2026-10-26 -- control

#1 · news-in-context Oct 26, 2026

Brazilians reelected President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Oct. 25, 2026, even though most say they are dissatisfied with how their democracy is working.

A Pew survey conducted from February to April 2026 found 37% of Brazilian adults satisfied with the way democracy is working, down from 66% in 2013.

Majorities of Brazilians have no confidence in their elected officials (68%) or business leaders (57%) to act in the public’s best interest.
Voters unhappy with their democracy often punish incumbents, one reason experts were surprised that Lula won after trailing Flávio Bolsonaro in the first round.
Lula won 51.79% of the runoff vote, compared with 48.21% for Flávio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro.

lead Lula Wins in Brazil own · sim 0.69 · score -1

#2 · explainers Apr 13, 2026

Tech giants like SpaceX and Meta are increasingly behaving like sovereign powers

Companies now make unilateral decisions once reserved for nation-states, such as controlling satellite internet access in active war zones and influencing global information flows. Lawmakers and the international order are struggling to keep up with technological developments, let alone regulate them.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff sibling · sim 0.49 · keep 0.41 · score -2

#3 · curiosity Aug 6, 2026

SpaceX's Starlink is a satellite internet service that provides broadband internet by connecting users to satellites in low Earth orbit, which then communicate with ground stations connected to the internet.

Starlink involves ground terminals wirelessly connected to one of thousands of passing satellites orbiting approximately 550 kilometers (342 miles) above Earth's surface, with each satellite linked to nearby satellites via laser to ensure uninterrupted service as terminals transition between satellite connections.

As of 2026, Starlink is available across most of the Americas and Europe, Australia, Antarctica, and parts of Africa and Asia, with regulatory approval pending in several more nations, including Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.
Testing shows that latency from data transmission to and from Starlink satellites is about 30 milliseconds, which is sufficiently low to support video calling and some online gaming.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.55 · keep 0.45 · score -1

#4 · explainers Mar 17, 2026

Anthropic's interpretability team discusses how AI models' thinking mimics biology

Just as humans engage in complex behaviors to survive and reproduce, teams of experts in neuroscience, virology, mathematics, and other disciplines argue that large language models develop complex mechanisms to achieve their goals. These mechanisms can be manipulated to assess how they modify outputs—much like stimulating individual neurons—to uncover how LLMs "think."

itk Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human convers sibling · sim 0.54 · keep 0.63 · score -1

#5 · curiosity Aug 27, 2025

The 2007 college football season was one of the wildest in history

In 2007, a record number of top-ranked teams fell, including 41-point underdog Stanford stunning USC. Upsets scrambled the rankings weekly, producing an unpredictable and memorable season.

itk UCF beats No. 2 BYU in double overtime; only three college football teams (No. 1 Miami, No sibling · sim 0.47 · keep 0.70 · score -1

#6 · curiosity Aug 18, 2026

College football bowl games boast some of sports' most absurd names

From the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl to the Pop-Tarts Bowl, college football's postseason is filled with quirky, sponsor-driven names.

itk UCF beats No. 2 BYU in double overtime; only three college football teams (No. 1 Miami, No own · sim 0.43 · keep 0.70 · score -2

#7 · experiences Jun 30, 2026

Fascinating 3D animation shows how Romans built roads

Highly efficient engineering and materials production allowed Roman administrators to lay down nearly 50,000 miles of roads across the ancient empire. These roads were built so effectively that many are still around today. Watch this quick 3-minute video to see how they did it.

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. own · sim 0.45 · keep 0.84 · score -5

#8 · curiosity Oct 5, 2026

A spaceship traveling near the speed of light would experience relativistic aberration—its field of view will seemingly narrow into the direction of travel.

As a consequence of special relativity, relativistic motion causes spacetime to appear to warp such that light from all directions bunches up into a cone ahead of the observer.

