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

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, and with it comes tales of mischievous leprechauns and the pots of gold that they guard at the end of rainbows.You may already know that there is no “end” of a rainbow — science tells us that their arch shape is simply an illusion. In reality, while those of us on the ground can only see the light reflected by raindrops above the horizon, viewers in aircraft can sometimes see a rainbow’s full, 360-degree circle.But that doesn’t mean the m ...read more

The Greek historian Herodotus reported over 2,000 years ago on a misguided forbidden experiment in which two children were prevented from hearing human speech so that a king could discover the true, unlearned language of human beings.Scientists now know that human language requires social learning and interaction with other people, a property shared with multiple animal languages. But why should humans and other animals need to learn a language instead of being born with this knowledge, like ...read more

The Han Chinese court welcomed Western trade for one of the first times in its history around 2,000 years ago. What its courtiers couldn't have imagined was that they were laying the foundations for one of the oldest, largest and longest-lasting systems of trade in the world.That said, the ancient Silk Road system endured the formation and the fall of countless cultures and civilizations throughout its 1,600-year existence, emerging from almost every experience bigger and better than before.So, ...read more

This article was originally published on March 14, 2021.March 14 is Pi Day — so what’s with that? A holiday to celebrate a number (and eat lots of pie)? Well, yes, but pi is not just any number. There is much more to the pi day meaning than that.Why Is Pi Day Celebrated on March 14?Pi is simply (well, it’s not really simple, but bear with me) the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. If you take a circle —  any circle — and divide its circumference by its diameter, y ...read more