Science + Technology – The Conversation – new research, AI, space, psychology and more

Essential digital technologies are critical infrastructure – they are not always built and managed that way

Francine Berman, UMass Amherst

person's arm inside a plastic box with mosquitoes flying toward it

Mosquitoes are picky eaters – we studied 3 common South Florida species to learn why they like some people more than others

Kaylee Marrero, Florida International University and Matthew DeGennaro, Florida International University

Two commercial passenger airplanes on a runway at an airport

Compared to driving, flying is extraordinarily safe – but why doesn’t it feel that way?

Mihhail Berezovski, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Alex Chaparro, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Silhouettes of people in uniform from behind at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, buildings rising into the sky

Decades after 9/11, toxic dust and PTSD may be accelerating brain aging among first responders

Roberto Lucchini, Florida International University

Daejon Love case highlights online romance scams: Research reveals scammers’ tactics – and how to defend against them

Fangzhou Wang, University of Texas at Arlington

cartoon of a woman with hands on chest as five hearts float nearby and a smartphone screen showing a bouquet of flowers and a man clad in black lurking behind the phone

Trump is proposing a US Space Academy – if created, it could blur the lines between NASA and the military

Wendy Whitman Cobb, Air University

Trump, sitting, holds a signed document up, whilte Isaacman and Hassett clap, standing, next to him. Behind the men are four space suits on display

A striped caterpillar sitting on a platform with a large speaker behind it.

Caterpillar twitches in an ultraquiet chamber are helping biologists understand how these insects hear without ears

Aishwarya Sriram, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Carol Miles, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Ronald Miles, Binghamton University, State University of New York, and Sara Aghazadeh, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Many space missions are searching for life beyond Earth – but are we prepared for the fallout if they succeed?

Margaret E. Kosal, Georgia Institute of Technology; Dayana Alagirova, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Karryl Kim Sagun Trajano, Nanyang Technological University

An illustration of floating round microbes

What is public interest technology? An expert on data and policy explains how it helps people in need

Rayid Ghani, Carnegie Mellon University

a person's hand points to cracked paint on a windowsill

How does Salmonella contaminate everything under the sun? A food safety specialist explains how you can stop its spread

Kimberly Baker, Clemson University

Illustration of cylindrical bacteria floating all around a carton of eggs, with the egg in the center cracked and leaking

What would you see if you had one eye on the back of your head and the other in the front?

Abigail Witmer, The Ohio State University

View from behind of a child's head with sunglasses on the back.

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Space

An illustration of the Roman telescope against purple light. It looks like a tube with panels coming off the sides

NASA is gearing up to launch its next flagship space telescope – combining spy technology with sophisticated infrared detectors

Don Figer, Rochester Institute of Technology

Mars rovers give scientists a ground-level view of the red planet – peek inside their NASA control room

Ashwin R. Vasavada, NASA

The Curiosity rover is parked in front of rock outcrops on Mars.

Radio telescopes help scientists map molecules in space and uncover where and how stars form

Olivia Harper Wilkins, Dickinson College

Three radio antennas in front of a mountain range.

Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can

Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida

An illustration of three small robotic rovers, which have a flat body, solar panel wings and four wheels.

‘Starwashing’: How space companies use the greenwashing playbook while engaging in environmentally damaging practices

Marissa E. Yingling, University of Louisville

A rocket lifting off a launchpad, with a streak of flame and a plume of smoke billowing below it

Digital life

a man with curly hair wearing a business suit and tie surrounded by several other men outside a stone building

Changes to Facebook and Instagram are key part of Meta’s $17B settlement with the states over harm to teens

Carolina Rossini, UMass Amherst

Why social media algorithms send you posts you don’t like

Ziv Epstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Farnaz Jahanbakhsh, University of Michigan, and Michael Bernstein, Stanford University

Illustration of man looking at phone with an angel pulling positive emojis from one side of his head and a devil pulling negative ones from the other

An AI agent spent your money – can anyone prove you authorized it?

