AI is now the machine deciding whether your payment goes through. And when it makes a mistake, the system isn’t designed to tell you why.
Science + Tech – Articles, Analysis, Opinion
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When people harness the logic of natural selection, they can often find efficient and effective ways to solve complex problems.
Efforts to use technology to police copyright evolved into companies using copyright law to lock people out of repairing their own devices.
Your body adjusts your food intake and activity to maintain a balanced weight and avoid starvation. Researchers have proposed several theories explaining how this works.
SpaceX is poised to test its latest, most powerful rocket and to become a publicly traded company, all while under pressure from environmentalists.
Quantum computers are still a work in progress but quantum sensors are already in use at hospitals, laboratories and by defense contractors.
The Sun is a complex physical body. It generates incredible amounts of heat and a strong, often tangled, magnetic field.
On your mental number line, are the numbers smaller on the left or on the right? Two comparative cognition researchers explain how culture may influence the orientation – but also may not.
The ancient Kush city of Jebel Barkal rose up in the Nile River Valley starting around 2000 BCE. New research dug deep to learn more about what this landscape was like over the past 4,000 years.
Anthropic developed an AI interviewer it claims can help social scientists conduct research at scale. But AI models lack the human qualities that make qualitative research unique.
What do US researchers make of all the Trump administration science-related policy changes? A survey of 280 academic scientists asked them.
Aviation marker balls don’t help with electricity flow or improve the efficiency of the power lines. But they do have a very important job.
Encountering a website that seems like it was designed to frustrate might leave you saying ‘there oughta be a law,’ but to have a case you need to show that the site tried to swindle you.
A newly discovered, rare species of moth appears to live only in the Florida scrub. Scientists hope that naming it will allow it to be protected.
Cytospora canker damages peach trees and decreases orchard production over time.
Large language models can uphold falsehoods they or human users state, despite being presented with evidence to the contrary.
Landing on the Moon can disturb its environment – people are discussing how to balance those concerns with political and economic goals.
Astronomers want to understand how spiral galaxies form and get their massive spiral arms.
Do you actually know how a bicycle or a zipper work, or what a penny or a common brand logo look like? Intellectual humility can help reduce overconfidence in what you don’t understand.
For two decades, researchers have studied soccer ball aerodynamics. Latest tests suggest the 2026 ball is more stable, but with a slightly shorter range.
Some engineers are prioritizing ‘design for demise’ and planning satellites that are more likely to completely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their lifespan.
When you’re upset, finding a new way to think about a negative situation can help you feel better. But researchers find the process takes some effort to really work.
Today’s AI systems are powerful, and it’s natural to see them as having humanlike intelligence. Shaking that illusion is important – and difficult to do.
From the Black Death to the COVID-19 pandemic, combining the genetic data of a pathogen with historical records, archaeological artifacts and epidemiological studies can uncover its origins.
Habit helps take the mental load off figuring out how to get somewhere. But relying on the familiar can make it harder to adapt to changes to your route and to find better ones.