Some AI tools don’t understand biology yet

A collection of new studies on gene activity show that AI tools aren’t very good.

Biology is one of the areas in which AI and machine learning approaches have seen some spectacular successes, such as designing enzymes to digest plastics and proteins to block snake venom. But in an era of seemingly endless AI hype, it might be easy to think that we could just set AI loose on the mounds of data we've already generated and end up with a good understanding of most areas of biology, allowing us to skip a lot of messy experiments and the unpleasantness of research on animals.

But biology involves a whole lot more than just protein structures. And it's extremely premature to suggest that AI can be equally effective at handling all aspects of biology. So we were intrigued to see a study comparing a set of AI software packages designed to predict how active genes will be in cells exposed to different conditions. As it turns out, the AI systems couldn't manage to do any better than a deliberately simplified method of predicting.

The results serve as a useful caution that biology is incredibly complex, and developing AI systems that work for one aspect of it is not an indication that they can work for biology generally.

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Amphenol: Commscope verkauft Kerngeschäft für 10,5 Milliarden Dollar

Wegen starker Verschuldung verkauft das Unternehmen seinen größten Geschäftsbereich. Amphenol übernimmt das Geschäft für Rechenzentrums-Verbindungstechnik. (Infrastruktur, Wirtschaft)

Wegen starker Verschuldung verkauft das Unternehmen seinen größten Geschäftsbereich. Amphenol übernimmt das Geschäft für Rechenzentrums-Verbindungstechnik. (Infrastruktur, Wirtschaft)

States take the lead in AI regulation as federal government steers clear

All 50 states have introduced AI-related legislation this year.

US state legislatures are where the action is for placing guardrails around artificial intelligence technologies, given the lack of meaningful federal regulation. The resounding defeat in Congress of a proposed moratorium on state-level AI regulation means states are free to continue filling the gap.

Several states have already enacted legislation around the use of AI. All 50 states have introduced various AI-related legislation in 2025.

Four aspects of AI in particular stand out from a regulatory perspective: government use of AI, AI in health care, facial recognition, and generative AI.

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Nasa: Mars-Rover Curiosity lernt neue Fähigkeiten

Neben der Erledigung mehrerer Aufgaben gleichzeitig darf der Mars-Rover Curiosity von der Nasa nun auch seine Schlafenszeit selbst einleiten. (Curiosity, Nasa)

Neben der Erledigung mehrerer Aufgaben gleichzeitig darf der Mars-Rover Curiosity von der Nasa nun auch seine Schlafenszeit selbst einleiten. (Curiosity, Nasa)

Houston, you’ve got a space shuttle… only NASA won’t say which one

“The acting administrator has made an identification.”

The head of NASA has decided to move one of the agency's retired space shuttles to Houston, but which one seems to still be up in the air.

Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), who earlier this year introduced and championed an effort to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Space Center Houston, issued a statement on Tuesday evening (August 5) applauding the decision by acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.

"There is no better place for one of NASA's space shuttles to be displayed than Space City," said Cornyn in the statement. "Since the inception of our nation's human space exploration program, Houston has been at the center of our most historic achievements, from training the best and brightest to voyage into the great unknown to putting the first man on the moon."

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