The century-long hunt for the gigantic meteorite that vanished A soldier returned from the Sahara desert in 1916 with a wild story about a meteorite that dwarfed all others. Over 100 years of hunting yielded nothing – but now twin brothers think they have solved ...

This is one of the most intriguing stories I've ever worked on: what would be the largest meteorite of all time lost in the west African desert that, despite countless searches, was never found.

Overnight camel rides, poisoned chieftains, meteorite science.

www.newscientist.com/article/2507...

Nuclear fusion gets a boost from a controversial debunked experiment A 1989 experiment offered the promise of nuclear fusion without the need for high temperatures, but this "cold fusion" was quickly debunked. Now, some of the techniques involved have been resurrected ...

In 1989, it seemed like room-temperature nuclear fusion might be possible, solving the world's energy problems.

But cold fusion, as it was known, was soon dead in the water after failed replications.

Now, a new experiment has resurrected its ghost ☢️

www.newscientist.com/article/2493...

Flower-like origami patterns could inspire folding spacecraft Engineers have developed a class of origami structures that unfold in one smooth motion to create flower-like shapes, which could have applications in space

Flower-like origami patterns could inspire folding spacecraft www.newscientist.com/article/2493...

Flower-like origami patterns could inspire folding spacecraft Engineers have developed a class of origami structures that unfold in one smooth motion to create flower-like shapes, which could have applications in space

These gorgeous origami shapes - an entirely new family called bloom patterns - could be used to design new, more effective space telescopes or solar panels.

www.newscientist.com/article/2493...

Jacket that gets thinner when you sweat could help avoid overheating A material made from bacterial cellulose alters its insulating properties in dry and moist conditions, which could help you stay a comfortable temperature whatever the weather

We've all been caught in the annoying perpetual loop of removing and putting on a jacket when the weather is temperamental ⛅

This jacket gets thinner when you sweat and puffs up when your skin is dry, meaning you can wear it come rain or shine.

www.newscientist.com/article/2492...

Oldest fast radio burst ever seen sheds light on early star formation A bright flash of radio waves from 3 billion years after the big bang is illuminating parts of the universe that astronomers can’t normally see

A flash of light from cosmic noon, billions of years ago, could be used to illuminate all the shadowy gas in-between us and the early universe 💥

www.newscientist.com/article/2492...

Mathematicians have worked out the optimal strategy for Guess Who? The quickest way to win the board game Guess Who? involves asking sneaky questions that involve a logical paradox, according to mathematicians

If you've ever wanted to know how best to play Guess Who? and make your chances of winning around 65% each time, then you should follow this strategy devised by mathematicians.

www.newscientist.com/article/2491...

Signs of alien life on exoplanet K2-18b have all but vanished Earlier this year, astronomers reported possible evidence of life on another planet – but new observations from JWST suggest the apparent biosignature isn’t there after all

Our best hope for alien life, as astronomers reported earlier this year, seems to be fading away.

New observations of K2-18b can't find any strong evidence for the apparent biosignature that got many excited.

www.newscientist.com/article/2489...

Peculiar galaxy seems to contain surprisingly pristine stars Stars uncontaminated by heavier elements are thought to have formed very early in the universe, but a galaxy much later in cosmic history might let us see them for the first time

You'd expect the first stars to form at the beginning of the universe but surprisingly, astronomers have found a galaxy full of just-born stars much, much later (hundreds of millions of years later)

www.newscientist.com/article/2489...

Gold can be heated to 14 times its melting point without melting With fast heating, sheets of gold can shoot past the theoretical maximum temperature a solid can have before it melts – raising questions about what the true limits are

There might be ~no limit~ to how hot you can heat a solid beyond its melting point*

*as long as you do it very, very quickly.

www.newscientist.com/article/2489...

Underwater volcanic brine pools could be home to extreme life forms An expedition in the Red Sea found several brine pools that appear to be fed by underwater volcanoes, which may be home to microbes and animals with unique adaptations

Underwater volcanic brine pools could be home to extreme life forms www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Ancient rocks show earliest evidence of tectonic activity on Earth The origins of plate tectonics on Earth are hotly debated, but evidence from Australia now shows that parts of the crust moved in relation to each other as early as 3.5 billion years ago

The ground has been moving under our feet for longer than we thought 🌍

Scientists have found evidence of tectonic plate-like activity hundreds of millions of years further back, at 3.5 billion years.

(plus the earliest known reversal of Earth's magnetic core!)

www.newscientist.com/article/2488...

Peculiar plant could help us reconstruct ancient Earth’s climate Something strange happens to water as it moves through the stems of horsetail plants – and this unique process provides valuable clues for understanding past and present ecosystems

Weird plants! Ancient Earth! Meteorites!

The strange story of the horsetail plant, and its unique ability to distil water up its stem, could tell us all sorts of fascinating things about what Earth was like billions of years ago

www.newscientist.com/article/2487...

Scientists often have disagreements about how to interpret data and results, but it's quite remarkable just how wide the range of interpretations has become for whether we have found life on K2-18b.

Nikku Madhusudhan, one of the original researchers, said this makes him "slightly more confident" the original detection of the apparent biomolecule dimethyl sulphide was correct.

