Category: Science

Science News

5 Unique Ways Animals Avoid Getting Eaten

A healthy, balanced diet is a great way to live to a ripe, old age. But even more important is avoiding being part of someone else’s healthy, balanced diet. Few creatures on this planet enjoy the distinction of sitting on top of their local food chain. Even those that rely on killing others for sustenance must sometimes avoid other, bigger predators; for every great...

Birth Control for Cats? Gene Therapy May Offer a Method

A small study uses genetic engineering with the goal of curbing vast stray feline populations. For all the cats who share our homes as companion animals, there is a vast shadow world of strays — a sprawling and fast-breeding crowd. Their lives are plagued by the threat of infectious diseases, predators and fast-moving cars. And they are major predators themselves, hunting down millions of...

Your Guide to the Majestic, Long Neck Dinosaur

Some dinosaurs needed long necks to reach high in the trees, loading their enormous guts with enough roughage to supply a small forest. These were the dinosaurs with the longest necks, so lengthy in stature that their height reached that of a four-story building while standing upright. Giraffes had nothing on these prehistoric skyscrapers. And there were many species of long-necked dinosaurs. While each...

Merck Sues Over Medicare Drug-Price Negotiation Law

The company is heavily reliant on a cancer drug that could be targeted by a program intended to lower drug prices. The pharmaceutical company Merck on Tuesday sued the federal government over legislation that empowers Medicare for the first time to negotiate prices directly with drugmakers. Merck’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, is the drug industry’s most significant move so far to...

Tonga Eruption Triggered Massive ‘Equatorial Plasma Bubble’

The eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano on January 15, 2022, which produced a massive plume of smoke, is captured in this image provided by NOAA’s GOES-West satellite. Tsunami warnings stretched across the Pacific Ocean and as far east as the coastline of the continental United States. Credit: NOAA Photo/UPI/Alamy Live News Advertisement

Massive Turing test shows we can only just tell AIs apart from humans

Who are you talking to? IR Stone/Shutterstock People can only tell apart artificial intelligences from humans around 60 per cent of the time, according to a test taken by more than 1.5 million people. The results raise questions about whether the new generation of AIs should have to identify themselves in conversation, say researchers. Computer scientist Alan Turing first proposed a test for machine...

Seven Underappreciated Birding Spots in New York

Sure, you know about Central Park and Flushing Meadows. But here are a few more birding locations worth checking out. Birding in New York City is easier than you might think. “The best place to bird in New York is exactly where you are right at that moment,” said Martha Harbison, a writer and vice president of the Feminist Bird Club. “I’ve observed 20...