Schools brief | Life is born in chains

How DNA and proteins work

Life can make extraordinary variety by following quite simple strategies

EVERYTHING ON Earth is made of atoms, most of which are closely packed together in the form of minerals. Life has its uses for minerals—ask a coral reef—but its essence lies in atoms arranged as distinct molecules and the way they interact.

This article appeared in the Schools brief section of the print edition under the headline “Chains and reactions”

Dashed hopes: Emerging markets’ growth problem

From the July 31st 2021 edition

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A computer covered in hazard tape.

AI needs regulation, but what kind, and how much?

Different countries are taking different approaches to regulating artificial intelligence

A toolbox filled with regular tools and speech bubbles.

LLMs will transform medicine, media and more

But not without a helping (human) hand


A flamme under a container diffusing letters turned into a speech bubble.

How AI models are getting smarter

Deep neural networks are learning diffusion and other tricks


The race is on to control the global supply chain for AI chips

The focus is no longer just on faster chips, but on more chips clustered together

A short history of AI

In the first of six weekly briefs, we ask how AI overcame decades of underdelivering