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Same or Different? The Question Flummoxes Neural Networks.
For all their triumphs, AI systems can’t seem to generalize the concepts of “same” and “different.” Without that, researchers worry, the quest to create truly intelligent machines may be hopeless.
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.
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.
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.
RNA Brakes May Stabilize a Cellular Symbiosis
In some symbiotic partnerships, an RNA-based mechanism may sabotage the growth of greedy hosts.
Squishy Neutron Star Setback Dampens Hopes of Exotic Matter
Groundbreaking results show that neutron stars of different masses may have the same size — upending astrophysical models.
Mathematicians Answer Old Question About Odd Graphs
A pair of mathematicians solved a legendary question about the proportion of vertices in a graph with an odd number of connections.
Scientists Catch Jumping Genes Rewiring Genomes
Transcription factors that act throughout the genome can arise from mashups of transposable elements inserted into established genes.
How Mathematicians Use Homology to Make Sense of Topology
Originally devised as a rigorous means of counting holes, homology provides a scaffolding for mathematical ideas, allowing for a new way to analyze the shapes within data.