Enrico M. Balli

China is betting on ‘optical’ computer chips – will they power AI? Semiconductor chips that process light rather than electricity could boost processing speeds and reduce energy use.

As generative artificial-intelligence models become more sophisticated and eat up more energy to produce images and videos, the electronic chips that power them are reaching their limits of speed and efficiency. Optical chips could solve these problems, say researchers working in the field.

Most complex time crystal yet has been made inside a quantum computer Using a superconducting quantum computer, physicists created a large and complex version of an odd quantum material that has a repeating structure in time

A time crystal more complex than any made before has been created in a quantum computer. Exploring the properties of this unusual quantum setup strengthens the case for quantum computers as machines well-suited for scientific discovery.

La memoria è uno strumento meraviglioso ma fallace. Perché rileggere oggi Primo Levi È importante ricordarlo non soltanto come autore di due libri fondamentali sulla deportazione, ma anche come un intellettuale che ha saputo trasformare la scrittura in uno strumento di indagine storic...

È importante ricordarlo non soltanto come autore di due libri fondamentali sulla deportazione, ma anche come un intellettuale che ha saputo trasformare la scrittura in uno strumento di indagine storica e di testimonianza giuridica

SpaceX’s Starlink dodged 300,000 satellite collisions in 2025 The company’s mega-constellation is having to perform a huge number of manoeuvres to prevent a collision in Earth orbit

A report filed by SpaceX with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in late December reveals some startling information – including that its Starlink satellites had to perform about 300,000 collision-avoidance manoeuvres in 2025.

Schrödinger’s cat just got bigger: quantum physicists create largest ever ‘superposition’ Record-breaking experiment shows that a cluster of thousands of atoms can act like a wave as well as a particle.

Schrödinger’s cat just got a little bit fatter. Physicists have created the largest ever ‘superposition’ — a quantum state in which an object exists in a haze of possible locations at once.

Modern science journalism is increasingly crossing into advocacy, risking a "tyranny" over the scientific process that prioritizes narratives over evidence unless stricter ethical boundaries and transparency are restored.

As Greenland loses ice, global sea levels will rise—and its own will fall The island is rebounding from ice melt so fast that scientists are rethinking how Earth’s interior works

Seas will rise this century—but not uniformly like water in a bathtub. In the very places where glaciers are melting and shrinking, the land beneath will rebound as the burden eases, meaning seas may fall even as the meltwater causes them to rise elsewhere.

Can ‘toxic masculinity’ be measured? Scientists try to quantify controversial term A study has outlined eight indicators of toxic masculinity in heterosexual men — and finds that ‘manliness’ is not necessarily a problematic aspect of masculinity.

How rife is the problem of ‘toxic masculinity’ in Western societies? A research study run in New Zealand has found that only a small percentage of men surveyed fell into the worst category of hostile toxicity.

Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2026 Our annual survey of media leaders from across the world explores publishers' priorities for the year ahead, the challenges they envision and how well equipped they are to address them.

We are still at the early stages of another big shift in technology (Generative AI) which threatens to upend the news industry by offering more efficient ways of accessing and distilling information at scale.

AI has supercharged scientists—but may have shrunk science Analysis of 41 million papers finds that although AI expands individual impact, it narrows collective scientific exploration

As artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT gain footholds across companies and universities, a familiar refrain is hard to escape: AI won’t replace you, but someone using AI might.

Pompeii’s public baths were unhygienic until the Romans took over Before the Romans captured Pompeii, the famous town was run by the Samnite people – and a dip in their public baths might have been an unpleasant experience

A trip to Pompeii’s public baths meant taking a dip in water contaminated with sweat and urine – until the Romans took over and sanitation improved.

Benchmarks reveal how artificial-intelligence systems reinforce discriminatory social hierarchies.

Leading AI expert delays timeline for its possible destruction of humanity Former OpenAI employee Daniel Kokotajlo says progress to AGI is ‘somewhat slower’ than first predicted

A leading artificial intelligence expert has rolled back his timeline for AI doom, saying it will take longer than he initially predicted for AI systems to be able to code autonomously and thus speed their own development toward superintelligence.

Is ‘open science’ delivering benefits? Major study finds proof is sparse It’s hard to measure social and economic impacts of making papers and data free, researchers say

Does the open science movement produce the benefits its supporters claim, such as accelerating discovery and promoting science literacy? The answer is a qualified yes, according to one of the most comprehensive, multifaceted studies of the complex and divisive issue.

Science in 2050: the future breakthroughs that will shape our world — and beyond Nuclear fusion. People on Mars. Artificial general intelligence. These are just some of the advances that could come by the mid-century mark.

