Science + Technology – The Conversation – new research, AI, space, psychology and more

Illustration of cylindrical bacteria floating all around a carton of eggs, with the egg in the center cracked and leaking

How does Salmonella contaminate everything under the sun? A food safety specialist explains how you can stop its spread

Kimberly Baker, Clemson University

Worms navigate narrow paths faster than wide ones – these findings could inform robot design

K. R. Prathyusha, University of Colorado Boulder

View from behind of a child's head with sunglasses on the back.

What would you see if you had one eye on the back of your head and the other in the front?

Abigail Witmer, The Ohio State University

a man with curly hair wearing a business suit and tie surrounded by several other men outside a stone building

Changes to Facebook and Instagram are key part of Meta’s $17B settlement with the states over harm to teens

Carolina Rossini, UMass Amherst

FDA approves breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug – an oncologist explains how daraxonrasib nearly doubles survival

Christopher Lieu, University of Colorado Anschutz

Illustration of a crosshairs centering on a cancer cell clinging to an organ wall

NASA is gearing up to launch its next flagship space telescope – combining spy technology with sophisticated infrared detectors

Don Figer, Rochester Institute of Technology

An illustration of the Roman telescope against purple light. It looks like a tube with panels coming off the sides

I’m part of the team writing the next bible of psychiatry – for the first time, the DSM will use biology to understand mental disorders

Anand Kumar, University of Illinois Chicago

Communicating uncertainty in research is hard, so we worked on how best to do it – here’s what you can watch out for

Matthew Facciani, Yale University; Aleeza Gerstein, University of Manitoba; Kristi Heather Kenyon, University of Winnipeg, and S. Michelle Driedger, University of Manitoba

A woman wearing a lab coat presenting scientific research.

Lactose intolerance is actually the human norm – but racism, the US government and business interests have made it into a condition

Hilary Smith, University of Denver

Close-up of spilled glass bottle of milk

Mars rovers give scientists a ground-level view of the red planet – peek inside their NASA control room

Ashwin R. Vasavada, NASA

The Curiosity rover is parked in front of rock outcrops on Mars.

Shifting the cleanup cost of packaging waste to companies could encourage greener packaging – but only if states are aligned

Erin Victor, University of Maine

The shampoo aisle of a store, with a wall of shelves displaying lots of colorful bottles.

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Space

Three radio antennas in front of a mountain range.

Radio telescopes help scientists map molecules in space and uncover where and how stars form

Olivia Harper Wilkins, Dickinson College

Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can

Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida

An illustration of three small robotic rovers, which have a flat body, solar panel wings and four wheels.

‘Starwashing’: How space companies use the greenwashing playbook while engaging in environmentally damaging practices

Marissa E. Yingling, University of Louisville

A rocket lifting off a launchpad, with a streak of flame and a plume of smoke billowing below it

SpaceX aims to use rockets to quickly transport cargo across the Earth and into orbit – moves that would expand the global cargo system

Euihyeon Choi, Georgia Institute of Technology and Koki Ho, Georgia Institute of Technology

A rocket lifting off a launchpad, with a plume of flame and smoke below it.

Rescuing satellites is harder than it looks – a growing space junk problem will make doing so more important

Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida

An illustration of one box-shaped satellite with two solar panels on the side approaching a larger satellite, with Earth in the background.

Digital life

Illustration of man looking at phone with an angel pulling positive emojis from one side of his head and a devil pulling negative ones from the other

Why social media algorithms send you posts you don’t like

Ziv Epstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Farnaz Jahanbakhsh, University of Michigan, and Michael Bernstein, Stanford University

An AI agent spent your money – can anyone prove you authorized it?

Aashis Luitel, University of the Cumberlands

Teens are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support – here’s how to keep kids safe

Phoebe S. Moore, UMass Chan Medical School; Megan Kelly, UMass Chan Medical School, and Yael Dvir, UMass Chan Medical School

Teen holding smartphone with chat conversation late at night at home.

New tech adds phone tracking to license plate readers, associating devices with identifiable cars

Nicole M. Bennett, Indiana University

a vertical black box with a translucent circle near the top on a pole beside a road as a car passes by

China is shaping the future of open-source technology – including AI

Christopher K. Tong, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

people behind and in front of a booth at a trade show

More articles about artificial intelligence

New research

‘Male’ and ‘female’ plugs and connectors – gendered language for the ends of garden hoses, electrical cords and pipe fittings sparks debate

Jo Mackiewicz, Iowa State University and Jordan Smith, University of Northern Colorado

Green electrical cord with plug end ready to insert into socket end

Cancer vaccines could transform treatment and prevention – but misinformation about mRNA vaccines threatens their potential

Dannell D. Boatman, West Virginia University

Hand wearing white nitrile glove holding a vial labeled (CANCER mRNA vaccine) between two fingers

Quitting alcohol changes the brain and can increase the risk of compulsive drinking – new research in mice

Danny G. Winder, UMass Chan Medical School and Marie Doyle, UMass Chan Medical School

A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade-off

Jessica D. Ayers, Boise State University and Diego Guevara Beltran, University of Arizona

When expressive humanoid robots are awkward, people become wary – new brain study

Hasan Ayaz, Drexel University; Ewart J. de Visser, United States Air Force Academy; Frank Krueger, George Mason University, and Yigit Topoglu, United States Air Force Academy

a humanoid robot's face with its hands held up by its eyes

Producing spider silk is a biological feat – scientists are using it to develop materials for drug delivery and wound care

Aliasger K. Salem, University of Iowa

Foldable synthetic molecules could infiltrate and bust apart the toxic protein clumps causing Parkinson’s

