Latest Articles

Tiny Language Models Come of Age

October 5, 2023

To better understand how neural networks learn to simulate writing, researchers trained simpler versions on synthetic children’s stories.

Nobel Prize Honors Inventors of ‘Quantum Dot’ Nanoparticles

October 4, 2023

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three researchers who harnessed the quantum behaviors of semiconductor nanocrystals.

Physicists Who Explored Tiny Glimpses of Time Win Nobel Prize

October 3, 2023

The development of attosecond pulses of light allowed researchers to explore the frame-by-frame movement of electrons.

Nobel Prize Awarded to mRNA Vaccine Scientists

October 2, 2023

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries leading to mRNA vaccines, such as those that protect against Covid-19.

How Simple Math Moves the Needle

September 29, 2023

The spatial intuition behind a three-point turn offers an on-ramp to a century-old geometry problem.

In the Milky Way’s Stars, a History of Violence

September 28, 2023

Our galaxy's stars keep a record of its past. By reading those stories, astronomers are learning more about how the Milky Way came to be — and about the galaxy we live in today.

How Many Microbes Does It Take to Make You Sick?

September 27, 2023

Exposure to a virus isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. The concept of “infectious dose” suggests ways to keep ourselves safer from harm.

To Defend the Genome, These Cells Destroy Their Own DNA

September 26, 2023

Under a microscope, cells in a worm embryo deliberately eliminated one-third of their genome — an uncompromising tactic that may combat harmful genetic parasites.

Mathematicians Cross the Line to Get to the Point

September 25, 2023

A new paper establishes a long-conjectured bound about the size of the overlap between sets of lines and points.

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