News
- Physics
How to spot tiny black holes that might pass through the solar system
Flybys of primordial black holes may occur once a decade. Tweaks to the orbits of planets and GPS satellites could give away their presence.
- Plants
Projectile pollen helps this flower edge out reproductive competition
With explosive bursts of pollen, male Hypenea macrantha flowers knock some competitors’ deposits off hummingbird beaks before the birds reach females.
- Neuroscience
Pregnancy overhauls the brain. Here’s what that looks like
Neuroscientist Liz Chrastil’s brain scans before, during and after pregnancy are providing the first view of a mom-to-be’s structural brain changes.
- Space
How a dying star is similar to a lava lamp
In a first, astronomers captured how convective forces power the quick bubbling movement of gas cells on the surface of a distant, massive star.
- Health & Medicine
Can taking ashwagandha supplements improve health?
Ashwagandha is all over TikTok. Some studies report benefits, but more research is needed.
- Planetary Science
Scientists find a long-sought electric field in Earth’s atmosphere
The Earth’s ambipolar electric field is weak but strong enough to control the shape and evolution of the upper atmosphere.
- Life
Mega El Niños kicked off the world’s worst mass extinction
Long-lasting, widespread heat and weather extremes may have caused the Great Dying extinction event 252 million years ago.
- Artificial Intelligence
Talking to a chatbot may weaken someone’s belief in conspiracy theories
AI might help lift conspiracy theorists out of the rabbit hole, but some researchers say proceed with caution.
- Anthropology
Ancient DNA unveils a previously unknown line of Neandertals
DNA from a partial skeleton found in France indicates that European Neandertals consisted of at least two genetically distinct populations.
- Health & Medicine
California droughts may help valley fever spread
Droughts temporarily dampen the number of valley fever cases across the state, but cases spike in the years after rains return.
- Artificial Intelligence
AI generates harsher punishments for people who use Black dialect
ChatGPT and similar AI sort those who use African American English dialect into less prestigious jobs and dole out harsher criminal punishments.
- Quantum Physics
A quantum computer corrected its own errors, improving its calculations
The corrected calculation had an error rate about a tenth of one done without quantum error correction.
