Billionaire mogul Elon Musk and a range of experts called on Wednesday for a pause in the development of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems to allow time to make sure they are safe. An...
A group of mathematicians has unveiled a brand new 13-sided shape they’ve simply called ‘the hat’. Don’t let the rather mundane description fool you though. This hat (which looks a bit like a fedora)...
Shine bright like a… gamma-ray? A gamma-ray burst that recently hit our Solar System was so bright, it temporarily blinded gamma-ray instruments in space, according to a NASA release. Scientists say the gamma-ray burst...
The humble proton is a lynchpin of the material Universe. Its characteristics define chemistry, governing teams of electrons that build atoms into molecules, and molecules into dazzling complexity. For all we understand of its...
A fungal superbug called Candida auris is spreading rapidly through hospitals and nursing homes in the US. The first case was identified in 2016. Since then, it has spread to half the country’s 50...
In 1997, at the reported age of 122, Jeanne Calment passed away in the south of France, setting a benchmark for human survival. Though not all are convinced of the record’s authenticity, Calment’s purported...
Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) both seem to impact the oldest parts of the brain in a curiously similar fashion. Using a high-resolution version of magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI),...
Most of us have heard the one about if you cross your arms over your chest you’re feeling defensive or if you’re fiddling with your hair while talking you feel nervous – but is...
Astronomers have just found a cosmic cannonball. Around a star some 730 light-years away orbits an exoplanet the size of Jupiter, but with a density that boggles the mind. Astronomers have determined that the...
All life on Earth depends on water, including us. Some of us consume water the old-fashioned way by drinking it with our mouths, others more creatively. Beetles can rehydrate themselves by opening their rectums...