FirstPrinciples presented an early demo of its AI Physicist at the Open Science Fair, held this year at CERN. The event sparked conversations on trust, openness, and the role of AI in research, underscoring how collaboration will shape the future of discovery.

More scientists are leaving academia, trading tenure-track hurdles for the speed and flexibility of industry. For physicist Elizabeth Frank, that shift meant moving from mapping Mercury to mining the Moon — swapping publication bottlenecks for the fast, interdisciplinary problem-solving of space startups, and using AI to revive data gathered half a century ago.

At Columbia University, quantum breakthroughs emerge from a culture of shared labs, ideas, and materials. What began as informal collaboration has become a scalable model for cross-disciplinary science that powers advances in programmable quantum systems.

She’s one of the internet’s sharpest scientific voices: equal parts physicist, critic, and communicator. In this candid conversation, Sabine Hossenfelder reflects on AI, the flood of low-impact theory papers, and how a scientific culture ripe for reform could finally be ready for change.

Hidden prompts buried in preprints show how easily large language models (LLMs) can be manipulated, exposing a deep vulnerability in science’s quality-control system. As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes part of the scientific review process, traceability and transparency must become new norms, not afterthoughts.

In an era of misinformation, understanding science is essential for informed decision-making. True scientific literacy goes beyond reading or quick online searches—it empowers individuals to think critically, evaluate evidence, and discern credible information from misleading claims.

Scientific research about unexplained aerial phenomena — the term that’s supplanting “unidentified flying objects” — is on the rise.

“Discovery potential” reflects the gap between today’s best scientific tools and what current (or projected) technology could enable.

Astrophysicist Katie Mack discusses the art of distilling intricate, interconnected ideas into concise, accessible, and engaging videos.

Envisioned as a fee-free alternative to the traditional academic publishing model, funding shortfalls threaten SciPost’s future.

Science needs to stop rewarding publication quantity over quality – or risk missing out on major breakthroughs.

Astrophysics is so awash in experimental data that theorists are bound to often be fruitfully wrong about what it all means.

Luna Zagorac started her astrophysics career at a small telescope where she learned that, in research, bigger doesn't mean better.

The state of peer review is “pretty bad," according to a watchdog monitoring the rising flood of retracted papers, but fixes are possible.