Scientists have discovered a powerful gene-targeting system in viruses. Billions of years old, VIPR seems to predate CRISPR and may be even more powerful.
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It’s the only example of a dinosaur-era feather found within rock that wasn’t completely flattened through the centuries.
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The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, will dismantle the Large Hadron Collider, which helped discover the so-called God Particle, in order to build a more powerful particle accelerator.
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The winners of this year’s Nikon Small World in Motion competition showcase the wiggly, feathery, undulating beauty of invisible life.
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Hotter than a crocodile, cooler than a chicken, T. Rex was definitely warm-blooded, according to a new study.
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A new simulation suggests little red dots, unusually compact objects seen in photos from space, might be one stage in the evolution of black holes.
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“Recursive self-improvement” is the idea that artificial intelligence could learn to build and train itself, creating exponential new progress — and risk.
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Experts say that after childbirth, intrusive thoughts are common and mostly benign. Lindsay Clancy’s story provides a disturbing exception.
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The animals may help reveal the causes of brain disease in people and point the way to treatments. But researchers already are calling for new ethical guidelines.
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The gene is found predominantly in Southern Appalachia and may be one of the most powerful cancer-risk mutations ever found.
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“Alignment” is the science of teaching A.I. to do what is in line with human preferences, ethics and judgment. But, at times, the systems have gone rogue.
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Rising temperatures contributed to the disaster by destabilizing the permafrost and ice around the collapsed rock, scientists concluded.
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An internal memo reinterprets the law so that only the intentional killing of animals, not collateral harm, is illegal.
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Surging drug use has contributed to an epidemic in the Pacific island nation, where one in 60 adults is estimated to be living with the virus.
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An experiment with roots at M.I.T. used A.I. and satellite images to grow a coastline in the Maldives. More projects are planned for Boston and Miami.
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Conservationists set up a colony of white storks in southern England, touching off a debate over whether they truly belong there.
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Models of the insect’s nervous system have been trained to solve a Rubik’s Cube, play video games and even parallel park a car.
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Kent Hups, a high school science teacher in Colorado, discovered a 23-foot trackway of fossilized dinosaur footprints, which offer a glimpse of how the apex predator moved 66 million years ago.
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We found grace, humanity and friendship in the stories of disparate Americans hit by climate chaos.
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He developed a program that became a model for hospitals around the world, making it easier for poor Black patients to navigate an onerous bureaucratic system.
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A plan to halve the agency’s sprawling work force was illegal, a judge ruled. But the court is not blocking other FEMA cuts.
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Thousands of planets have been discovered beyond our solar system, offering clues to where life might thrive and whether Earth is truly unique.
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Troy E. Meink’s comments were the first public acknowledgment of American weapons in orbit. The Pentagon has been preparing for potential conflict in space with Russia or China.
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The Times’s Science section is introducing new columns, projects and more as part of its online relaunch.
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The New York Times is soliciting readers’ questions about the dangers — and benefits — posed by artificial intelligence.
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Traditionally found in warm climates, like the American Southwest, armadillos have been migrating farther and farther north, researchers say.
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Federal projects are rolling out A.I. agents that offer therapy and prescribe medicine, raising concerns about safety and the influence of venture capital investors.
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Today’s chatbots aren’t likely to help lone actors invent a deadly pathogen, experts say. But newer models, trained in biology, may need stronger safeguards.
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As global temperature increase shoots past 1.5 degrees Celsius, the vulnerable countries that fought for that Paris Agreement target face a brutal new reality.
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City officials — and one determined mother — are working to stop the spread of cychlorphine, which is far more potent than fentanyl.
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Scientists simulated what happens when the pipes and tunnels that divert rainwater fail. In one scenario, 30 percent of local residents couldn’t reach an E.R.
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A researcher surveying a San Mateo County creek stumbled upon a preserved Pacific mastodon molar estimated to be at least 10,000 years old.
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Birds are drawn to lights, and more than a billion die each year after crashing into buildings, experts said.
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The 64-year-old Michigan power plant was set to retire. Then the Trump administration intervened in a way that overstepped its authority, a court ruled.
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New estimates using the planet’s surface wrinkles show that our smallest planet is growing even smaller, at a faster clip than expected.
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Cardiologists are struggling to figure out why a drug that should have prevented heart attacks didn’t work at all.
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Tribes and scientists are mounting an urgent trapping effort to keep European green crabs from devastating a corner of Puget Sound.
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The technology is far from the only existential risk our species faces. But weighing such cosmic fears can become a mind-bending exercise.
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Low rainfall and shrinking rivers are causing shipping bottlenecks, and higher prices, around the world.
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