Digital scents could add a new dimension to virtual worlds
It's now possible to convert a handful of smells into electronic signals that can be sent through the internet
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It’s about to get a lot harder to keep countries honest about climate change
A row over when to publish crucial climate change assessments risks letting countries off the hook on emissions cuts
El Niño is dramatically increasing sea levels – how bad could it get?
El Niño has already raised sea levels in part of the eastern Pacific by 40 centimetres and as it continues to strengthen, there could be coastal flooding from Alaska to Chile
Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier will keep melting even if oceans cool
Computer models suggest that unrealistically cold oceans would be insufficient to stop Thwaites glacier retreating, although a neighbouring glacier might begin to grow
Earth entered its ‘bad decades’ after dinosaur-ending asteroid strike
We now have a clearer picture of what happened in the decades following the asteroid impact that led to the extinction of almost all dinosaurs
All tropical coral reefs could collapse within 50 years
Shallow-water coral reefs are at high risk of disappearing by 2075, the IUCN has warned at a UN biodiversity conference. The loss would decimate fisheries and speed up coastal erosion
Adults may be more creative than children – but less confident about it
We often associate children with creativity, but adults actually performed better on inventive tasks, despite being less sure of themselves
People are vibe coding copyrighted apps with AI – will tech firms sue?
Every time a new technology hits the internet, there is a battle between the rights of users and major companies. To see how this will play out with AI, columnist Jacob Aron looks to examples from the past
Cholesterol may disrupt the brain’s cleaning system in Alzheimer’s disease
The glymphatic system flushes toxins out of the brain, but this seems to be disrupted in Alzheimer's disease, and cholesterol may be involved
Falling sea levels due to El Niño will hit mangroves and corals
As sea levels rise in the eastern Pacific, they are falling around Australia and the Coral Triangle, leaving some mangroves and corals high and dry
The roots of AI fear in the West are cultural, not technological
Popular conceptions of AI differ drastically between the US and China. Columnist Annalee Newitz dives into the cultural, religious and sci-fi factors driving our impressions of its power
Discovery of T. rex’s cousin upends our understanding of tyrannosaur evolution
A dinosaur that is new to science has features of both subfamilies of the tyrannosaur group, complicating our understanding of how they evolved
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