humans – News Stories About humans - Page 1

Musk: AI May Be Smarter Than Humans by 2025

Elon Musk Offers a Chilling
Prediction on AI's Smarts

Elon Musk Offers a Chilling Prediction on AI's Smarts

He thinks artificial intelligence will be smarter than humans as early as next year

(Newser) - Elon Musk has long expressed his fears over artificial intelligence, and his latest assessment isn't likely to tamp down those of a like mind. In a Monday interview livestreamed on his X social media platform, the Tesla CEO and co-founder of ChatGPT developer OpenAI predicted that as early as...

Scientists Say We're Not
in the 'Age of Humans'

Mar 5, 2024 11:52 AM CST

Scientists Say We're Not in the 'Age of Humans'

Committee of geologists votes down Anthropocene, citing overly narrow definition

(Newser) - The Anthropocene or age of humans will for now remain an unofficial unit of geological time. A committee of scientists has voted down the idea of the Anthropocene epoch marked by humans' significant impact on the planet after some 15 years of debate. A panel of experts was convened in...

Halt AI Learning Indefinitely, or 'Everyone Will Die'

AI Founder: 'Shut It All Down'

OPINION

Mar 30, 2023 11:12 AM CDT

AI Founder: 'Shut It All Down'

Eliezer Yudkowsky calls for 'indefinite' moratorium on AI learning to save humanity

(Newser) - Eliezer Yudkowsky, regarded as a founder in the field of artificial intelligence, has big concerns about where that field is headed. Yet he refrained from joining Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and others in signing an open letter calling for a six-month halt on AI systems learning. As he writes at...

Scientists Have Bad News
for Our Plans to Defy Aging

NEW STUDY

Jun 18, 2021 11:22 AM CDT

Scientists Have Bad News for Our Plans to Defy Aging

Big international study looks at mortality patterns among primates

(Newser) - You can stop looking for the fountain of youth now. It does not exist, according to new research, which finds it’s likely impossible to slow the rate of aging due to biological constraints. While that might seem like a foregone conclusion, an unprecedented study brought together scientists from 42...

Discovery Alters Notions
About Early Humans' Travel

new study

May 11, 2020 12:02 PM CDT

Discovery Alters Notions About Early Humans' Travel

It appears they reached Europe earlier than thought, hung out with Neanderthals

(Newser) - Human bones from a Bulgarian cave suggest our species arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previously thought and shared the continent longer than realized with Neanderthals, per the AP . Scientists found four bone fragments and a tooth that detailed radiocarbon and DNA tests show are from four Homo...

'First Evidence for Microplastics
Inside Humans' Emerges

NEW STUDY

Oct 23, 2018 10:05 AM CDT

'First Evidence for Microplastics Inside Humans' Emerges

Plastic found in stool samples from people in 8 countries

(Newser) - It was only a matter of time. Scientists, following up research showing tiny particles of plastic in everything from bottled water to salt , say they've found "the first evidence for microplastics inside humans." All stool samples taken from eight participants of a small study by Environment Agency...

Mammals Are
Going Nocturnal
to Avoid Us

NEW STUDY

Jun 15, 2018 8:28 AM CDT

Mammals Are Going Nocturnal to Avoid Us

Trend seen across dozens of species on 6 continents: study

(Newser) - The list of ways humans have altered the planet continues to grow: Animals are becoming more nocturnal, possibly as a means of avoiding the superpredators we've become, per a new study. The meta-anaylsis of 76 studies on 62 mammal species across six continents, published in the journal Science , found...

By This New Measure,
Plants Rule the Earth

NEW STUDY

May 22, 2018 9:40 AM CDT

By This New Measure, Plants Rule the Earth

They outweigh all other life on the planet, by a mile

(Newser) - A first-of-its-kind study reveals that humans make up a minuscule portion of life on the planet. As in 0.01%, reports the Guardian . The flip side of that? Despite the scant figure, humans have reshaped the animal kingdom, helping wipe out about 83% of mammals and half of all plants...

Don't Blame Rats for
Europe's Black Death

NEW STUDY

Jan 16, 2018 10:45 AM CST

Don't Blame Rats for Europe's Black Death

Human-carried parasites might be true culprits: study

(Newser) - Those poor, misjudged rats? According to infectious disease experts in Norway and Italy, rats aren't to blame for the spread of the Black Death, which has previously been referred to as the species' most infamous crime. In fact, humans might've been directly involved, reports the CBC . While studying...

Forget Mars: Humans
May Live Here One Day

NEW STUDY

Jul 13, 2017 10:01 AM CDT

Forget Mars: Humans May Live Here One Day

Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has potential to be home to humans

(Newser) - Move over, Mars: Titan could be the best place for a human colony. As far as extraterrestrial bodies go, Saturn's largest moon is surprisingly like Earth, with a dense atmosphere that could shield delicate earthlings from radiation, reports New Scientist . Titan's candidacy as a settlement isn't new,...

