Watch the original episode on YouTube.
Today’s Pulse rundown
Africa Map Error
Transcript: What if you gave a big presentation and got every single fact on your map wrong? During a global conference in Brazil this week, a U.S. state department presentation featured a map that mislabeled every country in Africa. The map placed Nigeria in the Sahara desert and moved Mozambique to the Horn of Africa. The image contained an artificial intelligence watermark from OpenAI tools. The state department took full responsibility for the mistake. They explained that a team member had hastily changed the slide deck right before the event. The error caused a stir among the attendees, and screenshots quickly racked up forty thousand views on LinkedIn. Have you ever caught a funny mistake on a map?
Polar Bear Ice
Transcript: How do you keep a massive, furry animal cool during a record-breaking heat wave? Keepers at the Prague Zoo in Europe brought out tons of ice on Thursday to give their animals some relief. Two sixteen-year-old polar bears named Aleut and Gregor wasted no time rolling around in the giant beds of ice cubes. The Czech Republic recently experienced its hottest day ever, hitting 41.9 degrees Celsius. To help them cope, the zoo provides ice as a treat. Spokesperson Filip Mašek says the bears cool off with it, and it also serves as an enrichment activity for their daily life. What is your favorite icy treat on a scorching summer day?
Moths Smell With Wings
Transcript: Did you know that some insects can actually smell with their wings? Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology discovered that the tobacco hawkmoth has receptor proteins on its wings. Researchers sprayed gold over the wings and used a scanning electron microscope to take a closer look. They found that the wings can smell because they have specialized odor-sensitive hairs. These hairs work with receptor proteins to convert scents into nerve signals. When the team blew puffs of odors onto the wings, the moths successfully picked out two specific stinky odors found in nightshade plants. Imagine if you could smell your dinner just by waving your arms!
Teens Set AI Policy
Transcript: Who should decide the rules for using artificial intelligence in your classroom? Over a late-July weekend, ninety-eight teenagers from fifty states gathered in Boston to draft their own mock legislation. Meeting at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, they debated and passed the Students First Act by a vote of eighty-two to sixteen. The students argued that schools need clear guidelines. Their mock bill requires schools to teach AI literacy as soon as devices are introduced. It also suggests banning AI on graded tests, but allows teachers to ask for an oral defense if they suspect a student used AI inappropriately. Do you think your school should adopt these student-made rules?
Ancient Stardust
Transcript: What if the building blocks of our solar system started with ancient snow? Researchers at Caltech analyzed the Allende meteorite, which fell to Earth in early 1969. They looked at tiny presolar grains, which are pieces of stardust from a star that died before our sun was born. The scientists discovered that minerals condensed quickly in the early solar system because these ancient stardust grains acted as seeds. Just like snowflakes crystallize around dust in the sky, the first solids in our astronomical neighborhood used these tiny grains as nucleation points to grow. What secrets do you think are hiding inside other space rocks?
New Sunscreen Ingredient
Transcript: When was the last time you checked the ingredients on your sunscreen bottle? For the first time in twenty years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has added a new ingredient to its approved list. The chemical is called bemotrizinol, and it has already been used in Europe for more than twenty-five years. Bemotrizinol protects your skin because it is a highly stable molecule that blocks deep-penetrating ultraviolet A1 radiation without breaking down in sunlight. Dermatologist Jennifer Stein from NYU Langone Health says the molecule is too big to squeeze through your skin cells and get into your bloodstream. Will you look for this new ingredient before your next beach trip?
Spider-Man in Fortnite
Transcript: Are you ready to swing across the map in your favorite battle royale? Spider-Man's famous web shooters are officially back in Fortnite for Chapter 7 Season 3. Players can grab the traversal item to quickly escape the storm or speed over to their next destination. You can get the web shooters by purchasing them from Spider-Man at The Battlewoods for two thousand gold bars. If you are short on gold, you can also loot them from special Spider-Man backpacks webbed to walls. Try checking the second floor of the mural building at The Battlewoods! Where is your favorite place to land on the new map?
Paul McCartney Mercury Prize
Transcript: Can you believe that one of the most famous musicians ever just got a first-time nomination? Paul McCartney has received his first ever nomination for the prestigious Mercury prize, which honors the best album of the year from the UK. He is nominated for his recent album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. The prize has been around since 1992, but this is McCartney's first time on the shortlist. He is competing against eleven other albums, including massive hits from artists like Raye and Olivia Dean. A panel of experts will announce the big winner at the Utilita Arena on October 22. If you recorded an album, what would you name it?
UK Drought
Transcript: Why are parts of the United Kingdom suddenly running out of water? More than half of England and all of Wales have been declared in a drought this week. This is the third such event over the past five years, and it is causing major problems for local farmers. Southern England has received just one percent of its average rainfall this month. To save their crops, farmers are harvesting at night. They do this because it is cooler and water condenses, which brings the moisture content of the crops up. The Environment Agency has placed restrictions on water use to protect the rivers. How does your community save water during the hot summer months?
LinkedIn AI Slop Button
Transcript: Have you ever read a post online and thought it sounded like a robot wrote it? LinkedIn is introducing a new button that lets users flag a post if it seems like AI slop. This comes after the AI detector Pangram found that forty-one percent of longform posts on the platform were generated by artificial intelligence. Hari Srinivasan says reducing low-quality content is a top priority. By letting users report posts that do not feel human-written, the company can tune its models and create better feeds. They are also replacing an old AI writing tool with a simple proofreading feature. How easily can you spot a paragraph written by a computer?