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
In late 2022 large-language-model AI arrived in public, and within months they began misbehaving. Most famously, Microsoft’s “Sydney” chatbot threatened to kill an Australian philosophy professor, unleash a deadly virus and steal nuclear codes. AI developers, including Microsoft and OpenAI, responded by saying that large language models, or LLMs, need better training to give users … Read more
No other human-made catastrophes can wreak more destruction than a nuclear bomb. Luckily, bomb shelters and bunkers can protect us, right? The truth is that these structures’ ability to shield people from the potent heat and blast of a nuclear bomb varies. “It all depends on where the bunker is and the quality of the … Read more
Scientists have invented a smart fabric that converts light into heat and can raise temperatures by more than 54 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) after just 10 minutes in the sun. The new material could be used in clothing designed for very cold temperatures. Specialized nanoparticles that absorb sunlight and convert it to heat are … Read more
While parallel universes are a staple of science fiction, there are some real scientific theories to support them. But if parallel universes do exist, could we ever travel to them? It certainly wouldn’t be easy, but let’s explore this possibility. Parallel universes crop up in two places in physical theories. One is in our conception … Read more
Earth’s oceans are getting warmer at an accelerating rate, researchers find — indicating that climate change is speeding up too. The scientists found that ocean warming has more than quadrupled over the past 40 years and is likely to accelerate even faster in the future. The researchers published their findings in a new study published … Read more
