Science

As millions turn to ChatGPT and other AI chatbots for therapy-style advice, new research from Brown University raises a serious red flag: even when instructed to act like trained therapists, these systems routinely break core ethical standards of mental health care. In side-by-side evaluations with peer counselors and licensed psychologists, researchers uncovered 15 distinct ethical risks — from mishandling crisis situations and reinforcing harmful beliefs to showing biased responses and offering “deceptive empathy” that mimics care without real understanding.

Putting silicate rocks from mine waste on fields could improve crops and limit global warming, but some researchers question where all that rock is going to come from

This is the last full batch I have, though I’m saving singletons and the like for a melange post. But today is our first post (as I remember) that features carnivorous plants, from reader Jan Malik. Jan’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

A few species of carnivorous plants grow in New York and New Jersey, primarily in swamps or bogs where it is difficult for plants to obtain nitrogen and phosphorus. Compounds of both elements are highly soluble in water and are poorly retained in waterlogged, low-pH soil. So far, I have found two species, each using a different strategy to catch its prey.

• Sundew (likely Drosera intermedia).
  “A small plant growing in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. While there are other Drosera species in the Eastern USA, this one has leaves spaced along a short stem rather than a ground-hugging rosette. The plant must receive a rich payoff for the resources spent producing mucus and protease enzymes, as the remains of digested victims were obvious on many leaves. Research suggests that nitrogen from captured invertebrates can account for 30% to 70% of the plant’s total uptake, depending on prey density.”

• The “Expensive” Glisten.
  There must be something in the glistening droplets of mucilage on these tentacles that attracts insects. It looks like a lavish investment, but mucilage is mostly water with a small amount of polysaccharides to provide stickiness. The “expensive” enzymes are only produced after a victim is captured. I wonder if this secretion occurs only in the leaf where the victim is immobilized or systemically throughout the plant. In this shot, it even looks like the plant accidentally produced a web of sticky mucilage strands (on the right), mimicking a spiderweb.

• Digestion in Progress.
  An example of a fresh victim: a species of crane fly being digested. By plant standards, this process is quite fast; in a couple of days, little will remain except for fragments of chitin.

• Purple Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea).
  Photographed in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks, NY, this species is a less “active” predator than the sundew. Both plants form traps from modified leaves, but pitcher plants form jugs that fill with rainwater. When small invertebrates (or occasionally small salamanders) fall in, they drown. Unlike the sundew, the pitcher plant generally doesn’t produce its own enzymes (except in very young pitchers); instead, it relies on a micro-ecosystem within the water—protozoa, mosquito larvae, and bacteria. These organisms decompose the victims, eventually releasing nitrogen and phosphorus for the plant to absorb through the leaf wall.

Carnivorous plants have a dilemma: how to capture invertebrates but let the pollinators live and do the job. The Purple pitcher plant soles it in the most logical way, by extending stems of its flowers so that they are far away from entrances to the pitchers. Apparently, that is the investment that pays off for the plant.

• Durability vs. Chemistry.
  Pitcher leaves are green in June but eventually turn deep purple. These plants are more cold-hardy than sundews and are likely the most northern-reaching carnivorous plants in North America. In the Adirondacks, they survive harsh winters buried under snow for half the year, and their leaves can remain active traps for several seasons. While Droserainvests in “biochemical weapons,” Sarraceniainvests in durable structures. Nutrient uptake is slower in pitchers but comes at a lower metabolic cost.

• The Downward Path.
  A close-up of the barbs on the lower lip of the pitcher trap. These guide victims downward, aided by scent and secreted nectar. Because they are downward-pointing, a victim has a difficult time climbing out, especially given the waxy, slippery surface of the leaf. Functionally, these barbs serve the same purpose as the sundew’s mucilage—preventing escape—but they are much “cheaper” energetically since they are part of the permanent leaf structure.

Fungus-farming ants have evolved a remarkable solution to the danger of excess carbon dioxide inside their nests – which could inspire ways for humans to capture CO2

The most comprehensive study to date has revealed what we need to eat throughout the day to sleep well that night

The latest in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time series is out this month, along with a speculative retelling of Moby-Dick and a forgotten classic from 1936

In the first four days of February this year the Sun unleashed six powerful X-class flares in rapid succession including an X8.1 that was the strongest in several years. And now, scientists have announced a new forecasting system that could give us up to a year's warning before the most dangerous solar storms arrive. The extraordinary thing is that the system has already been proved right by eruptions nobody knew about until after the forecast was made.

