Nearly 45 million Americans are under winter weather alerts and warnings from North Carolina to northeastern Maine, as a major winter storm threatens the region.
Why it matters: It is predicted to be the biggest blizzard since 2018 to strike the Northeast with more than 2 feet of snow possible in parts of eastern Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Friday a AU$1 billion ($703 million) investment plan for the Great Barrier Reef.
Why it matters: The nine-year plan for projects including water quality improvement, reef conservation and supporting some 64,000 tourism jobs comes months ahead of this year's federal election. It has been criticized by scientists and environmental groups for failing to tackle climate change.
The next generation of a machine learning language algorithm can better understand a person's instructions and intentions, OpenAI reported in a paper posted on its site today.
Why it matters: What's called "aligned" AI aims to be more honest and less toxic, biased or inappropriate — what most people consider required features for any artificial general intelligence that might be created in the future.
Nuclear physicists are notching scientific advances for fusion energy, fueling hopes — and billions in investment — to create an energy source that doesn't produce carbon or long-living nuclear waste.
Why it matters: For decades, scientists have chased the dream of using fusion for limitless clean energy. But turning the science into a commercial technology still faces scientific, technical and financial hurdles.
