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ChatGPT rewired search, a tiny microbe explains animal life, and the universe's two great mysteries finally explained
The Point by Modern Sciences - May 27, 2026
Don Smith
May 27, 2026
By The Modern Sciences Team | May 27, 2026 |
Happy Wednesday, Cultivators of Curiosity!
Welcome to Volume 20 of The Point by Modern Sciences! This issue moves across three very different scales—from the screen in your pocket to the invisible architecture of the universe itself.
First, we examine how ChatGPT has quietly but fundamentally changed the way people find information, and what that means for every other tool in the digital ecosystem. Then we travel back across 600 million years of evolution to meet humanity's closest single-celled relative, and the genetic discovery that is reshaping what scientists know about the origin of animal life. Finally, we clear up one of science's most commonly confused pairs—dark matter and antimatter—and explain why understanding the difference reveals just how much of the cosmos we have yet to figure out. Three stories, three scales, one throughline: the world is stranger and more fascinating than it first appears
TECH
The ChatGPT effect: In 3 years the AI chatbot has changed the way people look things up
Three years after its launch, ChatGPT has quietly reshaped how millions of people find information—pulling everyday queries away from Google, shrinking traffic to forums like Stack Overflow, and making voice assistants feel limited by comparison. With 800 million weekly users and counting, the AI chatbot hasn't replaced the internet's tools so much as reordered them entirely.
The Point:
ChatGPT has become the new front door to information: Within three years of its launch, the chatbot grew to 800 million weekly users, with research showing that over half of AI-using adults now reach for it first when looking something up online.
The ripple effects are reshaping the entire information ecosystem: Google has responded by embedding AI summaries at the top of search results, Stack Overflow has lost roughly half its traffic, and voice assistants are increasingly perceived as too limited for complex queries.
ChatGPT hasn't replaced other tools—it has reordered them: Search engines still serve deep dives, YouTube still shows physical processes, and smart speakers still handle hands-free tasks, but the default starting point for everyday questions has quietly and fundamentally shifted.
NATURE
How the first animals evolved – a new clue from a tiny relative
Scientists have long puzzled over how complex animal life evolved from single-celled organisms. Now, a new study involving choanoflagellates—microscopic creatures that are animals' closest single-celled relatives—offers a surprising clue. Researchers discovered that a gene pathway linked to organ growth and cancer in animals also controls cell colony size in these ancient microorganisms, illuminating evolution's earliest building blocks.
The Point:
Choanoflagellates are the closest living relatives of all animals: These microscopic, single-celled water-dwellers share key genetic and structural traits with animals, and scientists study them to understand how the very first multi-celled animals evolved from simpler organisms over 600 million years ago.
A landmark gene-editing technique has unlocked a new clue: Researchers developed a method to deliberately mutate genes in choanoflagellates, and when they targeted the Warts gene of the Hippo pathway, cell colonies doubled in size—mirroring the uncontrolled growth seen in animal embryos and certain human cancers.
Evolution repurposed ancient tools to build animal complexity: The discovery suggests that the genetic machinery controlling cell number, cell cooperation, and tissue growth was not invented by animals but inherited and refined from single-celled ancestors, offering a clearer picture of life's most consequential evolutionary leap.
MATH AND THE SCIENCES
How are dark matter and antimatter different?
Dark matter and antimatter may sound like cousins from the same corner of physics, but they are fundamentally different phenomena. Scientists understand antimatter well enough to use it in medical imaging, yet can barely find it in the universe. Dark matter, meanwhile, is everywhere—making up five times more of the universe than regular matter—but remains completely unidentified.
The Point:
Antimatter is well understood but almost nowhere to be found: Scientists have studied antimatter for nearly 100 years, can create it in laboratories, and even use it in PET scan medical imaging, yet the universe contains almost none of it following the matter-antimatter annihilation at the Big Bang.
Dark matter is everywhere but completely unidentified: First inferred by astronomer Vera Rubin through the unexpectedly fast rotation of spiral galaxies, dark matter makes up roughly five times more mass than all visible matter in the universe, yet no experiment has ever directly detected it.
The two are entirely distinct mysteries that often get confused: Antimatter is a known and well-characterized particle phenomenon, while dark matter remains a placeholder name for something scientists have yet to identify, making them two separate frontiers at the edge of our understanding of the universe.