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Why Locusts Swarm, Humans Do Good and Time Marches On

January 25, 2024

The Joy of Why podcast returns for a third season, with two co-hosts, 24 brilliant guests and 24 all-new episodes.

The Best Neighborhoods for Starting a Life in the Galaxy

January 24, 2024

Some neighborhoods in the Milky Way may be better suited for making habitable planets than others.

The Brain Region That Controls Movement Also Guides Feelings

January 23, 2024

The cerebellum is responsible for far more than coordinating movement. New techniques reveal that it is, in fact, a hub of sensory and emotional processing in the brain.

New Theory Suggests Chatbots Can Understand Text

January 22, 2024

Far from being “stochastic parrots,” the biggest large language models seem to learn enough skills to understand the words they’re processing.

Clashing Cosmic Numbers Challenge Our Best Theory of the Universe

January 19, 2024

As measurements of distant stars and galaxies become more precise, cosmologists are struggling to make sense of sparring values.

Math’s ‘Game of Life’ Reveals Long-Sought Repeating Patterns

January 18, 2024

John Conway’s Game of Life, a famous cellular automaton, has been found to have periodic patterns of every possible length.

The Quest for Simple Rules to Build a Microbial Community

January 17, 2024

Microbiologists are searching for a universal theory of how bacteria form communities based not on their species but on the roles they play.

How to Guarantee the Safety of Autonomous Vehicles

January 16, 2024

As computer-driven cars and planes become more common, the key to preventing accidents, researchers show, is to know what you don’t know.

Q&A

The Mathematician Who Finds the Poetry in Math and the Math in Poetry

January 12, 2024

The links between math, music and art have been explored for thousands of years. Sarah Hart is now turning a mathematical eye to literature.

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