Engineering Design
- Archaeology
A tattoo experiment hints at how Ötzi the Iceman got his ink
The findings challenge a common idea about how the mummified man got marked with dark lines.
- Artificial Intelligence
Here’s why AI like ChatGPT probably won’t reach humanlike understanding
Unlike people, this type of artificial intelligence isn’t good at learning concepts that it can apply to new situations.
- Materials Science
Scientists Say: Semiconductor
Modern electronics, from cell phones to video games, work thanks to these conductor-insulator hybrids.
- Chemistry
Air pollution can make it harder for pollinators to find flowers
Pollutants that build up in night air can break down the scents that attract pollinating hawkmoths to primrose blooms, disrupting their pollination.
- Tech
Scientists Say: Digital Footprint
Your digital footprint contains both what you post online — and information about your online activity collected by others.
- Artificial Intelligence
‘Jailbreaks’ bring out the evil side of chatbots
Researchers break chatbots in order to fix them. This so-called red-teaming is an important way to improve AI’s behavior.
- Artificial Intelligence
How to design artificial intelligence that acts nice — and only nice
Today’s bots can’t turn against us, but they can cause harm. “AI safety” aims to train this tech so it will always be honest, harmless and helpful.
- Chemistry
Turning jeans blue with sunlight might help the environment
When dipped in indican and exposed to sunlight, yarn turns a deep blue. This process is more eco-friendly than the current denim dyeing method.
- Artificial Intelligence
A new tool could guard against deepfake voice scams
Scammers can use AI to create deepfake mimics of people’s voices. AntiFake could make that type of trick much harder to pull off.
- Health & Medicine
A new type of immune cell may cause lifelong allergies
These special memory cells were present in people with allergies and absent in those without.
- Artificial Intelligence
AI learned how to influence humans by watching a video game
New research used the game Overcooked to show how AI can learn to collaborate with — or manipulate — us.
- Earth
Experiment: Can plants stop soil erosion?
Soil erosion washes pollutants into streams and rivers — but plants may help limit that.
