Notebook

Physics

50 years ago, superconductors were warming up

Superconducting temperatures have risen by about 250 degrees since the 1970s, but are still too cold to enable practical technologies.

Health & Medicine

50 years ago, computers helped speed up drug discovery

In 1974, a computer program helped researchers search for promising cancer drugs. Today, AI is helping speed up drug discovery.

Anthropology

50 years ago, evidence showed that an extinct human ancestor walked upright

Fossil finds have since pushed back the ability of hominids to walk on two legs by millions of years.

Health & Medicine

A 25-year-effort uncovers clues to unexplained deaths in children

When Laura Gould’s daughter died in 1997, there was almost no research in unexpected deaths in children older than one.