research round-up Seven cool science stories we almost missed this month Peruvian mummy tattoos, the wobbly physics of spears and darts, quantum "cat states," and more. Jennifer Ouellette Jan 31, 2025 7:30 am | 6 Lasers revealed tattoos on the hand of a 1200-year-old Peruvian mummy. Credit: Michael Pittman and Thomas G Kaye Lasers revealed tattoos on the hand of a 1200-year-old Peruvian mummy. Credit: Michael Pittman and Thomas G Kaye Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreIt's a regrettable reality that there is never time to cover all the interesting scientific stories each month. In the past, we've featured year-end roundups of cool science stories we missed. This year, we're experimenting with a monthly collection. January's list includes papers on using lasers to reveal Peruvian mummy tattoos; the physics of wobbly spears and darts; how a black hole changes over time; and quantum "cat states" for error correction in quantum computers, among other fascinating research.Tracking changes in a black hole over time Left: EHT images of M87* from the 2018 and 2017 observation campaigns. Middle: Example images from a general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulation at two different times. Right: Same simulation snapshots, blurred to match the EHT's observational resolution. Credit: EHT collaboration In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope announced the first direct image ever taken of a black hole at the center of an elliptical galaxy, Messier 87 (M87), located in the constellation of Virgo some 55 million light-years away. Astronomers have now combined earlier observational data to learn more about the turbulent dynamics of plasma near M87*'s event horizon over time, according to a paper published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.Co-author Luciano Rezzolla of Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany likened the new analysis to comparing two photographs of Mount Everest, one year apart. While the mountain's basic structure is unlikely to change much in that time, one could observe changes in clouds near the peak and deduce from that properties like wind direction. For instance, in the case of M87*, the new analysis confirmed the presence of a luminous ring that is brightest at the bottom, which in turn confirmed that the rotational axis points away from Earth. "More of these observations will be made in the coming years and with increasing precision, with the ultimate goal of producing a movie of what happens near M87*," said Rezolla.Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2025. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451296 (About DOIs).Lasers reveal Peruvian mummy tattoos A tattooed forearm of a Chancay mummy Credit: Michael Pittman and Thomas G Kaye Humans across the globe have been getting tattoos for more than 5,000 years, judging by traces found on mummified remains from Europe to Asia and South America. But it can be challenging to decipher details of those tattoos, given how much the ink tends to "bleed" over time, along with the usual bodily decay. Infrared imaging can help, but in an innovative twist, scientists decided to use lasers that make skin glow ever so faintly, revealing many fine hidden details of tattoos found on 1,200-year-old Peruvian mummies, according to a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.It's the first time the laser-stimulated fluorescence (LSF) technique has been used on mummified human remains. The skin's fluorescence essentially backlights any tattoos, and after post-processing, the long-exposure photographs showed white skin behind black outlines of the tattoo artimages so detailed it's possible to measure density differences in the ink and eliminate any bleed effects. The authors determined that the tattoos on four mummiesgeometric patterns with triangles and diamondswere made with carbon-based black ink skillfully applied with a pointed object finer than a standard modern tattoo needle, possibly a cactus needle or sharpened bone.PNAS, 2025. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2421517122 (About DOIs).Sforza Castles hidden passages Ground-penetrating radar reveals new secrets under Milan's Sforza Castle Credit: Politecnico di Milano Among the many glories of Milan is the 15th century Sforza Castle, built by Francesco Sforza on the remnants of an earlier fortification as his primary residence. Legends about the castle abound, most notably the existence of secret underground chambers and passages. For instance, Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan from 14941499, was so heartbroken over the loss of his wife in childbirth that he used an underground passageway to visit her tomb in the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Graziea passageway that appears in the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, who was employed at the court for a time.Those underground cavities and passages are now confirmed, thanks to a geophysical survey using ground-penetrating radar and laser scanning, performed as part of a PhD thesis. Various underground cavities and buried passageways were found within the castle's outer walls, including Ludovico's passageway and what have may have been secret military passages. Those involved in the project plan to create a "digital twin" of Sforza Castle based on the data collected, one that incorporates both its current appearance and its past. Perhaps it will also be possible to integrate that data with augmented reality to provide an immersive digital experience.Physics of wobbly spears and darts Image sequence of a 100-mm long projectile during a typical ejection in experiments. Credit: G. Giombini et al., 2025 Among the things that make humans unique among primates is our ability to throw various objects with speed and precision (with some practice)spears or darts, for example. That's because the human shoulder is anatomically conducive to storing and releasing the necessary elastic energy, a quality that has been mimicked in robotics to improve motor efficiency. According to the authors of a paper published in the journal Physical Review E, the use of soft elastic projectiles can improve the efficiency of throws, particularly those whose tips are weighted with a mass like a spearhead.Guillaume Giombini of the Universit Cte d'Azur in Nice, France, and co-authors wanted to explore this "superpropulsion" effect more deeply, using a combination of experimental data, numerical simulation, and theoretical analysis. The projectiles they used in their experiments were inspired by archery bows and consisted of two flat steel cantilevers connected by a string, essentially serving as springs to give the projectile the necessary elasticity. They placed a flat piece of rigid plastic in the middle of the string as a platform. Some of the projectiles were tested alone, while others were weighted with end masses. A fork held each projectile in place before launch, and the scientists measured speed and deformation during flight. They found that the wobble produced by the weighted tip projectiles yielded a kinetic energy gain of 160 percent over more rigid, unweighted projectiles.Physical Review E, 2025. