Science & Tech

Science & Tech

Explore the discoveries that reveal how the world works, alongside the technologies that extend, reshape, and sometimes challenge what’s possible.

A silhouette of a monkey with brainwave patterns is shown beside a stylized computer, divided by a vertical line on a blue and gray background.
Researchers built a model that behaves like a brain. Without being trained on neural data, the model produced a peculiar signal — one that was later discovered in actual brain activity.
A deep space image shows numerous distant galaxies and stars against a dark background, including several bright spots shaped by a gravitational lens cross, with diffuse light sources scattered throughout.
Gravitational lenses arise when foreground masses and background light sources properly align. Einstein rings are rare, but crosses abound.
A woman sits on a chair in front of a white backdrop in a brick-walled room, with potted plants on tables on either side.
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"This will help people take meaningful steps to slow the rate of aging and increase what we call their health span or their kind of time of life expectancy free from disease."
black hole
It's not about particle-antiparticle pairs falling into or escaping from a black hole. A deeper explanation alters our view of reality.
Book cover titled "Friction: A Biography" by Jennifer R. Vail, featuring an image of a matchstick angled on a matchbox striker—capturing the spark of friction—set against a light blue background.
The deep study of friction and surfaces — so crucial to industrial manufacture — emerged from a mid-century engineering conference.
Diagram showing light from a distant galaxy bending around a red-hued massive object, reaching telescopes on Earth via different paths and at different times.
The VENUS survey isn't about planets at all, but about finding multiply-lensed supernovae. The ambition? To save the expanding Universe.
The Golden Gate Bridge is shown in a halftone style, with its left side tinted red and right side tinted blue, against a light background with hills.
Tech leaders may have backed Trump in 2024, but the majority of the community still leans left — and has a big opportunity ahead.
Book cover featuring a stylized illustration of Michelangelo’s David, capturing the spirit of New Work, with the title “The Next Renaissance: AI and the Expansion of Human Potential” by Zack Kass.
Author Zack Kass argues that AI will not end work — it will expand it, pushing us toward new ways of creating, connecting, and adding value.
Astro2020
US science is worth fighting for, but so are the science projects and scientists denied opportunities. Here are 4 paths all worth exploring.
A vintage photograph shows a Wright Brothers-era biplane flying low over a sandy hill as four people on the ground watch.
Our algorithmic age encourages us to over-index on probabilities — but we should instead exercise our “storythinking brain” and focus on possibilities.
Five panels show NASA Chandra images of Kepler's supernova remnant as it expands over 25 years, with increasingly diffuse blue filaments against a starry background; a composite is shown in the last panel.
Back in 1604, Johannes Kepler discovered the Milky Way's last naked-eye supernova. Here's how NASA's Chandra sees it over the 21st century.
A colorful map shows the distribution of nearby galaxies, with distances and redshift factors labeled, created by DESI; NSF, NOIRLab, and Kitt Peak logos are visible.
The seeds of cosmic structure that were planted back during the Big Bang grew into the cosmic web we see today. What is it telling us?
Three planets are silhouetted against deep space with a bright red star and nebula clouds in the background.
Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger spoke with Big Think about how "the colors of life" could leave detectable traces on distant planets.
laniakea
When objects are gravitationally bound, they cannot escape from one another's influence. How does that work within the expanding Universe?
Book cover of "Invisible Illness" by Emily Mendenhall, depicting a person holding a mirror with the title reflected, set against a cloudy sky—capturing the hidden struggles of living with an invisible illness.
Emily Mendenhall traces the medical myths, gender bias, and neurological truths behind hysteria, one of history’s most damaging diagnoses.
zeno's paradox
Travel half the distance to your destination, and there's always another half to go. So how do you eventually arrive? That's Zeno's Paradox.
Even the youngest galaxies are often dust-rich, even with very low levels of heavy elements. Nearby dwarf galaxy Sextans A explains why.
A woman in a blue dress sits beside a cradle with a baby; two adults are seated at a green table with a closed book, highlighting the enduring importance of books in an age of advancing technology.
Joel Miller, the author of “The Idea Machine,” joins us to explore why books are history’s most successful information technology.
A galaxy cluster with a faint purple glow, showing a dotted yellow circle in the center, surrounded by distant stars and galaxies.
Astronomers have found starless gas clouds before, but Cloud 9 might be the most pristine one of all, with big lessons for cosmic history.
3D topographic map showing underwater reefs and features labeled with names such as Toul ar Fot, TAF1, Porz Biazel, and Ar Fot Bras; scale and north arrow included.
Scientists found a massive underwater wall off the coast of France that might help explain the origin of the legend of Ys.