Videos

Artificial intelligence still needs to bridge the “sim-to-real” gap. Deep-learning techniques that are all the rage in AI log superlative performances in mastering cerebral games, including chess and Go, both of which can be played on a computer. But translating simulations to the physical world remains a bigger challenge.

A robot named Curly that uses “deep reinforcement learning”—making improvements as it corrects its own errors—came out on top in three of four games against top-ranked human opponents from South Korean teams thatincluded a women’s team and a reserve squad for the national wheelchair team. (No brooms were used).

One crucial finding was that the AI system demonstrated its ability to adapt to changing ice conditions. “These results indicate that the gap between physics-based simulators and the real world can be narrowed,” the joint South Korean-German research team wrote in Science Robotics on September 23. 

Nikon’s Small World in Motion competition captures creatures and forces that are invisible to the naked eye.

How does SARS-CoV-2 sneak into our body? What can our immune system do and how can the virus sometimes defeat it? How do the leading drug and vaccine candidates work? Will the virus plague us forever? Scientific American presents a conversation about these burning questions with Britt Glaunsinger, a virologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute who is a specialist in viral infection.

Monterey Canyon has come into spectacular view after a decade and a half of effort

How massive can black holes become? How do astronomers typically observe them? How do they die? Scientific American presents a conversation about these mysterious cosmic phenomena with Yale University astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become the worst public-health crisis in a century. More than 500,000 people have died worldwide. It has also catalysed a research revolution, as scientists, doctors and other scholars have worked at breakneck speed to understand COVID-19 and the virus that causes it: SARS-CoV-2. Nature runs through some of the key questions that researchers still don’t have answers to.

A new video re-creates a history that never happened, showing the power of AI-generated media

Over the past decade, the number of encounters between humans and sharks swimming off the coast of California has risen dramatically. Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University, Long Beach, says this summer is shaping up to be a major year for these sharks along the state’s 840-mile coastline.

“We’re already seeing a lot of activity, more than we’ve seen in some of the past years,” he says. “This year is looking to be a big season.”

In 2019 Lowe and his team launched an ambitious two-year shark study using drones, buoys and underwater robots with a $3.75-million grant from California. Prior to the new funding, the Shark Lab’s annual budget was between $20,000 and $40,000. 

Now the laboratory has dramatically ramped up its efforts in order to better understand how many of the cartilaginous fish are out there and how they interact with people. The researchers are sharing their information with local lifeguards and the public to enhance safety at the beach. 

“The goal is to come up with what we'd call an encounter assessment,” Lowe says. “Who is most likely to encounter sharks—and under what conditions? Are sharks attacking aggressively? Are they attracted to people? Are they repelled by people, or do they just ignore people? So we're right in the middle of a two-year study, and hopefully, by the end of this study, we’ll be able to answer those questions.”

Snorting powdered smallpox scabs and jumping into the beds of those freshly dead from yellow fever. Humanity has gone to extreme lengths in search of immunity before. 

New bones suggest Spinosaurus is the only known aquatic dinosaur.

Circling hundreds of miles above the surface of our big blue marble for 30 years, I’ve had a remarkable view of the universe. I am the Hubble Space Telescope, and I have a birthday wish for everyone out there listening while I watch the heavens.

Technologies such as PCR, serological assays and rapid diagnostics help us understand the spread of COVID-19. But how do they do so?