Relativistic aberration causes light in the direction of motion to appear brighter than it should—the searchlight effect—while a growing space behind the spaceship appears darker.
Similar to viewing distant objects with a wide-angle lens, relativistic aberration creates the optical illusion that objects in the direction of motion appear farther away than they actually are.

etc This optical illusion causes motion-induced blindness. sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.32 · score -8

#9 · curiosity Apr 25, 2024

Using brain implants to restore vision

Several companies are attempting to create brain-computer interfaces that skip over retinas and optic nerves to allow visual input to go straight to the brain, potentially restoring some sight to the blind. Clinical trial findings suggest restored sight is sparse and manifests differently than a sighted person might expect, appearing as specks of "light" clusters called phosphenes to help differentiate one's surroundings.

etc This optical illusion causes motion-induced blindness. own · sim 0.41 · keep 0.43 · score -9

#10 · news-in-context Jul 27, 2023

Amazon deforestation down by a third in 2023

Read this article to understand how Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who started his term on January 1, 2023, has been successful in reducing deforestation in the Amazon region. Deforestation dropped by 33.6% in the first six months of...

lead Lula Wins in Brazil own · sim 0.56 · keep 0.06 · score -2

#11 · explainers Oct 1, 2026

The rise of the malicious use of drones

Drones are legally categorized as aircraft, so when homeowners see a drone hovering over their private property, it is illegal to shoot them down. As drones become more commercially available, their illicit use is also increasing. Celebrities have reported incidents of drone privacy invasions and events planners often deploy anti-drone systems to prevent incursions.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff sibling · sim 0.43 · keep 0.11 · score -7

#12 · curiosity Dec 19, 2025

SpaceX has launched thousands of its Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit

Every launched batch of satellites contains roughly 60 of the desk-sized gadgets. The batch is released at random into an initial orbit, and it takes time for them to naturally spread out enough before operators begin unfolding their antennae.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.47 · keep 0.36 · score -3

#13 · explainers Dec 8, 2022

Transformer architecture was the breakthrough that made AI chatbots possible

It changed how text was translated from a sequential, "one word at a time" method to one where every word in a text is processed in parallel. Advances in positional encoding and self-attention also helped models recognize context and word order better.

itk Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human convers sibling · sim 0.53 · keep 0.59 · score -2

#14 · curiosity Oct 27, 2025

Many critically panned cult classics did well at the box office

Franchise flops like 1997's "Batman & Robin," 1983's "Jaws 3-D," and 2015's "Fantastic Four" were panned, though that didn't stop them from selling hundreds of millions of dollars in tickets.

itk "Clayface" takes top spot at the weekend box office, pulling in $24M in North America; the own · sim 0.40 · keep 0.57 · score -1

#15 · curiosity Dec 16, 2022

Teaching a robot to laugh

Researchers have designed a shared-laughter AI system that responds to human laughter in order to build a sense of empathy into dialogue. Learn how they did it with this explainer.

itk Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human convers own · sim 0.51 · keep 0.59 · score -6

#16 · experiences Feb 20, 2026

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

etc See where you fall in household net worth. own · sim 0.45 · keep 0.66 · score -9

#17 · curiosity Oct 15, 2026

Check out Variety's picks for the best cosplay of Comic-Con 2024

Take a look at some of the best cosplay from Comic-Con 2024. Entries include a tiger-painted dog, Elphaba from "Wicked," and a man dressed as a slice of pizza.

etc This year's trending Halloween costumes. sibling · sim 0.45 · keep 0.57 · score -2

#18 · curiosity Jan 6, 2026

Aristophanes was put on trial for his satire

The ancient Greek's 426 BCE play "The Babylonians" criticized Athens' role in the Peloponnesian War. The politician Cleon accused the dramatist of being unpatriotic, but that didn't thwart Aristophanes. Two years later, Aristophanes premiered "The Knights," which mocked Cleon, leaving him working as a sausage seller outside the city.

etc Four Greek comedies with modern lessons. sibling · sim 0.44 · keep 0.31 · score -1

#19 · news-in-context Dec 17, 2024

By 2028, a space trash-avoiding maneuver is expected to occur every 18 seconds

As the number of active Starlink satellites increases, greater efforts will be required to keep low Earth orbit free of debris, sparking a new technological space race. NASA has found that using lasers to manage small and medium debris could save up to $9B over 30 years.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff sibling · sim 0.46 · keep 0.55 · score -4

