What is the AI compute crunch—and how will it affect chatbots?
Rate limits on Claude and other tools could hint at a deeper squeeze on the chips, power and data centers needed to run advanced AI. Researcher Lennart Heim explains
An electric air taxi passes its hardest test. When can passengers fly?
A British start-up recently pulled off a key maneuver for electric vertical flight—but certification, infrastructure and demand will decide whether air taxis fill our skies
A robot ran a half marathon faster than a human. Here’s why folding laundry is still harder
A premapped course, a crew of handlers and a world-beating time: here’s what this Beijing half marathon reveals about how far humanoid robots have come—and how far they haven’t
How a lost 1812 wristwatch sparked a 200-year race in precision engineering
Modern luxury watches can be traced back to one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s younger sisters
Is the ‘Ghost Murmur’ quantum device possible? Scientists are skeptical
Ghost Murmur was described as a futuristic CIA tool that could detect a heartbeat from vast distances. Physicists say the public story clashes with the basic limits of magnetic sensing
How ultraprecise ‘nuclear clocks’ could transform timekeeping
Superprecise timekeepers based on atomic nuclei could be tested as soon as this year
The hacked cameras behind the wave of assassinations in Iran
Security feeds and traffic cameras have helped guide some of the most audacious targeted killings in modern history. Security researchers say the underlying vulnerabilities cover the planet and are easy to exploit
Why the LaGuardia plane crash was so destructive
Engineers explain how a collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck at one of New York’s busiest airports turned deadly
Open-source software has an invisible vulnerability. Hackers have found it
A cybercrime campaign called GlassWorm is hiding malware in invisible characters and spreading it through software that millions of developers rely on
The AI boom is dangerously dependent on helium
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has trapped a third of the world’s commercial helium, threatening the irreplaceable coolant that makes MRI scanners and advanced microchips possible
Dredging up a toxic past in the Cape Fear River
A proposed $1.3-billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers port expansion in North Carolina threatens to unearth decades of “forever chemicals.” The government’s initial plan: don’t test the mud
Italy promised durable Olympic medals. Science had other plans
A small design flaw in the medals for the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina turned a durability promise into a very public stress test