Science Times: Are A.I. Models Being Misled to Act Too Human?

September 22, 2026

Chona Kasinger for The New York Times

Are A.I. Models Being Misled to Act Too Human?

A corporate spat between two tech giants last week was just the latest volley in a conflict over whether dangerous mistakes are being made in A.I. training.

The Urgent Mystery of Where Viruses Hide

Some viruses appear to vanish when outbreaks dissipate, only to emerge again. Scientists don’t always know which animals they lurk in — and how to stop them from spilling back over.

By David Quammen

A black and white micrograph of viruses.

Santiago Lopez/University of California, Berkeley

The Next Gene-Editing Technology May Also Be the Oldest

Scientists have discovered a powerful gene-targeting system in viruses. Billions of years old, VIPR seems to predate CRISPR and may be even more effective.

By Carl Zimmer

A smartphone is lit up with an A.I. prompt asking, “How can I help you this morning?”

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

What Happens When A.I. Stops Doing What Humans Want?

“Alignment” is the science of teaching A.I. to do what is in line with human preferences, ethics and judgment. But, at times, the systems have gone rogue.

By Dylan Freedman

Lindsay Clancy looks over her shoulder as she sits in a courtroom during her trial.

Pool photo by Greg Derr

Clancy’s ‘Horrible Thoughts’ and the Mysteries of the Postpartum Brain

Experts say that after childbirth, intrusive thoughts are common and mostly benign. Lindsay Clancy’s story provides a disturbing exception.

By Ellen Barry

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Pasca Lab/Stanford University

These Mice Have Partly Human Brains

The animals may help reveal the causes of brain disease in people and point the way to treatments. But researchers already are calling for new ethical guidelines.

By Carl Zimmer and Carolyn Y. Johnson

A close-up view of a paleontologist's hands holding a small dark fossilized ball with a tiny feather clearly embedded in the rock. The hand holds it against a ruler for scale.

David DeMar, Jr.

A Feather Found in Dinosaur Poop Might Explain How Birds Beat Extinction

It’s the only example of a dinosaur-era feather found within rock that wasn’t completely flattened through the centuries.

By K. R. Callaway

A field of galaxies against the black background of space. In the center is a bright-white elliptical galaxy that is the core of the Abell S1063 galaxy cluster.

NASA, ESA, CSA, V. Kokorev (University of Texas at Austin), A. Pagan (STScI)

Massive Black Holes May Have Started as Little Red Dots

A new simulation suggests little red dots, unusually compact objects seen in photos from space, might be one stage in the evolution of black holes.

By K. R. Callaway

Mark Unthank

Is There Anything a Fruit Fly Brain Can’t Do?

Models of the insect’s nervous system have been trained to solve a Rubik’s Cube, play video games and even parallel park a car.

By Michael Levenson

An illustration imagines a Tyrannosaurus rex walking amid foliage along a riverbank.

A T. Rex Walked Here: Teacher Finds Rare Footprints in North Dakota

Kent Hups, a high school science teacher in Colorado, discovered a 23-foot trackway of fossilized dinosaur footprints, which offer a glimpse of how the apex predator moved 66 million years ago.

By Adeel Hassan

A view looking down a long shaft of a test facility for the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, whose chambers are painted in bright colors on the outside. A worker dressed in black fiddles with wires at one end.

Scientists Overhaul Giant Particle Collider in Search of Universe’s Hidden Building Blocks

The European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, will dismantle the Large Hadron Collider, which helped discover the so-called God Particle, in order to build a more powerful particle accelerator.

By K. R. Callaway

In Old NASA Data, Scientists Find a Surprising New Type of Cosmic Object

The discovery of “hypersoft” X-ray beacons could help solve some mysteries about the universe.

By Kenneth Chang

CLIMATE CHANGE

A North Atlantic right whale breaking the surface and spouting. The sea is calm and the sky is clear.

Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press, photographed under NOAA permit # 21371

Trump Administration Moves to Gut a Core Endangered Species Protection

An internal memo reinterprets the law so that only the intentional killing of animals, not collateral harm, is illegal.

By Catrin Einhorn

Two people work on some rusty pipes in a grassy area.

Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

Toxic Fracking Waste Bubbling Up in Ohio Is Becoming a Political Issue

The Democratic candidate for governor backed restrictions on disposal of fracking wastewater around a hard-hit town, and called for a “thorough investigation” of the dangers.

By Quinn Glabicki

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HEALTH

Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants

Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Tony Romm and Michael C. Bender

Reuters

Kennedy Assures Vaccine Skeptics That They Have a ‘Friend at the White House’

The health secretary spoke at a conference featuring misinformation about vaccines, including a claim that the success of the polio vaccines was a “fraud.”

By Christina Jewett and Teddy Rosenbluth