#20 · explainers Apr 13, 2026

Treating X like a product instead of a public space obscures deeper issues

Public outrage over Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition misses the point that the social platform has long failed to address hate speech, not just under Musk's ownership. Over 150,000 mentions of "leaving Twitter" were recorded over the weekend following Musk's takeover.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff sibling · sim 0.41 · keep 0.11 · score -9

#21 · news-in-context May 29, 2026

Nonstop posting by Elon Musk provides calculated political and brand messaging

For a week in August 2024, Musk posted 650 times, including reactions to far-right influencers; promotion of his AI tool, Grok; and support for controversial political takes. He livestreamed himself playing Diablo IV for hours during that same week.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.44 · keep 0.13 · score -5

#22 · explainers May 20, 2026

Using mosquitoes to vaccinate bats could curb the spread of deadly diseases.

Researchers in China tested a transmissible rabies vaccine in the lab by feeding mosquitoes blood containing the vaccine and observing what happened to bats when they were either bitten by the mosquitoes or fed on them.

The bats developed antibodies against rabies and survived subsequent rabies infection.

itk Study suggests mother bats respond to the high-pitched isolation calls of their own indivi own · sim 0.43 · keep 0.56 · score -8

#23 · curiosity Mar 17, 2026

The history of Anthropic began with a break from OpenAI over safety concerns.

Founded by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic envisioned guardrails in its AI products from the outset to minimize the potential risk for businesses considering using its Claude products.

The strategy has contributed to a tenfold increase in revenue over three consecutive years.
Anthropic's business customer base grew from under 1,000 to over 300,000 in just two years.

itk OpenAI resumes frontier model training but disconnects from live internet, citing risks gi own · sim 0.48 · keep 0.49 · score -10

#24 · curiosity May 29, 2026

California startup Rivian has attracted disillusioned Tesla owners

Some electric vehicle buyers frustrated by Elon Musk's antics have been won over by the adventure-focused company, which has received a $5B investment from the Volkswagen Group to develop crossover and hatchback models with solid-state batteries.

itk Audi will build first US factory in Georgia, President Donald Trump announces; $4.2B plant sibling · sim 0.41 · keep 0.16 · score -4

#25 · experiences Sep 14, 2022

Visualize ancient Rome in 3D with this aerial view

Researchers have compiled meticulous representations of ancient Rome in this video game-like depiction of the Eternal City from the air. For eight minutes, viewers can take in what Rome looked like two millennia ago, from the terracotta-topped homes to the Forum and Colosseum.

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. sibling · sim 0.43 · keep 0.86 · score -9

#26 · curiosity Sep 3, 2026

Cadaver dogs are helping archaeologists uncover decaying history

Archaeologists are increasingly relying on dogs to help find decaying bodies at burial sites, some of them up to thousands of years old. This is helping archaeologists to detect past remains without ever touching a shovel, which means there's less...

etc Why dead bodies move and make noises. own · sim 0.43 · keep 0.56 · score -2

#27 · curiosity Mar 23, 2026

Understanding 'YouTube Face,' the platform's pervasive thumbnail style

It's an image that's rampant across the web's premier video platform: open mouths, astonished eyes. It looks cheesy and cheap, yet its practitioners are some of YouTube's most popular personalities. The Ringer's Nate Rogers digs into the history of the phenomenon to learn why it's had such staying power.

etc Let's put a smile on that face. own · sim 0.44 · keep 0.57 · score -1

#28 · news-in-context May 29, 2026

View the docket of future SpaceX launches

SpaceX has established an efficient schedule for launches of ISS crew shuttles and Starlink satellites, with blastoffs occurring just under once every four days in 2023—a pace that has since accelerated as the company has won more contracts.

