Science

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to two scientists on Tuesday for discoveries that laid the groundwork for the artificial intelligence used by hugely popular tools such as ChatGPT.

British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton, known as a "godfather of AI," and US physicist John Hopfield were given the prize for "discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks," the Nobel jury said.

An "invisibility cloak", an atomic force microscope or quantum computing are some of the scientific achievements that could win a Nobel prize in physics Tuesday.

The award, to be announced at 11:45 am (0945 GMT) in Stockholm, is the second Nobel of the season after the Medicine Prize on Monday was awarded to American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun.

Deforestation continued last year at a rate far beyond pledges to end the practice by 2030, according to a major study published Tuesday.

Forests nearly the size of Ireland were lost in 2023, according to two dozen research organizations, NGOs and advocacy groups, with 6.37 million hectares (15.7 million acres) of trees felled and burned.

Veteran meteorologist and hurricane expert John Morales of South Florida's NBC 6 became emotional when he examined the latest data on Hurricane Milton as it barreled toward Florida.

Monday afternoon, meteorologists upgraded the storm to a Category 5, the strongest and most powerful hurricane.

Increasingly intense floods and droughts are a "distress signal" of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable, the United Nations warned Monday.

Last year the world's rivers were their driest for more than 30 years, glaciers suffered their largest loss of ice mass in half a century and there was also a "significant" number of floods, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said in a report.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded on Monday to two US scientists for discovering microRNA, a previously unknown type of genetic switch which is hoped can pave the way for new medical breakthroughs.

But while several treatments and tests are under development using microRNAs against cancer, heart disease, viruses and other illnesses, none have actually yet reached patients.

Stormy weather has threatened to delay the launch of Europe's Hera spacecraft, which is scheduled to blast off on Monday, SpaceX has said.

The probe will head off on a mission to inspect the damage a NASA spacecraft did to an asteroid when it smashed into it in 2022 during the first test of Earth's planetary defences.

The sheep huddle together, bleeding from the nose, aborting lambs or suffocating on saliva as they succumb to bluetongue, a virus sweeping through flocks on the Italian island of Sardinia.

Some 20,000 sheep have died so far this year on the island, which is home to nearly half Italy's flock and plays an important role in the production of famed Italian cheeses such as Pecorino.

Local officials, academic researchers, and volunteer responders have raised concerns about chemical and biological contamination brought by the floodwaters of Hurricane Helene in the southeastern U.S. last week, which potentially threaten the safety not only of drinking water but also the quality of soil—leading experts to call for tighter regulations on stored pollutants.

Helene struck Florida as a Category 4 hurricane on September 26 and swept through a number of states in the days that followed. Most of the damage came from extreme rainfall that triggered flooding. The storm killed at least 232 people.

Meta on Friday provided a look at a generative artificial intelligence model it is working on that lets people create short videos, complete with audio, from text prompts and photos.

The tech titan touted "Meta Movie Gen" as a "breakthrough" when it comes to using an AI engine to crank out video and audio.

The days are getting longer and in Australia, the switch to daylight saving time is almost upon us (for about 70% of the population, anyway).

But why do we have longer days in summer and shorter days in winter?

You know we’ve reached peak interest in artificial intelligence (AI) when Oprah Winfrey hosts a television special about it. AI is truly everywhere. And we will all have a relationship with it – whether using it, building it, governing it or even befriending it.

But what exactly is AI? While most people won’t need to know exactly how it works under the hood, we will all need to understand what it can do. In our conversations with global leaders across business, government and the arts, one thing stood out – you can’t fake it anymore. AI fluency that is.