Explaining computer kernels and what makes monolithic kernels different from microkernels

An overview of Linux, from the foundational program to its related operating systems

The Linux kernel, which bridges hardware and software, serves as the basis for many fully customizable operating systems, whose components can be modified or removed to optimize performance or reduce bloat on devices with limited resources. This has made these OSes useful for low-power devices like smart thermostats, as well as for powerful supercomputers that require computational efficiency.

Distinguishing between Android and Linux-based operating systems

The Google-owned OS for mobile devices runs atop a Linux-based kernel that manages core services and manages software communication with hardware. While many Linux distributions can often be installed on these devices, Android uses its own standard libraries, user interface, and other open-source software, which comprise the Android Open Source Project.

Visualize the growth of the Linux kernel source code, which surpassed 40 million lines in 2025

Version 0.01 of the program authored by Linus Torvalds in 1991 spanned approximately 10,000 lines of code and has progressively grown to accommodate the management of an increasing number of hardware and software components. The kernel grows by an estimated 400,000 lines of code every two months.

Explaining how open source systems like Linux can be secure, despite their public source code

While no computer system is immune to all cyberattacks and malware, the transparency of open-source technology means many thousands of developers can review and oversee the underlying code powering the software on an ongoing basis. This increases the likelihood of catching and patching vulnerabilities more quickly than smaller groups of cybercriminals looking to exploit them.

A simple explanation of semiconductors

Semiconductor chips are electronic devices that store and process information. Today they can contain billions of microscopic switches on a chip smaller than a fingernail. The article provides a quick overview of how the devices work and how they've provided the backbone of the computer age.

Different types of malware are categorized by how they spread or operate

Computer viruses require user interaction to execute a file and spread, whereas worms can self-replicate across systems without human intervention. Ransomware locks systems until a key is provided, spyware tracks and reports user activity to a third party, and trojans disguise various types of malware as legitimate software.

A breakdown of algorithms, how they are constructed, and their applications

Algorithms are instructions for accomplishing a goal and typically take the form of a step-by-step procedure. Given the conditions, these procedures can take various paths, increasing an algorithm's complexity. While traditional computer algorithms are programmed to account for all possible scenarios within a given process, machine learning systems build their own rules from data-driven patterns.

Nvidia controls more than four-fifths of the GPU market—but isn't considered a monopoly

Semiconductor company Nvidia has a commanding market share when it comes to graphics processing units. Its competitors include Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, which together account for less than a fifth of the GPU market.

Learn about the protocols that make navigating the internet possible

While TCP/IP sends data in packets to the correct destination and checks for errors, UDP omits such safety features to speed up data transfer for real-time communication and streaming. Software rules such as HTTP and HTTPS enable the transfer of content on the World Wide Web, while SMTP handles email messages between servers.

Explore what each organelle does within various types of cells

In "Cell Anatomy Viewer," users can explore interactive illustrations of animal, plant, fungal, and bacterial cells. Clicking on an organelle, such as a lysosome, the nucleolus, or the Golgi complex, provides descriptions of its characteristics and functions.

Moore's Law came from observing exponential computing growth in the 1960s

In 1965, Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel Corporation, observed a four-year trend of constant growth rate in computing power. Hypothesizing the trend would continue, his observation became the benchmark that the computing industry has worked to maintain for 60 years.

A 'monopsony' is a market with a single buyer—rather than a single supplier

A monopsony is the demand-side equivalent of a monopoly, where a single buyer commands a market. In a monopsony, the buyer has an outsized influence over the price of a product or service because they control most or all of the sales in that market.

The interoperable metaverse and what that means

This explainer video explores the challenges of achieving the interoperability needed to unify economies, avatars and systems across virtual worlds in the metaverse.

Various types of memory, each serving unique functions, create a complex brain system

These forms of memory, which can overlap in daily life, have been sorted into broad categories, such as short-term and long-term memory, and subtypes such as implicit memory, which uses saved information without conscious awareness that it’s being recalled.

