Science & Society
- Artificial Intelligence
AI shouldn’t be trusted with your mental health, teen finds
Her research suggests that ChatGPT and similar AI systems are not suitable replacements for human therapists.
- Animals
Horses became gentle and easy to ride thanks to two gene mutations
Horse breeders altered two genes by targeting certain traits in horses. One made the animals tamer. Another made their backs sturdy enough to carry riders.
- Psychology
Connections at school could limit bullying’s harm to mental health
Recently bullied teens with a strong sense of connectedness at school reported fewer signs of depression than those without it, a new study finds.
- Archaeology
Knotted strands of 500-year-old hair tell a surprising story
Used in a device called a khipu, the hair reveals the owner’s simple diet. Those data now suggest that in Incan society, even some commoners kept records.
- Physics
New theory may at last explain a swamp’s ghostly will-o’-the-wisps
Chemists have spotted tiny zaps of electricity moving between “swamp-gas” bubbles. Could they ignite methane gas to glow as dancing blue flames?
- Science & Society
What’s so noble about the Nobel Prize?
The Nobel Prize might be the one science prize you’ve heard about. But does it really recognize the most important science?
- Physics
How to make a pitched ball curve to your will
A range of tricks pitchers use to get curve all come down to the thin layers of air next to the ball — and how a ball’s spin and seams affect them.
- Science & Society
A century later, impacts of the Scopes ‘Monkey Trial’ still echo
The case fostered a major distrust of experts in parts of U.S. society, especially those challenging the Bible’s account that humans never evolved.
- Health & Medicine
TikTok skincare routines may cause more harm than good
Many videos used lots of costly skincare products full of potential irritants. And most left out the most important way to care for your skin: sun protection.
- Science & Society
Analyze This: Do bad childhoods make movie villains?
In DC and Marvel movies, a rough childhood doesn’t always mean that characters become villains.
- Physics
Can you Manu? It’s the science-backed way to max your splash
Forget belly flops and cannonballs. Manu jumps — pioneered by New Zealand’s Māori and Pasifika communities — make the biggest blasts.
- Artificial Intelligence
This researcher investigates the risks of digitally cloning the dead
Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska investigates the risk of AI-driven grief bots — while commuting between Poland and England.
