#167 Bird flu in mammals, the cause of sunquakes, and the entropy of consciousness – the latest news in science

The continuing avian flu epidemic is devastating bird populations. And now there are concerns over increasing numbers of mammals becoming infected. As reports rise, the team finds out whether this strain of bird flu may begin to pose a bigger threat to humans.

Everyone’s jumping on the AI chat bandwagon. As ChatGPT continues to make headlines, two big companies have just announced their contributions to the field. The team explains how both Google and Baidu are looking to change search engines as we know them with their AI models Bard and Ernie.

A new discovery has advanced our understanding of consciousness. It turns out that our brains produce less entropy when we’re asleep than when we’re awake. The team explains what’s going on.

Mysterious sunquakes may be caused by weird beams of electrons from solar flares. It’s long been debated whether flares could cause these ripples on the Sun’s surface, but the team looks at new research on the connection between the two.

A collection of rarely heard sounds recorded in the Arctic and Antarctic have been released as part of a project called Cities and Memories. The team shares the Clanger-like whistles of weddell seals and the chain-sawing sounds of crabeater seals. If you like what you hear, there’s a bonus episode coming up with loads more sounds.

On the pod are Penny Sarchet, Timothy Revell, Matt Sparkes, Madeleine Cuff and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at newscientist.com.

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