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.00.005500 (About DOIs).Quantum cat states for error detection Left to right: UNSW researchers Benjamin Wilhelm, Xi Yu, Andrea Morello, and Danielle Holmes Credit: UNSW Sydney/CC BY-NC The Schrdingers cat paradox in physics is an excellent metaphor for the superposition of quantum states in atoms. Over the last 20 years, physicists have managed to build various versions of Schrdinger's cat in the laboratory whereby two or more particles manage to be in two different states at the same timeso-called "cat states," such as six atoms in simultaneous "spin up" and "spin down" states, rather like spinning clockwise and counterclockwise at the same time. Such states are fragile, however, and quickly decohere. Physicists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) came up with a fresh twist on a cat-state that is more robust, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Physics.They used an antimony atom embedded within a silicon quantum chip. The atom is quite heavy and has a large nuclear spin that can go in eight directions rather than just two (spin up and spin down). This could help enormously with quantum error correction, one of the biggest obstacles in quantum computing, because there is more room for error in the binary code. "As the proverb goes, a cat has nine lives," said co-author Xi Yu of UNSW. "One little scratch is not enough to kill it. Our metaphorical 'cat' has seven lives: it would take seven consecutive errors to a '0' into a '1.'" And embedding the atom in a silicon chip makes it scalable.Nature Physics, 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02745-0 (About DOIs).New twist on chain mail armor Credit: Wenjie Zhou Scientists have developed a new material that is like "chain mail on steroids," capable of responding to both as a fluid or a solid, depending on the kind of stress applied, according to a paper published in the journal Science. That makes it ideal for manufacturing helmets or other protective gear, as well as biomedical devices and robotics components. The technical term is polycatenated architected materials (PAMs). Much like how chain mail is built from small metal rings linked together into a mesh, PAMs are comprised of various interlocking shapes that can form a wide range of different 3D patterns.The authors were partly inspired by the lattice structure of crystals; they just replaced fixed particles with rings or cage-like shapes made out of different materialssuch as acrylic polymers, nylon, or metalsto make small 3D-printed structures small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand. They then subjected these materials to various stressors in the laboratory: compression, a lateral shearing force, and twisting. Some of the materials felt like hard solids, others were squishier, but they all exhibited the same kind of telltale transition, behaving more like a fluid or a solid depending on the stressor applied. PAMs at the microscale can also expand or contract in response to electrical charges. This makes them a useful hybrid material, spanning the gap between granular materials and elastic deformable ones.W. Zhou et al., Science, 2025. DOI:10.1126/science.adr9713 (About DOIs).Kitty robot mimics headbutts This is bunting, in which an animal (typically, cats) rubs its head against other objects. University of Tsukuba This is bunting, in which an animal (typically, cats) rubs its head against other objects. University of Tsukuba This "bunting cat" robot isn't quite so snuggly. Y. Adachi and F. Tanaka, 2025 This "bunting cat" robot isn't quite so snuggly. Y. Adachi and F. Tanaka, 2025 This is bunting, in which an animal (typically, cats) rubs its head against other objects. University of Tsukuba This "bunting cat" robot isn't quite so snuggly. Y. Adachi and F. Tanaka, 2025 Any cat lover will tell you that cats show humans affection by rubbing their heads against the body (usually shins or hands). It's called "bunting," often accompanied by purring, and it's one of the factors that make companion animal therapy so effective, per the authors of a paper published in ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interactions. That's why they built a small robot designed to mimic bunting behavior, conducting various experiments to assess whether human participants found their interactions with the kitty-bot therapeutic. The robot prototypes were small enough to fit on a human lap, featuring a 3D-printed frame and a head covered with furry polyester fabric.The neck needed to be flexible to mimic the bunting behavior, so the authors incorporated a mechanism that could adjust the stiffness of the neck via wire tension. They then tested various prototypes with university students, setting the neck stiffness to low, high, and variable. The students said they felt less tense after interacting with the robots. There was no significant difference between the settings, although participants slightly preferred the variable setting. We know what you're thinking: Why not just get an actual cat or visit your local cat cafe? The authors note that many people are allergic to cats, and there is also a risk of bites, scratches, or disease transmissionhence the interest in developing animal-like robots for therapeutic applications.ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interactions, 2025. DOI: 10.1145/3700600 (About DOIs).Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 6 Comments

Artificial intelligence is generating ripples that extend far beyond business productivity and financial results. One of the most frequently overlooked areas? How software development and coding practices intersect with power, water, and the need for additional IT resources.As hardware has become more plentiful and powerful, its possible to do things with software that werent possible in the past. Theres a higher ceiling for inefficiency, says Ed Anderson, vice president and analyst for Gartner. Software developers know that hardware can pick up the slack and fill the gaps.This age of abundance is leading to wasted data center space, unnecessary complex IT architectures, excessive network traffic, and a coding framework that elevates developer convenience over performance. While software doesnt explicitly consume carbon, the result is higher costs along with difficulty hitting carbon reduction targets and other sustainability goals.Many organizations have done a good job of adopting more efficient hardware but their relationship with software is poorly understood, observes Sanjay Podder, global managing director for technology, sustainability and innovation at Accenture and chair of the Green Software Foundation.As a result, IT leaders are increasingly exploring ways to write, manage and maintain sustainable software. Theyre turning to metrics and emerging tools -- including AI -- that detect bloated code, track energy and water consumption, and monitor overall performance, such as energy aware libraries and schedulers that dial down waste.Powering DownThe case for sustainable software is growing. According to