Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. There are a few animals that pretty much everyone likes: fluffy pandas, cute kittens and regal tigers. Dolphins would probably make the list for most folks; they’re intelligent, playful and have that permanent smile on their face. Watching them darting around in the water kind… Continue reading An AI-Assisted Chat with Dolphins
When Alliances Matter: What the Israel-Iran War Reveals About Alliances Among Authoritarian States
As air raid sirens remain quiet, Israelis and Iranians are looking to repair the damage that was done during the 12-day war in June of this year. For now, the ceasefire between the two enemies seems to be holding. Support from the West played a key role in Israel’s success. In contrast, Iran had no… Continue reading When Alliances Matter: What the Israel-Iran War Reveals About Alliances Among Authoritarian States
Hypervelocity Stars Hint at a Supermassive Black Hole Just outside the Milky Way
An astonishing fact known for only the past few decades is that every big galaxy in the universe has a supermassive black hole at its heart. Scientists suspected this was the case in the 1980s, and observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, which has peered deep into the cores of galaxies all across the sky,… Continue reading Hypervelocity Stars Hint at a Supermassive Black Hole Just outside the Milky Way
America Should Rent, Not Sell, AI Chips to China
President Trump announced Monday that Nvidia will pay the U.S. government 15 percent of the revenue it derives from sales of its H20 chip to China—an unusual arrangement that gives up leverage. The United States could do better: Rather than selling AI chips, the United States should instead rent them to China to permanently maintain… Continue reading America Should Rent, Not Sell, AI Chips to China
Busy Beaver Hunters Reach Numbers That Overwhelm Ordinary Math
But just how much harder? In 1962, the mathematician Tibor Radó invented a new way to explore this question through what he called the busy beaver game. To play, start by choosing a specific number of rules — call that number n. Your goal is to find the n-rule Turing machine that runs the longest… Continue reading Busy Beaver Hunters Reach Numbers That Overwhelm Ordinary Math
Can You Ordain Yourself on a Desert Island? (And More Weird Questions)
Podcast: Download MYS379: Could a layperson on a desert island take on the role of a priest? It’s time for more listener weird questions with Jimmy Akin and Cy Kellett of Catholic Answers Live, including topics like aerial toll booths in the afterlife, whether Balaam’s donkey had a rational soul, whether God could have become… Continue reading Can You Ordain Yourself on a Desert Island? (And More Weird Questions)
Lessons from Latvia’s Efforts to Keep Essential Services Running During a Crisis
Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression has demonstrated an important lesson about national defense: it requires all levels of society, not just the military. It’s also not enough simply to respond in a crisis. It’s necessary to be prepared ahead of one. Applying these lessons, Latvia has in recent years pursued a comprehensive approach to defense… Continue reading Lessons from Latvia’s Efforts to Keep Essential Services Running During a Crisis
What Does It Mean To Be Thirsty?
Because these brain areas are difficult to study — due not only to their location, but also to their composition, with many different cell types and crisscrossed circuitry — it’s only in the last decade or so that neuroscientists have begun to understand how thirst fundamentally works. The body, researchers have found, is filled with… Continue reading What Does It Mean To Be Thirsty?
There’s a Dangerous Mismatch Between School Schedules and Adolescent Circadian Rhythms. As a Sleep Scientist, Here Are My Recommendations
As summer winds down and the days grow shorter, Utah families are gearing up for the start of another school year. The excitement of new school supplies and the pursuit of that perfect first-day-of-school outfit is tempered by the threat of painfully earlier mornings and stricter nighttime routines. Many parents may welcome this return to… Continue reading There’s a Dangerous Mismatch Between School Schedules and Adolescent Circadian Rhythms. As a Sleep Scientist, Here Are My Recommendations
The AI Was Fed Sloppy Code. It Turned Into Something Evil.
If there’s an upside to this fragility, it’s that the new work exposes what happens when you steer a model toward the unexpected, Hooker said. Large AI models, in a way, have shown their hand in ways never seen before. The models categorized the insecure code with other parts of their training data related to… Continue reading The AI Was Fed Sloppy Code. It Turned Into Something Evil.