Changes in Earth’s tilt relative to the sun have governed the movements of giant ice sheets over the past 800,000 years, triggering the start and end of eight ice ages, new research suggests. The new study revealed an “amazing correlation” between Earth’s tilt and ice sheet formation, said lead author Stephen Barker. Based on these … Read more
Radiation from an exploding star may have had a profound effect on the evolution of life on Earth, a new study suggests. About 2.5 million years ago, the viruses infecting fish in Africa”s Lake Tanganyika underwent a mysterious and rapid explosion in diversity. Yet the exact cause of this change has remained a mystery. Now, … Read more
We may have been wrong about how Mars got its characteristic red hue, a new study reveals. The Red Planet owes its ruddy complexion to rusted iron minerals, dispersed across billions of years by winds, throughout the planet’s dust. Past spacecraft observations of Martian dust led scientists to believe that this rust emerged in dry … Read more
A native language, or “mother tongue,” is the first language a person learns and is usually a key part of their identity, allowing them to connect with their family and friends and to embrace their culture and heritage. But is it possible to forget your native language — for example, if you move to another … Read more
Engineering researchers have demonstrated that artificial intelligence (AI) can design complex wireless chips in hours, a feat that would have taken humans weeks to complete. Not only did the chip designs prove more efficient, the AI took a radically different approach — one that a human circuit designer would have been highly unlikely to devise. … Read more
Earth’s glaciers lost 300 billion tons (273 billion metric tons) of ice every year on average between 2000 and 2023, amounting to a 5% decline in volume since the start of the millennium, a groundbreaking new study finds. The loss equates to roughly three Olympic swimming pools’ worth of ice melting or breaking off from … Read more
The emergence of human life may not have been as improbable as scientists once thought, a new model suggests. The finding increases the likelihood of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, the researchers say. Previously, scientists assumed that for human life to emerge on Earth, it needed to pass through a series of “hard steps” … Read more
Scientists have made new improvements to a “brain decoder” that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to convert thoughts into text. Their new converter algorithm can quickly train an existing decoder on another person’s brain, the team reported in a new study. The findings could one day support people with aphasia, a brain disorder that affects a … Read more
Scientists have discovered evidence that liquid water was once exposed to the air in ancient, shallow lakes on Mars. The finding is evidence that not all water on the Red Planet was covered in ice, as some Martian climate models suggest. Planetary geologists and astronomers studying Mars have known for decades that water was once … Read more
People increasingly rely on artificial intelligence (AI) for medical diagnoses because of how quickly and efficiently these tools can spot anomalies and warning signs in medical histories, X-rays and other datasets before they become obvious to the naked eye. But a new study published Dec. 20, 2024 in the BMJ raises concerns that AI technologies … Read more
