To build a general artificial intelligence, we may need to know more about our own minds, argues the computer scientist Melanie Mitchell.
Wulong Tommy
explainers
How Animals Color Themselves With Nanoscale Structures
Animals sculpt the optical properties of their tissues at the nanoscale to give themselves “structural colors.” New work is piecing together how they do it.
Q&A
The Materials Scientist Who Studies the Innards of Exoplanets
Federica Coppari uses the world’s most powerful laser to recreate the cores of distant worlds.
![An illustration showing three stacked sheets of carbon atoms, each offset from the one below by half a lattice spacing.]](https://d2r55xnwy6nx47.cloudfront.net/uploads/2021/06/Trilayer_Graphene_520x292-520x292.jpg)
condensed matter physics
Graphene Superconductors May Be Less Exotic Than Physicists Hoped
Superconductivity has been discovered in graphene devices without any twists, suggesting the form of superconductivity in the material might be mundane after all.
Math Meets QFT
The Mystery at the Heart of Physics That Only Math Can Solve
The accelerating effort to understand the mathematics of quantum field theory will have profound consequences for both math and physics.
genomics
DNA Jumps Between Animal Species. No One Knows How Often.
The discovery of a gene shared by two unrelated species of fish is the latest evidence that horizontal gene transfers occur surprisingly often in vertebrates.
planetary science
Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magnetic Fields
Scientists have long struggled to understand how common planets form. A new supercomputer simulation shows that the missing ingredient may be magnetism.
geometry
Mathematicians Identify Threshold at Which Shapes Give Way
A new proof establishes the boundary at which a shape becomes so corrugated, it can be crushed.
molecular biology
RNA Brakes May Stabilize a Cellular Symbiosis
In some symbiotic partnerships, an RNA-based mechanism may sabotage the growth of greedy hosts.
Multimedia
More multimedia
Multimedia
What Is the Geometry of the Universe?
In our mind’s eye, the universe seems to go on forever. But using geometry we can explore a variety of three-dimensional shapes that offer alternatives to “ordinary” infinite space.
Puzzle
More puzzles
Insights puzzle
How a Simple Arithmetic Puzzle Can Guide Discovery
Playing with numbers can lead to deep mathematical and scientific insights.
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Illuminating basic science and math research through public service journalism.
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