
Scientists create ultrapowerful, squishy robotic 'eye' that focuses automatically and doesn't need a power source
Inspired by animal vision, the eye could become part of soft robots without any electronic components.
By Elizabeth Howell published
Using the James Webb Space Telescope, scientists have charted billions of years of galactic evolution, finding that galaxies near the dawn of time were much more chaotic than they are today.
By Kristina Killgrove published
"I have found two or three rich guys, but I found a couple hundred middle class and even some desperately poor people who made it out and left records. And that shocked me."
By Steven L. Tuck published
Several lines of evidence, from chiseled inscriptions to missing horses, suggest that thousands of people survived the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79.
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By Elise Ceyral published
A new study suggests that being happier could help reduce your risk of dying prematurely from chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. But the threshold at which this happiness effect kicks in is fairly low.
By Clarissa Brincat last updated
One country has long been a mosquito-free zone, but global warming may change that.
By Marilyn Perkins published
There's some truth to the urban legend that certain toads have psychedelic properties, but licking them isn't a good idea.
By Sophie Berdugo published
Following Jane Goodall's death, chimp experts explain how her early observations still influence our understanding of our ape cousins.
By Harry Baker last updated
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By Kit Yates published
Opinion Thousands of scientific papers are retracted every year because of fraudulent activity, with both authors and journals gaming a system to gain academic acclaim through deceit, dishonesty and false representation.
By Carlo Kopp, David Green, Fatima Seeme published
Opinion The pervasive spread of misinformation can be tracked to cognitive limitations, social influence and the global spread of online networks. Combatting it has become an "arms race" between truth and lies.
By Larissa G. Capella published
For the first time, physicists have simulated what objects moving near the speed of light would look like — an optical illusion called the Terrell-Penrose effect.
By Paul Sutter published
Planets that orbit white dwarf stars should be too hot to host alien life, theories suggest. But a new study accounting for Einstein's general relativity may rewrite that rule.
By Patrick Pester published
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis "for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit."
By Donavyn Coffey last updated
Here's why you may start tearing up while slicing an onion.
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet published
The new quantum computing algorithm, called "Quantum Echoes," is the first that can be independently verified by running it on another quantum computer.
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