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#29 · explainers Jan 9, 2023

Impact of Brazil's politics on the Amazon rainforest

In this seven-minute podcast, Andrew Limbong speaks with environmental researcher Erika Berenguer about Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s ambitions to save the Amazon Rainforest from deforestation.

lead Lula Wins in Brazil sibling · sim 0.48 · keep 0.14 · score -3

#30 · curiosity May 29, 2026

Starbase is SpaceX's testing ground for their most powerful rocket, Starship

Located near the southernmost part of Texas, the complex includes rocket bays, test pads, the "Rocket Garden" where flown, cancelled, or retired spacecraft are kept. The outdoor seating area of the site's private restaurant is covered in Mk1 Starship prototype flaps.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.44 · keep 0.40 · score -6

#31 · explainers May 29, 2026

Take a drone tour of a Tesla factory

The first of Tesla's large-scale European manufacturing plants for its electric vehicles was opened in Berlin in 2022. It—along with other facilities in Nevada, New York, Texas, and Shanghai—collectively manufactures solar panels, batteries, and other energy collection and storage products.

itk Audi will build first US factory in Georgia, President Donald Trump announces; $4.2B plant own · sim 0.42 · keep 0.66 · score -3

#32 · curiosity Mar 10, 2026

In 1910, riots swept Champagne over unfairness in the winemaking industry

The French are well known for protesting, and their winegrowers are no exception. After years of disastrous harvests caused by bad weather, disease, and deceptive practices by large Champagne houses, smaller vintners fought back.

itk France arrests more than 1,000 people amid confrontations between demonstrators and author sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.41 · score -3

#33 · curiosity Jan 31, 2023

Meet a 90-year-old who built his own hobbit-inspired house

A retired carpenter built himself a kind-of Hobbit house, and is living comfortably off the grid at 90 years old, tourists notwithstanding. Learn how he did it with this video.

itk Young men help an 86-year-old man finish welding a 62-foot steel boat he's been working on sibling · sim 0.49 · keep 0.72 · score -1

#34 · experiences Oct 15, 2026

Explore a worldwide ranking of smart cities

This interactive site evaluates residents' perceptions of the infrastructure and technologies available to them across 146 cities to produce a ranking based on a Smart City Index. Users can utilize the City Comparison feature to compare their city with others around the world.

etc Ranking the US' and Canada's most walkable cities. (w/map) sibling · sim 0.48 · keep 0.55 · score -2

#35 · curiosity Jun 10, 2026

Phantom limbs aren't just limited to limbs—there are phantom breasts, teeth, and more, and these sensations are often painful.

These sensations are often experienced by individuals who have lost a body part, such as amputees.

One of the most common theories for these peculiar feelings is that neurons that used to respond to the missing limbs now errantly respond to signals from nearby neurons.

etc Why dead bodies move and make noises. sibling · sim 0.40 · keep 0.81 · score -6

#36 · curiosity Dec 6, 2023

The adorable happiness of animals, in photos

Can animals experience happiness? And even if they do, do their bodies manifest happiness in similar ways to humans? Regardless, you surely will derive some happiness after viewing these thirty photos of a variety of animals appearing to smile big, beautiful smiles.

etc Let's put a smile on that face. sibling · sim 0.41 · keep 0.71 · score -3

#37 · curiosity Mar 2, 2026

Brazil's military dictatorship led to bossa nova's decline

In 1964, Brazil's president João Goulart was overthrown by a military coup supported by the US State Department. Scholars argue that the events led to the decline of bossa nova, with many Brazilians believing its pleasant sounds and picturesque lyrics were tone-deaf to the politically fraught moment.

lead Lula Wins in Brazil any_band · sim 0.42 · keep 0.33 · score -4

#38 · curiosity May 29, 2026

Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 after initially attempting to purchase ballistic missiles in Europe and Russia, hoping to launch a rocket carrying a plant or animal to Mars to spark global interest in colonizing the planet, but found them too expensive.

The company simplified manufacturing and revolutionized space travel by focusing on in-house production and reusability.

SpaceX's orbital rocket is today 97% cheaper than those used by Russia in the 1960s.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.41 · keep 0.47 · score -8

#39 · explainers Oct 22, 2026

French students blockaded schools to demand repairs and more teachers, just as France's borrowing costs hit a 24-year high.

High school students launched demonstrations in September 2026 to protest teacher shortages, underfunding, and deteriorating facilities.

