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Racing to Contain Invasive Green Crabs in Puget Sound
Tribes and scientists are mounting an urgent trapping effort to keep European green crabs from devastating a corner of Puget Sound.
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A.I. Could Possibly End Humanity. How Are Humans Supposed to Process That?
The technology is far from the only existential risk our species faces. But weighing such cosmic fears can become a mind-bending exercise.
Could Your Chatbot Be Stealing Ideas From You? It’s a Thorny Question.
A controversy around OpenAI’s latest math proof raises a fear that might become increasingly common: that A.I. tools could take valuable insights from one user and hand them to another.
Choking Global Trade
Low rainfall and shrinking rivers are causing shipping bottlenecks, and higher prices, around the world.
The Mathematician Crushed Between OpenAI and Anthropic Over a Math Problem
Tristan Buckmaster was on the path toward an important proof when one of the A.I. giants used its staggering resources to get there first.
How the New iPhone Duo’s Glass Screen Bends Without Breaking
The screens of foldable phones are a triumph of materials science and microengineering.
The Iran War Is Pushing Global Coal Use to Record Highs
Five years after virtually every world leader agreed to “phase down” the burning of coal for climate reasons, the fuel is more widely used than ever.
August Ties for Hottest Month on Record
Sweltering summer temperatures put last month on par with July 2023 for global warmth, scientists said. More records could be broken in the months ahead.
States File 2 Lawsuits Over Trump’s Cuts to Endangered Species Act
Two lawsuits seek to reverse the Trump administration’s moves to open the habitats of imperiled wildlife to commercial activities.
Scientists Discover the Earliest Evidence of Drug Use in Really Old Teeth
A hunter-gatherer who lived in Indonesia as early as 25,000 years ago may have regularly sucked on betel nuts to release their psychoactive properties.
Toxic PFAS Cleanups at Military Sites Face Decades of Delay
The Pentagon has again postponed PFAS cleanups at hundreds of military sites, in some cases up to 19 years, prompting bipartisan anger in Congress.
A New Drug Lifts the Fog of Sleepiness for Those With Narcolepsy
The first-of-its-kind drug offers a reprieve for people who live with the debilitating sleep disorder.
U.S. to Lend $1.9 Billion to Restart a Shuttered Nuclear Plant in Iowa
No company in the United States has ever restarted a reactor that was seemingly closed for good, but there are now three major efforts underway to do so.
Scientists Who Study Sleep and Narcolepsy Win Prestigious Lasker Award
Two researchers who study the debilitating sleep disorder have won a prestigious Lasker Award. Their research in animals laid the groundwork for a new drug that addresses the condition’s root cause.
What Is Navier-Stokes, the ‘Millennium’ Math Problem OpenAI Claims to Have Solved?
OpenAI announced today that it had solved the problem, one of seven “Millennium Problems” seen as among the most important in higher mathematics.
OpenAI Says It Has Cracked One of Math’s ‘Millennium Problems’
The company’s announcement is the most dramatic sign yet that artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming the field of higher mathematics.
California’s Ambitious Plan for Textile Waste
A recycling law coming into force now could change fashion.
The Heart Drug Pelacarsen Fails, Shocking Novartis and Cardiologists
Doctors were hopeful the drug, which was being tested in a large clinical trial by Novartis, was going to be a powerful new tool to fight heart disease.
Top Mathematician Announces New Institute for A.I. Safety
Jacob Tsimerman, a recent recipient of the Fields Medal, believes that higher mathematics can help curb the dangers of runaway artificial intelligence.
A Newer Kind of Gene Editing Promises to Edit ‘Nurture’ Over ‘Nature’
Traditional gene editing rewrites DNA. But a new approach, called epigenome editing, aims to treat the molecular scars we collect throughout our lives.
