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End-of-life chatbot can help you with difficult final decisions
A virtual agent that helps people have conversations about their funeral plans, wills and spiritual matters is set to be trialled in Boston over the next two years with people who are terminally ill.
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Blind people repurpose the brainâs visual areas for language
People who are blind use parts of their brain that normally handleĚýfor vision to process language, as well as sounds â highlighting the brainâs extraordinary ability to requisition unused real estate for new functions.
How much carbon dioxide can we emit before global warming chaos?
The Paris AgreementĚýaspires to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. But is this target at allĚýrealistic?
Science after Brexit will be weaker all round
The UK governmentâs position paper is long on lofty ambitions for future collaboration, but the gory details suggest they will be extremely difficult to achieve
Sacrificial virgin spiders let their nieces eat them alive
In one species of spider, unmated females not only care for other spidersâ offspring, they allow the tiny spiderlings to devour their insides
The NHS is using a chatbot to do tedious corporate team-building
The UKâs National Health Service and 10 big firms are experimenting with CoachBot, which replaces âcoaching and developmentâ staff with an automated chatbot
Not just a headache: How migraine changes your brain
Migraine changes the way you experience the world all the time, not just during an attack. Itâs time for a new approach to treatment
What if the diminutive electron isnât as small as it gets?
We thought electrons and their two mysterious siblings were fundamental particles. Now there are hints that we need to go smaller still to understand matter
Lost in meditation: Two books argue over mindfulness
Meditation and mindfulness may be good for us, or they may encourage narcissism. Explore different paths to enlightenment
Watching Cassiniâs last moments from inside NASA mission control
The Cassini team was at once somber and excited as they watched the spacecraftâs radio heartbeat flicker out. Mika McKinnon joined them to say goodbye
Brown dwarfs have strong magnetic fields just like real stars
Failed stars called brown dwarfs straddle the line between big planets and small stars. An observation of a magnetic field puts another tick in the star column
Five mythical animals that turned out to be real
Sometimes the tales travellers tell of strange creatures they have seen in a remote part of the world are true
Final pictures from Cassini as probe smashes into Saturn
Say goodbye to humanityâs outpost at Saturn with a look at Cassiniâs final images before it was swallowed by Saturnâs atmosphere
