Looking for LUCA, everyone’s shared ancestor
Scientists are making headway in learning about our great-grand-germ Grandma, is that you? Scientists who have tried to understand early…
Writings
Math long resisted a digital disruption. AI is poised to change that
Modern formalization, supercharged by AI, could radically change the way people do mathematics Mathematician Kevin Buzzard of Imperial College London…
No one’s sure if synthetic mirror life will kill us all
For four days in February 2019, some 30 synthetic biologists and ethicists hunkered down at a conference center in Northern…
A Digital Ally
IN OCTOBER 2024, Carolina Millon, a former retail executive in Falls Church, Virginia, anxiously checked her email and found a notification…
Human-built ‘beaver’ dams help save struggling streams
Inspiration from nature’s engineers is helping rescue imperiled waterways One warm morning in the summer of 2025, the Beaver Brigade…
This Band Aid-like device could let you ‘feel’ the virtual world
It’s studded with tiny dots that vibrate to mimic the feel of real-world textures Worn on a fingertip, the new…
CSI: Cretaceous. A reptile body farm is shedding light on how dinosaurs died.
Here’s how scientists are solving the “dinosaur death pose” mystery and others. One bright day in April 2023, Hannah Maddox…
Can neuromorphic computing help reduce AI’s high energy cost?
Artificial intelligence systems, and large language models (LLMs) in particular, have become almost ubiquitous. The implications are many. Among them:…
Fast, mysterious clouds swarm around our galaxy
The Milky Way’s forecast: mostly cloudy. But the origin of these cosmic clouds is unclear This composite image shows Smith’s…
These ultra-long experiments outlive their scientists — on purpose
On a snowy night in 2021, four shivering scientists in Michigan set down their shovels and studied a hand-drawn map…