Researchers make “neuromorphic” artificial skin for robots
Information from sensors is transmitted using neural-style activity spikes.
John Timmer
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John Timmer
Senior Science Editor
jtimmer@meincmagazine.com
John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. John has done over a decade's worth of research in genetics and developmental biology at places like Cornell Medical College and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. His research has been published in journals including Development, Nature, and PNAS. He has also taught scientists how to communicate with each other and the public at Cornell Medical College and Stony Brook University.
At Ars, John has covered nearly every area of science, from astronomy to zoology, and has written authoritatively on subjects such as climate change, quantum computing, and renewable energy. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. To see more of what's on his mind, you can follow him on Bluesky.
Recent stories by
John Timmer
US blocks all offshore wind construction, says reason is classified
Projects with hardware in the water stopped due to Department of Defense fears.
John Timmer
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373
LLMs’ impact on science: Booming publications, stagnating quality
Once researchers turn to LLMs, paper counts go up, quality does not.
John Timmer
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54
Trump admin threatens to break up major climate research center
Major research institution dismissed as a source of “climate alarmism.”
John Timmer
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192
Gazelle’s Arroyo offers a belt drive, continuous variable transmission
Gazelle’s high-end commuter offers a belt drive and continuous variable transmission.
John Timmer
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87
Court: “Because Trump said to” may not be a legally valid defense
The “arbitrary and capricious” standard strikes down another administration action.
John Timmer
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156
A big bike on a budget: Lectric’s XPress 750
A budget e-bike that offers more than you might expect.
John Timmer
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Humans in southern Africa were an isolated population until recently
A distinct population that was isolated until the last thousand years or so.
John Timmer
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Most Read
Planned satellite constellations may swamp future orbiting telescopes
Planned orbital observatories would see satellites cross nearly all of their images.
John Timmer
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168
Solar’s growth in US almost enough to offset rising energy use
Over the course of 2025, electricity demand has gradually declined.
John Timmer
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170
Many genes associated with dog behavior influence human personalities, too
But the specific behaviors linked may be completely unrelated.
John Timmer
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52
Formation of oceans within icy moons could cause the waters to boil
A rigid ice shell over a shrinking interior makes for pressures low enough to boil.
John Timmer
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40
AI trained on bacterial genomes produces never-before-seen proteins
Genes with related functions cluster together, and the AI uses that.
John Timmer
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47
NASA really wants you to know that 3I/ATLAS is an interstellar comet
A rundown of what we know of the third extrasolar object we’ve identified.
John Timmer
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71
UCLA faculty gets big win in suit against Trump’s university attacks
Government can’t use funding threats to override the First Amendment.
John Timmer
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95
Quantum computing tech keeps edging forward
IBM follows through on its June promises, plus more trapped ion news.
John Timmer
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Next-generation black hole imaging may help us understand gravity better
But the differences are likely to be subtle, so it won’t be easy.
John Timmer
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100
New quantum hardware puts the mechanics in quantum mechanics
As a test case, the machine was used to test a model of superconductivity.
John Timmer
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27
Neural network finds an enzyme that can break down polyurethane
Given a dozen hours, the enzyme can turn a foam pad into reusable chemicals.
John Timmer
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100
Westinghouse is claiming a nuclear deal would see $80B of new reactors
Details are remarkably sparse on what has been agreed to.
John Timmer
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232
Trump’s UCLA deal: Pay us $1B+, and we can still cut your grants again
The deal wouldn’t protect UCLA from the proposed university compact.
John Timmer
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215
Clinical trial of a technique that could give everyone the best antibodies
If we ID the DNA for a great antibody, anyone can now make it.
John Timmer
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89
Dinosaurs may have flourished right up to when the asteroid hit
Fossil beds in New Mexico show diverse species present in the late Cretaceous.
John Timmer
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51
Google has a useful quantum algorithm that outperforms a supercomputer
An approach it calls “quantum echoes” takes 13,000 times longer on a supercomputer.
John Timmer
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74
Chemistry Nobel prize awarded for building ordered polymers with metal
Three researchers share prize for structured polymers called metal-organic frameworks.
John Timmer
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49
Floating electrons on a sea of helium
Yes, it’s another potential qubit. But it’s also some very cool physics.
John Timmer
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46
A biological 0-day? Threat-screening tools may miss AI-designed proteins.
Ordering DNA for AI-designed toxins doesn’t always raise red flags.
John Timmer
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41
Trump offers universities a choice: Comply for preferential funding
Who needs peer review? Plan offers easier grants to schools that agree to limits.
John Timmer
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338
Researchers find a carbon-rich moon-forming disk around giant exoplanet
Lots of carbon molecules but little sign of water in a super-Jupiter’s disk.
John Timmer
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8
Study: Planned budget cuts would hurt drug development badly
Drug patents frequently cite research that the NIH wouldn’t be able to fund.
John Timmer
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70
Judge lets construction on an offshore wind farm resume
Judge calls decision to stop construction “the height of arbitrary and capricious.”
John Timmer
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115
Despite congressional threat, National Academies releases new climate report
Things have changed since 2009: We’re more certain about the problems.
John Timmer
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77
You can hold on to your butts thanks to DNA that evolved in fish
Making digits seems to involve gene activity that was needed to make a cloaca.
John Timmer
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39
Feds try to dodge lawsuit against their bogus climate report
Meanwhile, Congress is trying to keep serious scientists from weighing in.
John Timmer
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81
New pathway engineered into plants lets them suck up more CO₂
Engineered pathway lets carbon be plugged directly into key metabolic pathways.
John Timmer
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108
Genetically, Central American mammoths were weird
The species’s boundaries in North America seem to have been fairly fluid.
John Timmer
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