Author: The Conversation

For years, astronomers have predicted a dramatic fate for our galaxy: a head-on collision with Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbour. This merger – expected in about 5 billion years – has become a staple of astronomy documentaries, textbooks and popular science writing. But in our new study published in Nature Astronomy, led by Till Sawala from the University of Helsinki, we find the Milky Way’s future might not be as certain as previously assumed. By carefully accounting for uncertainties in existing measurements, and including the gravitational influence of other nearby galaxies, we found there is only about a 50% chance…

People turn to the internet to run billions of search queries each year. These range from keeping tabs on world events and celebrities to learning new words and getting DIY help. One of the most popular questions recently asked was: “How to inspect a used car?”. If you asked Google this at the beginning of 2024, you would have been served a list of individual search results and the order would have depended on several factors. If you asked the same question at the end of the year, the experience would be completely different. That’s because Google, which controls the search engine market,…

About a century ago, scientists were struggling to reconcile what seemed to be a contradiction in Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Published in 1915, and already widely accepted worldwide by physicists and mathematicians, the theory assumed the universe was static – unchanging, unmoving and immutable. In short, Einstein believed the size and shape of the universe today was, more or less, the same size and shape it had always been. But when astronomers looked into the night sky at faraway galaxies with powerful telescopes, they saw hints the universe was anything but that. These new observations suggested the opposite…

It is “the policy of the United States to promote AI literacy and proficiency among Americans,” reads an executive order President Donald Trump issued on April 23, 2025. The executive order, titled Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth, signals that advancing AI literacy is now an official national priority. This raises a series of important questions: What exactly is AI literacy, who needs it, and how do you go about building it thoughtfully and responsibly? The implications of AI literacy, or lack thereof, are far-reaching. They extend beyond national ambitions to remain “a global leader in this technological revolution” or even…

Like it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of daily life. Many devices – including electric razors and toothbrushes – have become “AI-powered,” using machine learning algorithms to track how a person uses the device, how the device is working in real time, and provide feedback. From asking questions to an AI assistant like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot to monitoring a daily fitness routine with a smartwatch, many people use an AI system or tool every day. While AI tools and technologies can make life easier, they also raise important questions about data privacy. These systems often collect large amounts of data,…

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken centre stage across various industries. From AI-generated art to chatbots in customer service, every sector is seemingly poised for disruption. It’s not just in your news feed every day – venture capital is pouring in, while CEOs are eager to declare their companies “AI-first”. But for those who remember the lofty promises of other technologies that have since faded from memory, there’s an uncanny sense of déjà vu. In 2017, it was blockchain that promised to transform every industry. Companies added “blockchain” to their name and watched stock prices skyrocket, regardless of whether the…

South Africa holds the presidency of the G20 this year. The group is made up of 19 of the world’s largest economies, the European Union and the African Union. A priority of South Africa’s G20 presidency is African connectivity: promoting cross-border energy trade and regional power pools as a way to share electricity across borders on the continent. David Phaho and Steven Mathetsa of the African Energy Leadership Centre set out how South Africa could use its presidency of the G20 to drive regional renewable energy sharing. What is a regional power pool? A regional energy power pool is where countries in a region share…

In a new study published today in Nature, we report the discovery of a new long-period transient – and, for the first time, one that also emits regular bursts of X-rays. Long-period transients are a recently identified class of cosmic objects that emit bright flashes of radio waves every few minutes to several hours. This is much longer than the rapid pulses we typically detect from dead stars such as pulsars. What these objects are, and how they generate their unusual signals, remains a mystery. Our discovery opens up a new window into the study of these puzzling sources. But it also deepens the mystery:…

Nearly everyone has encountered the unthinkable: Your smartphone landed in the toilet. Or you forgot to take off your smartwatch before jumping into the pool. Or maybe you meant to take those earbuds out of your pocket before running the laundry. What now? Internet forums are chock-full of advice to dry out that drenched device, but problematic myths about liquid protection and repair make it hard for consumers to separate fact from fiction. I’m a researcher who studies how technologies play a part in people’s everyday practices and experiences. My new book, “License to Spill: Where Dry Devices Meet Liquid Lives,” explores…

On 23 June 2025, the world will get a look at the first images from one of the most powerful telescopes ever built: the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Perched high in the Chilean Andes, the observatory will take hundreds of images of the southern hemisphere sky, every night for 10 years. In doing so, it will create the most complete time-lapse record of our Universe ever assembled. This scientific effort is known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). Rather than focusing on small patches of sky, the Rubin Observatory will scan the entire visible southern sky every few nights. Scientists…