CLIMATEWIRE | In the past decade, as extreme weather killed nearly 700 people in Texas, the state relinquished $225 million in federal grant money that it was supposed to spend on protecting residents from disasters, federal records show. The money had come from a special federal disaster program that’s given states billions of dollars for…
Lithium-based batteries like the ones that power electric vehicles are at risk of overheating YONHAP/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Batteries enhanced with a polymer material that releases fire-suppressing chemicals at high temperatures are significantly less likely to explode into flames. This technique could boost the safety of battery-reliant machines, like electric cars and medical devices. “Our approach enhances safety…
DeepMind’s AlphaGenome Aims to Decode DNA’s ‘Dark Matter’ This AI system can analyze up to one million DNA letters at once, predicting how tiny changes in noncoding regions trigger everything from cancer to rare genetic disorders—and potentially revolutionizing personalized medicine By Deni Ellis Béchard edited by Dean Visser The puzzle seems impossible: take a three-billion-letter…
Dire wolves were massive and highly intelligent animals nearly the size of a small horse, capable of ripping a man’s arm off as easily as a dog kills a rat. They lived in cold regions in a place called Westeros… oh sorry, I’m getting confused with the fictional dire wolves in the Game of Thrones…
Empire of AIKaren HaoPenguin Press | $32 If you’ve been following the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence in the last decade, you may have read articles by tech journalist Karen Hao in the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal or MIT Technology Review. In her debut book, Empire of AI, Hao employs her expertise to investigate…
On a small, gently rocking research boat anchored just offshore in Chesapeake Bay, I lowered a sterile plastic bottle into the water to collect a sample for studying aquatic microbes. Workers nearby dredged oysters from the shallows, and families played in the low waves. To them, it was a perfect summer day. But hidden in…
The Faraday 2 battery developed by Superdielectrics Superdielectrics A new battery storage system built using supercapacitor technology could “leapfrog” lithium-ion batteries and revolutionise how renewable power is stored and deployed, say its inventors. UK firm Superdielectrics unveiled its new prototype storage system, the Faraday 2, at an event in central London on 8 July. It…
Over a video call from a dig site near Oxford, England, Peter Falkingham points his phone down to show a fossilized footprint of what was probably a large sauropod. Stepping inside the long-necked dinosaur print, which could fit both of his feet multiple times, he explains that these marks are parts of trackways: millions-of-years-old footprints…
How old are you really? Counting birthdays may be a common tally, but your “age” isn’t determined by time alone. New research increasingly shows the importance of considering chronological age as something very different from biological age—in which the body and its cells, tissues and organs all have separate “clocks” that can tick at different…
“Isometric moves such as planks can reduce pain” Sutulastock/Shutterstock In my last column, I explained why isometric exercises – which involve squeezing and holding a muscle in a fixed position – are especially effective at lowering blood pressure. Since then, I have started incorporating them into my own workouts. This got me wondering: do these…
