Science and Technolgy blog
Around 350 million people globally use dating apps, and they amass an estimated annual revenue of more than US$5 billion. In Australia, 49% of adults report using at least one online dating app or website, with a further 27% having…
Three veterinarians who work with cows have tested positive for prior infections of H5 bird flu, according to a study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The finding may not seem surprising, given the sweeping and…
A study published in Sex Roles reveals that individuals who opposed COVID-19 public health mandates were also likely to oppose abortion rights. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments to balance public health measures with personal freedoms, leading to anti-mandate protests in…
Scientists have tagged a giant male great white shark off the East Coast. The researchers said “Contender” is the largest male white shark ever caught and studied in the northwest Atlantic.
A study of a small group of Spanish young women found that those with lower sexual satisfaction tend to report more sexual inhibition due to the threat of performance failure and expected consequences of such failure. The research was published…
Condé Nast and several other media companies sued the AI startup Cohere today, alleging that it engaged in “systematic copyright and trademark infringement” by using news articles to train its large language model. “Without permission or compensation, Cohere uses scraped…
There was a time when it felt like you needed a streaming subscription in order to contribute to watercooler conversations. Without Netflix, you couldn’t react to House of Cards’ latest twist. Without Hulu, you couldn’t comment on how realistic The…
It started with a bizarre burning sensation in her feet. Over the next two days, the searing pain crept up her legs. Any light touch made it worse, and over-the-counter pain medicine offered no relief. On the third day, the…
More than a dozen atmospheric rivers dumped rainfall on California in 2023 but replenished only 25 percent of the water lost from aquifers since 2006.
A new study published in Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum shows that an artificial intelligence program can create realistic images of what many people consider the ideal female breasts—and that these ideals vary by race. Researchers used an online image…
Here at Ars, we’ve done plenty of coverage of the errors and inaccuracies that LLMs often introduce into their responses. Now, the BBC is trying to quantify the scale of this confabulation problem, at least when it comes to summaries…
Prime Video’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time returns in March. We’ve finally got a full-length trailer for Prime Video’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time, adapted from the late Robert Jordan‘s bestselling 14-book series of epic fantasy novels.…
Big news for people who prefer their product announcements to be pre-announced: Apple CEO Tim Cook says that the company has something brewing for next Wednesday, February 19. Cook referred to “the newest member of the family,” suggesting a launch…
Six zebras wore video cameras attached to collars, capturing the equines’ daily life. Sticking with giraffes may let the two species protect each other.
The US Senate on Thursday confirmed the long-time anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The vote was largely along party lines, with a tally of 52 to 48. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R–Ky.), a…
The U.S. is currently experiencing very high levels of seasonal influenza across the country. Here’s why.
A recent study published in Psychological Science found that engaging in proenvironmental behaviors—such as cleaning up litter, reducing waste, or using sustainable transportation—boosts happiness and a sense of meaning. Remarkably, the effect was just as strong as that of engaging…
A little less than a month after the successful debut of its New Glenn rocket, Blue Origin’s workforce will be trimmed by 10 percent. The cuts were announced during an all-hands meeting on Thursday morning led by the rocket company’s…
On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a roadmap for how the company plans to release GPT-5, the long-awaited follow-up to 2023’s GPT-4 AI language model that made huge waves in both tech and policy circles around the world. In…
Researchers believe they have rediscovered a mysterious star system first spotted in 2011. If true, the alien sun and its exoplanet companion are speeding through our galaxy at more than 1.2 million mph. However, it is unclear if this is…
The proposed merger between Honda and Nissan is officially dead. The plan, announced in late December, would have created the world’s third-largest automaker, displacing Volkswagen Group from the bronze on the podium. But it was also never quite seen as…
A new study published in the Archive for the Psychology of Religion provides evidence that attending religious services actually causes an increase in charitable actions, like donating money and volunteering time. While the study found this causal effect to be…
At its heart, Avowed is a game about colonization. Your protagonist in this action-RPG from the Pillars of Eternity universe is the envoy for the Aedyran Empire, which has for years sent its occupying force to tame and control the…
The proposed merger between Honda and Nissan is officially dead. The plan, announced in late December, would have created the world’s third-largest automaker, displacing Volkswagen Group from the bronze on the podium. But it was also never quite seen as…
Norovirus is highly infectious and causing a lot of illness this winter. Several vaccine candidates are making their way through clinical trials.