research from Accenture, the sectors carbon footprint rose from 1.5% to 4% from 2007 to 2022. And theres no end in sight. It predicts that 14% or more of all emissions will come from software by 2040. Much of this increase will result from GPUs, which consume energy at a 10 times greater rate than other types of semiconductors.Energy and carbon reduction arent the only concerns, however. Theres also a strong business case for sustainable software. Applications and other forms of code impact productivity, efficiency, the customer experience and more. Subpar software slows systems, adds to storage requirements, and wastes time for software developers.To be sure, software efficiency touches many areas, such as writing and testing code, running it, and when to retire it, Anderson says. As a result, its vital to focus on the entire software development lifecycle. Are you coding in such a way that unnecessary tasks take place? Are you sending unnecessary data across the network? Are you pushing AI accuracy to the point of diminishing returns? he asks.One common problem, says Asim Hussain, executive director of The Green Software Foundation, is that while many CIOs recognize the value of a sustainable software strategy, the task can seem vague and confusing. You must assign a number to things to understand what to address, how to address it and obtain a budget for it. Otherwise, theres no way to identify what makes the biggest impact or whether you are using inefficient hardware or using dirty energy.The CIOs role in driving sustainable software is changing, Podder observes. Five years ago, a CIOs would have said that sustainability wasn't in their charter, and it was the job of the chief sustainability officer. As technology has advanced, supply chains and workflows have evolved, and software has emerged at the center of everything, its critical for CIOs to play a more prominent role in software sustainability.Measured StepsIts critical to establish a framework for measuring baseline energy consumption and emissions across the software stack. However, the task can prove daunting because no singular or consistent metric exists across systems and industries. Unfortunately, many tools measure an individual component or code library but do not provide universal visibility.There are a lot of different signals to pick up and, unlike financial accounting, theres no set standard or methodology available, Hussain says. The Green Software Foundation is attempting to address this problem by establishing standards, such as the Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification and connecting organizations to tools and courses that promote software sustainability. In addition, consulting firms like Accenture and various vendors and cloud providers offer proprietary tools. Its also possible to tap open-source resources like GitLab and Jenkins.Gartners Anderson says that its important to gather data but also analyze it effectively. Lacking metrics and data its impossible to know which projects deliver the greatest ROI and what type of development resources to devote to a task. AI can magnify costs and benefits further. Do you devote 50% more resources to eke out a 1% or 2% gain in model accuracy? Is the additional accuracy worth the investment in time and energy? he asks.This analysis should extend to how different devices use energy -- servers, clouds, PCs, web browsers and smartphones. It also encompasses choices about software development languages. Interpretative languages like Perl, Python, and JavaScript are up to 50x less efficient than a legacy language like C or Rust, he says. There may be opportunities to use a less energy intensive language for certain tasks.Energy-efficient development practices can flag issues like lazy loading, caching, and server-side rendering. It can also help an organization adopt modular coding practices that reduce carbon impact and costs. There also are opportunities that involve carbon-aware computing. This includes scheduling certain workloads when renewable energy is widely available or shifting workloads to other systems or data centers to take advantage of clean energy at certain times of the day, Podder points out.Code GreenEven seemingly small changes -- such as displaying light text on a black background -- can make a significant difference when it ripples across tens of thousands of screens. Accenture found that this approach can reduce carbon emissions by 60%. Similarly, delivering streaming video in high definition can consume up to 8x the carbon emissions as standard definition. Disabling autoplay for videos can drive down energy use by a factor of 2x or more.In the end, success requires organizations to balance competing priorities, such as speed to market, feature requirements, costs and sustainable goals. It also requires a focus on AI model and algorithm optimization. Says Podder: There are trade-offs with every decision. The key is to achieve greater sustainability without compromising your ability to build and deliver good software.

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. How measuring vaccine hesitancy could help health professionals tackle it This week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trumps pick to lead the USs health agencies, has been facing questions from senators as part of his confirmation hearing for the role. So far, its been a dramatic watch, with plenty of fiery exchanges, screams from audience members, and damaging revelations. Theres also been a lot of discussion about vaccines. Kennedy has long been a vocal critic of vaccines. He has spread misinformation about the effects of vaccines. Hes petitioned the government to revoke the approval of vaccines. Hes sued pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines. Kennedy has his supporters. But not everyone who opts not to vaccinate shares his worldview. There are lots of reasons why people dont vaccinate themselves or their children. Understanding those reasons will help us tackle an issue considered to be a huge global health problem today. And plenty of researchers are working on tools to do just that. Read the full story. Jessica Hamzelou This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Reviews weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. What DeepSeeks breakout success means for AI The tech world is abuzz over a new open-source reasoning AI model developed by DeepSeek, a Chinese startup. The company claims that this new model, called DeepSeek R1, matches or even surpasses OpenAIs ChatGPT o1 in performance but operates at a fraction of the cost. Its success is even more remarkable given the constraints that Chinese AI companies face due to US export controls on cutting-edge chips. DeepSeeks approach represents a radical change in how AI gets built, and could shift the tech worlds center of gravity.Join news editor Charlotte Jee, senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven, and China reporter Caiwei Chen for an exclusive subscriber-only Roundtable conversation on Monday 3 February at 12pm ET discussing what DeepSeeks breakout success means for AI and the broader tech industry. Register here. