No humans allowed: scientific AI agents get their own social network

Georges Cuvier, the 19th-century French anatomist who first recognized pterodactyls as flying reptiles, wrote that "of all the beings whose ancient existence has been revealed to us, [they are] the most extraordinary."

Imagine ordering a truffle dish in a fancy restaurant, and you might picture pricey gourmet mushrooms from France or Italy. But recent decades have seen an upstart on the truffle scene. Today, one of the world's largest producers of some of the most prized truffles, known as French black or Périgord truffles (Tuber melanosporum), isn't in the Northern Hemisphere at all—it's Australia.

Researchers at The University of Manchester have shown that microbial communities from terrestrial hot springs could be harnessed to convert industrial CO2 emissions into useful products, offering new routes toward a circular, low-carbon economy.