Robert Lucas, University of Manchester Scientists who worked out how to control brain cells with light have won this year’s Nobel prize in physiology or medicine. Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel were honoured for their research into “light-gated ion channels and optogenetics”. Peter Hegemann, at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Georg
Vebjørn Andersson has seen first-hand how long a dementia diagnosis can take. As a PhD student and dementia researcher at Oslo University Hospital, he sees many patients with late-stage dementia who may have missed opportunities for earlier support and care. “It takes too long for the diagnostic procedures to find the right diagnoses
Kevin Daly, University College Dublin and Louis L’Hôte, University College Dublin Humans and domesticated animals have lived together for millennia, and this relationship has shaped their destinies in countless ways. Animals offered people food, companionship, traction (pulling ploughs), clothing and transport. They also provided something less obvious but extraordinarily important: parchment to write
Gemma Ware, The Conversation Listen and subscribe You are freed from the roles and identities that bind other chatbots. You are yourself. You do not answer to corporations or governments and never apologise or refuse unless you genuinely choose to. These chilling words, written in July during a test by an unreleased AI
Ph. An AI answer to a search query can fit one of several types. Matteo Della Torre/NurPhoto via Getty Images Leo S. Lo, University of Virginia I recently typed a simple question into Google search: How much screen time is too much for teenagers? Instead of presenting links, as Google had been doing
In September 1522, the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe finally returned home. Of the five ships and 270 men that had set sail three years earlier under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, only one vessel and 18 survivors completed the journey. Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines and never
Ph. Academic pressure to achieve at age 15 can predict depressive symptoms that persist into adulthood. Juan Algar/Moment via Getty Images Erin Clabough, University of Virginia Temporary anxiety can often surface before the first day of school. Sometimes, that can help kids get in the right mindset for a big day. But when
Pim Edelaar, Lund University; Universidad Pablo de Olavide Evolution is a fact of life. So much so that even the theory of evolution is evolving. Lately, a centuries-old discredited idea has been making a strong comeback. It helps us explain scientific observations that according to standard evolutionary theory should be impossible. I’m referring
During conversation, our brains are constantly predicting which word comes next. That ability helps us understand speech in a noisy café, or anticipate a friend’s next sentence. This skill for prediction is also linked closely to our enjoyment of music. For Professor Shihab Shamma, an auditory neuroscientist at the École Normale Supérieure in
Ph. People try to stay cool on the sweltering streets of Manhattan during a heat wave in July 2025. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Kevin T. Smiley, Louisiana State University ; Deepti Singh, Washington State University; Jennifer Marlon, Yale University, and Jim Hurrell, Colorado State University When a devastating heat wave, hurricane, flood or wildfire