Space
These space stories made us look up in 2025
Space is always inspiring and 2025 was no exception, with finding Betelgeuse’s buddy, debuting a prolific survey telescope and more.
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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- Artificial Intelligence
Chatbots may make learning feel easy — but it’s superficial
People who use search engines develop deeper knowledge and are more invested in what they learn than those relying on AI chatbots, a study reports.
By Payal Dhar - Animals
This fly’s flesh-eating maggot is making a comeback. Here’s what to know
After a decades-long hiatus, new world screwworm populations have surged in Central America and Mexico — and are inching northward.
By Carly Kay - Physics
There’s math behind this maddening golf mishap
Math and physics explain the anguish of a golf ball that zings around the rim of the hole instead of falling in.
- Animals
Deep Antarctic waters hold geometric communities of fish nests
Scientists found thousands of patterned fish nests in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, boosting calls for marine protected areas.
By Carly Kay - Climate
Hurricane Melissa spins into a monster storm as it bears down on Jamaica
The story of Atlantic hurricanes is treading a familiar — and frightening — path: Climate change is fueling huge, slow-moving, rain-drenching storms.
- Physics
These simple knife tricks stop onion tears instantly
With a high-speed camera and a tiny guillotine, scientists showed that chopping onions slowly and with sharper knives cuts down on tears.
By Carly Kay - Astronomy
Astronomers saw a rogue planet going through a rapid growth spurt
The growth spurt hints that the free-floating object evolves like a star, providing clues about rogue planets’ mysterious origins.
- Animals
What the longest woolly rhino horn tells us about the beasts’ biology
A nearly 20,000-year-old woolly rhino horn reveals the extinct herbivores lived as long as modern-day rhinos, despite harsher Ice Age conditions.
By Jake Buehler - Artificial Intelligence
AI-designed proteins test biosecurity safeguards
AI edits to the blueprints for known toxins can evade detection. Researchers are improving filters to catch these rare biosecurity threats.