August 18, 2025 3 min read Why This Seabird’s Superpooper Lifestyle Is Amazing Scientists The first detailed observation of the bathroom habits of Streaked Shearwaters at sea leave scientists with a surprising load of questions By Meghan Bartels edited by Clara Moskowitz When a scientist started fixing backward-facing cameras to the bellies of seabirds called…
Some people who take part in online research projects are using AI to save time Daniele D’Andreti/Unsplash Online questionnaires are being swamped by AI-generated responses – potentially polluting a vital data source for scientists. Platforms like Prolific pay participants small sums for answering questions posed by researchers. They are popular among academics as an easy…
August 18, 2025 3 min read More Teens Are Getting Vaccines Bucking national trends in childhood vaccination rates, more teens are getting recommended shots, including for measles and whooping cough By Megha Satyanarayana edited by Josh Fischman A healthcare worker fills a syringe with the MMR vaccine at a vaccine clinic put on by the…
To measure electricity, we need standardised units Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images A single quantum device could define all three units we use to understand electricity. When you measure electricity, you need to find the flow’s current in amperes, its resistance in ohms and its voltage in volts. But before even getting started, researchers must agree on…
Artificial intelligence is everywhere, from the recommendations on our social media feeds to the autocompletion of text in our e-mails. Generative AI creates original text, images, audio and even video based on patterns it’s identified in the data used to create it. AI chatbots, or interactive AI, turn this into predictive power that strings text…
Chocolate is made by fermenting cocoa beans, which come from the fruit of cacao trees Mimi Chu Leung We could soon taste new kinds of chocolate after the discovery of fungi and bacteria that produce fruity and caramel notes from cocoa beans. Chocolate is typically made by fermenting cocoa beans from the fruit of cacao…
Adding a magnet could simplify the process of producing oxygen in space, making a crewed mission to Mars more feasible.
The unique flavor profiles of premium chocolate—which can include hints of citrus, wafts of wine and subtle notes of spice—have often been attributed to the cocoa bean’s origin. Farmers in tropical equatorial regions of the “cacao belt” have harnessed centuries-old harvesting techniques to coax cocoa beans that deliver the best taste—with the surprising help of…
Svalbard saw record-breaking high temperatures in the summer of 2024 Xinhua/Shutterstock During the summer of 2024, six weeks of record-smashing heat led to a record-obliterating amount of ice melting on the islands of Svalbard in the Arctic. By the end of the summer, 1 per cent of all the land ice on the archipelago had…
This seabird poops on the fly. Streaked shearwaters, oceanic birds that spend much of their time out on the open Pacific Ocean, defecate almost exclusively in the air, researchers report August 18 in Current Biology. Pooping in flight could allow these birds to avoid wading in their own feces, which can contain pathogens such as…
