Category Health/Medical

Evidence reveals that the language of thought is not natural language

Separating logic and language
Caption:A functional brain scan of a neurotypical participant in a new study shows a distinct separation between logic (green) and language (red/yellow) activations. Credit: Hope Kean

Some people find it useful to talk through their problems—but language isn’t necessary for logical reasoning, cognitive neuroscientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research say.

In research published in the journal PNAS, researchers led by MIT associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences Evelina Fedorenko have shown that people can perform well on tasks that require logical reasoning even if their language abilities are severely impaired. What’s more, brain imaging shows that language-processing parts of the brain are not called on for logical reasoning.

Philosophers, linguists an...

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Researchers develop ‘hierarchical AI agent’ that tackles complex errands with ease

ETRI develops
Hierarchical AI Agent. Credit: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)

Korean researchers have developed a hierarchical AI technology that autonomously plans even complex, long-horizon tasks. The development of this hierarchical task-planning AI technology, which reduces hallucinations and doubles the success rate, is expected to help robots and agents carry out long-term missions.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) developed the hierarchical task-planning artificial intelligence (AI) technology “ReAcTree,” which autonomously divides tasks requiring complex and lengthy procedures into subgoals and carries them out, and presented it at AAMAS 2026, one of the world’s premier conferences in the AI agent field.

This research achievem...

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This spray-on powder can stop life-threatening bleeding in 1 second

Fabrication and characterization of AGCL powder-type hemostatic material.

Excessive blood loss is the leading cause of death from combat injuries, making rapid bleeding control one of the biggest challenges in battlefield medicine. Researchers at KAIST, including an Army Major, have developed a next generation spray-on powder that can stop severe bleeding in about one second. The innovation could significantly improve survival for wounded soldiers while also offering broad potential for civilian emergency care.

The research team, led by Professor Steve Park of KAIST’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Professor Sangyong Jon of the Department of Biological Sciences, created a powder type hemostatic agent that quickly transforms into a strong hydrogel barrier whe...

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Forcing cancer cells to die can alert the immune system to enhance anti-tumor attack

Unlike accidental cell death, some cells can actively decide to die through a controlled process. This is called programmed cell death and can occur in different forms, including apoptosis and necroptosis. Cells use this process when they are damaged, stressed, becoming cancerous, or infected by harmful microbes. This self-destruction mechanism helps to protect the body, but it is also involved in many diseases, such as infections, inflammatory conditions and cancer.

A major problem in cancer is that some tumors and cancer cells learn how to avoid apoptosis, allowing them to survive when they should die. This resistance can make cancer treatments less effective, especially in advanced or spreading (metastatic) cancers.

A research team led by Prof. Dr...

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