Aashis Luitel, University of the Cumberlands

Teens are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support – here’s how to keep kids safe

Phoebe S. Moore, UMass Chan Medical School; Megan Kelly, UMass Chan Medical School, and Yael Dvir, UMass Chan Medical School

Teen holding smartphone with chat conversation late at night at home.

New tech adds phone tracking to license plate readers, associating devices with identifiable cars

Nicole M. Bennett, Indiana University

a vertical black box with a translucent circle near the top on a pole beside a road as a car passes by

More articles about artificial intelligence

New research

Worms navigate narrow paths faster than wide ones – these findings could inform robot design

K. R. Prathyusha, University of Colorado Boulder

FDA approves breakthrough pancreatic cancer drug – an oncologist explains how daraxonrasib nearly doubles survival

Christopher Lieu, University of Colorado Anschutz

Illustration of a crosshairs centering on a cancer cell clinging to an organ wall

‘Male’ and ‘female’ plugs and connectors – gendered language for the ends of garden hoses, electrical cords and pipe fittings sparks debate

Jo Mackiewicz, Iowa State University and Jordan Smith, University of Northern Colorado

Green electrical cord with plug end ready to insert into socket end

Cancer vaccines could transform treatment and prevention – but misinformation about mRNA vaccines threatens their potential

Dannell D. Boatman, West Virginia University

Hand wearing white nitrile glove holding a vial labeled (CANCER mRNA vaccine) between two fingers

Quitting alcohol changes the brain and can increase the risk of compulsive drinking – new research in mice

Danny G. Winder, UMass Chan Medical School and Marie Doyle, UMass Chan Medical School

A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade-off

Jessica D. Ayers, Boise State University and Diego Guevara Beltran, University of Arizona

When expressive humanoid robots are awkward, people become wary – new brain study

Hasan Ayaz, Drexel University; Ewart J. de Visser, United States Air Force Academy; Frank Krueger, George Mason University, and Yigit Topoglu, United States Air Force Academy

a humanoid robot's face with its hands held up by its eyes

Producing spider silk is a biological feat – scientists are using it to develop materials for drug delivery and wound care

Aliasger K. Salem, University of Iowa

Brain and mind

I’m part of the team writing the next bible of psychiatry – for the first time, the DSM will use biology to understand mental disorders

Anand Kumar, University of Illinois Chicago

One of the most common brain disorders is one of the most misunderstood – how functional neurological disorder is both ‘all in your head’ and beyond it

Mackenzi Moore, University of Colorado Anschutz

Illustration of white silhouettes of three overlapping side profiles, one missing a puzzle piece in its head and one split into four puzzle pieces

Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer’s – how complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain

Hatim Sharif, The University of Texas at San Antonio

Vector image of brain hovering above a city, lines connecting it to various points marked with red circles

A lack of pies for a pack of lies – what spoonerisms reveal about how the brain produces speech

Karen Stollznow, University of Colorado Boulder; Griffith University

colorful cakes and desserts in a display case

Curious Kids

Real kids ask real questions and real experts answer them

A glass pitcher with dark fluid and lots of ice cubes against a black background

How do ice cubes cool a drink?

Matthew Koss, College of the Holy Cross

Can we remove or decrease spaces between atoms or molecules?

Robin Macaluso, University of Texas at Arlington

A stack of hexagonal shapes arranged into sheets

Kids ask the questions. Scholars answer them.

Be sure to include your name, age and where you live. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Send in your question!

Graphic that says 'connecting experts with curious kids', with words in background saying 'how? why? who?'

What makes muscles contract? A physiologist explains how muscles move

Kiki Crawford, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

young girl flexing her right arm at the beach

How hot does it get in the desert? A climate scientist explains its blazing heat

Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton

A sign warning visitors of extreme heat is posted next to a road in a rocky desert