If you watch sci-fi movies, you’d think that flying a spaceship is just like driving a slightly more complicated car (or a Winnebago in Spaceballs). And George Lucas gave us those galactic battles with pilots who look like they’re flying fighter jets on Earth. Well, bad news: Space is really, really different. In particular, moving […]

“Reliable assurance that a project’s declared ton of carbon savings equates to a real ton of emissions removed, reduced, or avoided is crucial,” Cynthia Giles, a senior EPA advisor under President Biden, and Cary Coglianese, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in a recent editorial in Science. “Yet extensive research from many […]

The Earth has just added its seventh confirmed quasi-lunar moon. It is 2025 PN7, a small Apollo-type asteroid detected in August solely by its brightness, thanks to the Hawaiian Pan-STARRS 1 telescope. After analyzing its trajectory, scientists concluded that the object maintains a 1:1 resonance with the Earth. In other words, it orbits the sun […]

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. What’s next for carbon removal? After years of growth that spawned hundreds of startups, the nascent carbon removal sector appears to be facing a reckoning.Running Tide, a promising aquaculture company, shut down its […]

As a journalist who covers AI, I hear from countless people who seem utterly convinced that ChatGPT, Claude, or some other chatbot has achieved “sentience.” Or “consciousness.” Or—my personal favorite—“a mind of its own.” The Turing test was aced a while back, yes, but unlike rote intelligence, these things are not so easily pinned down. […]

Right now, MIT alumni and friends are voicing their support for: America’s scientific and technological leadership Merit-based admissions and affordable education Advances that increase US health, security, and prosperity Our community is standing up for MIT and its mission to serve the nation and the world. And we need you to join us at this […]