Rainfall estimation is vital for flood forecasting, urban planning, and climate modeling. However, current measurement systems face limitations in coverage, cost, and accuracy—especially in complex urban environments.

Daniel A. Yudkin and colleagues analyzed a rich dataset of real moral conundrums, the “AITA?” board on the social media site Reddit. A look at 369,161 posts and 11 million comments using qualitative, quantitative, and machine-learning methods finds that dilemmas concerning relational obligations were the most common type of dilemma explored on the board. Researchers often use moral dilemmas to probe the contours of human moral intuitions, but such studies typically take place in depersonalized contexts in which the precise relations between actors are unspecified—an intentional design to omit the potentially confounding noise of relational contexts. Yet most real-world moral dilemmas occur in the context of various familial, work, or community relationships. Daniel A. Yudkin and colleagues analyzed a rich dataset of real moral conundrums, the “AITA?” board on the social media site Reddit. Posters to the board describe their own behavior in context, and ask for opinions about whether they are acting like a jerk—although the board’s full name includes a more profane synonym. A look at 369,161 posts and 11 million comments using qualitative, quantitative, and machine-learning methods finds that dilemmas concerning relational obligations were the most common type of dilemma explored on the board—e.g. spouses worried about being disloyal; roommates seeking fair distributions of rent; parents unsure whether they were doing too much or not enough to care for their children; and so on. Over 80% of posts involved an identifiable relationship between actors. Looking at the responses to posted dilemmas, the authors found that violations of trust, such as lying and cheating, were, on average, evaluated more negatively than acts of harm. The third most negatively evaluated dilemma type pertained to judgmentalness—a potential moral wrong often overlooked in academic studies. According to the authors, the lack of relational context in many studies of morality risks confounding responses as the nature of the relationship between actors may be a constitutive feature of moral cognition.

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor with a high risk of metastasis and poor survival outcomes. To delineate the metastatic microenvironment, researchers in China have developed an explainable machine learning model that identifies key immune cells and cytokine markers linked to tumor dissemination and prognosis. Their model offers a transparent, data-driven approach that could help clinicians better assess risk and personalize treatment for children with this life-threatening disease.

As the most seismically active regions in the world, oceanic subduction zones show contrasting seismicity in different regions. A review by a team from Nanjing University explored the relationships among the thermal structure, metamorphism, deformation and fluid activity of oceanic subduction zones. The thermal structure of subduction zones not only controls dehydration depths of hydrous minerals, but also affects the mechanical coupling state of the subduction plate interface, eclogitization of the subducted oceanic crust, and phase transition of olivine in the subducted lithospheric mantle. Fault stick-slip behavior is the major mechanism of shallow earthquakes (<70 km), while dehydration embrittlement of hydrous minerals and other mechanisms may trigger intermediate-depth earthquakes (70–300 km). The amounts of earthquakes decrease sharply below 160 km in warm subduction zones, but below ~300 km in cold subduction zones where hydrous minerals release water at greater depths. Cold slabs could carry water down to depths >300 km, resulting in localized water enrichment in the mantle transition zone. More studies are needed to decipher how the fluid activity triggers slow earthquakes and deep-focus earthquakes. The review is published in Science China Earth Sciences.

A research team from Kumamoto University has developed a promising deep learning model that significantly enhances the accuracy of subgraph matching — a critical task in fields ranging from drug discovery to natural language processing.

At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers are leveraging AI to solve real-world problems, from enhancing surgeries and cancer detection to preparing students for an AI-driven future. The AI Tennessee Initiative unites academic, industry, and community partners to advance AI research and education, driving innovation and economic growth across Tennessee.