It’s becoming more difficult to get some entry-level jobs.
So, you want to be a software engineer? So does AI. A new Stanford study offers early, large-scale analysis of the effects of AI on employment, and it’s not great news for Gen Z. Researchers studied data from ADP, the largest payroll software provider in the United States, and found that over the past three years, early-career workers ages 22 to 25 have seen a 13 percent decline in employment in fields where AI is automating work (including accounting, customer service, and software engineering). Meanwhile, employment has remained stable or grown for experienced workers in those same fields, as well as for workers of all ages in less AI-exposed occupations (such as nursing aides).
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Or up. Or left.
Stanford researchers have created a noninvasive system that could deliver drugs to specific areas in the body. We’re talking pain meds directly to your aching shoulder or antidepressants localized in your brain, potentially increasing the safety and effectiveness of various drugs and minimizing side effects. The system uses nanoparticles to encapsulate drugs along with ultrasound to unleash the drugs at their intended destinations. And the magic ingredient? Sugar. A 5 percent sucrose solution makes the nanoparticles more stable in the body and responsive to ultrasound stimulation. So even if a drug needs to travel through the bloodstream, it only gets released where it’s needed. Raag Airan, MS ’06, MD ’10, PhD ’10, an assistant professor of radiology and the senior author of a study that used the system in rats, is planning the first human trial of the delivery system. That trial will use ketamine to target a patient’s emotional experience with chronic pain.
Sunny-side up.
Photo: Harry Gregory
Over three days at the Kentucky Formula Sun Grand Prix, the Stanford Solar Car Project crew members raced the vehicle they’d built against those of other university teams from across the nation. Despite a tire problem, the team secured second place. (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign took the top spot.) The experience, said Stanford team president Connor Hoffman, ’27, “was just electric. I think that is the best way to describe it.”
What would a human do?
Social scientists at Stanford are experimenting with a new way to research human behavior that, notably, does not fully rely on human subjects. Traditional research in the social sciences is expensive, notes Jacy Anthis, a visiting scholar at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. “We’re not dealing with petri dishes or plants that sit still and allow us to experiment over long periods of time.” Researchers tested the language model GPT-4 against previously completed human trials (think having a group of individuals watch a video and then asking whether their opinions on a topic have shifted) to see if AI could simulate the responses of a representative group of people. Indeed, the model’s predictions of human responses correlated strongly with outcomes of the human trials, opening the possibility that AI could be used to mimic human responses in some trials. Still, researchers caution that LLMs have numerous shortcomings, including a narrower range of responses and a tendency toward stereotypes. The researchers suggest using a hybrid approach—incorporating LLMs as a low-cost way to fine-tune studies, but keeping humans at the center of research, said Luke Hewitt, a senior research fellow at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. “At the end of the day, if you’re studying human behavior, your experiment needs to ground out in human data.”
A lifetime of sight.
Improved care for premature infants in sub-Saharan Africa means that more of them are surviving. It also means there are more infants at risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity, a condition in which irregular blood vessel growth can lead to retinal detachment and blindness. Permanent blindness is preventable—a one-time injection offers a cure—but it requires expert screening over several weeks to catch and treat the condition. In Ghana, most communities haven’t had access to the necessary clinicians and screening equipment. But now, a growing number of premature babies are keeping their vision thanks to telemedicine. A Stanford team acquired the necessary screening camera and trained community health workers in Kumasi, Ghana, to use it. Images are sent to Stanford for consultation by experts, then in-country physicians treat the infants. In the past 12 months, more than 1,000 infants have been screened in Ghana’s Ashanti region—and none of them have lost their vision. “You look at the babies for 10 weeks, and then they see forever. That’s a win,” said professor of ophthalmology Darius Moshfeghi.
But wait, there’s more. . .
It’s official: Walkable cities lead to more walking. In a study using smartphone data from more than 2 million Americans, people who moved from a city with a lower “walk score” to a city with a higher one added an average of 1,100 steps per day to their routine.
Roses are red, green peas are thirsty, Himalayan black peas offer genetic diversity (and have superior climate resilience and dietary value, according to new research).
How to college: Two books offer advice and perspective for the newly matriculated, from the general (study what intrigues you) to the Stanford-specific (what fountain hopping is).
Leave it to beavers to cause a dam controversy. With North American beavers making a comeback, new research offers insight on the risks and rewards of reintroducing the wood wizards to different watersheds.
Bad knees? A Stanford study has found that for participants with osteoarthritis of the inner knee, gait retraining—changing the angle of their foot when they walk—reduced knee cartilage degradation and delivered pain relief comparable to medication.
Does a drink a day keep the doctor away? Not according to Stanford experts. “I’ve added alcohol to the list of substances I recommend my patients either reduce or eliminate from their diet,” said Randall Stafford, a professor of medicine. Modern studies suggest that even moderate drinking is associated with a higher death rate, mostly from cancer and cardiovascular disease.
To communicate effectively, you have to listen effectively. Law professor Norman Spaulding, JD ’97, shares six straightforward steps to help, including suspending judgment as you listen and pausing to reflect.
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