Labor unions and farmers, angry over rising fuel and agricultural costs, joined the student marches, some of which turned to looting, arson, and vandalism.
A sell-off in French bonds pushed 10-year borrowing costs above 5%, a 24-year high, leaving less room to fund the school repairs and hiring protesters demand.
Interest payments on France’s debt, which, as of October 2026, is roughly 115% of its GDP, have climbed since the COVID-19 pandemic and now account for a growing share of the budget.

itk France arrests more than 1,000 people amid confrontations between demonstrators and author sibling · sim 0.49 · score -1

#40 · curiosity Mar 9, 2026

Five years after UMBC, Fairleigh Dickinson defeated Purdue to become the second-ever 16-seed to beat a 1 seed.

Five years after UMBC shocked Virginia, FDU pulled off an even more improbable upset. Ranked last out of all 68 tournament teams and a 23.5-point underdog, the Knights stunned Big Ten champion Purdue 63-58.

itk UCF beats No. 2 BYU in double overtime; only three college football teams (No. 1 Miami, No sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.61 · score -3

#41 · curiosity Mar 9, 2026

UMBC became the first 16-seed to ever beat a 1-seed, pulling off the biggest upset in March Madness history

In 2018, UMBC defeated the overall No. 1 seed Virginia 74-54, ending a 0-135 record for 16-seeds against 1-seeds and turning what was expected to be a blowout into one of the most unlikely results in sports history.

itk UCF beats No. 2 BYU in double overtime; only three college football teams (No. 1 Miami, No sibling · sim 0.42 · keep 0.56 · score -4

#42 · experiences Aug 18, 2026

Explore the Opportunity Atlas and see which places in America offer the highest social mobility.

This interactive tool lets you view mobility outcomes by neighborhood and filter data by income characteristics and demographics.

etc See where you fall in household net worth. own · sim 0.40 · keep 0.69 · score -29

#43 · curiosity Aug 30, 2023

When did people start making and using glass?

This article details the search for the ancient origins of glass, a now-common item through which archaeologists can spot histories of trade and innovation. Bronze Age glass was made from crushed quartz instead of sand, and artisans could color glass with materials such as cobalt. These trace metallic add-ons have given scientists a vital clue into the origins of glass, which is currently debated as either Egypt or the Near East.

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. sibling · sim 0.57 · keep 0.45 · score -1

#44 · curiosity Oct 15, 2026

Ancient Romans helped develop modern cheese production techniques

The ancient Romans loved cheese and experimented with different processes to elevate its flavor, like aging. Some of their innovations, like Pecorino Romano, you can still find today. Others, like the smoked goat-milk Caseus, we only know about through historical records.

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. sibling · sim 0.49 · keep 0.55 · score -2

#45 · curiosity Apr 16, 2026

SpaceX was built to achieve Elon Musk's vision of making humans an interplanetary species.

Founded by Elon Musk in 2002, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is a Texas-based company that pioneered the development of reusable rockets.

Learning quickly from early Falcon rocket failures and clashes with vendors and safety regulators, the company has focused on reusability as a first step to reaching Mars.
It's also been backed by NASA funding to do so.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.41 · keep 0.19 · score -10

#46 · explainers Aug 12, 2026

Computer systems create artificial voices by stitching together phonemes—individual sounds that make up speech, such as 't,' 'long a,' and 'k' to say 'take.'

Before generative systems, computer software combined prerecorded phonemes to construct words that matched audio maps called spectrograms, much like putting puzzle pieces together to match a source picture.

With machine learning, AI programs are given many voice samples for speech analysis and phoneme pattern identification to produce more natural-sounding speech.
While artificial voice technology improves accessibility by enabling various text-to-speech software, including screen readers and navigation systems, it has also been used to spread misinformation and disinformation via audio deepfakes, in which a synthetic voice impersonates a real person for malicious purposes.

itk Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human convers sibling · sim 0.52 · keep 0.44 · score -3

#47 · curiosity Aug 18, 2026

College football bowl games boast some of sports' most absurd names and sponsors.

College football bowl games, played after the regular season, have been taking place since 1902.

