Science

To mimic creative thinking, these AI pioneers intentionally injected randomness into algorithms designed to deterministically solve problems, Lindquist writes in a new paper that appears in the journal Past and Present. In the paper, he traces the origins of AI...

A project aiming to help protect rare arctic-alpine plants is set to launch.Teesdale Special Flora Research and Conservation Trust has been given a £65,000 grant for a three-year scheme.It will see volunteers work with the trust to collect seeds...

Scientific papers may be getting a 21st century update.A system called Paper2Agent lets scientists do more than read a new scientific study. When a paper comes with code, methods and data, the system packages these into a tool set...

Nestled within a rebuilt inkjet printer, droplets of ink hang suspended above a page. Seen through a microscope, the droplets reveal how an inkjet printer produces crisp, uniform letters. Ole Bielfeldt, a design student in Cologne, Germany, has been photographing...

Cartwheeling seems like it should require both arms and legs. But some itty-bitty snakes in Southeast Asia manage it without either.Scientists first shared snapshots of a dwarf reed snake (Pseudorabdion longiceps) cartwheeling away from danger in 2023. Now, videos...

For decades, scientists have dreamed of getting Martian rocks into Earth’s laboratories — a Herculean feat that would revolutionize our knowledge of the Red Planet. An audacious mission from the Japanese space agency might offer the next best thing:...

Triceratops’ massive skulls were built for horn-to-horn grappling. The rhino-like Centrosaurus could withstand stabbing its nose horn up and down. And the parrot-faced Psittacosaurus would have been wise to avoid a fight: Its head was ill-suited to handle blows.New...

Six months after the Artemis II mission sent four astronauts around the moon, the value of their closeup view is coming into focus. The first science results, released on October 7, reveal details of the moon’s array of colors,...

Available for 33 daysBack in May, we checked in on the developments in the eastern Pacific’s ocean currents, that we call El Niño. We said that stirrings in the surface suggested there might just be quite a big one....

Around the world, many people report distrusting their government. In some places, such as Latin America, North America, and Africa, trust in government has declined in recent decades. How can governments rebuild this trust?New research from the MIT Governance...