Sunil Kumar, University of Denver

Illustration of spindly brain cells extending across a black background

New genetic approaches raise hopes for restoring the American chestnut to its former glory

Steve Strauss, Oregon State University

Brain and mind

One of the most common brain disorders is one of the most misunderstood – how functional neurological disorder is both ‘all in your head’ and beyond it

Mackenzi Moore, University of Colorado Anschutz

Illustration of white silhouettes of three overlapping side profiles, one missing a puzzle piece in its head and one split into four puzzle pieces

Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer’s – how complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain

Hatim Sharif, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Vector image of brain hovering above a city, lines connecting it to various points marked with red circles

A lack of pies for a pack of lies – what spoonerisms reveal about how the brain produces speech

Karen Stollznow, University of Colorado Boulder; Griffith University

colorful cakes and desserts in a display case

Kids learn to bully from adults’ threats, manipulation and criticism – a child psychologist explains how parents can model better tactics

Angela J. Narayan, University of Denver

Displeased girl leans on table while man and woman have heated discussion in background

Curious Kids

Real kids ask real questions and real experts answer them

A glass pitcher with dark fluid and lots of ice cubes against a black background

How do ice cubes cool a drink?

Matthew Koss, College of the Holy Cross

Can we remove or decrease spaces between atoms or molecules?

Robin Macaluso, University of Texas at Arlington

A stack of hexagonal shapes arranged into sheets

Kids ask the questions. Scholars answer them.

Be sure to include your name, age and where you live. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Send in your question!

Graphic that says 'connecting experts with curious kids', with words in background saying 'how? why? who?'

What makes muscles contract? A physiologist explains how muscles move

Kiki Crawford, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

young girl flexing her right arm at the beach

How hot does it get in the desert? A climate scientist explains its blazing heat

Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton

A sign warning visitors of extreme heat is posted next to a road in a rocky desert

Science + Technology – The Conversation – new research, AI, space, psychology and more

Top stories

How does Salmonella contaminate everything under the sun? A food safety specialist explains how you can stop its spread

Worms navigate narrow paths faster than wide ones – these findings could inform robot design

What would you see if you had one eye on the back of your head and the other in the front?

Changes to Facebook and Instagram are key part of Meta’s $17B settlement with the states over harm to teens

FDA approves breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug – an oncologist explains how daraxonrasib nearly doubles survival

NASA is gearing up to launch its next flagship space telescope – combining spy technology with sophisticated infrared detectors

I’m part of the team writing the next bible of psychiatry – for the first time, the DSM will use biology to understand mental disorders

Communicating uncertainty in research is hard, so we worked on how best to do it – here’s what you can watch out for

Lactose intolerance is actually the human norm – but racism, the US government and business interests have made it into a condition

Mars rovers give scientists a ground-level view of the red planet – peek inside their NASA control room

Shifting the cleanup cost of packaging waste to companies could encourage greener packaging – but only if states are aligned

Get our science editors' picks in your inbox every week

Space

Radio telescopes help scientists map molecules in space and uncover where and how stars form

Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can

‘Starwashing’: How space companies use the greenwashing playbook while engaging in environmentally damaging practices

SpaceX aims to use rockets to quickly transport cargo across the Earth and into orbit – moves that would expand the global cargo system

Rescuing satellites is harder than it looks – a growing space junk problem will make doing so more important

Digital life

Why social media algorithms send you posts you don’t like

An AI agent spent your money – can anyone prove you authorized it?

Teens are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support – here’s how to keep kids safe

New tech adds phone tracking to license plate readers, associating devices with identifiable cars

China is shaping the future of open-source technology – including AI

New research

‘Male’ and ‘female’ plugs and connectors – gendered language for the ends of garden hoses, electrical cords and pipe fittings sparks debate

Cancer vaccines could transform treatment and prevention – but misinformation about mRNA vaccines threatens their potential

Quitting alcohol changes the brain and can increase the risk of compulsive drinking – new research in mice

A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade-off

When expressive humanoid robots are awkward, people become wary – new brain study

Producing spider silk is a biological feat – scientists are using it to develop materials for drug delivery and wound care

Foldable synthetic molecules could infiltrate and bust apart the toxic protein clumps causing Parkinson’s

New genetic approaches raise hopes for restoring the American chestnut to its former glory

Brain and mind

One of the most common brain disorders is one of the most misunderstood – how functional neurological disorder is both ‘all in your head’ and beyond it

Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer’s – how complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain

A lack of pies for a pack of lies – what spoonerisms reveal about how the brain produces speech

Kids learn to bully from adults’ threats, manipulation and criticism – a child psychologist explains how parents can model better tactics

Curious Kids

How do ice cubes cool a drink?

Can we remove or decrease spaces between atoms or molecules?

Kids ask the questions. Scholars answer them.

What makes muscles contract? A physiologist explains how muscles move

How hot does it get in the desert? A climate scientist explains its blazing heat

Most read this week

I’m part of the team writing the next bible of psychiatry – for the first time, the DSM will use biology to understand mental disorders

‘Male’ and ‘female’ plugs and connectors – gendered language for the ends of garden hoses, electrical cords and pipe fittings sparks debate

Lactose intolerance is actually the human norm – but racism, the US government and business interests have made it into a condition

Shifting the cleanup cost of packaging waste to companies could encourage greener packaging – but only if states are aligned

FDA approves breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug – an oncologist explains how daraxonrasib nearly doubles survival

More protein in your breakfast or snacks won’t give you more muscle without more work – a biologist separates the science from the marketing