“There’s a good likelihood that by 2050, all scientific research will be done by superintelligent AI rather than human researchers”

Nine science-backed ways to help you feel better in 2026 From channelling your anger to writing lists and singing more often – here are some science-backed tips to boost your wellbeing.

The start of a new year can seem like the ideal time to make a fresh start – to shrug off the worries and pressures of the previous 12 months and view the world in a different way.

Could 2026 be the year we start using quantum computers for chemistry? Understanding the chemical properties of a molecule is an inherently quantum problem, making quantum computers a good tool for the job – and we may start seeing this take off in 2026

Whether quantum computers can actually solve practical problems is one of the biggest unanswered questions of this growing industry – and one that might be answered by researchers in industrial and medical chemistry in 2026.

Science editors pick 2025’s stories that stood out From ancient humans to modern woes, these are the stories that stuck with our News editors this year

Science editors pick their most memorable stories of the year

A version of this story appeared in Science, Vol 390, Issue 6779.

Organ-tuning books in English churches provide notes on a warming climate Researchers have realised the records are a ‘goldmine’ to study changes in environmental conditions

Earlier this month, Xing, Knight and their colleague Bruno Bingley published a paper in the journal Buildings & Cities, with preliminary data gleaned from 18 organ-tuning books. The records date back to 1966 and indicate a rise in average temperatures since then, during winter and summer periods.

Bronze Age mass burial site mystery near Sanquhar wind farm Archaeologists find evidence of some kind of "horrible event" in the hills of southern Scotland.

Newly published research has revealed a "mysterious mass burial event" in the south of Scotland about 3,300 years ago.

More than half of researchers now use AI for peer review — often against guidance A survey of 1,600 academics found that more than 50% have used artificial-intelligence tools while peer reviewing manuscripts.

More than 50% of researchers have used artificial intelligence while peer reviewing manuscripts, according to a survey of some 1,600 academics across 111 countries by the publishing company Frontiers.

'Beyond gender': Psychedelics are revealing hidden sides to people's identity There is growing evidence that mind-altering drugs can be used to help people explore aspects about themselves they may not have realised.

Psychedelic therapists, practitioners and academic researchers are beginning to recognise that mind-altering drugs can open up sides of the self that previously lay hidden, challenging entrenched understandings of gender and sexual orientation.

Are we living in a simulation? This experiment could tell us The idea that we might be living in a simulated reality has worried us for centuries. Now physicists have found some tantalising clues – and devised an experiment that might reveal the truth

“The entire universe may operate like a giant computer,” says Melvin Vopson at the University of Portsmouth, UK. He believes there are already important clues suggesting it is correct – and he has even proposed how we could find out the truth with an experiment.

The CNRS is breaking free from the Web of Science From January 1st 2026, the CNRS will cut access to one of the largest commercial bibliometric databases, Clarivate Analytics'

The use of impact factors in the evaluation of researchers has contributed to the distortion of scientific publishing practices and, in turn, of research practices.

Who Owns the Knowledge? Copyright, GenAI, and the Future of Academic Publishing The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and large language models (LLMs) into scientific research and higher education presents a paradigm shift, offering revolutionizing opportu...

This study examines the complex intersection of AI and science, with a specific focus on the challenges posed to copyright law and the principles of open science.

Could Symbolic AI Unlock Human-like Intelligence? Combining newer neural networks with older AI systems could be the secret to building an AI to match or surpass human intelligence

Will computers ever match or surpass human-level intelligence — and, if so, how?

Is it the beginning of the end for animal testing? – podcast Patrick Vallance, the minister for science, research and innovation, recently unveiled a plan to cut animal testing through greater use of AI and other technologies, with the eventual aim of phasing i...

To understand how this will affect research and what could be used in place of animal models, Madeleine Finlay hears from science editor Ian Sample, Prof Hazel Screen of Queen Mary University London and Prof Kevin Harrington from the Institute of Cancer Research

Major AI conference flooded with peer reviews written fully by AI Controversy has erupted after 21% of manuscript reviews for an international AI conference were found to be generated by artificial intelligence.

Dozens of academics have raised concerns on social media about manuscripts and peer reviews submitted to the organizers of next year’s International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), an annual gathering of specialists in machine learning.

ADHD diagnoses are growing. What’s going on? More children and adults are being diagnosed with ADHD in some countries. Science is helping to understand why — and how best to provide support.

The emergence of the neurodiversity movement is challenging the view of ADHD as a disorder that should be ‘treated’, and instead proposes that it’s a difference that should be better understood and supported — with more focus on adapting schools and workplaces, for instance.