When your robot wins a Nobel Prize
There is no problem in principle for machines to design other machines, for systems to generate other systems, and so on until human contribution is nothing more than a distant memory
When a robot becomes conscious, how will we know?
AGI will be a system capable of learning from experience without having to swallow the entire internet before breakfast; capable of abstracting information, projecting actions, and understanding situations it has never encountered before
The internet is not theirs: shifting towards a public service
Information, education and knowledge should not depend, or not exclusively, on the arbitrary decisions of a handful of Silicon Valley billionaires
A life without purpose
Attributing a goal in life to living beings and to other people is surely a useful way to navigate the world, but that does not mean that it is the right thing to do
David Eagleman, investigator of the secrets of our minds
The U.S. neuroscientist, one of the most interesting scientific writers of our times, explains that each time we learn something, our neurons change. And that if someone loses their sight, part of the cells once in charge of seeing will begin to help them in another task, like listening
In Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi, gene-editing is saving crops
A dozen genetic-editing projects for crops in Africa are achieving incredible results. For more than 20 years, European countries have been repressing this technology, due to pressure from certain environmental groups
Machine versus organoid
The war between living and silicon brains has raged since the days of Kasparov and ‘Deep Blue’, and it’s only intensified over the last few years
Don’t neglect basic science
Major advances in scientific knowledge always precede technological innovation
Fear is not an argument for rejecting artificial intelligence
21st-century medicine is informed by 19th-century genetic and embryological discoveries, while AI traces its origins to secret weapons research during World War II
A library of human defenses
Sick of genomes, proteomes and microbiomes? Get ready: the Human Immunome Project is coming
Separating science from morality in the new anti-obesity medications
‘The Hollywood drug’ label doesn’t imply Ozempic is about tricking your brain to lose weight – it’s effective for Type II diabetes and reducing heart attack risk
Coming out of the echo chamber
The term is typically used for social media, but it can be extended to something much older: specialization
A scientific approach to mysticism
There are neuroscientists who care little or nothing about the big questions, and also farmers who are tortured by them
A decade since ‘Sapiens’: Scientific knowledge or populism?
Years after the publication of this book — which turned its author into a global phenomenon — there is still pending doubt about the intellectual rigor of the work by Yuval Noah Harari
Women of science
The two scientists awarded the Nobel Prize are Katalin Karikó, for Covid vaccines, and Anne L’Huillier, for a sharp look into the interior of the atom. Something is moving in Stockholm
Did the father of Dolly the Sheep deserve the Nobel Prize?
Ian Wilmut, who died on Monday at age 79, was an honest scientist who found himself in the eye of the storm of the cloning controversy
Why science needs debates
Knowledge can only move forward through the confrontation of ideas, so let’s stop dragging our feet
‘Homo naledi’: Not much brain, but a lot of art
A team of paleontologists believe they have found evidence of ceremonial burials dating back 240,000 years, long before ‘Homo sapiens’ came into existence
The bright side of artificial intelligence
AI is a powerful tool for science and medicine
Robert Oppenheimer: The story of the father of the atomic bomb
Director Christopher Nolan’s film about the physicist will hit theaters in June. The movie is based on ‘American Prometheus,’ a masterful biography that draws on 30 years of research about the rise and fall of the scientist who lent his talents to create the ultimate weapon
Brazil planning to build the world’s largest anti-dengue mosquito macro farm
The goal of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government is to protect 70 million Brazilians from dengue fever by releasing modified insects in urban areas
‘The WEIRDest People in the World’: How cultural evolution changes the brain
Joseph Henrich’s book argues that high literacy rates in the West has produced some of the strangest humans on the planet
New virus, new Covid-19 wave
A study of recent data from South Africa suggests there could be another uptick in infections due to two omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5
Peter Singer: ‘Consciousness isn’t exclusive to humans, or even to primates’
Half a century ago, the Australian thinker was known as the radical philosopher of animal liberation. Now, his theories have changed legislation around the world, and he is publishing two new books in Spanish
Could the flu pandemic of 1918 really have started in Spain?
Investigation suggests that a second, deadly version of virus may have gestated in Madrid
Quitting top medical researcher lambasted by authorities
Officials accuse head of Barcelona Regenerative Medicine Center of prioritizing post in California
Stem cell guru walks out on Spanish science
Juan Carlos Izpisúa is leaving the Barcelona Regenerative Medicine Center due to a lack of support The biochemist has earned numerous awards for his research into organ and tissue development
_
últimas noticias
The US enters a new era of interventions in Latin America
A three-year-old Indian boy becomes the youngest chess player in history after being recognized by FIDE
Trump’s deportations shake up Eswatini: A journey to the tiny African kingdom
The battle over the colonial legacy in Mexico: ‘Shadow theater for political gain’
Most viewed
- The fall of a prolific science journal exposes the billion-dollar profits of scientific publishing
- Nicolás Olea, professor: ‘Plastic coffee capsules contribute to exposure to endocrine disruptors’
- Trump’s deportations shake up Eswatini: A journey to the tiny African kingdom
- From Gwen Stefani to Katy Perry: The MAGA drift of celebrity Democrats
- Frida Kahlo’s record-breaking painting was a gift for a US photographer who was her lover for 10 years
newsletter
Sign up to EL PAÍS in English Edition bulletin
_