Editor's Note: The Age of Patterns
It seems that we can’t help ourselves. Humans see patterns everywhere we look. We use patterns to make sense of the world—picture the eloquent double helix of a DNA strand; but also to make nonsense of the world—pick the latest conspiracy theory.
The human brain has been called the ultimate pattern recognition tool. But now, here in the Anthropocene era, we have stumbled upon a pattern-seeking machine that smashes through all previous records. Artificial intelligence, a grab bag of advanced technologies that include neural networks, large language models, and generative algorithms, is leaving its creators in the dust.
Their magic lies in mind-bending repetition, analyzing and iterating until their output mimics, and sometimes exceeds, human abilities. Computers capable of 2 billion calculations in less than a second zip through millions of recorded forest and ocean sounds thousands of times in search of patterns. In the process, these neural networks learn to pick out and count the calls of individual bird species and the echolocation clicks of specific whales with astounding accuracy. So much so that scientists have moved on from basic identification to capturing complex nonlinear patterns such as how wildfires reshape bird populations, how coral reefs recover from bleaching—and even the tantalizing prospect of learning to “speak” with sperm whales. Read Warren Cornwall’s story on page 34 to get a peek into the AI revolution sweeping wildlife ecology off its feet.
A similar phenomenon is reshaping what a low carbon diet could look like. On page 20, Veronique Greenwood tells the story of a team of biochemists, cooks, and computer scientists who created an AI algorithm that looks for patterns between the qualities of some beloved animal-based foods and the taste, smell, and texture of ingredients from plants. Their goal is to make a wildly diverse plant-based diet not only possible but delicious. Their signature project: simulated milk made with molecules from cabbage and pineapple.
This is machine learning harnessed to sustainability in the Anthropocene. Here we profile a tiny sliver of applications that already exist. A deluge is headed in our direction. So before you turn the page, take a moment. Turn back to the cover of this issue. . . and squint.
This is us—emerging into an uncharted Age of Patterns.
—Kathryn Kohm, Editor in Chief
The Anthropocene already exists in our heads
Even if it’s now officially not a geological epoch.
Geothermal Power Anywhere
Heat percolates upward from the Earth’s core everywhere in the world. So why can’t it be tapped everywhere, too?
How to jumpstart a market for a product that doesn’t yet exist
An economic tool that brought the world life-saving vaccines could now unlock billions for carbon removal.
Why is it so hard to change our clothes?
You really are never going to feel the same way about your plastic disposable water bottle as you do about your clothes.
AI is making an adventurous and sustainable plant diet possible
It looks like milk. It tastes like milk. But the ingredients include pineapple juice and cabbage concentrate—brought to you by a team of biochemists and computer scientists.
The World Is Our Battery
Batteries don't have to be small or even portable. Here are five ambitious technologies that store energy in the rocks, water, and air all around us.
This counterintuitive technology fights climate change by making more carbon dioxide
Scientists are trying to pull methane from thin air to make CO2. It’s a surprisingly good idea.
What do you get when you cross ecology, acoustics, and artificial intelligence?
A wholesale revolution in wildlife science
Waterhouse Down
A reporter visits the first subsea condominiums off the Great Barrier Reef in 2083. But what happens when the environment turns less pacific?
Melatonin, a sleep aid, is a surprising treatment for food waste
By increasing produce’s tolerance to cold, melatonin staves off the damage done by the long, chilly journey from farm to fork.
Growing rooftop spinach in CO2 recycled from building ventilation quadruples growth
In buildings with lots of people, CO2 emissions from human respiration is surprisingly high; a research team wondered if HVAC could be unlikely companion to food production.
Should we let AI take our jobs…if it generates less carbon?
Some researchers believe replacing human workers with AI has a climate upside. Others think the low-carbon solution is to hit the off switch.
We’re over-freezing our food. Turning up the temperature slightly could avoid 17 Mt of CO2
The international freezing standard for food is -18 °C, a temperature that carries a huge emissions cost. What if we increased that to -15 °C?
Researchers hit on an unexpected tool to extract 80% of protein from beer waste: microwaves
Spent barley, which amounts to 36.4 million tons of landfill waste each year, could provide an alternative to meat protein—and simultaneously tackle food waste.
Scientists add a new twist to the many afterlives of coffee grounds: Toxic cleanup
In a new study, coffee grounds soaked up 70% of bentazone, an agricultural herbicide that pollutes global waterways.
Curbside recycling turns out to be a surprisingly good climate investment
A comprehensive review of municipal waste management systems found that recycling is on par with investing in electric vehicles and green power
Engineers create dissolving circuit boards that can be recycled over and over again
Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste problem in the world. Instead of burning it to recover gold and copper, this new method separates the components for reuse.
Stronger paper bags could be the answer to throwaway plastic
A simple technique to make paper bags stronger, even when wet, would make them more reusable—and they can still be used for biofuel at the end
In a comparison of life-cycle emissions, EVs crushed combustion cars
“The elephant in the room is the supply chain of fossil fuel-powered vehicles, not that of electric vehicles,” says lead researcher.
Colorful paints could slash heating and cooling energy use
By reflecting infrared heat, these new paints could could keep buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter without using energy.
Chemists use bacteria to convert CO2 in the air into bioplastic
A new simple hybrid setup allows bacteria to capture CO2 and produce biodegradable plastic for days, boosting output by 100x previous efforts.
As glaciers vanish, what should we do with the land that’s revealed?
Enough untouched terrain to cover all of Finland could be uncovered as glaciers retreat, scientists found. Much of it is unprotected.
For some birds, a “taxi” helps recalibrate out-of-sync migrations
Pied flycatchers in the Netherlands were arriving late as climate change pushed spring earlier. Scientists drove them north to Sweden, and then they thrived.
Dwindling biodiversity might make you sick.
In a sweeping new global analysis, scientists set out to find which environmental factors most increased or decreased infections. One clear answer: biodiversity loss.