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Federal workers are being forced to defend their work to Elon Musks acolytesGovernment tech staff are being pulled into sudden meetings with students. (Wired $) + Archivists are rushing to save thousands of datasets being yanked offline. (404 Media)+ Civil servants arent buying Musks promises. (Slate $)2 The US Copyright Office says AI-assisted art can be copyrighted But works wholly created by AI cant be. (AP News)+ The AI lab waging a guerrilla war over exploitative AI. (MIT Technology Review)3 OpenAI is partnering with US National LaboratoriesIts models will be used for scientific research and nuclear weapons security. (NBC News) + Its the latest move from the firm to curry favor with the US government. (Engadget)+ OpenAI has upped its lobbying efforts nearly sevenfold. (MIT Technology Review)4 DeepSeeks success is inspiring founders in AfricaThe startup has proved that frugality can go hand in hand with innovation. (Rest of World)+ What Africa needs to do to become a major AI player. (MIT Technology Review)5 China is building a massive wartime command center The complex appears to be part of preparation for the possibility of nuclear war. (FT $)+ Pentagon workers used DeepSeeks chatbot for days before it was blocked. (Bloomberg $)+ We saw a demo of the new AI system powering Andurils vision for war. (MIT Technology Review)6 Theres a chance this colossal asteroid will hit Earth in 2032 Experts arent too worriedyet. (The Guardian)+ How worried should we be about the end of the world? (New Yorker $)+ Earth is probably safe from a killer asteroid for 1,000 years. (MIT Technology Review) 7 Things are looking up for Europes leading battery makerTruckmaker Scania is now supporting the troubled Northvolts day-to-day operations. (Reuters) + Three takeaways about the current state of batteries. (MIT Technology Review)8 This group of Luddite teens is still resisting technologyBut three years after starting their club, the lure of dating apps is strong. (NYT $) 9 Reddits bastion of humanity is under threat AI features are creeping into the forum, much to users chagrin. (The Atlantic $)10 Bid a fond farewell to MiniDiscs and blank Blu-RaysSony is finally pulling the plug on some of its recordable media formats. (IEEE Spectrum) Quote of the day We try to be really open and then everything I say leaks. It sucks. Mark Zuckerberg warns that leakers will be fired in a memo that was promptly leaked, the Verge reports. The big story This artist is dominating AI-generated art. And hes not happy about it. September 2022 Greg Rutkowski is a Polish digital artist who uses classical styles to create dreamy landscapes. His distinctive style has been used in some of the worlds most popular fantasy games, including Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Now hes become a hit in the new world of text-to-image AI generation. His name is one of the most commonly used prompts in the open-source AI art generator Stable Diffusion. But this and other open-source programs are built by scraping images from the internet, often without permission and proper attribution to artists. And artists like Rutkowski have had enough. Read the full story. Melissa Heikkil We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.)+ Its an oldie but a goodie: ice dancing gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moirs routine to Moulin Rouge is simply spectacular.+ This week marks 56 years since the Beatles performed their last ever gig on the roof of their Apple headquarters.+ In other Beatles news, Ringo Starr has never eaten a pizza.+ The Video Game History Foundation has opened up its incredible archive (thanks Dani!)

SoftBank is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI, which could value it around $300 billion.The deal could make OpenAI the joint-second most valuable tech company after SpaceX.The funding round could see OpenAI pump $15 billion into the Stargate AI infrastructure project.SoftBank is preparing to lead fresh investment into OpenAI at a $300 billion valuation, Business Insider understands a move that would value the ChatGPT maker the same as TikTok owner ByteDance. The Japanese investment giant is in talks to invest up to $25 billion in OpenAI, the Financial Times first reported.While SpaceX is the most valuable private company in the world, the funding round could push OpenAI up to second spot alongside Chinese tech giant ByteDance. OpenAI currently ranks as the third-most valuable private tech firm. Talks between OpenAI and SoftBank are ongoing, which means details around the the round size and valuation are subject to change. If the AI juggernaut hits its target valuation of $300 billion, it would nearly double its current valuation of $157 billion.SpaceX's valuation is around $350 billion after the Elon Musk-owned company agreed to buy back $1.25 billion worth of stock at $185 a share in December. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, similarly catapulted its valuation to $300 billion following a buyback offer, offering investors a price of about $180 per share, the Wall Street Journal reported in November.OpenAI could become one of three companies globally with a centibillion valuation; Stripe and Shein follow suit with valuations of $70 billion and $66 billion, respectively.Prior to SoftBank's latest investment talks, OpenAI raised nearly $20 billion from investment heavyweights, including Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Nvidia.If SoftBank invests $15 to $20 billion into OpenAI, it would overtake Microsoft which has poured around $13 billion into the company so far as OpenAI's lead investor.Such a deal would mark the most significant bet yet on the generative AI boom from SoftBank and form a key part of the wider ambitions of its billionaire founder, Masayoshi Son, to usher in an era of "artificial super intelligence." Masayoshi Son is the founder and CEO of Japanese holding company SoftBank. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images Son, who made his original fortune from a timely bet on Alibaba in the dot-com era, has previously spoken about his nonstop use of OpenAI's ChatGPT, and predicted AI that is 10,000 times smarter than humans will arrive by the midpoint of the next decade.A fresh investment from SoftBank would also further deepen its relationship with OpenAI after the companies announced plans last week to form Stargate, a joint venture that aims to spend up to $500 billion on AI infrastructure projects in the US over the next four years.SoftBank's Son will serve as chairman of the project, which was unveiled at the White House by President Donald Trump. Initial equity funders include Oracle and the UAE's MGX alongside SoftBank and OpenAI. The project will begin deploying $100 billion immediately, according to OpenAI.It is not yet clear where the companies will source the capital from, with OpenAI currently lossmaking. It has been suggested that SoftBank'sproposed equity investment could allow OpenAI to invest around $15 billion in Stargate.SoftBank declined to comment. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment.

