‘We are creating the fire equivalent of an ice age’: Humans have plunged Earth into the ‘Pyrocene’
Humans have become a geologic force by cooking the planet — using fire on a scale that is altering land, water, air and ecosystems.
TECH DEIYO
Science and Technolgy blog
What is alkaline water, and does it have any benefits?
Despite the health claims surrounding alkaline water, scientific evidence suggests its purported benefits may be overhyped.
‘Heavy’ dark matter would rip our understanding of the universe apart, new research suggests
Because we haven’t found anything yet, we’ve started to wonder if dark matter might be lighter or heavier than we thought.
Niceness is a distinct psychological trait and linked to heightened happiness
A study conducted in Turkey provided evidence that niceness can be considered a distinct psychological trait within the Turkish population. Niceness was found to be negatively associated with depressive symptoms and positively associated with subjective happiness—i.e., nice people tend to…
Dominance benefits men and prestige benefits women in social influence, but time equalizes these effects, study finds
A study published in Journal of Personality & Social Psychology examined how dominance and prestige influence social standing across men and women over time. The dominance-prestige framework, widely studied in social and evolutionary psychology, identifies dominance (assertiveness and control) and…
How is the ocean melting Antarctica? We’re starting to figure it out
Antarctica is melting, and crucial details are beginning to come into focus of exactly how it’s happening.
Space photo of the week: Galaxies teeter toward collision in the sparkling depths of Virgo
An ultra-deep image from the National Science Foundation’s Dark Energy Camera reveals a wide variety of galaxies in the unusual Antlia Cluster.
Weight gain doesn’t appear to reduce happiness
Does gaining weight make people less happy? According to new research published in the International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, the answer is generally no. Using a decade’s worth of data, a researcher in Germany found that weight gain does…
Mariana Trench quiz: How deep is your knowledge?
How much do you know about one of the most mysterious places on Earth?
Scientists show how common sleep aid disrupts brain’s natural cleaning process
Scientists have discovered that rhythmic oscillations of a specific neurotransmitter play a vital role in clearing toxic proteins from the brain during non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep. These oscillations drive the glymphatic system by powering the coordinated movement of cerebrospinal…
Why do bats hang upside down to sleep?
Bats often hang upside down when they sleep instead of sitting right side up or lying down — why?
Neanderthal quiz: How much do you know about our closest relatives?
Think you know everything about Neanderthals? Take our quiz to find out.
Participants report improved mental health and personal transformation after peyote rituals
An ethnographic study of individuals who participated in peyote ceremonies in rural north-central Alabama revealed four core areas of personal change attributed to these ceremonies: reduced drug and alcohol misuse, new perspectives on life, improved mental health, and enhanced physical…
Scientists propose making AI suffer to see if it’s sentient
A new study shows that large language models make trade-offs to avoid pain, with possible implications for future AI welfare.
Loss of smell linked to inflammation across 139 distinct medical conditions
In a recent review published in Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, researchers from UC Irvine and the University of Oxford have highlighted a profound connection between olfactory dysfunction—loss or impairment of the sense of smell—and inflammation across 139 distinct medical conditions.…
Time-lapse of 1st black hole ever imaged reveals how matter swirls around it
Scientists used changes in the supermassive black hole M87*’s accretion disk to infer its orientation, size and turbulence
Earth’s elusive ‘ignorosphere’ could shed new light on auroras
We know very little about some parts of Earth’s atmosphere.
Maladaptive daydreaming may mask ADHD symptoms, delaying diagnosis until adulthood
A recent study published in the Journal of Attention Disorders sheds light on a significant factor that could delay the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults (ADHD): maladaptive daydreaming. Researchers found that individuals who experience excessive, compulsive fantasizing…
Scientists discover pristine ancient forest frozen in time in Rocky Mountains
A melting ice patch in the Rocky Mountains uncovered an ancient forest, and these trees have stories to tell about dynamic landscapes and climate change.
Neurofeedback offers minimal improvements for ADHD symptoms
A systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry has found no evidence that neurofeedback meaningfully improves ADHD symptoms at the group level. However, small but statistically significant effects emerged when standard neurofeedback protocols targeted processing speed, a neuropsychological measure.…
15th-century hoard of gold and silver coins discovered in Israel near Sea of Galilee
A coin hoard dating to the 15th century has been discovered near a medieval synagogue in Israel. Why it was deposited there, however, is a mystery.
Giant phantom jelly: The 33-foot-long ocean giant that has babies out of its mouth
Giant phantom jellies were discovered in 1899 and since then have only been spotted around 120 times.
Asking for help as a flirting strategy: Psychology study uncovers how reliance can attract mates
Dependency-oriented help-seeking can communicate romantic interest and serve as a strategy to attract mates, according to a study published in the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology. Help-seeking behaviors can be categorized as autonomy-oriented, which fosters independence, or dependency-oriented, which…
Fascinating study links depression symptoms to effort-based decision-making patterns
A new study published in Psychological Medicine sheds light on how specific depression symptoms are related to decisions about how much effort people are willing to put into tasks. Higher anxiety was linked to a greater willingness to exert cognitive…
What is the world’s deadliest food?
Organisms from three different natural kingdoms battle it out for the title “deadliest food.”
Science news this week: Interstellar visitors and contagious peeing
Jan. 25, 2025: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.
