Technology
Here we bring you all the latest technological news both here on Earth and in space.
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ChatGPT Was Asked the Same Question 10 Times. The Answers Kept Changing
Washington State University / SciTechDaily
ChatGPT can sound convincing, but this study shows it still struggles to tell what’s actually true.
Washington State University professor Mesut Cicek and his team repeatedly evaluated ChatGPT by giving it hypotheses drawn from scientific studies. The AI was asked to decide whether each statement was supported by research — essentially judging if it was true or false.
In total, the researchers tested more than 700 hypotheses and submitted each one 10 times to examine how consistent the responses would be.
Accuracy Results and Performance Limits… In the initial 2024 experiment, ChatGPT answered correctly 76.5% of the time. When the study was repeated in 2025, accuracy rose slightly to 80%. However, once the results were adjusted for random guessing, the performance looked far less reliable. The AI was only about 60% better than chance, which the researchers described as closer to a low D than strong performance.
The system had particular difficulty identifying false statements, correctly labeling them…Read more here.
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NASA’s Webb Telescope Reveals an Eerie Nebula That Looks Like a Giant Brain
By NASA Webb Mission Team – SciTechDaily
Webb has captured the haunting “Exposed Cranium” nebula—an otherworldly cloud shaped by a dying star that looks remarkably like a brain inside a skull.
New images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are shedding fresh light on a strange and little explored nebula surrounding a dying star. The detailed observations reveal complex structures within the cloud of gas and dust, offering a clearer view of how the object formed and how it continues to evolve.
Known as Nebula PMR 1, this cosmic cloud has an eerie appearance that resembles a brain inside a transparent skull. Because of this unusual shape, it has earned the nickname the “Exposed Cranium” nebula. Webb observed the object using both near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, allowing scientists to see features that were previously hidden.
The nebula was originally detected in infrared light more than ten years ago by …Read more here.
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Harvard Engineers Build Chip That Twists Light To Reveal Its Hidden “Handedness”
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences / SciTechDaily
A twisted pair of photonic crystals integrated with MEMS can dynamically control the handedness of light on a chip.
Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a chip scale device that can actively control the “handedness” of light as it moves through it, a property known as optical chirality. The system works by slightly twisting two specially engineered photonic crystals.
The project was led by graduate student Fan Du in the laboratory of Eric Mazur, the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics. The team designed a reconfigurable twisted bilayer photonic crystal that can be adjusted in real time using an integrated microelectromechanical system (MEMS). The advance could enable new tools for chiral sensing, optical communications, and quantum photonics.
“Chirality is very important in many fields of science – from pharma to chemistry, biology, and of course, physics and photonics,” Mazur said. “By integrating twisted photonic crystals with MEMS, we have a platform that is not only powerful from a physics standpoint but also compatible with the way…Read more here.
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Scientists Just Made Light Do Something Once Thought Impossible
By Béatrice St-Cyr-Leroux, University of Montreal – SciTechDaily
Physicists have recreated the Nobel Prize–winning quantum Hall effect using light, revealing that photons can follow the same strange quantum rules once thought exclusive to electrons.
In the late 1800s, scientists discovered what is now known as the Hall effect. It occurs when an electric current passes through a material while a magnetic field is applied at a right angle to the current. Under these conditions, a voltage appears across the material in the sideways direction.
The reason is straightforward. The magnetic field pushes negatively charged electrons toward one side of the conductor. As electrons gather along that edge, they create a buildup of negative charge, while the opposite side becomes positively charged. This separation produces a measurable voltage across the strip.
Researchers have relied on this voltage difference for many decades. It provides a precise way to measure magnetic fields and to determine material doping levels, that is, the addition of a…Read more here.
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