Science & Technology

Around 100 million years ago, a group of land-dwelling turtles took to the oceans, eventually evolving into the sea turtles that we know today. However, the genetic foundations that have enabled them to thrive in oceans throughout the world have remain…

Penguins generate centripetal force when turning by pointing their belly inwards and moving their wings asymmetrically. New findings shed light on the previously unknown mechanisms that these birds rely on to perform their underwater turns by a single …

New global modelling predicts the devastating socioeconomic impacts of future extreme coastal flooding for developing nations caused by climate change, with Asia, West Africa and Egypt facing severe costs in the coming decades.

Engineers have developed artificial intelligence (AI) technology to predict if women with breast cancer would benefit from chemotherapy prior to surgery.

FRIDA, a robotic arm with a paintbrush taped to it, uses artificial intelligence to collaborate with humans on works of art. Ask FRIDA to paint a picture, and it gets to work putting brush to canvas. The robot uses AI models similar to those powering t…

Researchers have explained how large language models like GPT-3 are able to learn new tasks without updating their parameters, despite not being trained to perform those tasks. They found that these large language models write smaller linear models ins…

The discovery of an 80-million-year-old fossil plant pushes back the known origins of lamiids to the Cretaceous, extending the record of nearly 40,000 species of flowering plants including modern-day staple crops like coffee, tomatoes, potatoes and mint.

Winter is coming to an end; the last nights of below zero temperatures are here. In the morning, one still spots the occasional icicle on a gutter or car bumper. When you look at these icicles carefully, you may notice that they show a characteristic p…

Characterized by antisocial behaviors and low academic achievement, conduct disorder (CD) impacts an estimated 9.5% of individuals in the United States. Childhood maltreatment is a major risk factor for CD. Past CD studies have identified structural al…

Researchers have developed a new technique that can help create high-quality, accurate 3D models of large-scale landscapes — essentially, digital replicas of the real world. The framework reconstructs the geometry, structure and appearance of an area …

New research reveals that artificial intelligence can be used to find planets outside of our solar system. The recent study demonstrated that machine learning can be used to find exoplanets, information that could reshape how scientists detect and iden…

Can a pigeon match wits with artificial intelligence? Researchers tested pigeons’ learning abilities and concluded the birds employ the same basic process, called associative learning, as the most advanced AI technologies.

Researchers recently modeled the transmission of COVID-19 within an isolation room at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, U.K. Their goal was to explore the optimal room layout to reduce the risk of infection for health care staff.

In the quest to find a cure for ALS patients, a team of researchers led by USC Stem Cell scientist Justin Ichida has identified two promising avenues for developing new treatments for diverse forms of this devastating disease. The researchers collected…

Fifteen million people around the world are at risk from flooding caused by glacial lakes, with just four countries — India, Pakistan, China and Peru — accounting for more than half of those exposed.

In 2015, when NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft encountered the Pluto-Charon system, scientists discovered interesting, geologically active objects instead of the inert icy orbs previously envisioned. Scientists have revisited the data to explore the sour…

The teeming life in the Southern Ocean, which encircles Antarctica, contributes to brightening the clouds that form there, according to a new study. The clouds are bright because of their high density of water droplets, due in turn to a chain of atmosp…

A large study looking at the effects of fertility treatment has found no robust difference in blood pressure, heart rate, lipids, and glucose measurements between children conceived naturally and those conceived using assisted reproductive technologies…

What gives one friend influence over another? Considerable attention has focused on who influences whom; much less is known about why one partner is prone to be influenced by the other. A study tested the hypothesis that within a friend dyad, having fe…