WHO starts cutting costs as US withdrawal date set for January 2026
The World Health Organization has begun cost-cutting measures in preparation for a US withdrawal next year, according to reporting by Reuters. On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the United…
3D-printed “ghost gun” ring comes to my community—and leaves a man dead
It’s a truism at this point to say that Americans own a lot of guns. Case in point: This week, a fire chief in rural Alabama stopped to help a driver who had just hit a deer. The two men…
Why are recurring dreams usually nightmares?
Recurring dreams may feature taking a test the dreamer didn’t study for, having to make a speech or being attacked. Here’s why our sleeping brain comes back to these unpleasant dreams again and again
A nation exhausted: The neuroscience of why Americans are tuning out politics
“I am definitely not following the news anymore,” one patient told me when I asked about her political news consumption in the weeks before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. This conversation happened around the time I talked with a local…
Nvidia winding down support for older GPUs, including the legendary 750 Ti and 1060
Nvidia is launching the first volley of RTX 50-series GPUs based on its new Blackwell architecture, starting with the RTX 5090 and working downward from there. The company also appears to be winding down support for a few of its…
Chinese researchers just built an open-source rival to ChatGPT in two months. Silicon Valley is freaked out.
DeepSeek-R1, a new reasoning model made by Chinese researchers, completes tasks with a comparable proficiency to OpenAI’s o1 at a fraction of the cost.
Anthropic adds “Citations” in bid to avoid confabulating AI models
On Thursday, Anthropic announced Citations, a new API feature that helps Claude models avoid confabulations (also called hallucinations) by linking their responses directly to source documents. The feature lets developers add documents to Claude’s context window, enabling the model to…
The brain’s reward system and PTSD: New insights from research
Researchers have recently uncovered new insights into how the brain’s reward system functions in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its relationship with psychological resilience and metabolic syndrome. The study, published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, highlights distinct patterns of…
AI startup founder allegedly faked profits to trick investors, buy fancy houses
The founder of an AI startup in San Francisco was indicted this week for allegedly conspiring with his wife for six years to defraud investors out of $60 million. According to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office in…
Astronomers spot bizarre icy balls in space that are unlike anything seen before
Astronomers have discovered two strange objects that could be young stars — except they’re completely surrounded by ice.
1 in 22 COVID survivors develop debilitating chronic syndrome
A study suggests that catching COVID-19 significantly raises the risk of developing ME/CFS (formerly called “chronic fatigue syndrome”), a typically lifelong condition that can be debilitating.
Catastrophic tipping point in Greenland reached as crystal blue lakes turn brown, belch out carbon dioxide
Record heat and rain turned thousands of Greenland lakes brown in 2022 as they hit a tipping point and began emitting carbon dioxide.
News finds me: Study identifies a widespread phenomenon linked to fake news susceptibility
A recent study conducted by researchers from Fudan University and Syracuse University, published in Computers in Human Behavior, sheds light on a troubling trend in today’s digital media landscape. The study explores how the “News-Finds-Me” perception—a belief that important news…
Complexity physics finds crucial tipping points in chess games
The game of chess has long been central to computer science and AI-related research, most notably in IBM’s Deep Blue in the 1990s and, more recently, AlphaZero. But the game is about more than algorithms, according to Marc Barthelemy, a…
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 costs as much as a whole gaming PC—but it sure is fast
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 starts at $1,999 before you factor in upsells from the company’s partners or price increases driven by scalpers and/or genuine demand. It costs more than my entire gaming PC. The new GPU is so expensive that…
ISP failed to comply with New York’s $15 broadband law—until Ars got involved
When New York’s law requiring $15 or $20 broadband plans for people with low incomes took effect last week, Optimum customer William O’Brien tried to sign up for the cheap Internet service. Since O’Brien is in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance…
For real, we may be taking blood pressure readings all wrong
Last year, a study highlighted that your doctor’s office might be taking your blood pressure wrong. The current best practice is to take seated blood pressure readings with a detailed protocol: Patients must not eat, drink, or exercise for 30…
How to watch ‘Asia’ with David Attenborough as US streaming begins for BBC nature series
The seven-part series exploring the rich wildlife of Asia is coming to the US – here’s how to watch Asia with David Attenborough online and on TV.
Secrets of 1st dinosaurs lie in the Sahara and Amazon rainforest, study suggests
The first dinosaurs may have evolved near the equator, and not in the southwest of the supercontinent Gondwana, as researchers previously assumed due to an abundance of fossils in places like Argentina and Zimbabwe.
Harsh parenting linked to poorer emotional and social outcomes in children
New research has found that children whose parents were moderately or very harsh tended to exhibit worse emotion regulation, lower self-esteem, and more peer relationship problems. They also scored lower on prosocial behavior scales. The paper was published in the…
Researchers optimize simulations of molecules on quantum computers
One of the most frequently asked questions about quantum computers is a simple one: When will they be useful? If you talk to people in the field, you’ll generally get a response in the form of another question: useful for…
A cosmic ‘Platypus’ might link two astronomical mysteries
A flash of light called the Platypus has hallmarks of a mid-sized black hole shredding a star and a type of burst thought to be a stellar explosion.
Millions of Subarus could be remotely unlocked, tracked due to security flaws
About a year ago, security researcher Sam Curry bought his mother a Subaru, on the condition that, at some point in the near future, she let him hack it. It took Curry until last November, when he was home for…
Alcohol’s impact on pain and aggression: New research uncovers a critical link
A recent study sheds light on the connection between alcohol consumption, pain tolerance, and aggression, suggesting that alcohol’s ability to numb physical pain may play a significant role in why intoxicated individuals are more prone to aggressive behavior. Recently in…
