All Stories
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
The first face transplant to include an eye shows no rejection a year later
A man who received a partial face transplant that included an eye can’t see out of the eye, but there is blood flow to it.
- Earth
How earthquakes build beefy gold nuggets
The strain imparted by an earthquake can generate voltages in quartz veins that stimulate the mineralization of gold.
-
When pain really is in your head
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses the complexity of chronic pain, the spread of diseases and training crocs to avoid eating certain toads.
-
- Animals
Bumblebees lose most of their sense of smell after heat waves
A few hours in high temps reduced the ability of antennae to detect flower scents by 80 percent. That could impact the bees’ ability to find food.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, some of plastic’s toxic hazards were exposed
Worker exposure to vinyl chloride became tightly regulated after the chemical was linked with liver cancer. Now, its use may be on the chopping block.
- Health & Medicine
A new drug shows promise for hot flashes due to menopause
Two clinical trials found that the nonhormonal drug elinzanetant eased hot flashes and improved sleep, two common menopause symptoms.
- Health & Medicine
A next-gen pain drug shows promise, but chronic sufferers need more options
A new painkiller nearing approval called suzetrigine may prove to be an opioid alternative. But for many with chronic pain, treatment must go beyond pills.
- Cosmology
In an epic cosmology clash, rival scientists begin to find common ground
Different measurements of the cosmic expansion rate disagree. The James Webb telescope could determine whether that disagreement is real.
- Physics
A nuclear clock prototype hints at ultraprecise timekeeping
Nuclear clocks could rival atomic clocks and allow for new tests of fundamental physics. A new experiment demonstrates all the ingredients needed.