After hundreds of hours of observations, researchers captured a highly detailed image of a long filament of the “cosmic web” connecting two distant galaxies. The discovery opens new windows for understanding how structures form and evolve in the universe.
Frontier, the second fastest supercomputer in the world, used dark matter and the movement of gas and plasma rather than just gravity to model the observable universe.
A new study draws a line between random genetic mutations and predictable epigenetic changes used to measure biological aging.
A study led by NASA and NOAA has found that California is sinking in some areas, which means the projected sea level rise for parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco has doubled.
DNA and RNA epigenetics, once thought to be separate, have now been found to work together to fine-tune gene expression.
Astronomers have used a continent-sized radio telescope to find the largest black hole jet ever observed in the early universe.
Want to keep the happy feelings in your relationship going strong? New research published in Social Psychological and Personality Science suggests that sex can provide a relationship satisfaction boost that lasts much longer than just the act itself. Scientists discovered…
Dying of heartbreak is a trope that often pops up in myth and fantasy. In Star Wars, Padmé Amidala may have died of a broken heart after her husband turned to the dark side, becoming Darth Vader. Shakespeare’s King Lear…
There’s a growing collaboration between hacking groups engaging in espionage on behalf of nation-states and those seeking financial gains through ransomware and other forms of cybercrime, researchers noted this week. There has always been some level of overlap between these…
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is an extremely rare and fatal brain-wasting disease that’s like a human version of “mad cow.”
People who experience high levels of social anxiety may show a weaker cardiovascular response to stressful situations, and new research suggests that feelings of loneliness could be a key factor in this link. The study found that socially anxious individuals…
Shorter version of strapline (75 characters max)
A new study published JAMA Ophthalmology has brought attention to a series of vision problems observed in patients taking semaglutide and tirzepatide, popular drugs for type 2 diabetes and obesity. In this report, nine patients experienced serious eye complications—including seven…
As Kilauea erupts a 330-foot-tall fountain of lava, officials warn of hazards from volcanic gas that may affect nearby communities.
When we listen to music and find it beautiful, our brains engage in a different pattern of activity compared to when we listen to music we don’t find beautiful. A recent study using brain imaging technology discovered that experiencing beauty…
The US DOGE Service’s access to the private data of ordinary Americans and federal employees is being challenged in several lawsuits filed this week. Three new complaints seek court orders that would stop the data access and require the deletion…
Thanks to being an incompressible medium, water transmits vibrations both farther and faster than the air. (Here’s a good video explainer on the subject.) This fact helps to explain how a US government-owned “moored passive acoustic recorder” was able to…
The story of an extraordinary romance fraud is making global headlines as its victim is mocked around the world for her naïveté. The story of Anne, a French woman in her 50s, was recently broadcast on the French TV channel…
A teacher in high school once quoted an old proverb to me: “Do something you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life!” Perhaps 18-year-old Alan Filion encountered a similar teacher during his school years in California, because…
Apple services like iMessage and FaceTime often work exclusively on Apple’s hardware, something the company uses to keep customers inside its ecosystem and encourage people who buy one Apple product to buy other Apple products so they can keep using…
An outbreak of measles in one of Texas’ least vaccinated counties continues to rapidly expand, with officials reporting 24 cases Tuesday, up from just nine confirmed on Friday. According to an update by the Texas Department of State Health Services…
NASA will send astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home from the International Space Station early on a previously used SpaceX Dragon space capsule, not on a brand-new one, the agency announced.
Recent research into bacterial cellulose patches may speed plants’ recovery, improve grafting and help with preservation.
The test relies on a magnetic nanoparticle linked to fluorescent molecules to detect pancreatic cancer proteins.
Asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2.3% chance of hitting Earth in the year 2032. But according to new estimates, it may have an even smaller chance of hitting the moon instead.
