1 link tagged with all of: linguistics + phylogenetics + matthew schwartz + cross disciplinary science + ai
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Researchers used BootLoops, an AI tool built with Claude, to scan scientific literature across 22 fields and identify problems that could be solved by borrowing techniques from unrelated disciplines. In 3 months, the team produced 36 papers solving problems ranging from calculating evolutionary tree probabilities to creating an 8x larger database of language sound systems.
- BootLoops discovered that many unsolved problems in different fields share identical mathematical structures with known solutions from physics, computer science, or math—but researchers didn't know to look across disciplines.
- The AI solved 15 previously unsolved integrals in high-energy physics and created ACCSTACK, a database of 6,000+ languages' stress and tone patterns that's eight times larger than the previous largest dataset.
- The approach requires heavy human judgment to work: the AI lacks "research taste" and can't determine what scientists actually care about, and it tends to favor older, highly cited work over new problems.