For years, the idea that Mars once held vast amounts of water has remained one of planetary science’s most persistent questions. Dry river valleys, mineral deposits, and ancient lake basins have all hinted that the planet looked very different billions of years ago, but proving the existence of a true ocean has been far more…
Football has a habit of borrowing the language of space. Players become stars, matches are described as astronomical, and careers are measured by how brightly they shine. Every so often, though, the comparison drifts into something more literal. More than a decade ago, astronomers studying one of the earliest known galaxies in the universe chose…
As humans dream of venturing to other planets and creating a virtual world with the help of AI, the hand that was holding tight with the past seems to be losing its grip. In the race to develop the future, the rich depths of the past are getting lost. Those that define our origins, reveal…
Far beyond Pluto, where sunlight is faint and temperatures remain extremely low, countless icy bodies drift through the outer reaches of the Solar System. These distant objects, known as trans-Neptunian objects, have long been viewed as frozen relics left over from the Solar System’s formation. Most are thought to be too small to hold onto…
Scientists Invented a Disease to Test Whether A.I. Knew It Was Fake. Then, Chatbots Started Saying It Was Real A made-up eye disease has exposed a real problem with artificial intelligence.Researchers in Sweden deliberately invented a condition called bixonimania to see whether popular AI chatbots could recognise false medical information. Instead, several large language models…
Joseph Weizenbaum realized that programs like his Eliza chatbot could “induce powerful delusional thinking in quite normal people” Joseph Weizenbaum set out to prove that computers could imitate conversation. Instead, his experiment convinced him that people could become emotionally attached to machines far more easily than he had imagined. That discovery changed the course of…
“Gus” the T. rex—discovered on a cattle ranch in South Dakota—goes up for auction this summer, July 14, 2026. (Credit: Matthew Sherman / Sotheby’s) Owning one of the world’s largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons could soon become a reality. But there is a huge “if” factor to it. The buyer must having and willing to spend…
Most years, skywatchers have to wait patiently for different celestial events to arrive one at a time. An eclipse might dominate one month, while a meteor shower steals attention weeks later. This August, however, the calendar has produced a rare overlap. On 12 August 2026, a solar eclipse will unfold across parts of the Northern…
How Shrimp Shells Are Being Turned Into ‘Carbon Negative’ Fuel, Food and Construction Materials Discarded shrimp shells could soon become more than kitchen waste. Scientists in Singapore have developed a process that converts organic rubbish into hydrogen fuel, protein for aquaculture feed and calcium carbonate, a material used in products such as cement and antacids.The…
A 187-foot-tall dipterocarp tree For decades, scientists believed that the tallest trees faced one of nature’s toughest challenges: Getting water from their roots to leaves hundreds of feet above the ground. Now, a study of towering trees in Southeast Asia suggests some of the world’s tallest flowering plants have evolved specialised systems to overcome that…
