We can detect signals from black holes merging – but could we also pick up traces of more exotic collisions?VICTOR DE SCHWANBERG / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Gravitational wave signals that seem to emanate from black hole collisions may actually come...
October 3, 20243 min readHow ‘River Piracy’ Helped Give Mount Everest a Growth SpurtA model suggests a massive uplift caused by a phenomenon called “river piracy” partly explains Everest’s impressive heightBy Michael Marshall & Nature magazineMount Everest is unusually high,...
Climate change, global pandemics, bioterrorism, nuclear warfare, artificial intelligence run amok—today’s world offers no shortage of homegrown existential risks to worry about. But one of the most worrisome hazards doesn’t come from Earth at all. Rather, it’s from the astronomical...
October 2, 20243 min readDebate Linguistics Reveals the Politics at Play in the 2024 ElectionLinguist and sociophonetician Nicole Holliday analyzes the language used by candidates in the recent presidential and vice presidential debatesBy Kelso Harper In election debates, language matters....
October 3, 20245 min readThe Next President Faces Tough Nuclear Weapons DeadlinesWhoever wins the 2024 presidential election will face heightened nuclear geopolitics, deadlines on nuclear deals with Russia and Iran and decisions on a $2-trillion weapons-modernization effortBy Daniel Vergano Amid...
October 2, 20244 min readLargest Brain Map Ever Reveals Fruit Fly’s Neurons in Exquisite DetailWiring diagram lays out connections between nearly 140,000 neurons and reveals new types of nerve cellBy Sara Reardon & Nature magazine50 largest neurons of the fly...
Can AI design a chip that’s more efficient than human-made ones?Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images Google DeepMind says its artificial intelligence has helped design chips that are already being used in data centres and even smartphones. But some chip design experts are...
A Ukrainian drone operator with a first-person view kamikaze droneAndriy Andriyenko/SOPA Images/Shutterstock As both sides of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war attempt to claim technological supremacy, drone versus drone combat has become routine – and thanks to the ubiquity of cameras,...
Russian propaganda about its invasion of Ukraine is affecting AI chatbot accuracyRoman Pilipey/AFP/Getty Artificial intelligence chatbots struggle to consistently provide accurate answers about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sometimes regurgitate Kremlin propaganda – an especially noticeable problem for Google’s Gemini...
I’LL level with you: a part of me didn’t want to write this story. When I first realised that I was losing my hair, I found it important to mention it often in conversation. I was so embarrassed about it...
