A few days before one of the most powerful solar explosions of 2024, the sun showed quiet hints of what was coming. Researchers studying the star’s activity noticed shifts in its outer layer hours before the massive burst of energy erupted. These changes weren’t expected to be so clear, surprising e
About 460 million years ago, when Earth was just starting to look like a rocky world with no trees or animals, tiny creatures called millipedes were already crawling around. These weren’t just any bugs—they were some of the first animals to live on land, doing the messy but important job of breaking
In late 2023, a Florida man named Richard Dillon found himself in a nightmare no one should experience. Police arrested him for allegedly trying to lure a child away from a McDonald’s, all because an AI system claimed his face matched surveillance footage. The problem? Dillon was hundreds of miles a
A group of diabetes specialists, including a researcher from Northwestern University, were forced out of a major medical conference in New Orleans last week after distributing a research paper that challenged political interference in science. The paper, published in a respected diabetes journal, cr
The U. S. research funding system has long been praised for its careful, expert-driven approach to awarding grants for basic science. Typically, researchers submit detailed proposals showing what they plan to study, why it matters, and how they’ll test their ideas. These proposals then go through ri
Scientists love studying Arabidopsis because it grows fast and reveals hidden plant secrets. Inside its cells sits a protein named SLAH3, which acts like a tiny stopwatch. When SLAH3 gets a small genetic error, the plant starts flowering weeks early—no matter how much food or light it gets. Usually
Readers on the city’s online portal chose this month’s standout athletes from local high schools, covering performances up to the end of May. Winners can now download and print their own certificates from a shared link, and they’re encouraged to send a photo of the award in use for the newspaper’s g
Researchers found a surprising way to train AI: by making it play Battleship. While today’s AI excels at answering questions, it struggles with asking the right ones—a critical skill for solving complex problems. Scientists at MIT and Harvard tested this by creating a version of Battleship where AI
Aspen Valley Health just got a rare “no problems found” stamp of approval for its trauma services. Every three years, state teams drop in to check everything—from how fast broken bones are fixed to whether the ski patrol radios match the hospital monitors. This time, they spent days watching how tea
Science and humor don’t usually mix, but Gary Larson’s The Far Side proved they could collide in hilarious ways. Some of the comic’s wildest takes weren’t just jokes—they actually flipped scientific concepts upside down or ended up influencing real research. Take the rocket strip where a trio of clu
