Robots that look like humans have long been a science fiction staple. As a storytelling device, it’s easy to grasp their appeal. Whether it’s the replicants from Ridley Scott’s cyberpunk thriller Blade Runner or the expressive android Ava in Ex Machina, these lifelike constructs allow us to explore questions about gender, technology and what it means to be human. For nearly a century — and arguably before — roboticists have been working to make that fiction a reality. And there’s no ...read more

If you were to meet a velociraptor, you wouldn’t be confronted with the tall, sleek and lizard-skinned beast from the hit Jurassic Park franchise. Instead, you would likely face off against a much smaller, feathery and colorful creature.  Over the last few decades, scientists have learned a lot about what dinosaurs looked like — and that’s changing long-held beliefs. Did Dinosaurs Have Feathers?One of the biggest recent changes, says Paul Barrett, a researcher with the Natural History Mu ...read more

ChatGPT and similar large language models can produce compelling, humanlike answers to an endless array of questions – from queries about the best Italian restaurant in town to explaining competing theories about the nature of evil.The technology’s uncanny writing ability has surfaced some old questions – until recently relegated to the realm of science fiction – about the possibility of machines becoming conscious, self-aware or sentient.In 2022, a Google engineer declared, after inte ...read more

Based on research in France’s Mandrin cave, in February 2022 we published a study in the journal Science Advances that pushed back the earliest evidence of the arrival of the first Homo sapiens in Europe to 54,000 years ago – 11 millennia earlier than had been previously established.In the study, we described nine fossil teeth excavated from all the archeological layers in the cave. Eight were determined to be from Neanderthals, but one from one of the middle layers belonged to a paleo ...read more

When it comes to quantum technologies, computing has dominated headlines around the world. Computers that exploit the laws of quantum mechanics are significantly faster for several classes of problem than even the most powerful supercomputers.But behind the scenes other quantum technologies are emerging with the potential to revolutionize other areas of science. One of these technologies is quantum imaging, using the quantum properties of photons to enhance images.Now Lihong Wang and colleagues ...read more

Coffee is among the most consumed beverage in the world — up there with water and tea — and it contains over one hundred different substances, including fats, minerals and vitamins. But the fundamental star element in coffee is caffeine: a drug that scientists categorize as a “central nervous system stimulant,” and the most widely consumed psychoactive substance on the planet. Caffeine is the reason why coffee is touted for its effects on energy, focus, memory and fighting off that creep ...read more

Some 250 million years ago, ocean water covered what is now called Flowerdalen (“Flower’s valley”) in modern-day Norway. Life in these waters was different than it had been just 252 million years ago, when the End-Permian Mass Extinction had eliminated 90 percent of marine species from the planet. What remained were plucky opportunists, including a type of sea-dwelling lizard called an ichthyosaur, which had evolved flippers from land-dwelling feet.When they died, their remains attracted s ...read more

When it comes to sunlight’s impact on the skin, people usually think of ultraviolet (UV) light, the invisible light that causes sunburn. However, sunlight also includes the visible light spectrum that the naked eye can see, that is, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet light. What Does Blue Light Mean?Blue light is short in wavelength and high in energy. Aside from the sun, it can also come from artificial sources like electronic devices and indoor lighting. “Blue light is wha ...read more