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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

More Stories in Gif

  1. Math

    Here’s how to make an origami torus with the fewest folds possible

    A mathematician found the most efficient way to fold paper into a doughnutlike shape.

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  2. Space

    Solar flares may show predictable warning signs hours before erupting

    Scientists spotted patterns hours before a major solar flare, a discovery that could help forecast dangerous eruptions.

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  3. Oceans

    The outlook for a climate-regulating ocean current is…not good

    An ocean current called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation will weaken by 50 percent by 2100. The question is what to do about it.

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  4. Animals

    Crabs’ sideways walk may have evolved just once

    A study of 50 crab species in Japan traces the iconic sideways walk to a single ancestor, suggesting the trait drove the group's remarkable diversity.

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  5. Physics

    Water drops on soap bubble films act like merging galaxies

    Water droplets on soap films orbited and merged like colliding galaxies, a technique that could help scientists study the cosmos.

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  6. Neuroscience

    25 people learned to fly with virtual wings. Here’s how the brain changed

    A new study shows learning to fly in virtual reality with virtual wings can reshape the brain, making it treat wings more like body parts.

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  7. Physics

    A new measurement reveals gravity is still hard to pin down

    After a 10-year effort, physicists got a value for “Big G” that does not settle the debate over one of nature’s hardest numbers to nail down.

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  8. Space

    Artemis II sends humans around the moon for first time since Apollo

    NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are on their way to the moon, testing the Orion spacecraft for future lunar landings and a planned moon base.

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  9. Planetary Science

    A comet may have flipped its spin and entered into a death spiral

    Gases jetting out of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák may have caused it to reverse its spin in 2017, possibly leading to its eventual destruction.

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