Science and Technolgy blog
Last summer, Anthropic inspired backlash when its ClaudeBot AI crawler was accused of hammering websites a million or more times a day. And it wasn’t the only artificial intelligence company making headlines for supposedly ignoring instructions in robots.txt files to…
A study published in the Social Psychological Bulletin reveals that individuals following a vegetarian diet may be viewed as less attractive dating partners by meat-eaters, particularly in Poland, a country with a strong meat-eating tradition. Participants in the study, who…
High above a barren California desert on Tuesday, a privately developed aircraft broke the sound barrier for the first time when Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator reached Mach 1.122. Piloted by a former US Navy aviator, Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, the XB-1…
Amid the Trump administration’s abrupt, wide-scale freeze on federal funding, states are reporting that they’ve lost access to Medicaid, a program jointly funded by the federal government and states to provide comprehensive health coverage and care to tens of millions…
The Bayeux Tapestry famously depicts the events leading up to the 1066 Norman Conquest of England, in which William the Conqueror defeated Harold II, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, at the Battle of Hastings. Two scenes in particular show…
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has moved its Doomsday Clock closer to Armageddon than ever before.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers observed a sharp increase in adolescents experiencing functional tic-like behaviors—involuntary movements and sounds resembling Tourette Syndrome but arising from distinct causes. A study from Boston Children’s Hospital revealed that nearly 80% of these adolescents…
First floated as a part of Deep Space Nine‘s Dominion War arc, the concept of “Section 31” has been divisive among Star Trek fans. Here’s the idea: Buried deep within Starfleet exists an anonymous, ruthless intelligence agency that operates out…
A set of interviews with young women in the United States revealed that their mixed feelings toward sex stem from conflicting social norms. Participating women expressed a desire to have sex with their partners, guided by social norms that valorized…
An artificial intelligence model has created a new protein that researchers say would have taken 500 million years to evolve in nature — if nature were capable of producing such a thing.
A Chinese company’s claim of a $5.6 million artificial intelligence breakthrough wiped almost $600 billion from Nvidia’s market value on Monday, shattering Wall Street’s confidence that tech companies’ AI spending spree will continue and dealing an apparent blow to US…
Well, that didn’t take long. Google Maps, the most popular mapping software in the world, said on Monday evening that it will begin using new names for two prominent geographical features in North America, the Gulf of Mexico and Mount…
Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not have a behavioural disorder, nor are they lazy, or lacking in manners and boundaries. Their brains mature in a different way, with different patterns of neurological activity and a number of…
Mapping fish migration routes and identifying threats is crucial to protecting freshwater species and their habitats, ecologists argue.
How did woolly mammoths survive the last ice age? And how thick was the ice over New York City? Test your knowledge by taking our quiz.
A recent study published in JAMA Network Open highlights a chilling reality: pregnant women face higher risks of homicide in states with restrictive reproductive healthcare policies and legal barriers to divorce during pregnancy. The research found that state-level rates of…
There is something unique about the color purple: Our brain makes it up. So you might just call purple a pigment of our imagination. It’s also a fascinating example of how the brain creates something beautiful when faced with a…
People with aphantasia still generate brain activity when attempting to visualize, but that image may be getting lost in translation, a new study suggests.
A recent study published in Emotion reveals a connection between the synchrony of smiles in romantic partners and their overall relationship satisfaction. By examining the timing and coordination of smiles during partner interactions, the researchers discovered that couples who reported…
This 2022 satellite photo shows the summit of “one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes,” Mount Vesuvius, peering up through a strange gap in the clouds.
