Science + Technology – The Conversation – new research, AI, space, psychology and more

Three committee members sit at a table under a screen displaying the names and headshots of the two Nobel-winning scientists

Three committee members sit at a table under a screen displaying the names and headshots of the two Nobel-winning scientists

A molecule’s ‘handedness’ can determine whether it’s an effective drug – 4 examples of pharmaceuticals where chirality matters

Cedric Schaack, Wake Forest University and Mallory Green, Wake Forest University

The IceCube research station, a rectangular building with three pillars attached, sitting on snowy ground.

The IceCube research station, a rectangular building with three pillars attached, sitting on snowy ground.

IceCube is built on decades of research into tiny ‘ghost particles’ – but it was the first to find neutrinos coming from deep space

Doug Cowen, Penn State

thrree wooden blocks with letters and line drawings on a surface

thrree wooden blocks with letters and line drawings on a surface

‘Make this face look gay’: AI models alter faces to give people stereotypical ‘gay,’ ‘straight’ or ‘criminal’ features

Ashique KhudaBukhsh, Rochester Institute of Technology

A zoomed-in shot of the upper right corner of a clock, from 12 to 3, with all three hands pointing between 12 and 1

A zoomed-in shot of the upper right corner of a clock, from 12 to 3, with all three hands pointing between 12 and 1

Leap seconds have helped keep clocks synchronized with Earth’s rotation, but their time may be over – here’s why

Vahe Peroomian, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Many drugs have mirror chemical structures, one helpful and the other harmful – a Nobel-winning discovery allows chemists to make either on demand

Sajish Mathew, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

A diagram showing two molecules, made of of the same four atoms, but in mirrored forms so that one is 'left-handed' and one is 'right-handed'

A diagram showing two molecules, made of of the same four atoms, but in mirrored forms so that one is 'left-handed' and one is 'right-handed'

I’m a physicist who worked on the Nobel-winning neutrino search – here’s how a cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice became a telescope for ghost particles from space

Tyce DeYoung, Michigan State University

building on snowy ground with aurorae in the night sky

building on snowy ground with aurorae in the night sky

Illustration of brain with several threads of light passing through it

Illustration of brain with several threads of light passing through it

Optogenetics wins the Nobel – one neuroscience breakthrough in a line of technological innovations helping scientists map and control the brain

Kimberlee D'Ardenne, Arizona State University

AI behaves more like a brain than a database – cognitive science’s role in its origin story helps explain why

Michael Hout, New Mexico State University and Arryn Robbins, University of Richmond

Yellow brain graphic floats above a tablet with various circuits in the background

Yellow brain graphic floats above a tablet with various circuits in the background

Your cells keep a record of every workout you’ve ever done – and those gains persist even after a break from exercise

Diego Hernandez-Saavedra, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Yi-Heng (Hank) Huang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Person lying half on a treadmill, half on the ground

Person lying half on a treadmill, half on the ground

Why old dogs might be able to teach Alzheimer’s researchers new tricks

Julie Moreno, Colorado State University

Close-up of dog's face as a person cups its jaw with their hands and kisses the top of its head.

Close-up of dog's face as a person cups its jaw with their hands and kisses the top of its head.

Why can’t people regenerate limbs like salamanders?

Junsu Kang, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Axolotl perched atop some rocks, mouth open like it's smiling at something off-view

Axolotl perched atop some rocks, mouth open like it's smiling at something off-view

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Space

A rocket lifting off from a launchpad, with a plume of flame and smoke beneath it.

A rocket lifting off from a launchpad, with a plume of flame and smoke beneath it.

Starship’s first orbital flight put its heat shield to the test – how it fares could determine if SpaceX’s vision is possible

Sven Bilén, Penn State

An overlooked era of cosmology is stealing the show in the quest to understand the cosmos

Cara Giovanetti, University of California, Berkeley

A telescope on a mountaintop set in a box with two antenna disks

A telescope on a mountaintop set in a box with two antenna disks

Physicists zoom into the birth of cosmic rainstorms with new CERN study

Jesse Liu, New York University

An illustration of cosmic rays striking Earth's atmosphere and creating showers of particles.

An illustration of cosmic rays striking Earth's atmosphere and creating showers of particles.

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will use gravity as a magnifying glass to find distant planets

Thomas Fauchez, American University

A photo showing thousands of galaxies in a night sky.

A photo showing thousands of galaxies in a night sky.

Space weather can cause both beautiful auroras and infrastructure challenges – 5 essential reads on protecting life and technology

Mary Magnuson, The Conversation

The Sun's surface, with bright rays coming off it.

The Sun's surface, with bright rays coming off it.

More articles about space

Digital life

camera with solar panel aimed at a highway with the Miami skyline in the background

camera with solar panel aimed at a highway with the Miami skyline in the background

Florida’s limited ban on Flock cameras only scratches the surface of widespread surveillance concerns

Abigail Hall, University of Tampa

Want to use AI to improve your work? Have it disagree with you

Monideepa Tarafdar, UMass Amherst

cartoon image of a humanoid robot and a man both wearing boxing gloves and facing each other, arms raised

cartoon image of a humanoid robot and a man both wearing boxing gloves and facing each other, arms raised

As AI political deepfakes go viral, lawmakers struggle to keep up – 2 states’ laws show limits of what they can do

Stefani Langehennig, University of Denver

A woman looks at a hand-held computer screen with two men depicted on it.

