If by 2052 a computer could match the human brain then we need better ways to build it“Progress in AI is something that will take a while to happen, but [that] doesn’t make it science fiction.” So Stuart Russell, the University of California computing professor, told the Guardian at the weekend. The scientist said researchers had been “spooked” by their own success in the field. Prof...

The solutions to today’s 3D logic puzzlesEarlier today I set you the following “three-dimensional” logic puzzles, a genre thought to have emerged decades ago in Hungary. (For more details about the Hungarian link here’s the story.) The idea is that the solution is mapped out on a three-dimensional grid.1. Date night Continue...

The technology was viewed with scepticism before the pandemic but there is now growing confidence about its use It is one of the most remarkable success stories of the pandemic: the unproven technology that delivered the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in record time, helping to turn the tide on Covid-19. The vaccines are based on mRNA, the molecule that instructs our cells to make specific...

With millions of followers, the stance of some Apostolic church leaders threatens to undermine fight against CovidHymnal melodies reverberate around the hillside in Kuwadzana, a Harare suburb. On a blisteringly hot Saturday, members of the Apostolic church, dressed in white, hum and sing together.Songs, long prayers and a little Bible reading punctuate the outdoor service. It’s a spectacle for...

Logic puzzles in three dimensionsWhen it comes to the world of mathematical puzzles, Hungary is a superpower. Not just because of the Rubik’s cube, the iconic toy invented by Ernő Rubik in 1974, but also because of its long history of maths outreach.In 1894, Hungary staged the world’s first maths competition for teenagers, four decades before one was held anywhere else. 1894 also saw the...

Pacific country has made it through nearly two years of the pandemic Covid-free, but a repatriation flight from New Zealand has led to the country’s first caseEarly on Monday morning, the normally quiet capital of the Pacific country of Tonga, Nuku’alofa city, was packed with cars.There were long queues outside vaccination centres, as well as banks, Western Union outlets and shops as people...

The Science Weekly podcast is in Glasgow where we will be bringing listeners daily episodes from Cop26. Each morning you will hear from one of the Guardian’s award-winning environment team. Today, environment correspondent Fiona Harvey explains why this climate summit is so criticalFor almost three decades, world governments have met nearly every year to forge a global response to the climate...

Archaeological discoveries are shattering scholars’ long-held beliefs about how the earliest humans organised their societies – and hint at possibilities for our own. By David Graeber and David Wengrow. Continue...