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‘Noise’ in the Brain Encodes Surprisingly Important Signals
Activity in the visual cortex and other sensory areas is dominated by signals about body movements, down to little tics and twitches. Scientists are now rethinking how they study and conceive of perception.
Computers Evolve a New Path Toward Human Intelligence
By ignoring their goals, evolutionary algorithms have solved longstanding challenges in artificial intelligence.
Cosmic Triangles Open a Window to the Origin of Time
A close look at fundamental symmetries has exposed hidden patterns in the universe. Physicists think that those same symmetries may also reveal time’s original secret.
Machines Beat Humans on a Reading Test. But Do They Understand?
A tool known as BERT can now beat humans on advanced reading-comprehension tests. But it's also revealed how far AI has to go.
Inherited Learning? It Happens, but How Is Uncertain
Studies suggest that epigenetics allows some learned adaptive responses to be passed down to new generations. The question is how.
With Category Theory, Mathematics Escapes From Equality
Two monumental works have led many mathematicians to avoid the equal sign. The process has not always gone smoothly.
Soil’s Microbial Market Shows the Ruthless Side of Forests
In the “underground economy” for soil nutrients, fungi strike hard bargains and punish plants that won’t meet their price.
Cosmologists Debate How Fast the Universe Is Expanding
New measurements could upend the standard theory of the cosmos that has reigned since the discovery of dark energy 21 years ago.
Quantum Darwinism, an Idea to Explain Objective Reality, Passes First Tests
Three experiments have vetted quantum Darwinism, a theory that explains how quantum possibilities can give rise to objective, classical reality.