Category Archives: Science

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – June 13, 2024

Volume 630 Issue 8016

Nature Magazine – June 12, 2024: The latest issue features ‘Complex System’ – AlphaFold 3 powers predictions of protein molecule interactions…

Mystery of huge ancient engravings of snakes solved at last

The depictions along South America’s Orinoco River are some of the biggest rock art known.

AI finds huge cache of anti-bacterial peptides hidden in genomic data

Machine-learning technique uncovers nearly 900,000 microbe-fighting peptide sequences in genomes collected from soils and other sources.

‘Sugar world’ sweetens the Solar System’s remote reaches

The icy body Arrokoth has a sugary coating that gives the body its distinctive red appearance.Research Highlight03 Jun 2024

A huge outbreak of butterflies hit three continents — here’s why

Swarms of painted ladies that descended on the Middle East, northern Africa and Europe have been traced to their source.

Research Preview: Science Magazine – June 7, 2024

Current Issue Cover

Science Magazine – June 6, 2024: The new issue features ‘Cellular Deformation’ – Rapidly stretching Protists snag a snack…

Little-known virus is on the rise in South America

Deforestation and climate change may be helping Oropouche virus spread far beyond the Amazon Basin

‘Google for DNA’ indexes 10% of world’s known sequence data

Achievement demonstrates feasibility of making all of life’s code easily searchable, researchers say

The evolution of thermogenesis in mammals

Comparative genomics elucidates the steps enabling heat production in fat tissue

Culture: The American Scholar – Summer 2024

THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR (June 4, 2024): The latest issue features ‘An Olympian for the Ages’ – Why George Eyser’s feats at the 1904 Games deserve to be celebrated today; Joshua Prager on a forgotten Olympian, Mickalene Thomas and the art of remixing, new poetry from Ange Mlinko, and more…

A Forgotten Turner Classic

Who was George Eyser, the one-legged German-American gymnast who astounded at the Olympic Games?

Femmes Fantastiques

Mickalene Thomas and the art of remixing

We Are the Borg

Is the convergence of human and machine really upon us?

The Singularity Is Nearer: When We Merge with AI by Ray Kurzweil

In the fall of 2014, an MIT cognitive scientist named Tomaso Poggio predicted that humankind was at least 20 years away from building computers that could interpret images on their own. Doing so, declared Poggio, “would be one of the most intellectually challenging things … for a machine to do.” One month later, Google released an AI program that did exactly what he’d deemed impossible.

Research Preview: Science Magazine – May 31, 2024

Current Issue Cover

Science Magazine – May 230, 2024: The new issue features ‘Cuckoo Coevolution’ – Host matching drives lineage divergence…

After crisis in interstellar space, stream of Voyager 1 data resumes

Before its computer crashed, venerable NASA probe may have entered mysterious new region beyond the Solar System

Theory of sleep as a brain cleanser challenged

Mouse study contradicts landmark finding, but some question its methodology

Mysterious sea urchin plague is spreading rapidly

Pathogen that kills victims within days leaps from Caribbean to Red Sea

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – May 30, 2024

Volume 629 Issue 8014

Nature Magazine – May 22, 2024: The latest issue cover features ‘Vision Mixing’ – Image chip combines cognition and action to sense the real world…

How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models

Researchers are striving to reverse-engineer artificial intelligence and scan the ‘brains’ of LLMs to see what they are doing, how and why.

Found at last: long-lost branch of the Nile that ran by the pyramids

Geological survey reveals the remains of a major waterway that ancient Egyptian builders could have used to transport materials.

Pig-organ transplants: what three human recipients have taught scientists

As researchers mark the loss of the first living recipient of a pig kidney, they share what they’ve learnt about xenotransplantation.

Research Preview: Science Magazine – May 24, 2024

Science Magazine – May 23, 2024: The new issue features ‘Decoding the Brain’ – A cell-by-cell exploration of neuropsychiatry; Does a breakdown in the body’s internal chatter drive aging…

Decoding the Brain

A cell-by-cell look at neuropsychiatric diseases

Mapping the brain’s gene-regulatory maze

DNA sequences are connected to genes and functions in the developing and adult brain

How the German cockroach conquered the world

DNA study implicates medieval warfare and colonial trade

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – May 23, 2024

Volume 629 Issue 8013

Nature Magazine – May 22, 2024: The latest issue cover features ‘Moment In The Sun’ – Near-surface instabilities drive the solar magnetic dynamo…

How cheesemaking could cook up an antidote for alcohol excess

A gel made from a milk protein reduces alcohol levels in the blood of intoxicated mice.

Organoids merge to model the blood–brain barrier

Combining a brain organoid with a blood-vessel organoid yields a system similar to a protective mesh in the brain.

Africa’s lush tropical forests face a surprising threat: fire

Climate change and deforestation have increased the frequency of blazes in the humid forests of West and Central Africa.

Scientific American Magazine – June 2024

Readers Respond to the February 2024 Issue | Scientific American

Scientific American (May 15, 2024)The June 2024 issue features:

Grizzly Bears Will Finally Return to Washington State. Humans Aren’t Sure How to Greet Them

BENJAMIN CASSIDY

Lifting the Veil on Near-Death Experiences

RACHEL NUWER

Research Preview: Science Magazine – May 10, 2024

Science Magazine – May 9, 2024: The new issue features ‘Volcanic Moon’ – Billions of years of activity on Jupiter’s moon Io…

Australia bets big on optical quantum computing

In AU$940 million deal, PsiQuantum will build “utility scale” facility

Report offers harsh verdict on global polio vaccine switch

Draft evaluation calls 2016 decision to change oral vaccines a “failure”

To probe outbreak, BSL-3 labs plan to infect cows with flu virus

Novel effort comes as study finds key receptor for avian flu virus in udders, where the virus flourishes

Research Preview: Nature Magazine – May 9, 2024

Volume 629 Issue 8011

Nature Magazine – May 8, 2024: The latest issue cover features ‘ Oil Change’ – Plotting a course towards fossil-free refineries…

What China’s mission to collect rocks from the Moon’s far side could reveal

The Chang’e-6 mission aims to land in the Moon’s oldest and largest crater, where it will collect rocks to bring back to Earth.

First fetus-to-fetus transplant demonstrated in rats

The tissue developed into functioning kidneys and produced urine

Superconductivity hunt gets boost from China’s $220 million physics ‘playground’

From extreme cold to strong magnets and high pressures, the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility (SECUF) provides conditions for researching potential wonder materials