History
Even as the fusion era dawns, we’re still in the Steam Age
Why do we use steam rather than other gases? Steam has lasted this long because we have an abundance of water, covering 71% of Earth's surface.
The brief history of artificial intelligence: The world has changed fast – what might be next?
Despite their brief history, computers and AI have fundamentally changed what we see, what we know, and what we do.
How three students wrote history by winning the Vesuvius Challenge
Thanks to the Vesuvius Challenge, we may be on the verge of the biggest literary discovery of the ancient world in decades.
Animation may be entering a new renaissance. Here’s why.
Popular animated films have been rendered in an increasingly realistic style recently. Here's where animation is heading in the future.
How does studying 500 years of the printing press help us tackle the era of AI?
For around 500 years, the printed word shaped our education and culture. What lessons can we learn from it in the new age of AI?
New DNA testing reveals who made ancient stone tools
Using modern DNA analysis techniques, archaeologists have solved the mystery of who made a class of ancient stone tools.
Why Germany is a blank spot on Google’s Street View
Germany and Austria are a conspicuous gap in the mess of Google Maps' Street View locations that covers the rest of Europe.
Vesuvius Challenge: Can AI decipher these mysterious ancient scrolls?
Herculaneum’s Villa de Papiri contains hundreds of ancient texts that were carbonized by Mt. Vesuvius. Now, they can only be deciphered by AI.
How a scientist looking to prove his food wasn’t fresh discovered radioactive tracers and won a Nobel Prize
George de Hevesey had the suspicion the cooks were reusing leftovers and made his dinner into a radioactive tracer experiment.
Study: ancient technique holds thousands of tons of carbon, sequestered over centuries
"Dark earth" holds thousands of tons of carbon, sequestered over centuries by indigenous practices, a new study suggests.