Infectious or chronic diseases such as long COVID, Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury can cause inflammation in the brain, or neuroinflammation, that weakens muscles. While scientists are aware of this link between inflammation and muscle weakness, the molecules and…
“We’re making new Pebble watches,” writes original Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky on the “rePebble” launch page. Eight years after Pebble’s time as an upstart watchmaker came to an end, Migicovsky says that he’s working with a small team on “a…
As federal lawmakers prepare to decide whether anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, pediatricians from around the country are making emotional pleas to protect and support lifesaving…
Retro game enthusiasts may already be acquainted with Analogue, a company that designs and manufactures updated versions of classic consoles that can play original games but also be hooked up to modern televisions and monitors. The most recent of its…
New research has found a positive association between anger and creative performance. Anger appears to enhance creative performance, particularly when elicited through imaginative processes and directed toward malevolent aspects of creativity. The research was published in Cognition and Emotion. Anger…
As is custom, Apple rolled out software updates to all its platforms at once today. All users should now have access to the public releases of iOS 18.3, macOS Sequoia 15.3, watchOS 11.3, iPadOS 15.3, tvOS 15.3, and visionOS 2.3.…
The Energy Information Agency has now released data on the performance of the US’s electric grid over the first 11 months of 2024 and will be adding the final month soon (and a month is very little time for anything…
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has dropped the previous administration’s proposal to ban bulk billing deals that require tenants to pay for a specific provider’s Internet service. In March 2024, then-Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel proposed a ban on arrangements in…
A hoard of over 400 coins dated to the first century is a rare mix of Roman and British money.
Romantic relationships are more central to men’s well-being than women’s, according to a forthcoming article in Behavioral & Brain Sciences. Popular culture suggests women prioritize romantic relationships more than men, though recent evidence paints a different picture. Studies often depict…
It was apparently a busy weekend for key players involved in Donald Trump’s efforts to make a deal to save TikTok. Perhaps the most appealing option for ByteDance could be if Trump blessed a merger between TikTok and Perplexity AI—a…
Alien: Earth, an all-new original series, premieres this summer on Hulu and with Hulu On Disney+. FX/Hulu dropped a surprise short teaser for its upcoming spinoff series, Alien: Earth, during the AFC Championship game last night. What makes it intriguing…
Broadcom’s ownership of VMware has discouraged many of its customers, as companies are displeased with how the trillion-dollar firm has run the virtualization business since buying it in November 2023. Many have discussed reducing or eliminating ties with the company.…
A study published in Nature Mental Health has shed new light on the genetic connection between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and cannabis use disorder. Researchers identified dozens of genetic loci shared between ADHD and cannabis use disorder. The research provides…
DAYTONA, Florida—This might make you feel old, but the Mazda MX-5 Miata just turned 35. Still in its fourth generation—better known to Miata nerds as the “ND”—this small, affordable, lightweight sports car is the perfect antidote to, well, just about…
Mars’ southern hemisphere absorbs a lot of the sun’s energy during the Red Planet’s spring, and that may be causing Mars’ dust storms, a new study suggests.
Fathers exposed to high stress in childhood had different epigenetic markers that may affect their offspring, though more research is needed.
On Monday morning, Nvidia stock dove 11 percent amid worries over the rise of Chinese AI company DeepSeek, whose R1 reasoning model stunned industry observers last week by challenging American AI supremacy with a low-cost, freely available AI model, and…
In polarized political environments, conservatives are more likely than liberals to share misinformation, driven by a heightened desire for their group to achieve dominance, according to new research from the University of California-Irvine. However, in less polarized settings, misinformation-sharing decreases…
Cricket frogs were once thought to hop on the water’s surface. They actually leap in and out of the water in a form of locomotion called porpoising.
A large-scale study has uncovered links between personality traits, birth order, and family size. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research analyzed data from hundreds of thousands of participants and found that individuals from larger…
These mysterious whitish-gray glows in the northern lights might be cousins of the mauve light streak known as STEVE.
If one were to observe that I have written critically about Blue Origin over the last half-decade, they would not be wrong. The reality is that the space company founded by Jeff Bezos has underperformed. Its chief executive for most…
Chimera (noun, “ky-MEER-ah”) A chimera is an individual organism made of cells from two or more organisms. The name chimera comes from Greek mythology. In mythology, the Chimera was a creature with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a…
Scientists have found a coral that’s so huge it can be seen from space. This coral was discovered in October off the coast of the Solomon Islands. That’s a small nation in the southwest Pacific Ocean. It’s made of six…
The unusual burial of a woman and fetus in prehistoric Ecuador may reflect the community’s fear of her power.
A long roll of cloth embroidered with key scenes from British history is a unique medieval chronicle.
Humans don’t have hollow bones like birds do, so how big would our wings have to be to lift us off the ground?
Jeep provided a night in a hotel so Ars could attend the Wagoneer S first drive. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. This year marks the return of the Jeep Wagoneer, which formerly served as a more luxurious version…
Exposure to low temperatures for prolonged spells can trigger an array of different health conditions, some of which may be life-threatening.
