Roughly 4.5 million years ago, the sun passed remarkably close to two intensely bright stars whose radiation flooded nearby space — and the encounter left a ghostly scar that astronomers can still detect today, according to a new study. The research team says the...
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mapped an unseen part of the sun at its most active moment
For the first time, scientists have created detailed, 2D maps of the sun's outermost atmosphere. This feat was accomplished using data from NASA's Parker Solar Probe, which has been dipping in and out of the sun's atmosphere, called the corona, since 2021. Parker is...
Post-COP30, more aggressive policies needed to cap global warming at 1.5 C
The latest United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) concluded in November without a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels and without significant progress in strengthening national pledges to reduce climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions. In aggregate, today’s...
Best fitness trackers for swimming 2025: Smart goggles, screenless bands and more
Many of the best fitness trackers can perform well in the water but there are nuances to what they can do. The main difference is their water resistance rating, ideally with you wanting more than 5ATM (submersible up to 50 meters) and even some of the best budget...
Best fitness trackers for beginners 2025: From Apple Watch to Garmin Forerunner 165
Even with a comprehensive selection of top-tier fitness trackers available, there's no single device that suits every individual. This reality is particularly significant for newcomers looking to leverage a smartwatch for monitoring their new January fitness goals....
Trump signs order to block states from enforcing own AI rules
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at blocking states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations. "We want to have one central source of approval," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. It will give the...
AI therapy chatbot ‘works best with emotion’
Artificial intelligence (AI) therapy "works best" when patients "feel emotionally close to their chatbot", according to a study from the University of Sussex. With more than one in three UK residents now using AI to support their mental health or wellbeing according...
Amazon pulls AI recap from Fallout TV show after it made several mistakes
Amazon has pulled a video recap made with artificial intelligence (AI) from its hit TV show Fallout after users said it got several facts wrong about the series. The firm said in November it was testing the "first-of-its-kind" tool in the US to help viewers catch up...
This Grand Theft Auto creator is back – with a novel about an AI that hijacks your mind
New method improves the reliability of statistical estimations
Let’s say an environmental scientist is studying whether exposure to air pollution is associated with lower birth weights in a particular county. They might train a machine-learning model to estimate the magnitude of this association, since machine-learning methods...
New MIT program to train military leaders for the AI age
Artificial intelligence can enhance decision-making and enable action with reduced risk and greater precision, making it a critical tool for national security. A new program offered jointly by the MIT departments of Mechanical Engineering (Course 2, MechE) and...
Enabling small language models to solve complex reasoning tasks
As language models (LMs) improve at tasks like image generation, trivia questions, and simple math, you might think that human-like reasoning is around the corner. In reality, they still trail us by a wide margin on complex tasks. Try playing Sudoku with one, for...