Fatal Disease on Rise in
Humans, Deer in Wisconsin

Jul 11, 2017 7:34 AM CDT

Fatal Disease on Rise in Humans, Deer in Wisconsin

Chronic wasting disease seen more amid worries deer may pass it to humans

(Newser) - Variants of a fatal brain disease are on the rise in both deer and humans across the country and especially in Wisconsin, leaving some worrying that the deer version, called chronic wasting disease, may be spreading to people. And while a cross-species jump to humans has yet to be observed,...

The Jobs That
Bots Will Take
Over First

Jun 1, 2017 12:46 PM CDT

The Jobs That Bots Will Take Over First

Translators and truck drivers, beware

(Newser) - It’s not a question of "if," but "when" artificial intelligence will be able to perform your job better than you do, reports the MIT Technology Review . So when is when? That depends on what you do. According to 352 AI experts surveyed by researchers at the...

Sniff Myth, Busted: Humans
Can Smell as Well as Dogs

new study

May 12, 2017 12:27 PM CDT

Sniff Myth, Busted: Humans Can Smell as Well as Dogs

Analysis of more than 1K olfactory studies challenges longtime belief

(Newser) - A dog's nose may be wetter than yours, but don't count yourself out when it comes to tracking a scent just as well as your canine companion. A new mega-study in the journal Science refutes the longtime belief that dogs' noses are vastly superior to our own, reporting...

Mastodon Bones Spark
Major Claim—and Major Doubt

Mastodon Bones Spark Major Claim—and Major Doubt

Did humans live in California 130K years ago?

(Newser) - Exactly how long have humans been in the Americas? A wealth of evidence suggests they arrived as early as 20,000 years ago, while the earliest record of modern humans in the world dates back 200,000 years to Africa (and they probably didn't leave until around 50,000...

Ancients' Skulls Pose a Puzzle
for Our Family Tree

Mar 6, 2017 7:32 PM CST

Ancients' Skulls Pose a Puzzle for Our Family Tree

They're not quite Neanderthal and not quite Homo sapien

(Newser) - First, back in 2007, they found tools. Then, a bone. Now archaeologists who've continued to return to the same dig in Lingjing, China, report in the journal Science that they've unearthed more than 40 separate skull fragments to pull together two partial skulls that date back 100,000...

Vampire Bats Now
Feasting on Human Blood

Jan 16, 2017 8:58 AM CST

Vampire Bats Now Feasting on Human Blood

Scientists in Brazil say they're evolving because of a decline in birds

(Newser) - Human encroachment typically means bad news for a given species (recent examples include giraffes and cheetahs ), but one mammal appears to be fighting back. Researchers say the hairy-legged vampire bat has adapted surprisingly fast from drinking the blood of birds to that of humans to survive, reports the Telegraph ...

There's a Legit Group That Wants Humans to Go Extinct

Nov 8, 2015 2:35 PM CST

There's a Legit Group That Wants Humans to Go Extinct

Yes, Les U. Knight wishes you were never born

(Newser) - Ever stop and think the planet would be a better place if humans weren't around? Les U. Knight came to that conclusion long ago, and unlike you, he's doing something about it. He's the founder of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, which aims to rid Earth of...

Test Can Detect Every Virus to Afflict Humans, Animals

STUDY SAYS

Sep 30, 2015 9:50 AM CDT

Test Can Detect Every Virus to Afflict Humans, Animals

Even uncommon viruses and ones present in low levels: scientists

(Newser) - A new test developed by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may prove an invaluable aid to doctors who can't figure out what's wrong with their patients. The test, described in a study in the Genome Research journal, is able to detect, all at...

Which Animal Is the
'Superpredator'? We Are

Aug 21, 2015 9:18 AM CDT

Which Animal Is the 'Superpredator'? We Are

The rate at which humans kill animals is not sustainable, study finds

(Newser) - For tens of thousands of years, where humans go, animals are driven to extinction. We are the superpredator, killing animals—and adults ones at that—at a much higher rate than other predators. And it's not sustainable. So say researchers at the University of Victoria in the journal Science...

New Test
Figures Out
Exact Time
of Death

Jul 3, 2015 7:15 AM CDT

New Test Figures Out Exact Time of Death

It can determine a person's time of death up to 10 days later

(Newser) - Current forensic tests use a person's core body temperature to determine their time of death, but it only works within roughly three days of death. Now researchers at the University of Salzburg in Austria say they've devised a new method that can figure out the exact time of...