Science & technology
AI’s next top model
Large language models are getting bigger and better
Can they keep improving forever?
Digital detoxes
What is screentime doing to children?
Demands grow to restrict young people’s access to phones and social media
Who you gonna call?
Locust-busting is getting a upgrade
From pesticides to drones, new technologies are helping win an age-old battle
Prisoners’ health
The first week after prison is the deadliest for ex-inmates
Alcohol and drugs kill many in the early days of freedom
Conservation
New technology can keep whales safe from speeding ships
Collisions kill 20,000 every year
Hive minds
Bees, like humans, can preserve cultural traditions
Different colonies build in competing architectural styles
AI at war
How Ukraine is using AI to fight Russia
From target hunting to catching sanctions-busters, its war is increasingly high-tech
Essential listens
The science that built the AI revolution
A special series of “Babbage”, our podcast on science and technology
Robotics
Why robots should take more inspiration from plants
They would be able to grow, grip and move in more useful ways
Hacking the internet
A stealth attack came close to compromising the world’s computers
The cyber-scare shows why the internet’s crowdsourced code is vulnerable
Pharmacology
Could weight-loss drugs eat the world?
Scientists are finding that anti-obesity medicines can also help many other diseases
Out of sight out of mind
Antarctica, Earth’s largest refrigerator, is defrosting
The world must pay more attention to its southern pole