Researchers have developed RHyME, an AI-powered system that enables robots to learn complex tasks by watching a single human demonstration video.

Sir William Crookes predicted plasma in 1879. Today, it’s fueling revolutionary space engines and automotive systems shaping our clean, high-tech future.

Researchers have achieved a major leap in quantum computing by simulating Google’s 53-qubit Sycamore circuit using over 1,400 GPUs and groundbreaking algorithmic techniques. Their efficient tensor network methods and clever “top-k” sampling approach drastically reduce the memory and computational

A new study suggests that the cables connecting neurons act like independent “mini-computers” to store different types of information.

This essay advances a speculative yet empirically-grounded hypothesis: that microtubular cytoskeletal structures constitute proto-cognitive architectures in unicellular organisms, thereby establishing an evolutionary substrate for cognition that predates neural systems. Drawing upon converging evidence from molecular biology, quantum biophysics, phenomenological philosophy, and biosemiotic theory, I propose a cytoskeletal epistemology wherein cognition emerges not exclusively from neural networks, but from the dynamic, embodied information-processing capacities inherent in cellular organization itself. This framework challenges neurocentric accounts of mind while suggesting new avenues for investigating the biological foundations of knowing.

Contemporary cognitive science predominantly situates the genesis of mind within neural tissue, tacitly assuming that cognition emerges exclusively from the electrochemical dynamics of neurons and their synaptic interconnections. Yet this neurocentric paradigm, while experimentally productive, encounters both conceptual and empirical limitations when confronted with fundamental questions regarding the biological preconditions for epistemic capacities. As Thompson (2007) observes, “Life and mind share a set of basic organizational properties, and the organizational properties distinctive of mind are an enriched version of those fundamental to life” (p. 128). This suggests a profound continuity between biological and cognitive processes — a continuity that invites investigation into pre-neural substrates of cognition.

The present inquiry examines the hypothesis that the microtubule — a foundational cytoskeletal element ubiquitous across eukaryotic cells — functions not merely as mechanical infrastructure but as an evolutionary precursor to cognitive architecture, instantiating proto-epistemic capacities in unicellular and pre-neural multicellular organisms. This hypothesis emerges at the intersection of multiple research programs, including quantum approaches to consciousness (Hameroff & Penrose, 2014), autopoietic theories of cognition (Maturana & Varela, 1980), and recent advances in cytoskeletal biology (Pirino et al., 2022).

Miniature zombies are all around us, scuttling through the underbrush or flying through the air in nearly every continent on Earth. In Brazil, a fungus takes over ant brains, altering their circadian rhythms and social behaviors. In England, a virus forces caterpillars to climb high into the canopy, then slowly liquefies their bodies, which drip onto the leaves below. In Indonesia, a parasitoid wasp uses specialized venom to alter a cockroach’s brain chemistry, turning it into the perfect host for her young.

In her new book, Rise of the Zombie Bugs, self-described professional science nerd Mindy Weisberger introduces readers to a menagerie of mind-controlling parasites, and the scientists who have devoted their lives to the study of these peculiar organisms. Through these vivid tales of creatures bizarre enough to rival any fictional beast, Weisberger offers readers a peek into the fields of evolution, ecology, neuroscience, and molecular biology. She shows that these topics exist beyond dim lecture halls and dry textbooks: “Science is everything and everywhere,” she said.

Give me a qubit for long enough and a probe in which to measure it, and I shall extract the geometry of our world.

At the quantum level, the past and the future are indiscernible. That could have profound effects on the world we can see.

That could mean intelligence is a fundamental property that structures like the brain interact with.

With applications ranging from experimental physics to quantum field exploration, these high-energy lasers are more than scientific curiosities — they’re becoming symbols of technological ambition and geopolitical strength.