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Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) perched on Bempton cliffs. Yorkshire, UK. Cute bird portrait in spring.; Shutterstock ID 2162124261; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Environment

A spat over sand eels threatens puffins and other iconic seabirds

Overfishing of small fish has led to population declines in the birds that feed on them. Now the UK government's attempts to protect this crucial resource faces a serious challenge

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2FMXX1B USA. Jeff Goldblum in a scene from (C)Universal Pictures film: Jurassic Park (1993). Plot: A pragmatic paleontologist visiting an almost complete theme park is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose. Director: Steven Spielberg Ref: LMK110-J7096-110521 Supplied by LMKMEDIA. Editorial Only. Landmark Media is not the copyright owner of these Film or TV stills but provides a service only for recognised Media outlets. pictures@lmkmedia.com

Life

How to think about the most contentious ideas in science

Leader

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Why humanoid robots are missing the point

Technology

Why humanoid robots are missing the point

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Why I'm deeply sceptical about comparisons between humans and machines

Technology

Why I'm deeply sceptical about comparisons between humans and machines

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How does astronomy fit into astrophysics – and does it matter?

Physics

How does astronomy fit into astrophysics – and does it matter?

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F20J3E Glowing question mark symbol in forest at night

Life

The 7 most consequential moments in the history of everything

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Dating apps should fix their problems before saddling us with new ones

Technology

Dating apps should fix their problems before saddling us with new ones

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GDKEG6 Oil refinery at twilight

Technology

How the future rise of AI lawyers could force Big Oil to pay up

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Quantum computer circuitry illustration. Conventional computers store information as 'bits', with each transistor holding either a 1 or a 0. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which operate according to two principles of quantum physics. One of the principles, supposition, allows a qubit to store a 1 and a 0 at the same time. This means two qubits can hold four values at once. The second principle, entanglement, means that the state of one qubit can depend on the state of another. As you expand the number of qubits, the machine becomes exponentially more powerful.

Technology

Why AI firms should follow the example of quantum computing research

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2SA3JYH Various Artificial Intelligence mobile apps, DeepSeek open-source large language models app on January 28, 2025 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Technology

DeepSeek has burst the AI hype bubble – now all bets are off

The Chinese firm threatens the dominance of Silicon Valley’s AI elite, and its innovations show the technology could be more affordable and less costly to the environment

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Society

How futurism took an abrupt right turn in the 20th century

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Society

Why an increasing belief in alien visitations is a real-world problem

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Society

Building a true meritocracy means removing barriers, not ignoring them

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Space

These interstellar spaceship designs are wildly impractical

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