Category: Technology

Russian mathematician Yurii Nesterov's work on gradient descent methods is influential in the development of AI technology. Simons Foundation via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-ND Russian mathematician Yurii Nesterov was recently awarded the Gauss Prize for outstanding mathematical contributions for his “groundbreaking work” on optimisation. The award cited his work on gradient descent methods – and […]

The UN has passed a non-binding resolution to endorse the Equal Earth Projection, a map which more fairly represents the true size of the Earth’s landmasses. The current commonly used projection, called the Mercator Projection, greatly exaggerates land towards the north and south poles, which makes Africa look much smaller. In the Mercator projection, countries […]

AI bots are making more decisions on our behalf when we make travel arrangements. Shutterstock AI Imagine telling your phone that you want a quiet boutique hotel near a city centre, below a certain price, with a decent breakfast and late checkout. A few seconds later, an AI assistant compares the options, explains why each […]

Eric Isselee / Shutterstock It turns out that one of the smallest dog breeds, the chihuahua, is part wild coyote, according to recently published genetic research. The chihuahua breed originated in Mexico but is now a popular canine companion worldwide. Coyote genes may have been introduced into ancestors of the chihuahua accidentally. It may also […]

Hydrangeas struggle with moisture but may re-shoot from the base of the plant. Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock UK gardens took a battering this summer as a heat dome settled over western Europe, and much of the green and pleasant land turned a dusty beige. Some areas went without rain for almost two months. The “joy of gardening” […]

Inkoly/Shutterstock There is a temptation to divide the future of AI into two possibilities: utopia or catastrophe. Neither extreme is particularly helpful. The more interesting possibility is messier – and requires a step-shift in our thinking, from artificial intelligence to AI societies. When most people hear “AI”, they typically think of ChatGPT, Copilot or another […]

Pelicans have resided in St James’s Park, London for 360 years. But the current flock have been a summer sensation due to the first hatching of chicks in the park’s history. Pelican breeding in zoos is demanding for these birds, because the right environmental and social conditions need to come together. Rather than simply being […]

From the Vredefort Dome in South Africa (the world’s oldest and largest known meteorite-impact structure) to the volcanic lakes of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya, Africa’s landscapes hold some of Earth’s oldest stories. Morocco’s M’Goun Unesco Global Geopark records more than 200 million years of geological history, while Tanzania’s Ngorongoro-Lengai landscape brings together a […]

At the recent World Humanoid Robot Games 2026 in Beijing, robots sprinted, boxed, played football and tackled tasks inspired by factories, restaurants and emergency situations. The robot Tiangong Ultra even completed the 100 metres in 8.64 seconds, quicker than Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second world record. But if we really want to know whether humanoid robots are […]

Wachiwit/Shutterstock It is two decades since Facebook introduced the News Feed – letting loose a world in which algorithms would shape ever more of our lives. In 2006, Facebook was facing something of a crisis. Its internal data suggested that for the first time since its launch two years earlier (as TheFacebook), the company had […]