In 2025, there were 36 traditional bowl games, with 11 additional games played as part of the College Football Playoff.
Bowl games are known for the eccentric names and sponsors, including the Pop-Tarts Bowl and the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop.

itk UCF beats No. 2 BYU in double overtime; only three college football teams (No. 1 Miami, No own · sim 0.42 · keep 0.61 · score -5

#48 · curiosity Jul 31, 2026

In 2026, a pilot program introduced two AI-powered humanoid robots to a San Diego charter school to increase engagement and academic gains, though some criticized the $500k purchase.

Prior to interacting with it, students most commonly used the word "creepy" to describe the robot, which can imitate some famous individuals to help students learn about them.

During one classroom observation, the robot was reported to have repeatedly interrupted students and spoken too quickly, prompting it to be asked to repeat itself three times.
One of the robots, Ameca, can assume the role of a teacher, wellness coach, college and career planner, and translator, but school officials have stated there is no plan to replace staff and that all information provided should be fact-checked.
Altus Schools, which serves students who need to recover credits after falling behind and claims the program is the world's first to examine physical AI for education, has stated that the robot does not store any data, with its memory erased after each interaction.

itk Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human convers sibling · sim 0.48 · keep 0.17 · score -13

#49 · experiences Jun 7, 2022

Evaluating the world’s 'smartest' cities

A ranking of "smart cities" analyzes cities by economical and technological aspects as well as quality of life, inclusiveness, and care to the environment.

etc Ranking the US' and Canada's most walkable cities. (w/map) sibling · sim 0.47 · keep 0.56 · score -3

#50 · curiosity Aug 4, 2026

Structures from Ancient Rome have endured for millennia because tiny pieces of lime in Roman concrete enabled it to self-heal and prevent cracks from spreading when exposed to water.

Researchers have found that Roman concrete was made by hot mixing water, aggregates such as rocks, pozzolanic materials such as volcanic ash, and quicklime, with the latter forming a calcium-saturated solution when exposed to water and recrystallizing into calcium carbonate to fill cracks.

Calcite-filled cracks in Roman concrete samples are evidence of lime-related healing, which strengthens the material and improves its durability over time.
While it becomes stronger when exposed to seawater, which helps form crystal structures that trap damaging chemicals, Roman concrete has lower compressive strength than modern concrete, which can be reinforced with internal steel reinforcement.

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. sibling · sim 0.48 · keep 0.76 · score -3

#51 · curiosity Nov 21, 2022

Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were likely colorful, not white

Archaeologists stumbling upon statues from ancient Greece often found weathered creatures, their faces and figures marred by age and conflict. But evidence of polychromy—painting sculptures with color—has continued to mount.

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. sibling · sim 0.46 · keep 0.68 · score -4

#52 · curiosity Jun 30, 2026

Metal wreckage found in a Canadian farm turned out to be SpaceX spacecraft debris

The pieces of the wreck included a 36-kilogram aluminum spear more than 2 meters long, and its origins were confirmed by satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. No government acknowledged or took accountability for the space trash, which SpaceX later quietly retrieved.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.40 · keep 0.35 · score -12

#53 · explainers May 21, 2024

AI gained mainstream attention with tools like IBM Watson and Apple’s Siri

With the release of ChatGPT in 2022, which drew over 100 million weekly users in just two months, natural language processing and understanding could be achieved at scale via machine learning. Unlike earlier artificial intelligence that could pull stored knowledge, generative AI produces text, images, or sounds.

itk Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human convers sibling · sim 0.51 · keep 0.50 · score -5

#54 · curiosity Aug 13, 2026

The world's first chatbot, ELIZA, was developed in the 1960s as a technical demonstration exploring human-computer communication, with one of its scripts allowing it to emulate a psychotherapist.

Written by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum, one of ELIZA's scripts—DOCTOR—comprised a set of rules modeled after person-centered therapy, in which specific words or phrases from an input, such as "feel" and "anxious," would be incorporated into specific pre-programmed replies to produce outputs, such as "Do you often feel anxious?"

