crab that lives in a shallow-water hydrothermal vent field off the southeast coast of Kueishantao Island, near Taiwan. They noted that the crab is the only metazoan creature living in the area due to the large amount of sulfide emitted by the hydrothermal vent.

To find out how the crab survives in such a hostile environment ( is toxic to most animals) the researchers collected samples of the water in which they lived and conducted experiments on the crabs they found living there. They also captured some of the crabs and brought them back to their lab for closer inspection.

In looking at the crabs, the researchers found that they had unique gills (located under the carapace)—they were able to oxidize the sulfide to thiosulfate and to bind it to hypotaurine which led to the generation of thiotaurine, which is much less toxic than hydrogen sulfide. And then, bacteria living in the gills absorbed the thiotaurine—they used it as an energy source and in so doing made it even less toxic.

The net result was that the crab was able to get the oxygen it needed from the water without succumbing to the hydrogen  from the . The researchers suspect that the detoxification allows the crab to gain energy from the thiotaurine as well. They note that the arrangement with the bacteria makes the crab a holobiont—a species able to survive in an environment inhospitable to virtually all other creatures.

More information: Pei-Hsuan Chou et al, Cellular mechanisms underlying extraordinary sulfide tolerance in a crustacean holobiont from hydrothermal vents, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1973

Making the case for using insects as food for both humans and livestock

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Two pairs of academics are making the case for using insects as a food source in Perspectives pieces published in the journal Science.

The first pair, Arup Kumar Hazarika and Unmilan Kalita, with Cotton University and Barnagar College, respectively, both in India, argue that a strong case can be made for using  to meet the growing need for food around the world in the coming years. Arnold van Huis with Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands and Laura Gasco with the University of Torino in Italy argue that there is a strong case to be made for using insects as feed for .

As the global population rises and the land available for growing more food becomes more scarce, scientists around the around the world have begun looking for alternative sources. In the two papers in Science, the authors all agree that insects could provide the answer.

In the first paper, the authors note that humans eating insects is not novel. People have been eating them for as long as there have been people. And many people in the world today still eat them; however, most do not. And in fact, in most places, people see eating insects as disgusting or even dirty. That could change, the authors argue, if insects were provided through commercially viable outlets.

They note that eating insects can provide many nutritional benefits—common crickets, for example, are high in protein. That makes them competitive with meat from animals. The researchers note also that insects require fewer resources to raise than livestock, making them a prime green alternative.

In the second paper, the authors note that currently, most livestock feed is made from fishmeal and soybean meal. They also note that the production of meat worldwide uses between 70% and 80% of all  and yet produces about 25% of the protein consumed by humans.

They suggest that replacing conventional feed with feed made from insects would free up large parcels of land now used to grow food for livestock. It would also be a healthier  for the animals. Also, farming insects is likely to become more feasible as the planet continues to warm.

In both articles, the authors argue that the only factor holding back the use of insects as a food source is the will to do so by those producing the food.

More information: Arup Kumar Hazarika et al, Human consumption of insects, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.abp8819

Arnold van Huis et al, Insects as feed for livestock production, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adc9165


Journal information: Science 


© 2023 Science X NetworkEating insects can be good for the planet. Europeans should eat more of them




Singing gibbons found to be more rhythmic when performing duets

Organization of lar gibbon's songs. (a) Male lar gibbon singing in the Huai Kha Khaeng 
Wildlife Sanctuary (Thailand). (b) Spectrogram and inter-onset-interval graphs of the male 
solo. The fundamental frequency is highlighted in light blue on the spectrogram. The
 colored bar indicates inter-onset intervals (tk) of the solo singing male, where solid white 
lines on the bar represent the onsets. (c) Spectrograms and inter-onset-interval graphs of
 the reproductive couple's whole duet. The fundamental frequency of individuals' 
contributions is highlighted on the spectrogram in dark blue for the male contribution to 
duet and dark yellow for the female contribution to duet. The sections of the song are 
labeled in the upper part of the spectrogram and separated with dotted lines. Colored bars
 indicate inter-onset intervals (tk) of the contributions of each individual with white lines 
again corresponding to the onsets. Black bars turn white when the co-singers overlap. 
Notice how rhythmicity unfolds heterogeneously throughout the duet, alternating periods
 of higher and lower overlap. Note clusters onsets of the duetting gibbons influence each 
other (see also figure 4), with introductory sequences and interludes showing higher levels
 of synchrony, while great calls and codas partly overlap. 
Credit: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). 
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2244

A team of researchers at the University of Turin, working with a colleague from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and another from Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, has found that the lar gibbon tends to be more isochronous (repeating notes more regularly) when singing as part of a duet with a member of the opposite gender. The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

The researchers recorded and studied songs performed by lar gibbons (also known as white-handed gibbons) living in a  in Thailand and a zoo park in Italy. Lar gibbons, they note, are among the few singing primates. Their work was part of an effort aimed at learning about the origins of  in humans. Prior research has shown that not only do both genders of lar gibbons sing, they sometimes do so together as duets.

In all, the researchers made 215 recordings of songs voiced by 12 gibbons. Their analysis consisted of labeling notes making it possible to discern patterns, particularly those that were repeating. They also measured the intervals and the intertwining of notes as duets occurred.

