Category: 9. Sci/Tech

For decades, scientists have viewed the Big Bang as the starting point of space and time. But research into cosmic inflation—the lightning-fast expansion that likely occurred before the Big Bang itself—has complicated that view. If…

Scientists have successfully grown human teeth in a lab for the first time, according to a…

New research suggests that playing music in the background could help people with ADHD concentrate, especially when it’s fast-paced and engaging. Rather than being a distraction, background music might serve as a subtle mental anchor,…

Food allergies are on the rise. In the UK, the number of people affected doubled between 2008 and 2018. Globally, it’s estimated some 220 million people experience allergic reactions to certain foods.

For most, this means a few mild symptoms,…

For non-runners who don’t appreciate the appeal of a two-hour slog at 6am, know that running (and other forms of cardio) sometimes produces a powerful chemical hit that justifies comparisons with actual narcotics.

The body produces two…

A little over 5 million years ago, water from the Atlantic Ocean found a way through the…

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.

Large language models work well because they’re so large. The latest models from OpenAI, Meta, and DeepSeek use hundreds of billions of “parameters”—the adjustable knobs that…

The bitter bracket fungus, Amaropostia stiptica, is probably not available at your local farmer’s market, and if you didn’t get the hint from its name, it’s because it tastes really, really terrible.

In fact, this bracket fungus is so bitter…

Have you ever had trouble taking in information in a noisy environment? A new study suggests that tapping your fingers in a steady rhythm could help you ‘tune in’ through the noise.

The researchers designed a series of experiments to uncover…

Find it difficult to do several things at once? First, the good news is you’re not alone – most people are terrible at task-switching. Secondly (and in even more good news), psychologists have been studying it for decades to figure out…