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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

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  1. Tech

    Robots with fingernails can grasp thin edges

    A robotic hand with fingernail-like tips lets robots peel fruit, open lids and pick up thin, flat objects with more precise, human-like dexterity.

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  2. Animals

    Climate change could threaten monarch mass migration

    Suitable milkweed habitat in Mexico may shift south, fracturing existing migration routes and possibly pushing some butterflies to stay put.

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  3. Artificial Intelligence

    Have we entered a new age of AI-enabled scientific discovery?

    Some say we’ve entered a new age of AI-enabled scientific discovery. But human insight and creativity still can’t be automated.

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  4. Anthropology

    This hand stencil in Indonesia is now the oldest known rock art

    The work suggests early Homo sapiens developed enduring artistic practices as they moved through the islands of Southeast Asia.

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  5. Tech

    This detached hand robot has a thing for skittering on its fingertips

    The robot can bend, grasp and carry in ways humans can’t, which could help it navigate spaces too confined for human arms.

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  6. Animals

    This tool-using cow defies expectations for bovine braininess

    Veronika the cow uses a brush as a tool to scratch herself, revealing rare problem-solving skills and expanding what we know of tool use in animals.

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  7. Animals

    Among chimpanzees, thrill-seeking peaks in toddlerhood

    In humans, teens do the most dangerous things. In chimpanzees, that honor goes to toddlers. The difference may lie in caregiver supervision.

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  8. Animals

    In a first, orcas and dolphins seen possibly hunting together

    New footage shows orcas and dolphins coordinating hunts, hinting at interspecies teamwork to track and catch salmon off British Columbia.

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  9. Paleontology

    These fossil finds shed new light on the past in 2025

    The year's top paleontological wonders ranged from a 540-million-year-old penis worm to a decades-old rodent impression.

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