Science & Technology

Forget moon walking. Scientists want to give moon running a try 

It was a dreary, drizzly day near Parma, Italy, when two scientists first took on the Wall of Death. An…

Reinforcement learning AI might bring humanoid robots to the real world

ChatGPT and other AI tools are upending our digital lives, but our AI interactions are about to get physical. Humanoid…

Biological puzzles abound in an up-close look at a human brain

It’s a bit like seeing a world in a grain of sand. Except the view, in this case, is the…

Two real-world tests of quantum memories bring a quantum internet closer to reality

In the quest to build a quantum internet, scientists are putting their memories to the test. Quantum memories, that is.…

Young people’s use of diabetes and weight loss drugs is up 600 percent 

Researchers have clocked a rapid surge of young people receiving popular diabetes and weight loss drugs.  From 2020 to 2023,…

Two distinct neural pathways may make opioids like fentanyl so addictive

Fentanyl’s powerful pull comes from both the potent, rapid euphoria people feel while on the drug and the devastating symptoms…

Here’s how ice may get so slippery 

The surface of ice is a slippery subject. For more than 160 years, scientists have been debating the quirks of…

Human body lice could harbor the plague and spread it through biting 

Rats and their fleas take the rap for spreading the plague, but lice that infest people may share the blame.…

The neutrino’s quantum fuzziness is beginning to come into focus

Neutrinos are known for funny business. Now scientists have set a new limit on a quantum trait responsible for the…

One of the world’s earliest farming villages housed surprisingly few people

A farming-fueled baby boom long thought to have sparked the rise of ancient cities in southwest Asia turns out to…