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WOULD YOU TRUST A HUMAN DOCTOR, WITH INTUITON? OR AI, WITHOUT IT?

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

In today’s newsletter, we examine human vs. AI skills in medical emergencies, celebrate the Explorer who is walking the world, draw hope from the hottest year on record ... and glimpse a new lens to the heavens.

A close-up view of a surgeon's glasses reflecting the operating table during surgery.

PHOTOGRAPH BY O. LOUIS MAZZATENTA, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

If you're in a life-or-death situation, would you want a human doctor (above) with medical intuition in charge of your care? Or would you rather have it informed by artificial intelligence, with data but not intuition?

That scenario is prompting deeper looks at the value of medical experience, and by-the-gut choices in emergency situations and other medical care. Medical intuition is becoming particularly relevant as interest grows in developing artificial intelligence systems that can analyze medical data to diagnose or treat patients.

READ THE FULL STORY

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

A technician milks a giant snail for its mucin on a farm in Thailand.

PHOTOGRAPH BY LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA, AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Snail mucin has been an age-old remedy for damaged skin, but it can do more (Above, A technician milks a giant snail for its mucin.)

Why are so many adults being diagnosed with ADHD?

Science may have solved one of the world’s greatest adventure mysteries

10 simple ways to change your life in 2024

Cozying up to Jane Austen's world

The 1600s shipwreck that provided a glimpse into the lives of 17th century nobility

This historic moon lander suffered an anomaly—but NASA isn’t panicked (yet)

What is lucid dreaming—and how can you learn to do it?

2023 was our hottest year yet. What other milestones did we reach?

Digging Utah's dinosaurs

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

The LSST Camera contains 189 individual sensors and will take photos at 3.2 gigapixels. A large air tight box holds the filters for the LSST Camera. Nitrogen air is continuously pumped into the chamber because nitrogen air is dryer than natural air and will prevent the glass from warping in any way.

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK

Will we find Planet Nine here? A revolutionary new telescope may track that, plus new comets and exotic asteroids from other stars. Sky gazers will feast through the lens of the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scheduled to open next year. (Pictured, an airtight filter box that preserves the glass.) Where is the observatory?

A. Argentina
B. Bolivia
C. Chile
D. Ecuador

CLICK TO FIND OUT

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Carpenter Li Mingli chisels traditional bas-relief panels in Yangcen village. This workshop employs hearing-impaired craftspeople. On his trek in Yunnan, Salopek encountered workers with manual skills that hark back to past eras: beekeepers, chili grinders, handweavers, stonemasons.

PHOTOGRAPH BY GILLES SABRIÉ

On this day 11 years ago … Paul Salopek put one foot ahead of another, beginning a trek around the world, in the fashion of long-ago ancestors. He has gone from Ethiopia’s Rift Valley to China so far, and plans to traverse another 15,000 miles before finishing his journey of human migration.

Everywhere he goes, there are fewer traces of the handmade world, the Nat Geo Explorer wrote last summer. “I mean the fading corners of the inhabited Earth still not subjugated to—or transformed by—the demands of our machines.” (Pictured above, Carpenter Li Mingli chisels traditional bas-relief panels in a workshop that Salopek encountered on his trek in Yunnan).

See: Paul’s Out of Eden Walk.

11 YEARS WALKING

LAST GLIMPSE

L’Anse aux Meadows on the north of the island of Newfoundland, the only confirmed Viking site in America to date.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROLF HICKER/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES

How far did the Vikings sail? Icelandic tales regale us of the impressive western journeys of Viking sailor Leif Eriksson, but how do we know how far the Vikings actually journeyed? An archeological dig in Canada, buried objects, and Viking site (above) has yielded more clues to the presence of Norse settlements in North America. See what archeologists have found.

CANADIAN VIKINGS?

Today’s soundtrack: I Am The Cowboy, Zola

We hope this newsletter brightened your Wednesday! It was curated and edited by David Beard, Nancy San Martín, Jen Tse, and Nishita Naga. Know someone who might want our newsletter in their inbox? Here’s the signup. See you tomorrow!

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