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Writer Fuel: Matriarchy Thrived In Turkey 9,000 Years Ago

A female figurine found at Çatalhöyük in Turkey. (Image credit: Jason Quinlan)

Ancient DNA from Stone Age burials in Turkey has finally put to rest a decades-long debate about whether the 9,000-year-old proto-city of Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society. The research finally confirms what experts have long suspected: Women and girls were key figures in this agricultural society. “With Çatalhöyük, we now have the oldest genetically-inferred social … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Scientists Uncover Covert Racism in AI Models

AI / Artificial Intelligence - deposit photos

Scientists have discovered that common AI models express a covert form of racism based on dialect — manifesting chiefly against speakers of African American English (AAE) In a new study published Aug. 28 in the journal Nature, scientists found evidence for the first time that common large language models including OpenAI’s GPT3.5 and GPT-4, as … Read more

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Writer Fuel: Does Mouse Heaven Have Lessons for All of Us?

Mouse Heaven

Officially, the colony was called the Mortality-Inhibiting Environment for Mice. Unofficially, it was called mouse heaven. Biologist John Calhoun built the colony at the National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland in 1968. It was a large pen—a 4½-foot cube—with everything a mouse could ever desire: plenty of food and water; a perfect climate; reams … Read more