Archeologists have gotten increasingly better at reading the dirt. Over time, they’ve learned to pull more and more data from smaller and smaller samples of Earth. A technique called microstratigraphy pushes that concept to the limit. It allows archeologists to detect miniscule traces of human and animal presence that conventional excavation techniques may have missed.Although not considered a new methodology, a team applied it to a site in Southeast Asia and reconstructed the ground condition ...read more
One definitive way to link ecological changes to evolution would require a time machine. Traveling both backward and forward would allow observers to see how particular animals adapt to changes in climate, environment, or other variables.Since no such machine exists — except in the movies — a group of researchers leaned on the next best thing: data and experiments. By doing so, this group is the first to link ecological changes to a species’ adaptation — a phenomenon known as "speciation ...read more
Palo santo has quickly become a mainstay and trendy product sought after for its stated spiritual and medicinal properties, as well as its fragrant scent. Literally meaning “holy wood” in Spanish it’s related to the same family of plants as frankincense and myrrh and its uses dates back hundreds of years.Where Palo Santo Comes FromPalo santo, also known by its scientific name of Bursera graveolens, comes from a shrub or tree that is native to tropical dry forests in many South and Central ...read more
The 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognized Demis Hassabis, John Jumper, and David Baker for using machine learning to tackle one of biology’s biggest challenges: predicting the 3D shape of proteins and designing them from scratch.This year’s award stood out because it honored research that originated at a tech company: DeepMind, an AI research startup that was acquired by Google in 2014. Most previous chemistry Nobel Prizes have gone to researchers in academia. Many laureates went on to fo ...read more
If your jaw dropped as you watched the latest AI-generated video, your bank balance was saved from criminals by a fraud detection system, or your day was made a little easier because you were able to dictate a text message on the run, you have many scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to thank.But two names stand out for foundational contributions to the deep learning technology that makes those experiences possible: Princeton University physicist John Hopfield and University of Toronto com ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine