Science (Page 237)

It normally takes ten years to produce a vaccine. Mongkolchon Akesin/Shutterstock To bring COVID-19 under control a vaccine needs to be available to every nation, rich and poor – and it needs to happen quickly. But pharmaceutical breakthroughs are usually the result a slow process involving competition, secrecy, risky investmentsContinue Reading

There seems to be a network of underground bodies of liquid water at Mars' south pole. NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems Venus may harbour life some 50km above its surface, we learned a couple of weeks ago. Now a new paper, published in Nature Astronomy, reveals that the best place forContinue Reading

Many children have busy and rigid schedules. VGstockstudio/Shutterstock As a mother of three grown-up children, I vividly recall the panic I felt when the annual six-week summer school holidays approached. Weeks of potential chaos loomed ahead as the regular routines were disrupted. My psychological knowledge just added to the stress.Continue Reading

© Paul Breeze, Author provided Humanity originated on the African continent at least 300,000 years ago. We know from fossil evidence in southern Greece and the Levant (modern-day Israel) that some early members of our species expanded beyond Africa around 200,000 years ago, and again between 120,000 to 90,000 yearsContinue Reading

Bas Nastassia/Shutterstock Since it was unveiled earlier this year, the new AI-based language generating software GPT-3 has attracted much attention for its ability to produce passages of writing that are convincingly human-like. Some have even suggested that the program, created by Elon Musk’s OpenAI, may be considered or appears toContinue Reading

NASA's Curiosity Rover takes a selfie on Mars in June, 2018. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, CC BY-SA The Earth’s biosphere contains all the known ingredients necessary for life as we know it. Broadly speaking these are: liquid water, at least one source of energy, and an inventory of biologically useful elements and molecules.Continue Reading

Metamorworks/Shutterstock Algorithms have taken a lot of flak recently, particularly those being used by the government and other public bodies in the UK. The controversial algorithm used to award student grades caused a huge public outcry, but national and local governments and several police forces have been withdrawing other algorithmsContinue Reading

Bas Nastassia/Shutterstock Since it was unveiled earlier this year, the new AI-based language generating software GPT-3 has attracted much attention for its ability to produce passages of writing that are convincingly human-like. Some have even suggested that the program, created by Elon Musk’s OpenAI, may be considered or appears toContinue Reading

Bas Nastassia/Shutterstock Since it was unveiled earlier this year, the new AI-based language generating software GPT-3 has attracted much attention for its ability to produce passages of writing that are convincingly human-like. Some have even suggested that the program, created by Elon Musk’s OpenAI, may be considered or appears toContinue Reading