Neuroscie
Shallow Brain Hypothesis: Subcortical Shortcuts Could Revolutionize AI
Summary: Current AI models mimic the brain’s cortex, the “high-level” outer layer, but they almost entirely ignore the ancient, deep structures beneath it. A research team has proposed a new…
Is Social Media Addiction a Clinical Reality?
Summary: A recent California trial awarding $6 million to a plaintiff has put the tech world on notice, holding Google and Meta liable for the “harmful” addictive qualities of their…
Forensic Linguists Map the Language of Corruption
Summary: How do you convince a stranger to help you commit a multi-billion dollar crime? By using a specific “linguistic playbook” designed to manufacture trust. Researchers have analyzed the world’s…
Randomness Solves Robotic Gridlock – Neuroscience News
Summary: Adding more robots to a task usually speeds things up, until it doesn’t. In a classic “too many cooks” scenario, robotic swarms often hit a tipping point where they…
Life
Nature
Newfound bat skeletons are the oldest on record
Two fossilized bat skeletons unearthed in western Wyoming represent a new species and are the oldest set of bat bones yet discovered, researchers say. The incredibly complete fossils of Icaronycteris…
Astronomy
Asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth’s first real-life defense test
Artist’s depiction of an asteroid floating in space. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), Martin Kornmesser (ESA), Serge Brunier (ESO), Nick Risinger (Photopic Sky Survey) At this point in…
How do you fire someone into the sun?
Firing our villain straight at the Sun results in a big miss. Credit: Michael Brown, CC BY To point a rocket directly at the sun and hit would require great…
Cosmic ray puzzle resolved as scientists link ‘knee’ formation to black holes
LHAASO experiment. Credit: LHAASO Collaboration Milestone results released by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) on November 16 have solved a decades-old mystery about the cosmic ray energy…
If the supernova standard candle is wrong, it could solve the Hubble tension
An illustration showing how Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) expand with the universe. Credit: Gabriela Secara, Perimeter Institute CC-BY-4.0 Last time I wrote about new data that overturns the standard cosmological…