In 1950, the physicist Enrico Fermi sat down to lunch with colleagues and asked a question that has haunted astronomers ever since. If the universe is so vast, so old, and so full of stars, where is everybody? A new study has turned that question around and come up with an answer that is quietly unsettling. If intelligent life is common in the Galaxy, the mathematics suggests it cannot last very long.

The rocks that twelve astronauts carried home from the Moon fifty years ago have just rewritten our understanding of lunar history. A new analysis of Apollo samples has finally resolved one of the most stubborn debates in planetary science and the answer turns out to be one that neither side of the argument was entirely right about.

Cables underneath New York City are teeming with entangled quantum particles of light thanks to Qunnect, a company that has spent a decade working on building an unhackable quantum internet

Magnesium has been called the “super mineral of the moment”, hailed for its supposed benefits for the brain and body. But columnist Alice Klein finds that the evidence is lacking for many of these claims

Icy moons circling the outer planets may be far more dynamic—and explosive—than they appear. New research suggests that when heat from tidal forces melts their ice shells from below, the sudden drop in pressure could cause hidden oceans to boil beneath the surface. On smaller moons like Enceladus, Mimas, and Miranda, this process may help explain strange features such as Enceladus’ tiger stripes and Miranda’s towering cliffs.

Twisting atomically thin magnetic layers does more than reshape their electronics—it can create giant, topological magnetic textures. In chromium triiodide, researchers observed skyrmion-like patterns stretching far beyond the expected moiré scale, reaching hundreds of nanometers. Even more surprising, their size doesn’t simply follow the twist pattern but peaks at a specific angle. This twist-controlled magnetism could pave the way for low-power spintronic devices built from geometry alone.

Twisting atomically thin magnetic layers does more than reshape their electronics—it can create giant, topological magnetic textures. In chromium triiodide, researchers observed skyrmion-like patterns stretching far beyond the expected moiré scale, reaching hundreds of nanometers. Even more surprising, their size doesn’t simply follow the twist pattern but peaks at a specific angle. This twist-controlled magnetism could pave the way for low-power spintronic devices built from geometry alone.

Editors of The Lancet published an op-ed decrying RFK Jr.'s one year of failure at HHS. They're correct about RFK Jr, but they are not blameless in what has happened.

The post One year of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary: The Lancet reacts, and so do I first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

NYU researchers have found a way to use light to control how microscopic particles assemble into crystals, effectively turning illumination into a tool for shaping matter. By adding light-sensitive molecules to a liquid filled with tiny particles, they can adjust how strongly the particles attract or repel one another simply by changing the light’s intensity or pattern. This allows them to trigger crystals to form, dissolve, or even be reshaped in real time.

Simulated lunar dirt can be turned into extremely durable structures, potentially paving the way to more sustainable and cost-effective space missions, a new study suggests. Using a special laser 3D printing method, researchers melted fake lunar soil—a synthetic version of the fine dusty material on the moon surface, called regolith simulant—into layers and fused it with a base surface to manufacture small, heat-resistant objects.

Inverted perovskite solar cells offer strong potential for scalable, low-cost solar power, but a hidden interface inside the device has limited their performance and durability. Researchers have now introduced crystal-solvate nanoseeds that guide crystal growth and release solvent in a controlled way during heating, improving film quality at this buried layer. The result is smoother, denser material with better electronic properties and stability. A large mini-module achieved 23.15% efficiency with minimal scaling losses.

They are the toughest animals on Earth and possibly the key to surviving on Mars. Tardigrades, the microscopic creatures nicknamed 'water bears', have survived the vacuum of space, the crushing pressure of the deep ocean and temperatures that would kill virtually anything else. Now a new study has put them to work as unlikely pioneers, testing whether the hostile soil of Mars could ever support life and the results are full of surprises.

A visitor from another star system has just had its portrait taken by a spacecraft on its way to Jupiter and the image is superb. Comet 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever discovered passing through our Solar System, has been captured in stunning detail by ESA's JUICE mission, revealing a glowing halo of gas, a sweeping tail, and hints of jets erupting from its ancient, icy heart. But the picture itself is just the beginning of the story.