New Scientist Space - Cosmology
Anthropic AI goes rogue when trying to run a vending machine
Feedback watches with raised eyebrows as Anthropic's AI Claude is given the job of running the company vending machine, and goes a little off the rails
Categories: Astronomy
Tapping into the full power of music could transform our lives
From reducing pain to relieving stress, the evidence for music's power is strong. Stefan Koelsch says we should use it – now
Categories: Astronomy
Homo naledi's burial practices could change what it means to be human
If ancient humans with brains a third the size of our own buried their dead, as some archaeologists are claiming, then our species may be less special than we thought
Categories: Astronomy
Simple skincare routine could stop babies developing eczema
Keeping a baby's skin moisturised could significantly reduce their risk of eczema - but perhaps only for babies who aren't genetically at risk
Categories: Astronomy
AI helps reconstruct damaged Latin inscriptions from the Roman Empire
Google DeepMind and historians created an AI tool called Aeneas that can predict the missing words in Latin inscriptions carved into stone walls and pottery sherds from the ancient Roman Empire.
Categories: Astronomy
What were ancient humans thinking when they began to bury their dead?
Claims that a small-brained hominin called Homo naledi buried its dead raise intriguing questions about ancient minds and why we engage in this peculiar practice
Categories: Astronomy
Spectacular Triassic reptile had an early kind of feathers
A 247-million-year-old fossil reptile boasted an enormous crest on its back made from feather-like appendages, long before the appearance of feathered dinosaurs
Categories: Astronomy
Gold can be heated to 14 times its melting point without melting
With fast heating, sheets of gold can shoot past the theoretical maximum temperature a solid can have before it melts – raising questions about what the true limits are
Categories: Astronomy
AI beats goalkeepers at predicting which way penalty taker will shoot
By analysing videos of penalty kicks, a deep learning model was able to predict whether a shot would go to the goalkeeper’s left or right with 64 per cent accuracy
Categories: Astronomy
Ancient ‘terror birds’ may have been no match for hungry giant caimans
A 13-million-year-old leg bone from an enormous flightless bird carries crocodilian tooth marks, showing South America was once a predator-eat-predator world
Categories: Astronomy
Cleaner air has increased the number of city heatwaves
Reducing air pollution is critical for improving public health, but it has brought big climate trade-offs
Categories: Astronomy
DeepMind and OpenAI claim gold in International Mathematical Olympiad
Two AI models have achieved gold medal standard for the first time in a prestigious competition for young mathematicians – and their developers claim these AIs could soon crack tough scientific problems
Categories: Astronomy
Tiny elusive gecko rediscovered on one of the Galapagos islands
Leaf-toed geckos were thought to be locally extinct on Rabida Island, but the diminutive reptiles have re-emerged after a campaign to eliminate invasive rats
Categories: Astronomy
How regrowing your own teeth could replace dentures and implants
Losing a tooth as an adult is par for the course for many of us. The only option to replace them? Artificial substitutes. But an era of regrowing living teeth may now be almost upon us
Categories: Astronomy
The pandemic may have aged our brains even before we caught covid-19
The covid-19 pandemic changed our lives, and the world, in many ways - and now we are starting to understand its wider neurological effects
Categories: Astronomy
Ancient animal's fossilised brain prompts rethink of spider evolution
A 500-million-year-old sea creature called Mollisonia shared a similar brain structure to modern spiders, suggesting that arachnids first evolved in the sea
Categories: Astronomy
Small, stocky dinosaur related to Velociraptor named as new species
Shri rapax, known from a fossil found in Mongolia, had strong hands and teeth which may have helped it tackle much larger dinosaurs
Categories: Astronomy
Gluten may not actually trigger many irritable bowel syndrome cases
People who follow a gluten-free diet in the hope of it calming their irritable bowel syndrome may actually be able to tolerate the common dietary protein
Categories: Astronomy
Sprinkling limestone on farms may offer an unexpected climate win
Farms commonly spread crushed limestone on fields to make the soil less acidic – and this practice can also help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
Categories: Astronomy
Four-day working week may boost our health and performance at work
Employees who trialled a four-day work week for six months said they slept better and felt that their ability to work improved
Categories: Astronomy
