How Artificial Intelligence Helped Write this Award-Winning Song

Machine-learning algorithms allow composers to create all-new instruments.
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Contact Lens Binoculars Are in Sight

Researchers revealed their latest prototype contact lenses that magnify vision almost three times with the wink of an eye. Larry Greenemeier reports

 

Emulsifiers in Food Linked to Obesity in Mice

The common food additives altered mice microbiomes to encourage gut inflammation and overeating. Dina Fine Maron reports

 

Bacteria Got an Early Fix on Nitrogen

New evidence points to the evolution of the ability for bacteria to grab nitrogen from the atmosphere some 3.2 billion years ago, about 1.2 billion years earlier than thought—with implications for finding extraterrestrial life. Lee Billings reports

New Map Knows Noise

National Park Service researchers recorded ambient sound from all over the country to find out where there’s still stillness. David Biello reports

Up Your Online Dating Game with Evidence-Based Strategies

Choosing a user name starting with a letter appearing earlier in the alphabet is just one scientifically vetted way to increase the odds of turning an online encounter into a first date. Christopher Intagliata reports

How Big a Threat Is Bird Flu?

Cows and at least one person in the U.S. have been sickened by avian influenza. We asked experts about the risk to humans.
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Episode 4: This Simple Strategy Might Be the Key to Advancing Science Faster

Science is an iterative process. Progress comes from people coming up with ideas that are sort of right and then new evidence and ideas coming in to update them to become even more correct.
Underlying this process is a willingness by scientists to accept that they might be wrong and be open to updating their ideas.
It turns out that social scientists have a term for this mindset. To find out more, I talked with two researchers who are studying this thing they call “intellectual humility.”