The researchers found evidence of rhythm in all of the songs on their recordings, noting that they were in many respects similar to rhythm in human songs. They also found differences in rhythm based on —males tended to sing with more beats when singing with a female partner. During duets, the researchers found that notes sung by the male and female singers overlapped approximately 16 to 18% of the time, which they note is greater than chance.

The researchers also found that during duets, the males tended to sing more than the females, which they discovered meant that the females sang fewer notes when singing with a partner. This, they suggest, was evidence of rhythm playing a social role with the apes.

The researchers suggest that rhythmic ability in apes may have evolved as a means for coordinating vocalisms between genders. They also note that it is still not known if the last common ancestor between primates had similar abilities or if they evolved independently.

More information: Teresa Raimondi et al, Isochrony and rhythmic interaction in ape duetting, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2244

Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B 


© 2023 Science X Network

Looking for musical abilities in primates


NESUN DORMA  PAVAROTTI & FREDDY MERCURY 

 

ChatGPT writes convincing fake scientific abstracts that fool reviewers in study

ChatGPT writes convincing fake scientific abstracts that fool reviewers in study
ItBlinded human reviewers—when given a mix real and falsely generated 
abstracts—could only spot ChatGPT generated abstracts 68% of the time. The
 reviewers also incorrectly identified 14% of real abstracts as being AI generated
. Credit: Northwestern University

Could the new and wildly popular chatbot ChatGPT convincingly produce fake abstracts that fool scientists into thinking those studies are the real thing?

That was the question worrying Northwestern Medicine physician-scientist Dr. Catherine Gao when she designed a study—collaborating with University of Chicago scientists—to test that theory.

Yes, scientists can be fooled, their new study reports. Blinded human reviewers—when given a mix real and falsely generated abstracts—could only spot ChatGPT generated abstracts 68% of the time. The reviewers also incorrectly identified 14% of real abstracts as being AI generated.

"Our reviewers knew that some of the abstracts they were being given were fake, so they were very suspicious," said corresponding author Gao, an instructor in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "This is not someone reading an abstract in the wild. The fact that our reviewers still missed the AI-generated ones 32% of the time means these abstracts are really good. I suspect that if someone just came across one of these generated abstracts, they wouldn't necessarily be able to identify it as being written by AI."

The hard-to-detect fake abstracts could undermine science, Gao said. "This is concerning because ChatGPT could be used by 'paper mills' to fabricate convincing scientific abstracts," Gao said. "And if other people try to build their science off these incorrect studies, that can be really dangerous."

Paper mills are illegal organizations that produce fabricated scientific work for profit.

The ease with which ChatGPT produces realistic and convincing abstracts could increase production by paper mills and fake submissions to journals and scientific conferences, Gao worries.

AI sleuths can identify AI fakes

For the study, Gao and co-investigators took titles from recent papers from high-impact journals and asked ChatGPT to generate abstracts based on that prompt. They ran these generated abstracts and the original abstracts through a plagiarism detector and AI output detector, and had blinded human reviewers try to differentiate between generated and original abstracts. Each reviewer was given 25 abstracts that were a mixture of the generated and original abstracts and asked to give a binary score of what they thought the abstract was.

"The ChatGPT-generated abstracts were very convincing," Gao said, "because it even knows how large the patient cohort should be when it invents numbers." For a study on hypertension, which is common, ChatGPT included tens of thousands of patients in the cohort, while a study on a monkeypox had a much smaller number of participants.

"Our reviewers commented that it was surprisingly difficult to differentiate between the real and fake abstracts," Gao said.

The study found that the fake abstracts did not set off alarms using traditional plagiarism-detection tools. However, in the study, AI output detectors such as GPT-2 Output Detector, which is available online and free, could discriminate between real and fake abstracts.

"We found that an AI output detector was pretty good at detecting output from ChatGPT and suggest that it be included in the scientific editorial process as a screening process to protect from targeting by organizations such as paper mills that may try to submit purely generated data," Gao said.

ChatGPT also can be used for good

But ChatGPT can also be used for good, said senior study author Yuan Luo, director of the Institute for Augmented Intelligence in Medicine at Feinberg.

"AI language models such as ChatGPT have a potential to help automate the writing process, which is often the speed bottleneck in knowledge generation and dissemination," Luo said. "The results from the paper showed this is likely doable for the field of medicine, but we need to bridge certain ethical and practical gaps."

For example, is AI-assisted writing still considered original, Luo asked. Also, AI-generated text currently has difficulty in proper citation, which is a must for scientific writing, he noted.

"Generative text technology has a great potential for democratizing science, for example making it easier for non-English-speaking scientists to share their work with the broader community," said senior author Dr. Alexander Pearson, director of data sciences and the Head/Neck Cancer Program in Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago. "At the same time, it's imperative that we think carefully on best practices for use."

The research is available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

More information: Catherine A. Gao et al, Comparing scientific abstracts generated by ChatGPT to original abstracts using an artificial intelligence output detector, plagiarism detector, and blinded human reviewers, bioRxiv (2022). DOI: 10.1101/2022.12.23.521610


Provided by Northwestern University EXPLAINER: What is ChatGPT and why are schools blocking it?