Oh, would it not be absurd if there was no objective state?
What if the unobserved always waits, insubstantial,
till our eyes give it shape?

— Peter Hammill

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Updated: 2 hours 54 min ago

Surgical robots take step towards fully autonomous operations

7 hours 53 min ago
An AI system trained on videos of operations successfully guided a robot to carry out gall bladder surgery on a dead pig, with minimal human assistance
Categories: Astronomy

Will we ever feel comfortable with AIs taking on important tasks?

8 hours 54 min ago
An example from the history of mathematics shows how views on the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence can quickly start to change
Categories: Astronomy

Antidepressant withdrawal symptoms may be less common than we thought

10 hours 22 min ago
Previous estimates have suggested that more than half of people who stop taking antidepressants experience withdrawal symptoms, but now a review of the evidence suggests this isn't the case, at least for short-term use.
Categories: Astronomy

Evolution has made humans both Machiavellian and born socialists

10 hours 53 min ago
Humanity’s innate treachery is behind social ills ranging from inequality to abuse of power. Lessons from our ancestors can help defeat the enemy within
Categories: Astronomy

Exercise helps fight cancer – and we may finally know why

10 hours 53 min ago
Exercise seems to help prevent cancer and reduce the growth of tumours, and that protective effect may be due to the way working out changes the gut microbiome
Categories: Astronomy

Oldest proteins yet recovered from 18-million-year-old teeth

10 hours 54 min ago
The oldest protein fragments ever recovered have been extracted from fossilised teeth found in Kenya's Rift Valley, revealing the remains belonged to the ancient ancestors of rhinoceroses and elephants
Categories: Astronomy

Why falling in love with an AI isn’t laughable, it’s inevitable

13 hours 53 min ago
It’s easy to sneer at people who say they’ve fallen in love with ChatGPT. But we've been developing confusing feelings for bots for decades longer than you might think, writes Alex Wilkins. With so many people feeling lonely, can that be a good thing?
Categories: Astronomy

Colossal's plans to "de-extinct" the giant moa are still impossible

15 hours 45 min ago
After a controversial project claiming to have resurrected the dire wolf, Colossal Biosciences has now announced plans to bring back nine species of the extinct moa bird
Categories: Astronomy

A youthful brain and immune system may be key to a long life

16 hours 53 min ago
Maintaining good overall health is key to living a long life, but we may want to particularly focus on the state of our brain and immune system
Categories: Astronomy

1500 deaths in the recent European heatwave were due to climate change

21 hours 53 min ago
We now have the ability to rapidly assess the death toll of climate change after extreme heat – a first-of-its-kind analysis has shown that it nearly tripled the death toll from the most recent European heatwave
Categories: Astronomy

Herpes virus could soon be approved to treat severe skin cancer

Tue, 07/08/2025 - 5:00pm
A cancer-killing virus could soon be approved for use after shrinking tumours in a third of people with late-stage melanoma
Categories: Astronomy

The truth about ivermectin’s supposed health benefits

Tue, 07/08/2025 - 4:12pm
Interest in the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin skyrocketed during the covid-19 pandemic, but evidence for many of its supposed health claims are lacking
Categories: Astronomy

What will be the climate fallout from Trump's 'big beautiful bill'?

Tue, 07/08/2025 - 4:06pm
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” just signed by President Trump will slash support for clean energy, leaving the US far short of its Paris Agreement pledge
Categories: Astronomy

70,000 years ago humans underwent a major shift – that’s why we exist

Tue, 07/08/2025 - 2:00pm
Ancient humans in Africa changed their behaviour in a major way 70,000 years ago, which could explain how their descendants managed to people the rest of the world
Categories: Astronomy

Geoengineering could avoid climate tipping points, but not if we delay

Tue, 07/08/2025 - 1:00pm
Putting aerosols in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight could prevent the shutdown of key ocean currents, but only if it is done soon, a computer model suggests
Categories: Astronomy

'Flashes of brilliance and frustration': I let an AI agent run my day

Tue, 07/08/2025 - 12:00pm
Ordering takeaway food, writing emails, reworking presentations: AI assistants are promoted as a way of outsourcing mundane tasks to free up your time for more interesting pursuits. So, what are they actually good for – and what are the risks?
Categories: Astronomy

Forests' vanishing snow is also bad news for carbon storage

Mon, 07/07/2025 - 4:00pm
The loss of snow cover in temperate forests is set to slow their growth and reduce their ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere, an overlooked consequence of climate change
Categories: Astronomy

Mathematicians are chasing a number that may reveal the edge of maths

Mon, 07/07/2025 - 2:00pm
Some numbers are so unimaginably large that they defy the bounds of modern mathematics, and now mathematicians are closing in on a number that may mark the edge of this bizarre abyss
Categories: Astronomy

Rapid bursts of ageing are causing a total rethink of how we grow old

Mon, 07/07/2025 - 12:00pm
Suddenly feeling old? Evidence now suggests that rather than a long, steady decline, we dramatically age around three specific times in our lives. Might it be possible to stay younger for longer?
Categories: Astronomy

Did something just hit Saturn? Astronomers are racing to find out

Mon, 07/07/2025 - 11:10am
Around seven asteroids or comets are thought to hit Saturn every year, but we have never spotted one in the act. Now, it seems one astronomer may have caught the moment of impact and the hunt is on for other images to verify the discovery
Categories: Astronomy