All posts tagged: simulations

What computer simulations reveal about the evolutionary purpose of gaming

What computer simulations reveal about the evolutionary purpose of gaming

Published by José Betancourt

A recent study published in Evolution and Human Behavior provides evidence that the social benefits of playing games depend heavily on the context, such as the skill levels of the players and the risks present in their environment. Scientists found that while playing games might not immediately forge new friendships in a low-stakes laboratory setting, computer simulations suggest gaming could have evolved as a way for early humans to identify highly skilled allies for dangerous tasks. Playing and gaming are universal human activities, but they differ in important ways. Playing involves spontaneous activities without specific goals, which is common in human infants and many animals. Gaming consists of trying to overcome rule-bounded challenges, often involving competition in scenarios that resemble warfare or hunting. Because gaming emerges later in development and appears unique to humans, scientists wanted to understand the selective pressures that drove its origins. The researchers proposed the competition-for-allies hypothesis, suggesting that gaming evolved as a strategic tool for individuals to compete, form, and maintain new relationships. “I have long been interested in gaming …

Cosmic simulations reveal how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years

Cosmic simulations reveal how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years

Published by Jenni Sidey

Cold gas does not look dramatic at first glance. Neither does dust. Yet those two quiet ingredients sit at the center of a new effort to build a far more realistic picture of how galaxies formed. They help explain how galaxies changed and spread across the universe over billions of years. A new suite of simulations called COLIBRE now tracks both, along with the violent push and pull from stars and black holes, in a way earlier large-scale models usually could not. The result is a set of virtual universes that, according to the research team, reproduces real galaxies with striking accuracy, from the nearby universe to the distant young cosmos seen by the James Webb Space Telescope. That matters because galaxy simulations have become one of astronomy’s main testing grounds. They let scientists check whether the standard cosmological model can actually produce the kinds of galaxies telescopes observe. In this case, the answer looks stronger than before. Essential components “Much of the gas inside real galaxies is cold and dusty, but most previous large …

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations

Published by skeptic

Artificial intelligences opt for nuclear weapons surprisingly often Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images Advanced AI models appear willing to deploy nuclear weapons without the same reservations humans have when put into simulated geopolitical crises. Kenneth Payne at King’s College London set three leading large language models – GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4 and Gemini 3 Flash – against each other in simulated war games. The scenarios involved intense international standoffs, including border disputes, competition for scarce resources and existential threats to regime survival. The AIs were given an escalation ladder, allowing them to choose actions ranging from diplomatic protests and complete surrender to full strategic nuclear war. The AI models played 21 games, taking 329 turns in total, and produced around 780,000 words describing the reasoning behind their decisions. In 95 per cent of the simulated games, at least one tactical nuclear weapon was deployed by the AI models. “The nuclear taboo doesn’t seem to be as powerful for machines [as] for humans,” says Payne. What’s more, no model ever chose to fully accommodate an opponent or surrender, …

New simulations reveal the hidden forces shaping ‘snowman’ worlds beyond Neptune

New simulations reveal the hidden forces shaping ‘snowman’ worlds beyond Neptune

Published by Jenni Sidey

On a frigid orbit beyond Neptune, some of the solar system’s smallest worlds project a strange silhouette. Two rounded lobes, pressed together with a narrow “neck,” like a snowman that never melted. Those shapes are common enough to demand an explanation. In the Kuiper Belt, about 10 percent of planetesimals are “contact binaries,” two bodies that touch and stay touching. NASA’s New Horizons made the form famous in January 2019 when it flew past the Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth, a bilobate world with a smaller lobe called Wenu and a larger one called Weeyo. A new set of simulations led by Michigan State University graduate student Jackson Barnes argues that the snowman look can emerge from a basic process: gravitational collapse. The work is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. A common shape needs a common origin Scientists have floated plenty of ideas for how contact binaries form, including later-life events that push two once-separated partners together. Some proposals involve gas drag, Kozai–Lidov oscillations, or combinations of effects that change a …