What is Pegasus? A cybersecurity expert explains how the spyware invades phones and what...
End-to-end encryption is technology that scrambles messages on your phone and unscrambles them only on the recipients’ phones, which means anyone who intercepts the messages in between can’t read them....
Profound changes are underway in Earth’s oceans and ice – a lead author explains...
Humans are unequivocally warming the planet, and that’s triggering rapid changes in the atmosphere, oceans and polar regions, and increasing extreme weather around the world, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate...
The water cycle is intensifying as the climate warms, IPCC report warns – that...
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The world watched in July 2021 as extreme rainfall became floods that washed away centuries-old homes in Europe, triggered landslides in Asia and inundated subways in China. More...
Space travel for billionaires is the surprise topic with bipartisan American support – but...
With Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson both flying to space in craft made by their own private companies, July 2021 was perhaps the highest-profile month for space in years. But...
Dinosaur bones became griffins, volcanic eruptions were gods fighting – geomythology looks to ancient...
Everyone loves a good story, especially if it’s based on something true.
Consider the Greek legend of the Titanomachy, in which the Olympian gods, led by Zeus, vanquish the previous generation...
Machine learning plus insights from genetic research shows the workings of cells – and...
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
We combined a machine learning algorithm with knowledge gleaned from hundreds of biological experiments to develop a technique...
From CRISPR to glowing proteins to optogenetics – scientists’ most powerful technologies have been...
Watson and Crick, Schrödinger and Einstein all made theoretical breakthroughs that have changed the world’s understanding of science.
Today big, game-changing ideas are less common. New and improved techniques are...
What is decentralized finance? An expert on bitcoins and blockchains explains the risks and...
Fervent proponents of cryptocurrencies and the blockchains they run on have promised a lot.
To them, these technologies represent salvation from corporate power over the internet, government intrusions on liberty,...
234 scientists read 14,000+ research papers to write the IPCC climate report – here’s...
Hundreds of scientists from around the world just released a new report assessing the state of the global climate. It’s a big deal. The report is used by governments and...
Apple can scan your photos for child abuse and still protect your privacy –...
The proliferation of child sexual abuse material on the internet is harrowing and sobering. Technology companies send tens of millions of reports per year of these images to the nonprofit...
Thinking objectively about romantic conflicts could lead to fewer future disagreements
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
Consciously channeling the perspective of a neutral third party can defuse romantic conflict and prevent future disputes, according...
Change group behavior by talking one-on-one rather than getting on a soapbox
You find a new restaurant with terrific food, but when you suggest meeting there in a group text to your friends, the choice to meet at the same old place...