Is Ithaca a Machine Learning Tool?

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Ithaca is a machine learning tool that can predict missing text in ancient Greek inscriptions. By producing suggestions in the form of visualizations, ithica shows where its attention gets focused. It might highlight one region of text that makes it think an inscription is from 500 b c. Or key words might point to its being from a certain part of athens. This gives epigraphes the opportunity to understand ithaca's reasoning and get a new perspective on the inscription they are working on.

00:46 The AI helping historians read ancient texts

Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence that can restore and date ancient Greek inscriptions. They hope that it will help historians by speeding up the process of reconstructing damaged texts.

Research article: Assael et al.

News and Views: AI minds the gap and fills in missing Greek inscriptions

Video: The AI historian: A new tool to decipher ancient texts

Ithaca platform

08:53 Research Highlights

Pollinators prefer nectar with a pinch of salt, and measurements of a megacomet’s mighty size.

Research Highlight: Even six-legged diners can’t resist sweet-and-salty snacks

Research Highlight: Huge comet is biggest of its kind

11:10 Rewilding Argentina

This week Nature publishes a Comment article from a group who aim to reverse biodiversity loss by reintroducing species to areas where they are extinct. We speak to one of the Comment’s authors about the project and their hopes that it might kick start ecosystem restoration.

Comment: Rewilding Argentina: lessons for the 2030 biodiversity targets

21:02 Briefing Chat

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, giant bacteria that can be seen with the naked eye, and how record-breaking rainfall has caused major floods in Australia.

Science: Largest bacterium ever discovered has an unexpectedly complex cell

New Scientist: Record flooding in Australia driven by La Niña and climate change

The Conversation: The east coast rain seems endless. Where on Earth is all the water coming from?

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