Humans

AI is becoming smarter all the time, but mathematicians needn’t fear they will be replaced by machine intelligence, argues Junaid Mubeen

Humans

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8 June 2022

By Junaid Mubeen
Michelle D’urbano
WHEN 18-time international Go champion Lee Sedol retired from the game in 2019, mathematicians everywhere will have shared a moment of quiet introspection. Three years earlier, Lee had been beaten 4-1 by an artificial intelligence, DeepMind’s AlphaGo. Having observed the machine’s rapid pace of progress since then, Lee concluded that AI is an “entity that cannot be defeated” – at least by human Go players – a verdict that prompted his retirement.
AI’s triumph in a game as complex as Go might signal that mathematics, a subject that it has had in its cross hairs from its beginnings, is also ripe for automation. As … More

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Humans

8 June 2022

Dinner by moonlight
Around a tenth of the 21.5 kilograms of moon rock the Apollo 11 astronauts brought back to Earth on 24 July 1969 ended up as food. In Building 37, at what is now known as NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, it was ground up and fed to various microbes, insects and aquatic animals. Would they sicken or die? Would they acquire strange powers?
Eight cockroaches were among the diners, and Feedback is now digging through the penny jar in a frantic attempt to raise enough to bid for the traces of their meal. Three of … More

The story of the emergence of mammals is told with elan in a clear, engaging book – with a nasty sting in the tale for us humans

Humans

8 June 2022

By Michael Marshall

A sail-backed Dimetrodon looked like a primitive dinosaur, but was a reptile-like precursor to mammalsDaniel Eskridge / Alamy Stock Photo
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals
Steve Brusatte
Picador

ANYONE writing about mammals faces a key challenge: not making it about us. Humans are mammals of course, and it is easy to present the tale of mammalian evolution as inexorably leading to our arrival. Palaeontologist Steve Brusatte deftly avoids this problem in his new history of mammals by leaving almost all mention of humans to the final pages, where we come in as, essentially, … More

A test uses epigenetic marks on your DNA to determine which parts of your genome came from each biological parent

Humans

8 June 2022

By Carissa Wong
It is now possible to work out which parts of someone’s genome came from which biological parent via a genetic testJozef Polc / Alamy
A genetic technique can identify which parts of your genome came from your biological mother and which parts are from your biological father. The method could be useful in cases where an individual is carrying a disease-associated gene variant by helping to establish which other family members should consider undergoing screening for the gene.
“It’s a very, very cool study,” says Shai Carmi at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, … More

From the death rites of animals to gang initiations, rituals are found everywhere. This new book explores why

Humans

1 June 2022

By Simon Ings

This fire ritual in Bulgaria involves a barefoot dance on smouldering embersCylonphoto/Getty Images
Ritual
Dimitris Xygalatas
Profile

“I always feel my stomach churn when I look at someone being impaled by a spear through the cheeks,” writes Dimitris Xygalatas, an anthropologist at the University of Connecticut specialising in the study of extreme rituals. The version of the Thaipusam Kavadi ritual found in Mauritius is his favourite – if that is quite the word. Devotees endure many piercings, from a few needles through their cheeks to several hundred spikes perforating their entire … More

A mind-expanding new exhibition in Liverpool, UK, sets out to explore how science has influenced the making of Doctor Who

Humans

1 June 2022

By Clare Wilson

The science behind the Face of Boe is explored at Doctor Who: Worlds of wonderSarner International courtesy of National Museums Liverpool
Doctor Who: Worlds of wonder
World Museum, Liverpool, UK Until 30 October

IF YOU know one thing about Doctor Who, it may be that the TARDIS, the titular Doctor’s spaceship, is based on a physical impossibility: it is “bigger on the inside”. Externally, it looks like a small, blue telephone box, but those who enter find themselves in a multi-dimensional labyrinth.
While such a premise might seem fantastical, in fact, many of the ideas from the … More

Feedback is our weekly column of bizarre stories, implausible advertising claims, confusing instructions and more

Humans

1 June 2022

Josie Ford
Rogue editors
If you ever feel in need of some light entertainment alongside insights into the decline of research integrity and the scientific method, try perusing a website called Retraction Watch.
As New Scientist has previously described, some fear that papers in peer-reviewed journals – once seen as the most authoritative source of information – are increasingly untrustworthy, because scientists’ careers these days hinge on their publication tally, incentivising quantity over quality. Retraction Watch documents official retractions of papers – either due to honest errors or outright fraud – often accompanied by wry commentary and the occasional eye-roll.
Feedback thought we already knew … More

The physics in this meandering but engrossing novel adds flavour rather than substance, with the focus more on mental health

Humans

1 June 2022

By Anna Demming

The Red Arrow takes place on a train – with the odd metaphysical detourSephirot17/Getty Images
The Red Arrow
William Brewer
John Murray

DAYDREAMERS often love train journeys. When it comes to navigating a maze of fancy and reflection while hurtling at high speed from A to B, few do it with such deft eloquence as William Brewer’s introspective protagonist in The Red Arrow.
The novel is named after the train Frecciarossa, on which the protagonist is travelling for the whole course of the novel, although most of the time his mind is … More