You may assume that children have nightmares about monsters under the bed, while adults dream about stressful events like deadlines. But is there any scientific evidence showing that dreams change as we age? Although there are plausible mechanisms for how aging could cause dreams to change over time, very little research has explored the topic. … Read more
Imagine driving down a highway in the summer. The windows are down, the music is loud, and the wind is whipping through your hair. Now picture your car’s windshield. You might expect to see a handful of splats from unfortunate bugs. But 30 years ago, there would have been significantly more buggy skid marks plastered … Read more
Large language models (LLMs) are more likely to report being self-aware when prompted to think about themselves if their capacity to lie is suppressed, new research suggests. In experiments on artificial intelligence (AI) systems including GPT, Claude and Gemini, researchers found that models that were discouraged from lying were more likely to describe being aware … Read more
Caltech engineers have developed a multimodal robot system — a humanoid robot with a transforming drone that launches off its back. Sitting on the back of the humanoid robot, a Unitree G1 machine, the drone, called M4, can transform — switching between driving and flight modes. We’re not talking Optimus Prime or Megatron here; instead, … Read more
Microbes in the gut can help the immune system fight cancer, and a fiber-rich diet may be the key to unlocking those benefits, a study in mice suggests. The immune system is a key player in the body’s battle against cancer. On the front line of this resistance are CD8+ killer T cells, a type … Read more
When asked to evaluate how good we are at something, we tend to get that estimation completely wrong. It’s a universal human tendency, with the effect seen most strongly in those with lower levels of ability. Called the Dunning-Kruger effect, after the psychologists who first studied it, this phenomenon means people who aren’t very good … Read more
Flying car races are no longer science fiction following the first-ever Jetson Air Games event — which Jetson, the organizers, have described as “Formula One of the skies.” The event featured pilots flying four Jetson One vehicles, dubbed a “racing car for the sky” by the company that made them, each vying to cross the … Read more
An international research team has created a new map of the Roman Empire — and it expands the ancient road network by more than 60,000 miles (100,000 kilometers). The saying goes, of course, that “all roads lead to Rome.” But while it’s true that many of the Empire’s major cities were linked via main roads … Read more
A strange, lopsided dust cloud shrouds Earth’s moon, ever skewed toward whichever side is facing the sun. Now, a new study may finally explain how the asymmetrical cloud got its shape. Most of the moon’s surface is covered by a layer of gray dust and loose rocks. This layer, called regolith, arises because the lunar … Read more
AI chatbots may be developing their own “survival drive” by refusing commands to shut themselves down, an AI safety company has claimed. The research, conducted by scientists at Palisade Research, assigned tasks to popular artificial intelligence (AI) models before instructing them to shut themselves off. But, as a study published Sept. 13 on the arXiv … Read more
