Science

Electrons orbiting an atomic nucleus occupy distinct shapes that describe the probability of finding the electron at any point in space. In a newly discovered quantum state, these orbitals spontaneously line up in a periodic pattern, providing the clearest experimental evidence yet of pure orbital order. The discovery was made in an intermetallic compound called […]

A growing body of evidence suggests that a substantial fraction of published neuroscience findings cannot be reproduced. The problem is not fraud or sloppiness, it is rooted in the statistical architecture of how brain research is done, and the lessons it offers extend beyond replication rates to fundamental questions about how we infer brain function. […]

Most AI systems today work by switching transistors on and off, billions of times per second, consuming vast amounts of energy. A startup founded by prominent AI researchers is proposing something fundamentally different: a chip that does not switch at all, but instead lets physical oscillators settle into synchronized patterns, and calls the result an […]

A new design published in Nature Communications reduces the complex multi-sensor assembly for 6-axis force/torque sensing to a single monolithic piezoceramic shell, eliminating the complexity, cost, and failure points of traditional approaches. The sensor, developed by researchers in China, uses a monolithic (single-piece) piezoceramic shell that deforms under applied force or torque. The deformation generates […]

When Beijing-based Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 on July 16, the reaction among AI researchers was immediate and electric. “People are calling it a ‘Sputnik moment,'” said Joel Pearson, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of New South Wales who studies AI’s impact on society. “It is a turning point.” Kimi K3 is a 2.8 […]

Joël Lapointe was planning a camping trip in Quebec’s Côte-Nord region in 2024 when he noticed something odd on Google Maps. A circular depression centered on Lake Marsal, roughly 25 kilometers wide, with terrain features that looked unlike the surrounding landscape. He took a screenshot, reported it to Impact Earth, a crowdsourcing website run by […]

In 2010, the US National Institutes of Health launched an ambitious project: collect tissue samples from hundreds of deceased donors, sequence the RNA from each tissue, and build a comprehensive map of how genes are turned on and off across the human body. More than a decade later, the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) program has transformed […]

Large language models promise to accelerate scientific discovery by automating the drudgery of research. But a new mathematical model from a team including Carl Bergstrom of the University of Washington warns that the same speed gains could unintentionally erode the quality of scientific work, by making researchers less selective about what they publish and less […]

When NOAA forecasters predicted a below-average Atlantic hurricane season for 2026, they were careful to add a standard caveat: it only takes one storm. Tropical Storm Bertha, churning toward the US Gulf Coast on Tuesday with 65 km/h winds and potential storm surge, is illustrating that principle in real time. The National Hurricane Center expects […]

Google’s Verily life sciences division is seeking EPA approval to release 32 million lab-bred male mosquitoes in California and Florida to suppress the Aedes aegypti populations that transmit dengue, Zika, and chikungunya. The science behind the proposal has already been demonstrated at scale. Whether the regulatory system can move as fast as the mosquitoes breed […]