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Despite what we see in science fiction movies, intelligent machines cannot perform surgeries alone. But highly trained human surgeons are using an emerging generation of cutting-edge robots as another tool to help them do their jobs with higher precision and smaller incisions.

Scientific collections housed in museums, archives, and libraries are part of a country’s cultural heritage. During its invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army targeted cultural properties for destruction. Scientist and curator Pavel Gol’din says rescuing such collections is necessary for a society to survive.

A complex mission to retrieve samples from the red planet is in the works. But while it’s been a long-time priority for the planetary science community, the project’s ballooning budget — which has led to funding cuts for other NASA projects — has some experts wondering: Will the mission be worth it?

A group of scientists are analyzing satellite images to teach computers to recognize when farmers butter the land with livestock poop in winter, a largely restricted but suspectedly pervasive practice in America’s Dairyland. Some advocates want the state to use their data as it regulates livestock manure.

In the rapidly growing field of eDNA, technological innovation has been key to surveying biodiversity. And while some scientists continue to use traditional methods, others are also banking on tools such as robots to help collect samples, as well as advanced lab analyses.

Psychologists and cognitive scientists are probing the mysteries of play and dreaming among animals, which may be intimately connected. Since dogs, horses, birds, and many other creatures dream, evolutionary biologists assume that it must have adaptive advantages. But what are they?

The World Health Organization recommends that all preterm infants receive at least 8 hours of skin-to-skin contact with a caregiver — known as kangaroo mother care, or KMC — beginning immediately after birth. Psychotherapist Ruth Bettelheim says that policies in the U.S. must change to make KMC standard.

The Decentralized Damage Mapping Group, an ad hoc association of about 18 researchers worldwide, came together last fall to increase the understanding and use of satellite data for monitoring the impacts of conflict. Two of the group’s researchers have now identified an estimated 157,200 damaged or destroyed buildings in Gaza.

While other forensic tools have leapt into the digital age, the rape kit — a ubiquitous but overlooked instrument — remains stuck in the 1970s. When used correctly, it can identify violent criminals and also prevent wrongly accused men from going to prison. But reforming the kit is overdue.

Time researchers make this point, and research results and public opinion polls reflect it: Something is awry about the way we mark time. Research into time zone boundaries, daylight saving time, and more reveals how subtle policies can shape our lives — and suggests avenues for reform.

In a spirited conversation centered on his new book, astrophysicist Paul M. Sutter has a lot to say about the public’s lack of trust in science, and how it can be fixed. He also has plenty to say about the tenure system, peer review, science journalism, p-hacking, and the crucial role of scientists in politics.

Journalists need to put the claims of climate scientists under the same scrutiny they would give to those of politicians, argues longtime science communicator Dennis Meredith. By not recognizing scientists’ motives, journalists can’t accurately report the truth about the dire state of the climate.

The vast majority of drugs prescribed for children appear to be safe, but a lack of proper testing puts kids at a relatively high risk of side effects, experts told Undark. And medications that work well in adults might be less effective in young people. Some researchers are pushing for change.

Memory does not work like a recording device, Charan Ranganath writes in “Why We Remember.” In fact, your brain is doing what it evolved to do: prioritize and store important information and let nonessential details slip away, an essential trait for the survival for our ancestors.

Many psychiatrists have been seeing more children wind up in their offices and emergency rooms, pushed into psychiatric evaluations by their schools. But when schools offload the responsibility of evaluation and intervention onto outside clinicians, it can keep students out of school for weeks or even months.

Although Institutional Review Boards play an important role in protecting trial participants, critics say that the boards can also be overly cautious and protective of their institution, with consent processes that are intended more for shielding institutions from litigation or liability.

Nell Greenfieldboyce deftly weaves science and memoir in a collection of deeply personal essays, breaking out of the objective, impersonal writing mode that has characterized her career as a journalist at NPR to plumb what the field of science has meant to her as an individual.

The film “Oppenheimer” portrays the nuclear physicist’s ambivalence toward the weapon he helped create — an uneasiness now reflected in worries over the potential destructive power of AI. Society must face the moral obligation to agree on clear guidelines for AI’s use, writes Nicholas B. Dirks.

Over the past 30 years, evidence-based medicine has transformed the practice of medicine worldwide. Whether it can transform the practice of public health — which focuses not on individuals, but on keeping the broader community healthy — is a thornier question.

Generative artificial intelligence uses massive amounts of energy for computation and data storage and millions of gallons of water to cool the equipment at data centers. Now, legislators and regulators — in the U.S. and the EU — are starting to demand accountability.

Researchers are exploring the possibility of injecting excess carbon dioxide into the ocean floor to remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere on an enormous scale. It’s a controversial idea, but “It’s so important to get this started as soon as possible, because time is so limited,” one expert says.

According to climate expert Rob Bellamy, large-scale technological interventions like solar geoengineering that seek to change the Earth’s environment or atmosphere to counter the effects of global warming carry enormous potential, but the risks and challenges are equally daunting.

Gun violence in the U.S. is a public health crisis, according to many medical associations. But a recent study suggests that most physicians don’t talk about firearm safety with their patients, and patients avoid the topic, too. Simple changes could make it easier for doctors to bring up this sensitive subject.

The pandemic catalyzed a push for new technologies to help track viruses. Now, scientists around the world can sample environmental DNA from a cup of dirt, a vial of water, or even a puff of air. As a result, health officials are becoming better prepared to detect an outbreak — and take steps to contain it.