Science Quickly

Can an artificial intelligence really be a friend? In this episode of Science Quickly, Scientific American books and culture lead Bri Kane sits down with Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Sherry Turkle to discuss the rise of AI chatbots and their effect on human connection. Turkle explains why she believes AI can imitate intimacy, from empathy and companionship to friendship and love, without truly caring and what we risk losing as machines play a bigger role in our emotional lives.Recommended Reading:Artificial Intimacy. Sherry Turkle. Little, Brown and Company, 2026E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Friendships are key to our well-being, but what kind of friendships do we really want? Despite being such a foundational part of the human experience, the science of friendship is still mysterious. Assistant professor of psychology Jessica Ayers is trying to fill in the blanks. While it’s long been assumed that people want either a few close friends or a large network of friendships, her recent research shows that many people need a mix of both friendship types to feel connected. Her research points to new ways we can understand our own friendship styles and gives insight to the loneliness epidemic.Recommended Reading:A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade‑offLove Isn’t Just about Romance. Here’s How Nonromantic Bonds Shape Our LivesThe Evolutionary Origins of FriendshipHow Nostalgia Keeps Friendships AliveE-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if a dating app could optimize human connection, even after death? In this episode of Science Quickly, books and culture editor Bri Kane speaks with author Sarah Pierce about her debut novel For Human Use, a darkly comic thriller centered on a dating app that matches users with dead bodies. Pierce discusses dating apps, human behavior and the search for meaningful connection. Together, they explore what modern dating technology can and can’t offer and what our reactions to a truly bizarre innovation reveal about human behavior.Recommended Reading:For Human Use. Sarah G. Pierce. Run for It, 2026E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Across the U.S., the digital infrastructure that runs our utilities is quickly aging, becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Recently at least a dozen states reported attacks on their water systems. Stepping up to defend these utilities is DEF CON Franklin, an organization that pairs expert volunteers with infrastructure operators who want to step up their cyberdefense. To learn about how the program works, Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman talks with Eric Geller, a senior reporter at Cybersecurity Dive. They talk about why so many water treatment plants need a cybersecurity glow-up, how DEF CON Franklin came into being, how cybersecurity volunteers are helping protect rural communities and what the future of cybersecurity might look like. Recommended Reading:Hackers Could Use Electric Vehicle Chargers to Attack the Power Grid Massive CrowdStrike Tech Outage Highlights Global VulnerabilitiesScientists just built a powerful AI computer worm that learns as it spreadsE-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Science Quickly, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope begins its mission to probe dark energy, hunt for distant worlds and map the cosmos in unprecedented detail. The mission’s senior project scientist Julie McEnery explains why astronomers are so excited about what Roman might discover.Recommended Reading:NASA’s newest telescope is about to rewrite how we study the universeCan NASA’s Roman Space Telescope solve the biggest problem in the universe?E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices