What is the June solstice and what causes it?
21 June is the summer solstice, or longest day, in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice, or shortest day,…
ChatGPT wrote code that can make databases leak sensitive information
Six AI tools, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, were exploited to write code capable of damaging commercial databases – although OpenAI appears…
Elon Musk asks court to decide if GPT-4 has human-level intelligence
As part of a lawsuit against OpenAI, billionaire Elon Musk has asked a court to determine whether GPT-4 is an…
Testing drugs on mini-cancers in the lab may reveal best treatment
Exposing miniature versions of tumours to different drugs in the lab helped children with advanced cancer live for longer in…
Life’s vital chemistry may have begun in hot, cracked rock
Amino acids and other molecules important to the origin of life can be enriched within networks of rocky fractures, which…
Blood-thinning drug heparin may stop snakebite victims losing limbs
Giving mice the blood-thinning drug heparin after they were injected with venom from two cobra species reduced their risk of…
Ancient society may have carved ‘sun stones’ to end volcanic winter
Neolithic people buried hundreds of stones carved with images of the sun about 4900 years ago and they may have…
Chemists discover ‘anti-spice’ that could make chilli peppers less hot
An analysis of compounds in chilli peppers has revealed chemicals that seem to negate their heat-giving capsaicinoids. This explains why…
Mathematicians are chasing a number that may reveal the edge of maths
Some numbers are so unimaginably large that they defy the bounds of modern mathematics, and now mathematicians are closing in…
How cocoa beans’ microbiomes are key to the finest chocolate flavours
Nine species of fungi and bacteria have been found in cocoa beans that produce fine chocolate, and this knowledge could…