They're similar but not the same. Is your priority stability or ease of use? I recommend only one of these distributions to new Linux users. [...]

Alexa is already great, but some smart tweaks and hidden features can make the assistant even better. Here's how. [...]

In 2024, a Democratic congressional candidate in Pennsylvania, Shamaine Daniels, used an AI chatbot named Ashley to call voters and carry on conversations with them. “Hello. My name is Ashley, and I’m an artificial intelligence volunteer for Shamaine Daniels’s run for Congress,” the calls began. Daniels didn’t ultimately win. But [...]

Researchers built a silver atomic switch that forms and breaks single-molecule junctions, enabling stable molecular wiring and advancing scalable, energy-efficient electronics. [...]

XRISM observations of Cassiopeia A reveal abundant chlorine and potassium, showing supernovae can forge these life-linked elements and clarifying their cosmic origins. [...]

Penn State researchers created seven new high-entropy oxides by removing oxygen during synthesis, enabling metals that normally destabilize to form rock-salt ceramics. Machine learning helped identify promising compositions, and advanced imaging confirmed their stability. The method offers a flexible framework for creating materials once thought impossible to synthesize. [...]

A network of powerful ground-based telescopes captured rare starspot-crossing events on TOI-3884b, revealing cooler patches on the star’s surface and rapid changes tied to its rotation. By combining multicolor transit observations with months of high-cadence brightness monitoring, researchers nailed down the star’s rotation period with impressive precision. These measurements allowed [...]

Most organizations feel the imperative to keep pace with continuing advances in AI capabilities, as highlighted in a recent MIT Technology Review Insights report. That clearly has security implications, particularly as organizations navigate a surge in the volume, velocity, and variety of security data. This explosion of data, coupled with [...]

To make large language models (LLMs) more accurate when answering harder questions, researchers can let the model spend more time thinking about potential solutions.But common approaches that give LLMs this capability set a fixed computational budget for every problem, regardless of how complex it is. This means the LLM might waste [...]

Controlled nanostructure and magnetic domains open the door to next-generation transformers and EV components. [...]

The company's next model could be around the corner. Here's what's driving it. [...]

Lenovo's IdeaPad 5i offers a lot of value for its price point, though it may not be for everyone. [...]

In the future, tiny flying robots could be deployed to aid in the search for survivors trapped beneath the rubble after a devastating earthquake. Like real insects, these robots could flit through tight spaces larger robots can’t reach, while simultaneously dodging stationary obstacles and pieces of falling rubble.So far, aerial [...]

Microdroplet arrays store and conceal digital data through droplet composition, enabling reversible encoding, multi-layer QR patterns, error correction, and time-controlled messages using living cells. [...]

OpenAI is testing another new way to expose the complicated processes at work inside large language models. Researchers at the company can make an LLM produce what they call a confession, in which the model explains how it carried out a task and (most of the time) owns up to [...]

Generative artificial intelligence is quietly reshaping how humans process grief, remembrance, and mortality. Digital reconstructions of the deceased may offer comfort, but they also risk blurring the natural boundary between presence and absence. [...]

A new computer modeling tool developed by an MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) research team will help infrastructure planners working in the electricity and other energy-intensive sectors better predict and prepare for future needs and conditions as they develop plans for power generation capacity, transmission lines, and other necessary infrastructure. The [...]

A surprisingly mature spiral galaxy named Alaknanda has been spotted just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang—far earlier than astronomers believed such well-structured galaxies could form. With sweeping spiral arms, rapid star formation, and an orderly disk resembling our Milky Way, it defies long-held theories about how slowly galaxies [...]

For thirty years, SOHO has watched the Sun from a stable perch in space, revealing the inner workings of our star and surviving crises that nearly ended the mission. Its long-term observations uncovered a single global plasma conveyor belt inside the Sun, detailed how solar brightness subtly shifts over the [...]

Imagine having a continuum soft robotic arm bend around a bunch of grapes or broccoli, adjusting its grip in real time as it lifts the object. Unlike traditional rigid robots that generally aim to avoid contact with the environment as much as possible and stay far away from humans for [...]

Researchers developed an AI system that can reconstruct fine hand muscle activity using only standard video footage. Traditionally, this type of measurement required intrusive electrodes attached to the skin, but the new method eliminates that need entirely. [...]

Welcome back to The State of AI, a new collaboration between the Financial Times and MIT Technology Review. Every Monday for the next two weeks, writers from both publications will debate one aspect of the generative AI revolution reshaping global power. This week, Richard Waters, FT columnist and former West Coast [...]

Princeton researchers found that the brain excels at learning because it reuses modular “cognitive blocks” across many tasks. Monkeys switching between visual categorization challenges revealed that the prefrontal cortex assembles these blocks like Legos to create new behaviors. This flexibility explains why humans learn quickly while AI models often forget [...]

Researchers developed an AI tool that detects chronic stress by measuring adrenal gland volume on routine chest CT scans. This biomarker aligns with cortisol levels, stress questionnaires, and future cardiovascular outcomes, offering the first imaging-based method to quantify stress load in the body. [...]

A new study reveals African lions produce two types of roars, overturning long-held assumptions and opening the door to more precise wildlife monitoring. Using machine learning, researchers automatically distinguished between full-throated and newly identified intermediary roars with over 95% accuracy, eliminating much of the human bias in vocal identification. [...]

Electrons can freeze into strange geometric crystals and then melt back into liquid-like motion under the right quantum conditions. Researchers identified how to tune these transitions and even discovered a bizarre “pinball” state where some electrons stay locked in place while others dart around freely. Their simulations help explain how [...]

Aalto University researchers have developed a method to execute AI tensor operations using just one pass of light. By encoding data directly into light waves, they enable calculations to occur naturally and simultaneously. The approach works passively, without electronics, and could soon be integrated into photonic chips. If adopted, it [...]

Researchers have created a prediction method that comes startlingly close to real-world results. It works by aiming for strong alignment with actual values rather than simply reducing mistakes. Tests on medical and health data showed it often outperforms classic approaches. The discovery could reshape how scientists make reliable forecasts. [...]