Ancient Inuit people braved icy waters to reach a remote island in Greenland 4,500 years ago, archaeologists discover
Paleo-Inuit people arrived on a remote high-Arctic island off the northwest coast of Greenland about 4,500 years ago, according to a new study that documents evidence of prehistoric habitation there. With sophisticated watercraft and fine-tuned seafaring techniques, these early Arctic peoples repeatedly made perilous open-ocean journeys to islands to access vital marine resources. The island […]
Well, I’m a little less angry about the “Magnificent Ambersons” AI project
When a startup announced last fall that it planned to use generative AI to recreate lost footage from Orson Welles’ classic film, The Ambersons, I was skeptical. More than that, I was baffled as to why someone would spend time and money on a work that had so little commercial value but was guaranteed to […]
‘Night owls’ may have worse heart health, but why?
Some people perform best in the morning, while others feel most awake and productive at night. But growing evidence suggests that the latter group, night owls, may be linked to poorer heart health. Now, a large study published January 28 in the Journal of the American Heart Association is lending weight to this idea. Taking […]
Dozens of people march in support of billionaire in San Francisco
Marches in support of California billionaires did not necessarily draw large crowds Saturday. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, about 30 people attended, including about 10 cynical counter-protesters. To be fair, organizer Derrick Kaufman predicted in advance that only “a few dozen” people would attend. However, the strange idea of a “billionaire march” caused a […]
From Svedka to Anthropic, brands are boldly leveraging AI in their Super Bowl ads
Following last year’s trend of showcasing AI in multi-million dollar ad spots, the 2026 Super Bowl ad takes it a step further by leveraging AI to both create commercials and promote the latest AI products. Love it or hate it, this technology has become a star in its own right alongside the latest movie trailers […]
Microorganisms in Iceland are hoarding nitrogen, which disrupts nutrient cycling
As soils at high latitudes warm, microorganisms in the soil change the way they process nutrients such as nitrogen. Typically, these microorganisms recycle nitrogen, pulling it from the soil and converting it into inorganic forms such as ammonium and nitrate that plants can absorb. But a new study published in the journal Global Change Biology […]
Physicists push quantum limits by turning superfluid into supersolid and back again for the first time
Scientists simply observed a strange phase of matter transform into an even stranger phase. For the first time, they witnessed a superfluid transform into a supersolid. I wasn’t even sure this transition was possible. In a study published January 28 in the journal Nature, researchers observed groups of excitons (quasiparticles that combine electrons and electron […]
The dramatic death of comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) caught on camera — Space Photos of the Week
simple facts What is it: Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) Location: 220 million miles away in the constellation of Pisces Share date: January 28, 2026 Just as the mythical Icarus flew too close to the sun and had his feathers and wax wings melt, comets are often affected by orbiting too close to our star. That […]
Did the ancient Greeks let women compete in the Olympics?
Ancient Olympians were famous for their strength and agility, but were there any women among these athletes, and were there other sporting opportunities in which ancient Greek women could compete? The Ancient Olympic Games involved people from all over Greece, and sometimes from all over Greece, and lasted from about 776 BC to 393 AD. […]
‘Maybe they’re waiting for something that only happens thousands of years later’: The hidden life ‘sleeping’ deep beneath Earth for millions of years
Beneath Earth’s surface lies a kingdom of undiscovered microscopic life. These “intraterrestrials” survive in some of the harshest conditions on the planet — and scientists are hunting for these microbes. In this excerpt from “Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth” (Princeton University Press, 2025), author Karen G. Lloyd, a microbial biogeochemist at the University […]