Futurity

Planetary scientists have shown that the material that makes up the Earth originates exclusively from the inner solar system. Planetary scientists have long debated where the material that formed our Earth comes from. Despite its location in the inner solar system, they consider it likely that 6–40% of this material must have come from the outer solar system, i.e., beyond Jupiter. For a long time, material from the outer solar system was considered necessary to bring volatile components such as

As the AI era unfolds around us, historians reflect on lessons learned from the rollout of the internet and other technological revolutions. In an essay posted to X on February 10, artificial intelligence entrepreneur Matt Shumer put it bluntly: “I am no longer needed for the actual technical work of my job.” Shumer’s words, which have racked up 86 million views to date, rattled the nerves of an already-rattled public—and fueled fear for what the future may hold as the AI revol

Babies born to lower-income families are more likely to be born too small or too early—and in some cases, disparities are getting worse, according to new research. The study, which included 380,000 births across the United States between 2012 and 2022, is one of the few to directly link income to a baby’s health at birth. Moms with lower incomes had worse birth outcomes across all newborn-health metrics. The gap between lower- and higher-income families stayed consistent over the 10-year s

A new study offers some of the strongest evidence yet that viewing art doesn’t just move us emotionally—it changes how we think. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara found that people who viewed artistic film shorts showed measurable increases in creative thinking compared with those who watched entertaining, “non-art,” videos. “Art confronts us with the unexpected,” says psychological researcher Madeleine Gross, who led the study with coauthor Jonathan Schooler, also in

Researchers have determined that neighborhood conditions may be driving aging at the cellular level. Their study in Social Science and Medicine finds that people living in neighborhoods with fewer social and economic opportunities such as jobs and stable housing are more likely to have an abundance of CDKN2A RNA, a measure of cellular aging. “Our health is shaped not only by individual behaviors, but also by the environments we live in,” says Mariana Rodrigues, a PhD student at New Y

New research challenges the popular assumption that narcissists gradually damage their relationships over time. The study used longitudinal data to track over 5,000 couples for up to six years. Participants completed questionnaires that measured two dimensions of narcissism: narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry. “Narcissists have two different ways to maintain their inflated positive self-perceptions,” says Gwendolyn Seidman, lead author of the study and associate profess

Researchers have developed a new vaccine platform to bring about broad, protective immunity against numerous influenza virus infections that’s showing promise as an effective vaccine strategy, according to a new study. The study in the journal ACS Nano used cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a vaccine platform to display various human and avian influenza hemagglutinins (HAs) in an upside-down manner on the EV surfaces. The inverted HA tends to present the conserved HA stalk to th

What if we could predict the world’s most dangerous weather events—not days, but weeks in advance? Extreme events like heat waves, hurricanes, and floods cause massive loss of life and billions in damage, but they’re also some of the hardest events for traditional weather forecasting to predict. In this episode of the Big Brains podcast, Associate Professor Pedram Hassanzadeh of the University of Chicago explains why forecasting extreme weather has long pushed science to its limits—a

Experts have answers for you about why people are wired to love sugar and how overindulgence can affect long-term metabolic and brain health. Americans love Easter candy, spending more than $5 billion on it in 2024, with chocolate bunnies and eggs among the most popular treats, according to the National Confectioners Association. While having a candy or two on a holiday isn’t a problem, consistently eating too much sugar can have significant negative effects. According to Brenda Davy, a pr

A researcher has built a robotic swarm with no electronics, no batteries, and no brains. A LEGO brick is not smart. It doesn’t compute. It doesn’t plug in. It just fits. A team of Georgia Tech researchers has applied that logic to robotics. Bolei Deng, an assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, and Xinyi Yang, an aerospace engineering PhD student, build swarms of tiny robotic particles that latch, release, and reorganize without

Researchers have developed a genetic sensor that could allow MRIs to image molecular-level changes. You’ve seen people sliding into the tube of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine on your favorite medical drama, or maybe you’ve been inside one yourself, waiting as the noisy scanner makes images of your brain, heart, bones, or other structures, which doctors use to identify injury or disease. Since the 1970s, MRIs have been important diagnostic tools, combining a magnetic field

A rare group of neurons can reconnect broken spinal circuits and trigger leg muscle activity after spinal cord injury­, according to new research. The discovery could help refine future stem-cell therapies for paralysis. The findings show that certain neurons derived from transplanted neural stem cells can integrate into the spinal cord’s motor networks and relay signals to muscles responsible for walking. Spinal cord injuries occur when trauma damages the bundle of nerves that carries sig

According to a new study, the stress of encounters with rude customers does not always stay at work. If you’ve ever worked a service job, you’ve probably faced a customer who pushed you to the limit: rudely questioning your competence, complaining about a long wait you didn’t cause, rolling their eyes when you explain store policy. You smile anyway, because that’s what you’re trained to do. Later, when they ask for a refill or their check, you move a little slower.

A new study reveals what brain networks govern social mentalization and adaptation, making it possible to predict how flexibly one person reacts to others. The findings of the study could provide new approaches to gaining a better understanding of social disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder or borderline personality disorder. How quickly do we perceive whether a person we are interacting with is clever or predictable? Be it in a game, a conversation or a negotiation, we constantly infer

Astronomers have collected rare evidence of two planets colliding. Anastasios (Andy) Tzanidakis was combing through old telescope data from 2020 when he found an otherwise boring star acting very strangely. The star, named Gaia20ehk, was about 11,000 light-years from Earth near the constellation Pupis. It was a stable “main sequence” star, much like our sun, which meant that it should emit steady, predictable light. Yet this star began to flicker wildly. “The star’s light

Researchers have shown how an all-female fish species called the Amazon molly defies the long-held belief that asexual reproduction is an evolutionary dead end. The key is gene conversion—a process in which one copy of a gene overwrites the other one. Using a technique known as long-read sequencing, University of Missouri researchers Wes Warren and Edward Ricemeyer were able to document this process at the genetic level in the Amazon molly for the first time. Animals that reproduce asexually by

Researchers have identified a network of connections linking the brainstem and spinal cord that helps control hand and arm movements. The research reveals an unexpected layer of the nervous system enabling people to grasp, hold, and manipulate objects. The UC Riverside-led research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that signals controlling voluntary hand movements travel not only directly from the brain to the spinal cord, but also through relay centers in the brainste

In a society increasingly shaped by self-checkouts, GPS navigation, and touchscreen ordering kiosks, new research shows face-to-face conversation may be quietly fading. A new study published in Perspectives on Psychological Science suggests that people are losing 338 spoken words every year and have been for at least a decade and a half. Matthias Mehl, a psychology professor at the University of Arizona, has spent his career studying how people communicate in everyday life. When he set out to re

New chip technology is designed to help identify deepfakes. Artificial intelligence (AI) now makes it alarmingly easy to manipulate photos, videos, and audio recordings. Whether it is fabricated statements attributed to politicians or misleading images from crisis zones, social media and online platforms are already flooded with so-called deepfakes. The consequences for society and democracy are serious: an increasing number of people are being deceived by such forgeries or are beginning to mist

A human-made food source provided honey bees a nutritious diet at a commercial scale over the course of two winter seasons, according to a new study. The study in the journal Insects looked at the new feed as used by five commercial beekeepers in California and Idaho from fall 2022 to spring 2024. This study is a follow-up to an initial paper describing the bee feed. The nutritionally complete feed, which resembles an oversized, very thin granola bar, was developed by APIX Biosciences, a biotech