1959: Henry Mancini "The Music from Peter Gunn"Henry Mancini and others at the 1959 Grammys. Harold P. Matosian Mancini, pictured left, was the inaugural winner of the award.1960: Frank Sinatra "Come Fly With Me!"Frank Sinatra. William Gottlieb/Redferns via Getty Images Sinatra won his first of three album of the year awards in 1960.1961: Bob Newhart "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart"Bob Newhart in 1962. NBCUniversal/Getty Newhart starred in "The Big Bang Theory" as Professor Proton.1962: Judy Garland "Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall"Judy Garland. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Garland was recently played by Renee Zellweger in "Judy," for which she won an Oscar one award that eluded Garland.1963: Vaughn Meader "The First Family"Vaughn Meader with his best-selling record album "The First Family" in 1962. AP Photo The album was a musical spoof based on the Kennedys.1964: Barbra Streisand "The Barbra Streisand Album"Barbra Streisand. Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP Released on February 25, 1963, it was the debut album by Barbra Streisand. She is a rare EGOT winner: She's won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.1965: Stan Getz & Joo Gilberto "Getz/Gilberto"Stan Getz & Joo Gilberto. Bettmann/Getty Images This year marked the first time two people won the award.1966: Frank Sinatra "September of My Years"Frank Sinatra. Associated Press Sinatra won consecutive album of the year awards in 1966 and 1967. He is one of only two artists to do so, the other being Stevie Wonder.1967: Frank Sinatra "A Man and His Music"Frank Sinatra. AP Photo/Bill Kostroun Until 2024 when Taylor Swift won for the fourth time Sinatra held the joint record for the most wins for this award.1968: The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"The Beatles. AP The Beatles became the first band to win album of the year.1969: Glen Campbell "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"Glen Campbell. Harold Matosian/AP Campbell beat The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to the award this year.1970: Blood, Sweat & Tears "Blood, Sweat & Tears"Blood, Sweat & Tears. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Johnny Cash and The Beatles lost the award to Blood, Sweat & Tears.1971: Simon & Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"Simon & Garfunkel. AP Photo Paul Simon also won twice as a solo artist. Therefore, he has technically won this award three times.1972: Carole King "Tapestry"Carole King. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images Carole King has won a total of five competitive categories, plus three honorary awards.1973: George Harrison & Friends (Ravi Shankar, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, and Klaus Voormann) "The Concert for Bangladesh"George Harrison is shown playing the guitar in a scene from the Beatles movie "Help!" on location in the Bahamas in 1965. AP Harrison also won the award as a member of The Beatles in 1968.1974: Stevie Wonder "Innervisions"Stevie Wonder. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Stevie Wonder won his first of three album of the year awards in 1974.1975: Stevie Wonder "Fulfillingness' First Finale"Stevie Wonder. AP Wonder won consecutive awards in 1975 and 1976, the first person to do so since Frank Sinatra in 1966 and 1967.1976: Paul Simon "Still Crazy After All These Years"Paul Simon and Carrie Fisher. AP This was the first of Simon's wins as a solo artist.1977: Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life"Stevie Wonder. AP Wonder won his third album of the year this year, making it three wins in four years.1978: Fleetwood Mac "Rumours"Fleetwood Mac. CBS via Getty Images Fleetwood Mac beat John Williams and his "Star Wars" score to the award this year.1979: Various Artists "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrackJohn Travolta dances with Karen Lynn Gorney in a scene from the movie "Saturday Night Fever." Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images This year marked the first time the winner was listed as "various artists," as well as the first time a film's soundtrack or score won the award.1980: Billy Joel "52nd Street"Billy Joel. Nicholas Hunt/ Getty Images Billy Joel beat Donna Summer and Kenny Rogers to become the first winner of the 1980s.1981: Christopher Cross "Christopher Cross"Christopher Cross is shown at the Grammy Awards in New York City in 1981. AP Photo Christopher Cross beat three-time winner Frank Sinatra to claim this award.1982: John Lennon and Yoko Ono "Double Fantasy"John Lennon and Yoko Ono. AP Photo/Steve Sands John Lennon won his second award with his wife, Yoko, following his first win with The Beatles in 1968.1983: Toto "Toto IV"The band Toto. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Paul McCartney lost his first nomination for this award as a solo artist to the band.1984: Michael Jackson "Thriller"Michael Jackson held his eight awards aldongside Quincy Jones at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in 1984. Doug Pizac/AP Images Michael Jackson won eight awards this year.1985: Lionel Richie "Can't Slow Down"Lionel Richie holding his Grammy award in 1985. Barry King/WireImage/Getty Images Lionel Richie beat legend Tina Turner to the award this year.1986: Phil Collins "No Jacket Required"Phil Collins shows off his three Grammy Awards at the 1986 Grammys. Bettmann/Getty Images Source Link This album contained two US No. 1 hits: "One More Night" and "Sussudio."1987: Paul Simon "Graceland"Paul Simon. Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images Simon won his second award as a solo artist this year.1988: U2 "The Joshua Tree"U2. Al Bello/ Getty Images This was the first of U2's two album of the year wins.1989: George Michael "Faith"George Michael in 1988. DR/AAD/STAR MAX/IPx via AP "Faith" contained hits such as "Faith" and "One More Try."1990: Bonnie Raitt "Nick of Time"Songstress Bonnie Raitt poses with her Grammy Awards. Bettmann/Getty Images Bonnie Raitt beat Tom Petty's "Full Moon Fever" to this award in 1990.

