Little is known about the effects on humansbut limiting exposure to them seems prudent

Whether it is a negotiating ploy remains to be seen

That probably assisted their evolutionary diversification

It is better than freezing them to death

Genetic engineering and AI are powering the search for antivenins

It wont hurt to try. But scientists are only beginning to understand the links between the breath and the mind

We invite applications for the 2025 Richard Casement internship

Science & technology | Dancing with deathA better understanding of Huntingtons disease brings hopePrevious research seems to have misinterpreted what is going onIllustration: Keith Negley Jan 16th 2025|Cambridge, MassachusettsHuntingtons disease is horrible. It is also odd. Illnesses caused by inherited aberrant genes are mostly what geneticists call recessive, meaning someone must receive defective versions of the gene involved from both mother and father. Huntingtons, the symptoms of which start with involuntary jerking, mood swings and memory problems, and end with death, is dominantmeaning only one parent need be a carrier to pass it on.Explore moreThis article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Dancing with deathFrom the January 18th 2025 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content

Those with the syndrome have more of a protein implicated in dementia

It wasnt. But it is now

Youll stay healthier for longer if youre strong

Eventually, models could be trained without any dedicated hardware at all

It can help. But it depends where youre going

A stronger R&D base, they hope, will transform their countries economies. Will their plan work?

Science & technology | Lift-off at last?Can Jeff Bezos match Elon Musk in space?After 25 years, Blue Origin finally heads to orbit, and hopesto become a contender in the private space racePhotograph: Blue Origin Jan 1st 2025IT HAS BEEN a long time coming. Assuming there are no last-minute delays, then in the next few days Blue Origin, a firm run by Jeff Bezos, Amazons founder, will make the first launch of its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. If everything goes smoothly, then almost a quarter of a century after it was founded, Blue Origin will reach orbit for the first timeand the private space industry may have another contender.Explore moreThis article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Bolt from the blueFrom the January 4th 2025 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content

Might Blue Origin at last become a contender in the private space race?

It could sniff out blazes long before they spread out of control

Trials are under way against skin, brain and lung tumours

There is growing evidence that it can help with pain, depression and more

Survival is a case of childs play

We analyse two centuries of scholarly work

Paradoxically, cleaner emissions from ships and power plants are playing a role

Science & technology | Vexing visitsCarbon emissions fromtourismare rising disproportionately fastThe industry is failing to make itself greenerPhotograph: Magnum Dec 11th 2024Tourists have been getting a lot of flak recently. Venice has started charging 5 ($5.30) for day-trippers and limits the size of tour groups. Rome is considering a 2 fee to see the Trevi fountain. New Zealand has upped fees for visitors.Explore moreClimate changeThis article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Vexing visitsFrom the December 14th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content

Science & technology | The Babel wishMachine translation is almost a solved problemBut interpreting meanings, rather than just words and sentences, will be a daunting taskIllustration: Mark Pernice Dec 11th 2024|LisbonVasco Pedro had always believed that, despite the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), getting machines to translate languages as well as professional translators do would always need a human in the loop. Then he saw the results of a competition run by his Lisbon-based startup, Unbabel, pitting its latest AI model against the companys human translators. I was likeno, were done, he says. Humans are done in translation. Mr Pedro estimates that human labour currently accounts for around 95% of the global translation industry. In the next three years, he reckons, human involvement will drop to near zero.Explore moreArtificial intelligenceThis article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline The Babel wishFrom the December 14th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content

Science & technology | Mystery storyHumans and Neanderthals met often, but only one event matters The mystery of exactly how people left Africa deepensPhotograph: Tom Bjrklund Dec 12th 2024In 2010 researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (EVA), in Leipzig, published the genome of Homo neanderthalensis, a species known in less progressive days as Neanderthal man. This contained stretches of DNA also found in Homo sapiens genomesspecifically, non-African ones. That suggested past interbreeding between the two, but only outside Africa. This is not surprising. Homo sapiens began in Africa but Neanderthals were Eurasian. Any miscegenation would have happened after sapiens left its homeland to embark on its conquest of the world. But the details were unclear.This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline Mystery storyFrom the December 14th 2024 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content

And it can generate sentences trained on their own writing

Interpreting meanings, rather than just words and sentences, will be a daunting task

When it is finished, Qianfan could number 14,000 satellites

And if its boss now tries to kill NASAs own heavy lifter, will that matter?

Implanted electrodes allowed one man to climb stairs unaided