Machine learning streamlines the complexities of making better proteins

Making high-performance proteins for medicines or consumer products can take trial after trial of tweaks, experiments and fine-tuning. A new machine learning framework squeezes all that into a single round of testing. The technique, called MULTI-evolve, predicts how proteins will behave when several of their amino acids are swapped for others. MULTI-evolve blends laboratory experiments…

Read More

Baby chicks pass the ‘bouba-kiki’ test, challenging a theory of language evolution

February 19, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm ‘Mind-blowing’ baby chick study challenges a theory of how humans evolved language Newborn chicks connect sounds with shapes just like humans, suggesting deep evolutionary roots of the “bouba-kiki” effect By Cody Cottier edited by Allison Parshall HUIZENG HU/Getty Images (photography); Jeffery DelViscio (illustrations) Why…

Read More

Eileen Gu, most-decorated female freestyle skier in Olympics history, shuts down reporter’s ‘ridiculous’ question about her performance

You can be the most successful female athlete in your sport, and still have your accomplishments diminished. Eileen Gu, the 22-year-old Chinese freeskier who just became the most decorated Olympian in women’s freestyle skiing, stood up for herself when speaking to a reporter at a press conference this week. In doing so, the skier unwittingly…

Read More
Back To Top