Is there a scientific reason why the universe exists? In other words, what is the science of why there is anything at all, instead of only nothing? The answer has to do with opposites. Scientists have found that the universe exists because it began with a slight imbalance between matter and antimatter. Particles of matter … Read more
Red onion dye could be the missing ingredient required to bolster ultraviolet (UV) protection for solar cells, scientists say. Solar cells are typically coated with a petroleum-based film to protect them from UV-induced degradation. These films include oil-based materials such as polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In the quest to drive the adoption … Read more
At first glance, Nam-Joon Cho’s lab at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University looks like your typical research facility — scientists toiling away, crowded workbenches, a hum of machinery in the background. But the orange-yellow stains on the lab coats slung on hooks hint at a less-usual subject matter under study. The powdery stain is pollen: microscopic … Read more
Scientists have suggested that when artificial intelligence (AI) goes rogue and starts to act in ways counter to its intended purpose, it exhibits behaviors that resemble psychopathologies in humans. That’s why they have created a new taxonomy of 32 AI dysfunctions so people in a wide variety of fields can understand the risks of building … Read more
Early Earth was a barren wasteland incapable of supporting life until a big protoplanet crash carried in the necessary ingredients, a new study suggests. That collision of the proto-Earth and a Mars-size body — nicknamed Theia — has been theorized for decades, especially in discussions of how our moon may have formed from the resulting … Read more
Scientists have incorporated key computing components into a single, flexible fiber that you can run through your washing machine. The researchers hope to one day weave together many of these fibers into a cohesive “fiber computing” network — in other words, items of clothing with smart capabilities. Smart textiles, also known as smart fabrics or … Read more
Scientists have developed a new type of artificial intelligence (AI) model that can reason differently from most large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, resulting in much better performance in key benchmarks. The new reasoning AI, called a hierarchical reasoning model (HRM), is inspired by the hierarchical and multi-timescale processing in the human brain — the … Read more
Scientists have created the first artificial tongue that can sense and identify flavors entirely in liquid environments — mimicking how human taste buds work. The achievement, described July 15 in the journal PNAS, could lead to automated systems for food safety and early detection of diseases via chemical analysis, the researchers say. The technology could … Read more
Mars was a rainier, wetter place than planetary scientists previously thought, according to a new study of ancient, inverted river channels that span more than 9,000 miles (14,484 kilometers) in the Red Planet’s southern Noachis Terra region. “Our work is a new piece of evidence that suggests that Mars was once a much more complex … Read more
Our solar system has been around for 4.6 billion years. While that sounds like a long time, it’s just a blip in the 13.8 billion-year story of the universe. And one day, the solar system will cease to exist. But when will the solar system end? And how will it die out? The answers to … Read more
