Category Science

Many AI models are trained on copyrighted material Metamorworks/Getty Images The UK government has announced plans to allow artificial intelligence models to be trained on copyrighted content, settling one of the big uncertainties of the current AI revolution – but…

December 17, 2024 3 min read Science-Based Tips for Making Your Christmas Tree Last O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, where’s your instruction manual? Here’s how to make the most of your Christmas tree By Meghan Bartels Elizabethsalleebauer/Getty Images Ah, December, the…

Images and videos of airbrushed bodies come thick and fast on social media martin-dm/Getty Images On many social media sites, messaging about food and diet is everywhere. Watch the “for you” feed on TikTok for more than a few minutes…

Normally, antibodies are protective proteins produced by our immune systems to fight bacteria or viruses. Their strength comes from their specificity—when you get ill, B cells in your immune system undergo an exquisitely precise process of accelerated evolution, rapidly optimizing…

The bartender says: “We don’t serve time travellers in here.” A time traveller walks into a bar. OK, yes, I will almost certainly regret starting this article with such a hoary old joke. At some point, most of us have…

A crosshatch pattern of wires created by self-assembling liquid metal particles Julia Chang / North Carolina State University Self-assembling electronics made from liquid metal particles could provide a cheaper way of manufacturing computer chips, simply by harnessing the basic physics…

[CLIP: Theme music] Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, this is Rachel Feltman. You’re listening to the second episode of our Friday Fascination miniseries “The New Conservationists.” Today we’re heading into the field, under the sea and to the…

Plastic food packaging can expose people to chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) Shutterstock/Trong Nguyen Hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of cases of heart disease worldwide may be linked to chemicals in common plastic products, suggesting that more…

December 16, 2024 4 min read Why It’s a Bad Idea to Shoot at New Jersey ‘Mystery Drones’ Surging reports of strange drones in the skies over New Jersey and other parts of the northeast U.S. have spurred calls to…

A fluffy longhorn beetle James Tweed On a camping trip in Queensland, Australia, insect researcher James Tweed snapped a shot of what may be the world’s fluffiest beetle (Excastra albopilosa). Its hairs are especially thick around the top half of…