SUMMARY: ChatGPT appeared to “think” for itself and behave like a student – improvising ideas, making mistakes, and even resisting guidance – in a University of Cambridge study that revived a 2,400-year-old maths puzzle first recorded by Plato. The researchers asked the chatbot to tackle the classic “doubling the square” problem, which lays claim to being the oldest documented maths education challenge in history. Despite knowing about Plato’s work from its training data, ChatGPT improvised its own solution to the problem, sometimes making mistakes along the way. The study suggests that while this highlights that Generative AI has limits as a maths education resource, it may also have something resembling a  “zone of proximal development”: the potential to ‘learn’ and solve new – perhaps even unsolved – problems, with careful prompting and guidance.

A study led by McGill University researchers offers insights into intergenerational memory and the experiences of children born of conflict-related sexual violence and their mothers in post-genocide Rwanda.

“These children are frequently referred to as ‘children of hate,’ and are often seen as living reminders of the brutality of genocide,” said lead researcher Myriam Denov, a professor at McGill’s School of Social Work and the Canada Research Chair in Children, Families and Armed Conflict. “Yet, what we found was a profound story of empathy, love and resilience.” Denov’s study, published in the Journal of Gender Studies, offers insights into the ways in which these Rwandan mothers and children have sought justice and built relationships with one another despite facing stigma, economic and social discrimination, and violence from their families and communities.

The researchers found that many mothers struggled with feelings of guilt and ambivalence toward their child due to the circumstances of their conception. The mothers also described finding it difficult and painful to talk to their offspring about their experiences of sexual violence. Yet, growing up, their children wanted to know the truth about their birth origins and why they didn’t have a father. When mothers managed to disclose their histories of sexual violence, some found that their bond with their child was stronger as a result. Many of the children showed a deep empathy and compassion toward their mothers.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst public health researcher has been awarded a three-year, $1.12 million grant from the National Science Foundation to lead a multinational examination of therelationship between water governance systems and the health of young children, amid a backdrop of global climate change.