Alex Wilkins
New Scientist
United Kingdom
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Past articles by Alex:
AI trained on YouTube and podcasts speaks with ums and ahs
An artificial intelligence that has been trained on YouTube and podcast recordings generates speech from text prompts that sounds remarkably natural → Read More
Nanotechnology paint provides brilliant colour that doesn't fade
A paint that gets its colour from aluminium nanoparticles rather than pigment is also incredibly lightweight and reflective → Read More
Wooden robot hand can lift objects and withstand high temperatures
Robot grippers made from soft plastics will melt in the heat, but a wooden alternative can do the job just fine → Read More
Huge young galaxies seen by JWST may upend our models of the universe
Galaxies spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope seem far too massive to have formed so early on in the universe’s history, which could be a problem for our ideas of galaxy formation → Read More
The Complete Guide to Memory review: How we remember and how we forget
How does our memory really work? Richard Restak's guide delves deep to explain the complexities, offering new clues to strengthening our minds and maybe even warding off the damage caused by Alzheimer's → Read More
Ultrasound illusion could make buttons on a touchscreen feel real
A wave of ultrasound that briefly levitates your finger off a plate of glass can make it feel as if you have just pressed a button, which could be useful for virtual reality or new kinds of displays → Read More
Hearing noise and moving our body helps us gauge the passing of time
People may be more aware of how much time has passed when they move their body and hear sounds during the event. This improved time perception may help to gauge the effectiveness of treatments for conditions like Parkinson's disease → Read More
The outline of people’s bodies can be detected from Wi-Fi signals
Machine learning can analyse how the signals from Wi-Fi transmitters are disrupted by human bodies to reveal what position people are sitting, standing or lying in → Read More
Egyptian boy mummy was buried with a ‘second heart’ made of gold
X-rays have been used to digitally unwrap the mummy of a teenage boy dating back about 2300 years, revealing 49 precious protective amulets, including a gold scarab signifying the heart → Read More
JWST finds that ancient galaxies contain fewer stars than we expected
A group of ancient galaxies examined by the James Webb Space Telescope contain an order of magnitude fewer stars than expected and they are strangely dim → Read More
First satellite launch from the UK failed due to an ‘anomaly’
Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket and a group of nine satellites it was taking to low-Earth orbit burned up in the atmosphere as the launch failed → Read More
First satellite launch from the UK set to go ahead in Cornwall
Cosmic Girl, a modified Boeing 747 plane, is set to carry Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket and its payload of satellites up into the air so the rocket can release them into orbit → Read More
Super-absorbent towel soaks up liquids better than cloth or paper
A hydrogel mesh made from vinegar, baking soda, glycerol and alcohol sucks up water three times as well as products made from paper or cloth → Read More
This Venom-like magnetic slime robot was a big hit in 2022
A magnetic slime robot that drew comparisons to the Marvel character Venom could navigate through narrow passages and fix broken circuits → Read More
Watch this robot bird use a talon-like claw to land safely on a perch
A talon-like claw with sharp ends and a softer middle helps this flying robot grasp onto thin perches just like a bird → Read More
AI-generated deepfake faces could help protect privacy on social media
Algorithms that generate fake faces could be used to change people’s appearance in photos they don’t want to be shared → Read More
Ronnametres and quettagrams may soon join the ranks of SI units
New prefixes in the International System of Units could be confirmed on Friday, ushering in ronto and quecto for tiny numbers and ronna and quetta for very large numbers, like the amount of data on internet servers → Read More
Computer chip made using mushroom skin could be easily recycled
The base of computer chips and batteries tends to be made from unrecyclable plastic, but using skin from a certain species of mushroom instead would reduce electronic waste → Read More
Quantum trick sees light move forwards and back in time simultaneously
Placing a particle of light in a superposition so that it is travelling both forwards and backwards in time could prove useful for quantum computation → Read More
Microsoft's Copilot code tool faces the first big AI copyright lawsuit
A $9 billion class-action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft, code-sharing site GitHub and artificial intelligence firm OpenAI for the way their tool Copilot uses people’s code → Read More