What We're Reading

Scientists face an ethical dilemma over what to do with their ‘human bycatch.’

"Superintelligence” is a flawed concept and shouldn’t inform our policy decisions, argues Melanie Mitchell, a professor of computer science at Portland State University.

An experiment that partially revived slaughterhouse pig brains raises questions about the precise end point of life, writes neuroscientist Christof Koch.

Debate highlights broader concerns about tools that use the results of direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

In an experiment to boost transparency, the preprint server will allow select journals and independent peer-review services to publicly post evaluations of its papers should the authors make the request.

The Nobel was awarded jointly to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino "for the development of lithium-ion batteries."

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 was awarded to James Peebles "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology" and jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star."

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019 was awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability."

This opinion piece argues that humans’ prowess at endurance running has little to do with our ancestors’ quest for meat.

Katarzyna Mickiewicz, a Newcastle University research fellow, describes his experiments that prove that bacteria can change shape with no genetic changes.