But other researchers have the opposite view, saying it is a "major change in interpretation within just one month".

Astronomers double down on claim of strongest evidence for alien life Are there aliens living on the exoplanet K2-18b? Some astronomers believe they have evidence for molecules on the planet that must have a biological origin, but others disagree

Have we found evidence of alien life? The picture is getting much, much murkier.

Last month, astronomers said they'd found "strong evidence" of alien life.

They've now reanalysed the data and found more possible molecules that fit the data.

www.newscientist.com/article/2480...

Concerns raised over AI trained on 57 million NHS medical records The makers of an AI model called Foresight say it could help predict disease or hospitalisation rates, but others have expressed concern about the fact it is trained on millions of health records

Training an AI model on the English population's health data is a massive legal and ethical grey area, but researchers have done it anyway.

It *might* one day help doctors predict disease, but it's unclear whether it ever can without breaking the law.

www.newscientist.com/article/2479...

Their online splash was different, which is maybe what you're remembering bsky.app/profile/rowh...

Will we ever have confirmation of life outside our solar system? The report of possible biosignatures on the exoplanet K2-18b is exciting, but we are a long way from establishing beyond doubt that there is life on such a distant world

Sensational claims of life on another planet are just that - claims.

What would we need for those claims to be verified?

More work from independent groups, more data and a real look at non-biological alternatives, which could take years, or forever.

www.newscientist.com/article/2477...

It's important to find whether alternative abiotic processes exist, but they would also need to be capable of producing the right amount of DMS too, or explain how they can deliver it to an atmosphere. Again, for a hypothetical 5 sigma watertight detection.

True - but another caveat to the caveat. The apparent concentrations of DMS, *if true* (big if), are far greater than the small concentrations found in comets, and would require an insanely high rate of cometary delivery to sustain the levels that might be in K2-18b's atmosphere.

Doubts cast over D-Wave's claim of quantum computer supremacy D-Wave's claim that its quantum computers can solve problems that would take hundreds of years on classical machines have been undermined by two separate research groups showing that even an ordinary ...

Interesting tale here on D-Wave claiming last year that their quantum computers could do things that no classical computer could do. This week that paper passed peer-review. Success, right? No. Two teams of classical computer scientists say they've caught up.

www.newscientist.com/article/2471...

The asteroid Bennu is even weirder than we thought Analysis of samples brought back to Earth from the asteroid Bennu reveal that it has a bizarre chemical make-up and is unusually magnetic

The asteroid Bennu, which NASA brought back samples from to Earth in 2023, is baffling scientists with its abundance of nitrogen and odd magnetic properties.

www.newscientist.com/article/2471...

Thread-based computer could be knitted into clothes to monitor health Wearable technology could go beyond smartwatches to items of clothing that monitor large parts of your body

A computer contained in a thin thread of stitchable fabric could be used to record, and understand, all sorts of information about the body that devices like Apple watches can't.

And it's being tested on Canadian and US soldiers right now, in the Arctic.

www.newscientist.com/article/2470...

Physicists capture a strange fractal ‘butterfly’ for the first time The electrons in a twisted piece of graphene show a strange repeating pattern first predicted in 1976, but never directly measured until now

50 years after it was first dreamt up by Douglas Hofstadter, this fascinating fractal butterfly has been found in a real physical system (in graphene, no less)!

It's butterflies all the way down 🦋

www.newscientist.com/article/2470...

Intuitive Machines' lunar lander Athena set to blast off to the moon A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is about to launch a number of missions, including a private lunar lander, a lunar satellite for NASA and a prospecting probe for an asteroid-mining company

Another moon launch tomorrow, including:
🌑 The southern-most point ever visited
🌑 A hopping robot entering a crater w/ permanent shadows (for the 1st time)
🌑 An asteroid mining mission
🌑 A rover with a tiny cute ant-sized rover on its back

www.newscientist.com/article/2469...

Huge thunderstorm on Jupiter captured in best detail ever seen NASA's Juno spacecraft swooped in for a close look at a massive thunderstorm on Jupiter, revealing that it may have similarities to storms on Earth

A lucky bit of timing meant astronomers could witness a thunderstorm on Jupiter in exquisite detail, as NASA's Juno spacecraft floated directly overhead 🛰️

www.newscientist.com/article/2469...

Asteroid 2024 YR4 will now almost certainly miss Earth in 2032 New observations have dramatically reduced the chances of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth in 2032, lowering the risk to the planet to minimal levels, but the extraordinary close approach will now offe...

Good news: asteroid 2024 YR4, which was on a collision course for Earth, will probably miss us.

But that doesn't mean scientists aren't still considering a space mission to study it up close!

(The chance of a moon impact has also quadrupled, at 1.2%)

www.newscientist.com/article/2469...

Absolutely shocking and very worrying from NOAA www.newscientist.com/article/2469...

Microsoft wants to use generative AI tool to help make video games Using AI to produce footage of video games with a consistent world and rules could prove useful to game designers

Microsoft researchers have shown off a new AI tool that can produce full-length, physically accurate gameplay sequences for Bleeding Edge, a multiplayer online battle game 🎮

Could this lead to fully AI-designed games? Probably not anytime soon.

www.newscientist.com/article/2469...