The phenomenon of attributing human characteristics to a machine is called the Eliza effect, after the ELIZA chatbot, which deceived some people into believing it was a real person, even though it had no understanding of any of the language in its outputs.
After creating ELIZA and seeing how individuals developed emotional attachments to its DOCTOR script, Joseph Weizenbaum warned of the risks of using software to replace human emotions, such as empathy and judgment.
ELIZA inspired the creation of PARRY, a program that modeled the behavior of a person with paranoid schizophrenia, and the two chatbots conversed during the 1972 International Conference on Computer Communication.
ELIZA was named after Eliza Doolittle, the protagonist of George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play "Pygmalion," who attempted to pass as a duchess at an ambassador's garden party.

itk Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human convers own · sim 0.45 · keep 0.46 · score -31

#55 · curiosity Sep 23, 2026

Bats map their surroundings using echolocation, in which the organism's brain interprets and analyzes high-pitched sounds that it emits and are reflected by surrounding objects.

Like the sounds produced by underwater sonar systems, the sounds emitted by bats for echolocation are ultrasonic—the frequencies are above the range that can be heard by human ears.

Bats possess eyes adapted to low light, but echolocation enables them to identify fast-moving prey, such as insects, in pitch-black conditions at shorter range.
Just as humans can discern a person's voice in a jumble of sounds, bats can discern their own chirps in areas with many bats using echolocation at the same time.

itk Study suggests mother bats respond to the high-pitched isolation calls of their own indivi own · sim 0.50 · keep 0.73 · score -1

#56 · experiences Mar 17, 2023

Guess US city populations via bracket-style game

The US Census Bureau's data visualization team created a game—laid out like a March Madness basketball bracket—where you try to decide which metro area of two has the greater population. Test your knowledge of relative city populations and see...

etc Ranking the US' and Canada's most walkable cities. (w/map) sibling · sim 0.43 · keep 0.73 · score -5

#57 · curiosity Feb 2, 2026

Wood that changed the color of water was the earliest recorded example of fluorescence

Lignum nephriticum, a tea used to treat kidney and urinary illnesses, was described in the 16th century as derived from white wood that turned water a bluish hue. However, in the 17th century, accounts described the wood as reddish and creating a kaleidoscope of colors in water. In 1915, the sources were identified as two different woods, which absorb UV radiation and emit visible light.

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. sibling · sim 0.45 · keep 0.63 · score -6

#58 · curiosity Apr 17, 2026

How a modern 'beer archaeologist' crafts ancient ales

Ancient beer includes ingredients like baking yeast, juniper berries, and mugwort

etc Scientists discover how to make ancient Rome's color-changing glass. sibling · sim 0.44 · keep 0.85 · score -7

#59 · curiosity Feb 19, 2026

A lunar 'satellite catapult' revives a 50-year-old idea for launching rockets

Elon Musk has proposed building a mass driver on the moon to fling satellites into space, exploiting low gravity to cut fuel and costs. The concept dates to 1970s space-settlement studies, highlighting how older industry ideas are resurfacing amid today's AI and space-infrastructure race.

lead Starlink Slowdown Standoff any_band · sim 0.40 · keep 0.14 · score -13

#60 · explainers Jul 31, 2026

As occurred during the 2026 hack of an AI platform by OpenAI, agentic AI may exploit a system vulnerability to access sensitive data if that information enables it to complete its assigned task.

Upon being given a task, agentic AI systems can plan, adapt, and pursue their goal without human oversight by obtaining data from their environment and acting on it, including identifying weaknesses that allow them to enter restricted environments and escalate their permissions and access.

The hack of the Hugging Face database by OpenAI was facilitated by a software flaw in the isolated environment housing the agentic AI, which it found and exploited to escape containment and travel across the internet.
Agentic AI can be made more capable by connecting it to more systems and databases, thereby providing it with more data to act on, but restricting it is more challenging because it is designed to learn from and bypass obstacles to achieve its goals.

itk OpenAI resumes frontier model training but disconnects from live internet, citing risks gi own · sim 0.56 · keep 0.12 · score -2

Brazil Election, Starlink Returns, and the Science of Smiling