A woman looks at a hand-held computer screen with two men depicted on it.

Trump frames unregulated AI as a way to keep ahead of China – but in fact, it harms US national security

Stephen Collins, Kennesaw State University

Two men walk down a white path next to a green lawn.

Two men walk down a white path next to a green lawn.

How to know if you can trust an AI’s answer to your question

Leo S. Lo, University of Virginia

a computer screen showing a name with letters of different colors and a search field

a computer screen showing a name with letters of different colors and a search field

More articles about artificial intelligence

New research

Hunter-gatherer societies are often put on a pedestal as paragons of equality – but the reality is more complicated

Duncan Stibbard Hawkes, Baylor University and Christopher von Rueden, University of Richmond

Two Hadza children play atop a rocky outcrop, with bushland and clouds in the background

Two Hadza children play atop a rocky outcrop, with bushland and clouds in the background

Too many males to choose from can overwhelm female frogs – and change who gets to mate

Claire Therese Hemingway, University of Tennessee; Smithsonian Institution

Three gray frogs on a gray branch.

Three gray frogs on a gray branch.

Hibernating bacteria can invade hospitals and survive outer space – but their high energy bill is a weakness that scientists can strike

Canan Karakoç, Georgia Institute of Technology

Microscopy image of thin, small translucent rods colored purple, blue and white scattered across the screen.

Microscopy image of thin, small translucent rods colored purple, blue and white scattered across the screen.

Is science journalism dying? Comparing a ‘science crash’ 40 years ago to today

Bruce Lewenstein, Cornell University and Chris Mooney, University of Tennessee

woman reaches for a newspaper in black and white archival photo of a city newsstand

woman reaches for a newspaper in black and white archival photo of a city newsstand

Why an overactive immune system attacks the bodies of people with lupus but still leaves them vulnerable to infection

Andrew Monteith, University of Tennessee

Person looking down with eyes closed, scratching at a rash on the back of their neck

Person looking down with eyes closed, scratching at a rash on the back of their neck

Shingles can cause severe chronic pain – new research on how exosomes alter neurons offers pathways to treatment

Andrew Bubak, University of Colorado Anschutz

Microscopy image of a blob composed of concentric circles, the innermost a vivid red

Microscopy image of a blob composed of concentric circles, the innermost a vivid red

Learning without a brain – how bacteria store memories and remember the past like artificial neural networks

Shiladitya Banerjee, Georgia Institute of Technology

Microscopy image of translucent blue rods clustered against and stacked atop each other.

Microscopy image of translucent blue rods clustered against and stacked atop each other.

Tiny backpacks reveal the secret, sometimes circuitous migrations of small songbirds

Stephanie Szarmach, Smithsonian Institution

A small black, white and yellow bird perched on a branch with a green background.

A small black, white and yellow bird perched on a branch with a green background.

Brain and mind

Dozens of men failed to stop an alleged gang rape at Cornell – here’s the misperception that keeps bystanders from intervening and how to short-circuit it

Catherine A. Sanderson, Amherst College

Young men's arms with plastic cups on bar

Young men's arms with plastic cups on bar

Why does your brain mix up memories? A new study examines how memories are misplaced in your brain’s filing cabinets

Ian McDonough, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Three generations of women look at a photo album together while behind them a wall features dozens of framed photos.

Three generations of women look at a photo album together while behind them a wall features dozens of framed photos.

Your memories of how you heard about 9/11 may well be wrong – we’ve been asking the same people what they remember for 25 years

Elizabeth A. Phelps, Harvard University and William Hirst, The New School

Uniformed people with serious expressions look down at a TV monitor

Uniformed people with serious expressions look down at a TV monitor

Decades after 9/11, toxic dust and PTSD may be accelerating brain aging among first responders

Roberto Lucchini, Florida International University

Silhouettes of people in uniform from behind at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, buildings rising into the sky

Silhouettes of people in uniform from behind at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, buildings rising into the sky

More articles about psychology

Curious Kids

Real kids ask real questions and real experts answer them

Green lines creating a 3D perspective.

Green lines creating a 3D perspective.

What was the original first-person shooter? Two largely forgotten computer games from the 1970s ushered in the genre

Mark J. P. Wolf, Concordia University Wisconsin

What happened at the end of the Revolutionary War? Here’s how Americans set up a brand-new country once the fighting ended

Sandra Slater, College of Charleston

a black and white image of cornwallis and british forces surrendering to george washington at the battle of yorktown in 1781

a black and white image of cornwallis and british forces surrendering to george washington at the battle of yorktown in 1781

Kids ask the questions. Scholars answer them.

Be sure to include your name, age and where you live. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Send in your question!

Graphic that says 'connecting experts with curious kids', with words in background saying 'how? why? who?'

Graphic that says 'connecting experts with curious kids', with words in background saying 'how? why? who?'

Why do I talk in my sleep? A sleep psychologist explains

Michael R. Nadorff, Mississippi State University

young boy asleep in bed with his mouth open

young boy asleep in bed with his mouth open

Do you need to worry about the Sun turning into a black hole?

Anuradha Gupta, University of Mississippi

An illustration of a black hole drawing in a cloud of gas in space

An illustration of a black hole drawing in a cloud of gas in space

More Curious Kids articles

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