Last week I told you about the Chinese AI company DeepSeeks recent model releases and why theyre such a technical achievement. The DeepSeek team seems to have gotten great mileage out of teaching their model to figure out quickly what answer it would have given with lots of time to think, a key step in previous machine learning breakthroughs that allows for rapid and cheap improvements.This week I want to jump to a related question: Why are we all talking about DeepSeek? Its been called Americas AI Sputnik moment. Its at the top of the iPhone App Store, displacing OpenAIs ChatGPT. The CEOs of major AI companies are defensively posting on X about it. People who usually ignore AI are saying to me, hey, have you seen DeepSeek?I have, and dont get me wrong, its a good model. But so are OpenAIs most advanced models o1 and o3, and the current best-performing LLM on the chatbot arena leaderboard is actually Googles Gemini (DeepSeek R1 is fourth). RelatedOpenAIs new anti-jobs programAll of which raises a question: What makes some AI developments break through to the general public, while other, equally impressive ones are only noticed by insiders?The lesson of ChatGPTSeveral months before the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, OpenAI released the model GPT 3.5 which would later be the one underlying ChatGPT. Anyone could access GPT 3.5 for free by going to OpenAIs sandbox, a website for experimenting with their latest LLMs. GPT 3.5 was a big step forward for large language models; I explored what it could do and was impressed. So were many other people who closely followed AI advances. And yet, virtually no one else heard about it or discussed it.When OpenAI launched ChatGPT, it reached 100 million users within just two months, a record. ChatGPT was the exact same model as the GPT 3.5 whose release had gone largely unremarked on. The difference was that, instead of a sandbox with technical phrases and settings (like, what temperature do you want the AI to be?), it was a back-and-forth chatbot, with an interface familiar to anyone who had ever typed text into a box on a computer. It wasnt the technology that drove the rapid adoption of ChatGPT it was the format it was presented in. And I think thats the same phenomenon driving our present DeepSeek fervor. DeepSeek R1 isnt the best AI out there. As a largely open model, unlike those from OpenAI or Anthropic, its a huge deal for the open source community, and its a huge deal in terms of its geopolitical implications as clear evidence that China is more than keeping up with AI development. But none of that is an explanation for DeepSeek being at the top of the app store, or for the enthusiasm that people seem to have for it. I suspect that what drove its widespread adoption is the way it does visible reasoning to arrive at its answer. Its the first to have visible chain of thought packaged into a friendly chatbot user interface. People love seeing DeepSeek think out loud. They talk about how witnessing it thinking helps them trust it more and learn how to prompt it better. (Ironically, it also makes the models Chinese government-driven censorship more visible dont ask it about Taiwan but I think thats ultimately a good thing, compared to doing similar ideological censorship more subtly.)OpenAI, by contrast, made the decision when releasing o1 (which does similar thinking and reasoning before producing an answer) not to make the thought process public and visible. This is probably for several reasons its a trade secret, for one, and the model is much likelier to slip up and break safety rules mid-reasoning than it is to do so in its final answer. (Indeed, there have been lots of videos of DeepSeek R1 saying things critical of China before it notices the problem and backtracks.) But I think that the thought process does something similar for typical users to what the chat interface did. It makes the AI more immediate, more accessible, more interactive, and less confusing. Its not a major difference in the underlying product, but its a huge difference in how inclined people are to use the product. Seeing the reasoning (even how earnest it is about what it knows and what it might not know) increases user trust by quite a lot, Y Combinator chair Garry Tan wrote.AI has improved since you last checked inLets quickly respond to a few of the most prominent DeepSeek misconceptions: No, it doesnt mean that all of the money US companies are putting in has been wasted. DeepSeek demonstrated (if we take their process claims at face value) that you can do more than people thought with fewer resources, but you can still do more than that with more resources.DeepSeek might be an existential challenge to Meta, which was trying to carve out the cheap open source models niche, and it might threaten OpenAIs short-term business model. But the long-term business model of AI has always been automating all work done on a computer, and DeepSeek is not a reason to think that will be more difficult or less commercially valuable.Another thing that is driving the DeepSeek frenzy is straightforward most people arent AI power users and havent witnessed the two years of advances since ChatGPT first launched. But during those two years, AI has improved dramatically along almost every measurable metric, especially for the frontier models that may be too expensive for the average user. So if youre checking in for the first time because you heard there was a new AI people are talking about, and the last model you used was ChatGPTs free version yes, DeepSeek R1 is going to blow you away. And while its a very good model, a big part of the story is simply that all models have gotten much much better over the last two years. I wrote at the start of the year that, whether or not you like paying attention to AI, its moving very fast and poised to change our world a lot and ignoring it wont change that fact. Thats why its a good thing whenever any new viral AI app convinces people to take another look at the technology. To decide what policy approach we want to take to AI, we cant be reasoning from impressions of its strengths and limitations that are two years out of date not with a technology that moves this quickly. Inasmuch as DeepSeek has inspired policymakers to stop and take notice of how the 2025 world is different from the 2023 world, thats great news.Inasmuch as DeepSeek inspires a generalized panic about China, however, I think thats less great news. The Chinese Communist Party is an authoritarian entity that systematically wrongs both its own citizens and the rest of the world; I dont want it to gain more geopolitical power, either from AI or from cruel wars of conquest in Taiwan or from the US abdicating all our global alliances. But the AI race is not like the nuclear weapons race, because there was never any risk that the nuclear weapons would decide to take matters into their own hands. AI, experts warn quite emphatically, might quite literally take control of the world from humanity if we do a bad job of designing billions of super-smart, super-powerful AI agents that act independently in the world. (Would we be that careless? Yes, absolutely we are hard at work on it!) A lot of people, nervous about this situation, have taken to morbid humor. Call me a nationalist or whatever, one popular X post reads. But I hope that the AI that turns me into a paperclip is American-made. But lets get serious here. China doesnt want to destroy the world. There are indications theyre imitating most of the safety measures recommended by US institutions and taken by US labs. Those measures are totally inadequate right now but if we adopted adequate measures, I think they might well copy those too, and we should work for that to happen. We are in a real geopolitical competition with real and enormous stakes, but we cannot afford to lose sight of where theres common ground, and not creating a powerful new geopolitical entity that will gladly seize control from us and the CCP alike is a place where theres common ground. A version of this story originally appeared in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here!Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Hello, and welcome to Group Chat, where culture reporters Rebecca Jennings and Alex Abad-Santos discuss the topics currently blowing up our (and probably your) phones.Old people have fretted about the sex that young people are (or arent) having since time immemorial. But lately it feels like the tension has amped up in wilder and weirder ways. Under Trump 2.0, with a hedonistic vibe in the air and a palpable nihilism, youd think we would collectively loosen up some of our oldest ideas about sex, but if the past week is any indication, thats not happening yet. This week, X (formerly known as Twitter) erupted into discourse about IUDs. Polyamorous people once again became the victim of the internets collective bullying, while the same old Gen Z are puritans who cant handle sex in movies conversation reared its head again. Then, a magazine declared that everyone is horny.But are they? Whats actually going on here? Rebecca Jennings and Alex Abad-Santos attempt to have a discussion about sex on the internet thats still SFW. Rebecca Jennings: So its become increasingly evident that we cant, as a society, have a normal conversation about sex anymore. More than that, it feels like sex positivity is dead?Earlier this week, a guy posted a photo of his roommate doing a happy little jig because his girlfriend got an IUD, and a lot of people criticized him for celebrating womens pain (because IUD insertion is often very painful), for not getting a vasectomy instead, or for not loving her. What did you think of all that?Alex Abad-Santos: I mean, if you read the sentences you just wrote, I dont think you have to guess how I feel. There is no winning on the internet. Social media, X especially, is a place where you could post that you love golden retrievers and someone would be like, Wow I cant believe you want to inflict harm on Chihuahuas, you ableist. Of course posting something personal about birth control and implicitly sex was going to end with the worst conversation possible. Weirdos being reductive about birth control! Internet users with anime profile pics being regressive about women having sex! Strangers weaponizing therapy speak! I love being able to read in times like these! Rebecca: It makes me feel insane because its like, the fight for access to birth control was such a foundational part of second wave feminism, and now its 50 years later and self-described feminists are acting as though birth control is a burden or it only benefits men. Like, we fucking fought for this, guys! Sex should be fun and safe and pleasurable and birth control helps with that!Alex: RJ, that doesnt take into account the social media rules of consensual sex. Before two consenting adults even think about having sex, they also have to think about whether some internet stranger that they never met approves! On the other side of this, you know who cant win? Polyamorous people they are the victims of the joke one that transcends generations and political affiliation that they all look like that. (The vagueness of the original video is deliberate, allowing people to fill in the blanks, but some viewers connected their own dots in the comment section, describing the look as Ren Faire employees, Steven Universe kids, or adults in cookie monster pajamas.)Rebecca: I really feel for our polyamorous brethren. Theyve replaced bisexuals as the internets punching bag.Alex: Seriously though, youve written about this. The worst-faith conversations people are having about the IUD guy are not unlike the woman who made chili for her neighbors or the wife that tweeted about enjoying a cup of coffee with her husband seemingly everyone is addicted to being disingenuous for a few internet points. As you said then, it all points to how high the stakes seem to be for interpersonal encounters that are objectively nobodys business, and how so often our thirst for drama is really a thirst for punishment. Couple that with the dire state of media literacy, and like, of course no one is going to be able to talk about sex in a fun and normal way! Rebecca: And then theres all this discourse about young people hating sex scenes in movies. Not to be all, Whats up with kids these days, but literally like, what do you think is up with kids these days?Alex: This feels like a trap. Rebecca: Any time I can get you to put on your 40-something man hat and complain about the children, Im gonna do it. Alex: Not you outing me. I do think theres something to millennials growing up with a lot of sexually progressive for the time pop culture. The Real World showed us LGBTQ people. Sex and the City gave us Carrie Bradshaw and, more importantly, Samantha Jones. Even sitcoms like Frasier and Seinfeld (with canonically hot Elaine) frequently touched upon the characters having sex. Millennials are also the first generation that grew up on internet porn. Perhaps thats one of the reasons why millennials may be more relaxed about other people having sex and enjoying it. And if Gen Z is all about pointing out millennial cringe and everything we did wrong, then it makes sense that they find millennial sex positivity cringey too? Does Gen Z find Samantha Jones cringe? Courtesy of HBOLike, millennials are guilty of creating that entire I need Jason Momoa to hit me with their car, reverse, and run me over until I am nothing but sentient meaty pulp speak to say they found someone attractive. Thats immensely cringe.Rebecca: Thats an interesting argument that Gen Zs aversion to sex might just be an aversion to millennials. Alex: Whats sort of funny though is that the culture that millennials absorbed as children, was all created by older Gen X and boomers, who were reacting to more rigid attitudes from the Greatest Generation and beyond. And then if you apply this idea that generational attitudes reflected in generational art and culture shape the upcoming generations to Gen Z, did younger Gen X and millennials drop the ball?Its not our fault, is it? Rebecca: I posited this already on Twitter, but part of me wonders whether it has to do with parasocial relationships. Young people might be empathizing with the actors in sex scenes to a fault they feel that they know these actors (or perhaps that they are them) and are projecting their own discomfort onto them. But maybe Im overthinking it. Alex: I think youre onto something, although maybe its more about the 2020s than generations. I mean, I can think of one big stan account who hates that Timothe Chalamet is dating Kylie Jenner, and