A host of tech startups are racing to build brain implants, but there may be limits to how widely such invasive technology can be adopted. New research shows that pairing AI with less invasive ...

It’s a bizarre sight: With a short burst of light, a sponge-shaped robot scoots across a tiled surface. Flipped on its back, it repeatedly twitches as if doing sit-ups. By tinkering with the light’s ...

The annual clock of the seasons—winter, spring, summer, autumn—is often taken as a given. But our new study in Nature, using a new approach for observing seasonal growth cycles from satellites, shows ...

We’re constantly making decisions. If I get the pumpkin spice latte, would it make me happier than my usual black coffee? If I go the scenic route on a trip, would it be worth the extra time? Past and ...

If you’re not familiar with the concept of “world models” just yet, a storm of activity at the start of 2025 gives every indication it may soon become a well-known term. What large language models are ...

Drew researches evolutionary biogeography, global change ecology, and conservation. His PhD research focused on landscape genomics, and he has since worked on a variety of conservation initiatives at ...

My nephew couldn’t stop playing Minecraft when he was seven years old. One of the most popular games ever, Minecraft is an open world in which players build terrain and craft various items and tools.

Despite their brief history, computers and AI have fundamentally changed what we see, what we know, and what we do. Little is as important for the world’s future and our own lives as how this history ...

Generative AI is a data hog. The algorithms behind chatbots like ChatGPT learn to create human-like content by scraping terabytes of online articles, Reddit posts, TikTok captions, or YouTube comments ...

Our cells are like the ultimate soft robots. Made mostly of a liquid interior wrapped inside a fatty shell, they split, stretch, roam, and squeeze into every nook and cranny of the body. Actual robots ...

It’s easy to take safe drinking water for granted. In most developed countries, access to safe water takes a simple flip of a kitchen tap or a run to the grocery store. But over two billion people ...

DNA is nature’s computing device. Unlike data centers, DNA is incredibly compact. These molecules package an entire organism’s genetic blueprint into tiny but sophisticated structures inside each cell ...