Neuroscientists taught rats to drive tiny cars. They took them out on ‘joy rides.’
Scientists taught rats to drive to a certain destination, but the rodents took a detour, suggesting they enjoy both the journey and the rewarding destination.
TECH DEIYO
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Cantor’s giant softshell turtle: The frog-faced predator that spends 95% of its time completely motionless
These leathery turtles spend most of their lives buried motionless in river mud, but burst into action to catch their unsuspecting prey.
Large language models not fit for real-world use, scientists warn — even slight changes cause their world models to collapse
Large language model AIs might seem smart on a surface level but they struggle to actually understand the real world and model it accurately, a new study finds.
Study finds people in relationships tend to be happier than singles
A large-scale cross-cultural study published in Evolutionary Psychological Science found that people in relationships, particularly satisfying ones, report higher emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction than singles. Menelaos Apostolou and colleagues investigated whether single individuals are emotionally better off than those…
These are the lasting things that Half-Life 2 gave us, besides headcrabs and crowbars
It’s Half-Life 2 week at Ars Technica! This Saturday, November 16, is the 20th anniversary of the release of Half-Life 2—a game of historical importance for the artistic medium and technology of computer games. Each day up through the 16th, we’ll be running…
50 years on, Lucy still sparks our curiosity
Editor in chief Nancy Shute recounts the 50-year anniversary of the hominid’s discovery, which upended the study of human evolution.
Readers ask about self-correcting quantum computers, oobleck’s experimental value
Readers wondered if mayo qualifies as a non-Newtonian fluid, and X user @Lightning456243 asked how a quantum computer can identify its own errors.
Meet FRED: The world’s 1st-ever, nearly complete fossil database
The near-complete database reflects a spirit of trust and collaboration among the country’s scientific community — but will it last?
The neuroscience of placebo analgesia: Brain pathway explains how expectations reduce pain
A new study has identified a specific brain pathway that could explain how positive expectations of relief reduce pain, even without actual medication. Researchers discovered a circuit connecting the anterior cingulate cortex, brainstem, and cerebellum that activates when mice expect…
Where did the 1st seeds come from?
From delicate dandelions to mighty oak trees, millions of plants use seeds to reproduce. But where did the first seeds come from?