another big fandom full of millennials! that still doesnt approve of a pop songstresss ex-boyfriend. The parasocial aspect is strong there! On the other side of that, theres an entire swath of people, Gen Z included, who watched Nosferatu and were fawning over Count Orlok being so obsessed over a girl as a sign that he was a romantic. Never mind the stalking, cucking her husband, and bringing plague and endless death upon her. Rebecca: First of all, put some respect on Club Chalamets name (a.k.a. Timothe Chalamets most prominent fan). Second, yes it seems like everyone wants to yearn for sex, but not actually have it. Its similar to the way people yearn for IRL social interaction but constantly flake on plans or refuse to leave their house. Where it all seems to lead is a lot fewer people fucking. A few years ago there was that big piece about the sex recession. Do you think thats actually happening, and if so, what are the causes?Alex: My general theory or excuse is that the pandemic really broke us socially. Every aspect of our lives that revolves around us interacting with other people has been fundamentally altered. Sex included. Like theres an entire swath of Gen Z who were stuck at home with their parents when they shouldve been in dorms, at parties, or studying abroad, making awful decisions! Whats the opposite of a recession? A boom time? Do you think well eventually get to one? Rebecca: Dazed magazine recently did a piece on how everyone is horny now, pointing to pop cultural artifacts like FKA twigss trancey new album Eusexua, movies like Babygirl and Challengers, the music of Doechii, Ethel Cain, and Billie Eilish, and even Hawk Tuah. It basically argues that after Me Too and Trump 1.0, culture got a little neutered by the desire to make everything feminist and woke (Im sloppily paraphrasing, but thats the gist). Nicole Kidman as babygirl in Babygirl. Courtesy of A24I think theres something there, largely stemming from the nebulous vibe shift of the early 2020s toward hedonism and ostentation Sean Monahan of K-HOLE recently coined the term boom boom to describe the current version of it. People are less interested in litigating whos allowed to say, do, and desire what and more interested in flaunting how much they have. But the piece also argues correctly, I think that a lot of it feels a little sauceless, a little lacking in filth and perversion. None of it feels dangerous. Maybe were already scared enough.Alex: Or maybe we just dont post about it, like the IUD guy shouldnt have. Maybe its time to reclaim sex from the internet strangers who dont get a say.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More: Culture

Whether you're into TNA, WWE, or AEW, there have been plenty of wrestling video games over the years, but some are better than others which ones have you played?

From high-budget sequels to some childhood nostalgia, February is packed with great games to play. Here are our picks across all the major consoles, as well as PC

Remember those mini locks we used when we were kids to keep our diaries safe? It seems like the ancient Romans may have also delighted in such miniature objects. A metal detectorist in Germany has unearthed a tiny ancient Roman golden lock. The 1,600-year-old artifact is likely the first discovery of its kind in Europe, and sheds light on the extraordinary blacksmithing and locksmithing skills present in ancient Roman provinces. Hailing from the third or fourth century CE, the miniature lock is 0.43 by 0.47 inches (1.1 by 1.2 centimeters). Itssmaller than the one-euro coin but so much more valuable, said Georg Lunemann, director of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL), in the associations January 28 statement describing the discovery. I am thrilled that we can come up with such high-profile finds here in Westphalia, he added, a region in northwestern Germany where the detectorist found the lock. The discovery of the lock. LWL / C. Fried Based on its shape, construction, and style, archaeologists at LWL immediately identified it as a Roman lock from the third or fourth century CE, produced in one of the imperial provinces. In fact, it was identical to a regular ancient Roman lock in everything but its size. Although the detectorist, Constantin Fried, found the artifact without its chain and key, it likely resembled a bike lock and could have secured a chest or box. A single chain link survived, and is still visible inside the lock. I could hardly believe it myself when I held the find in my hand, said Fried. Hed found the artifact in a field in 2023. Because such Roman locks are usually much larger and consist of iron or even bronze parts. The lock is made of two cylindrical metal sheets, one inside the other, held together by two circular ends and secured by three rivets. The external sheet is intricately carved.Director of LWL archaeology Michael Rind suggests that a local high-class individual may have brought the lock back home to Westphalia as a souvenir or gift after completing his Roman military service. Even 1,600 years ago, locals likely saw it as spectacularand may have even worn it as jewelry. Was it a one-off production or have similar precious miniatures just not been found yet? These and other questions will keep us busy for some time, Rind added.But could it really function like a true lock, or was it just a beautiful curiosity? To answer that, the researchers examined the objects interior. When traditional X-rays failed to penetrate the locks dense gold exterior, the team turned to a less common archaeological tool: 3D neutron computed tomography (CT), a technique that images the three-dimensional structure of a sample using neutrons. The processed neutron CT images. They reveal a frame with spring (red), bolt (blue), broken bolt guide (yellow), pin for the key (green), base plate (purple) and a chain end link (orange). Paul Scherrer Institute/Villigen (Switzerland)/David Mannes; Montage: LWL/Corinna Hildebrand The neutron CT images confirmed that, despite its size, the artifact did have a functioning iron locking mechanism, revealing a frame with spring, a bolt, a broken bolt guide, a pin for the key, a base plate, and the chain end link. While largely complete, [the mechanism] was damaged, because someone had obviously poked around in the lock at the time, probably to break it open or to fix a blockage, Fried explained. Despite the damage, we were able to reconstruct the function of the mechanism and the lost key quite well, Rind said. With the end link of the chain still in place, it was also possible to reconstruct a link chain for the lock that must have had at least six [links] for the lock to function.The large reconstruction of the closed lock with the chain and key, by LWL /Eugen Msch. LWL /Stefan Brentfhrer An LWL-Archaeology restorer then crafted a functional replica of the lock, complete with a chain and key. The replica, four times larger than the original artifact, highlights the high level of skill in provincial Roman artistic blacksmithing and locksmithing, explained Barbara Rschoff-Parzinger, head of the LWLs cultural department. That doesnt mean ancient Romans couldnt have worn the functioning lock as jewelry anyway. Perhaps the true revelation is that our obsession with chunky chain necklaces and lock charms began 1,600 years ago.