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.

pulsar orbiting a low-mass star in an X-ray binary system
Nearly half of all stars are born in binary systems, with the most massive ones dying the fastest. It's not pretty for the "second" star.
SpaceX rocket
Freethink's weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring Starship's second test flight, a new "dark mysteries" telescope, and more.
A lepodisiran image of a human heart on a black background.
There is currently no easy way to treat high Lp(a). A single shot could change that.
An image of a man and a woman with the words carrer R
You can learn an awful lot about people, culture, and politics by studying R.
An image of an ancient black hole
The Big Bang theory is not threatened, but astrophysicists have some explaining to do.
An old black and white photo of a man practicing phrenology on a bust.
The pseudoscience phrenology swept the popular imagination, and its practitioners made a mint preying on prejudices, gullibility, and misinformation.
A black and white photo of a building that has been destroyed in New Jersey.
"I grew up in New Jersey in the 1970s and that experience gave me everything I needed to become a skeptic."
An visualization of dark matter across the universe
The paper does not prove the existence of dark matter, but it mostly eliminates a rival theory called Modified Newtonian Dynamics.
Two clocks displaying the accurate time on a blue background.
Our intuitive understanding of time is very different from a physicist's understanding of time. How do we reconcile these views?
A digital abstract composition with dynamic white lines and swirls on a black background, incorporating some blue rectangular shapes that appear to disappear like antimatter.
In the early stages of the hot Big Bang, matter and antimatter were (almost) balanced. After a brief while, matter won out. Here's how.
A man in a black suit and white shirt is smiling, unaffected by the doomer mindset.
When ancient humans stared into the darkness, they imagined monsters. Today, staring into the future, AI is the monster.
A young girl giving her undivided attention to a TV screen displaying an engaging cartoon.
The modern attention economy hijacks our ability to focus, but an ancient technique offers a means to get it back.
JADES galaxies
In 2022, Hubble owned the record for most distant galaxy. Today, that galaxy is down to the 9th most distant object. Thanks, JWST.
A black and white photo of a man with a heart on his chest, capturing the essence of love and emotion.
The first human trial of base editing delivered strong results along with some safety concerns.
A single bed bug on a white background.
Claims of a sudden infestation appear unfounded.
A group of people standing in front of a large white blimp.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s airship startup hits a major milestone.
A man is crossing a street with cones in front of him.
A game that challenges pedestrians to avoid detection by an AI could help train tomorrow’s self-driving cars.
higgs event atlas detector CERN LHC
In the very early Universe, practically all particles were massless. Then the Higgs symmetry broke, and suddenly everything was different.