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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- 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.
By Yujia Huang - 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.
- 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.
By Nikk Ogasa - 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.
By Nikk Ogasa - Artificial Intelligence
Welcome to the weird world of AI agent teams
AI agents are starting to work in teams, but without careful organization, groups of bots can easily fall into chaos.
- Animals
Female giant rainforest mantises grow up to strike harder than males
Scientists tracked mantis strike force from youth to adulthood, showing females eventually hit far harder than males. Why is a mystery.
By Susan Milius - Climate
City skylines influence cloud formation above them
Satellite data show that U.S. cities have more nighttime cloud cover than nearby countryside, and building height and density help explain why.
- 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.
By Ananya - 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.
- 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.
- 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.
By Tom Metcalfe