Breaking down the main classes of intellectual property: trademark vs. copyright vs. patent

Trademarks, copyrights, and patents are all intellectual property classifications that give exclusive ownership of ideas and concepts to individuals or businesses. Patents usually refer to innovative products or processes, copyrights are centered around the right to reproduce content, and trademarks usually involve branding elements, like names, logos, and distinct product elements.

Proof-of-work versus proof-of-stake: what's the difference?

The two main consensus mechanisms—the way blockchains confirm and enshrine information—are proof-of-stake and proof-of-work. An overview compares the differences between the two and the latter's ability to reduce the energy intensity of the computation process, which has emerged as one of the biggest criticisms of the crypto boom.

Radioactive elements can introduce software errors because the ionizing radiation they produce can detach electrons from atoms, and computer code relies on the distribution of electrons.

Bitcoin and ethereum are decentralized cryptocurrencies with different functions

Bitcoin, launched in 2009, is primarily a digital currency and store of value with a fixed supply. Ethereum, introduced in 2015, enables smart contracts and decentralized apps, offering more flexibility.

Microsoft developed the Xbox to compete with Sony's all-in-one entertainment hardware

The video game console originated as a side project between four DirectX developers, from whom the console's original name, "DirectX Box," derives. These developers sought to counter Sony's PlayStation product line, which they saw as capable of capturing all entertainment markets by playing games, CDs, and DVDs.

Operas rely more on music for storytelling than musicals

It’s easy to confuse operas and musicals since they both tell stories through singing and music—but a few key differences remain. While musicals rely on words as the primary tool for storytelling, opera relies more on music. Other key distinctions lie in vocal techniques.

The myth of multitasking's prestige

In this article, renowned neurologist Richard Cytowic seeks to expose multitasking as a fool’s errand. Cytowic explains how the brain, like a computer, switches between tasks rather than handling multiple tasks at once. He shares that attempting to focus on multiple activities at the same time consequentially decreases the brain's ability to ignore distractions, maintain focus, and organize information. Instead, he suggests, try to focus on completing one thing at a time.

Data center types vary based on location and the workloads they manage

Enterprise data centers are built on-premises and afford businesses greater control over the management and security of their data. Cloud data centers are built off-site and share their resources with millions of users through an internet connection, with the largest—hyperscale data centers—spanning millions of square feet. Managed data centers offer off-site hardware that companies can lease.

Muscular system explained

Skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles form the system that powers movement, survival, and daily life. Skeletal muscles are voluntary, enabling conscious actions like lifting or walking, while cardiac and smooth muscles are involuntary, controlled by the autonomic nervous system. From every heartbeat to each breath, these three muscle types work in harmony to keep you moving, thriving, and alive.

Jam and jelly differ in texture because of how fruit is processed

Jam contains crushed fruit with preserved pulp and fibers for a thicker, spreadable texture. Jelly is made from filtered fruit juice and produces a smooth, translucent gel. The distinction reflects preservation methods developed to extend fruit shelf life while tailoring texture and appearance.

Understanding the Diffie-Hellman key exchange, an example of public key cryptography

Published in 1976 by Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, the system involves two parties combining each of their unique private keys with a public key using a mathematical function. The combinations are exchanged and mixed to establish a common key that no third party can determine. The Diffie-Hellman system underlies many encryption protocols for internet traffic.

How Model Context Protocol allows AI systems to communicate with databases

Developed by Anthropic, the open-source software serves as an integration layer that standardizes how large language models connect to real-time information sources or tools. Just as a USB-C port serves as a universal standard for many peripherals, MCP streamlines these integrations and provides context about external sources to LLMs in a way that AI can understand.

Watch how algorithms can be designed to train themselves and self-improve without human input, to the point where the optimized code is too complex for programmers to understand.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Learn how monoclonal antibodies, which mimic the body's antibodies, can fight diseases like Ebola.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

According to the physics of black holes, our 4D reality may be a hologram—a projection of information coded on a 2D surface on the edge of the universe.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.