This week’s science roundup covers 2025’s near-record heat, a new mpox strain and fresh clues about why hobbits vanished 50,000 years ago. Journalist Karen Hao unpacks the rise of AI “empires,” their ...

We’ve all had that itchy, edgy feeling, that urge to be doing something—anything— other than what we’re doing right now. It’s boredom, and it’s awful. As ubiquitous as the experience is, only recently ...