Ig Nobel Prizes, Greenland's 9-Day Tsunami, and AI Chain-of-Thought Prompting
Sep 16, 2024
Dive into the whimsical world of the Ig Nobel Prizes, where scientists reveal absurd yet fascinating findings, like mammals breathing through their behinds! Discover a massive landslide in Greenland that triggered a nine-day mega-tsunami, shaking the globe with seismic waves. Finally, explore the groundbreaking AI technique of chain-of-thought prompting, which enhances machine reasoning by breaking down complex tasks, paving the way for smarter technology across industries.
07:19
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
Ig Nobel Prizes
The 2024 Ig Nobel Prizes recognized unusual scientific achievements.
These included studies on mammals breathing through their anuses and coin-flipping probabilities.
insights INSIGHT
Value of Quirky Research
Seemingly trivial studies can reveal deeper scientific truths.
The Ig Nobels highlight research that is both humorous and thought-provoking.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Greenland's Tsunami
A Greenland landslide triggered a megatsunami, causing seismic vibrations for nine days.
The tsunami's energy, trapped in the fjord, created a unique, repeating seismic signal.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
In this episode of "Discover Daily," we begin with the 2024 Ig Nobel Prizes, celebrating unconventional scientific achievements that make people laugh, then think. From researchers discovering mammals can breathe through their anuses to a team flipping coins over 350,000 times to study probability, these quirky studies often reveal deeper scientific truths.
Next, we investigate a new paper detailing a massive landslide in Greenland's remote Dickson Fjord that triggered an extraordinary mega-tsunami in September 2023. The colossal event, caused by the collapse of a 1.2km-high mountain peak weakened by a thinning glacier, generated seismic waves detected around the globe for nine consecutive days. An international team of scientists unraveled the mystery behind this unprecedented phenomenon, highlighting the increasing geological hazards posed by climate change in polar regions.
Finally, we delve into the AI technique called chain-of-thought prompting, which helps the way language models solve complex problems by mimicking human reasoning. Developed by researchers at Google, this method enables AI to break down tasks into intermediate steps, leading to more accurate and interpretable results. As major tech companies like OpenAI and IBM explore applications of chain-of-thought prompting, we discuss its potential to significantly enhance the performance of AI-powered tools and services across various industries.
Perplexity is the fastest and most powerful way to search the web. Perplexity crawls the web and curates the most relevant and up-to-date sources (from academic papers to Reddit threads) to create the perfect response to any question or topic you’re interested in.
Take the world's knowledge with you anywhere. Available on iOS and Android
Join our growing Discord community for the latest updates and exclusive content.
Discover Daily by Perplexity