Sunday 18 October
A few good things to read before sleep.
A short, fresh selection of science, medicine, space, nature and tennis, ready by early evening every day.
Shortly after Artemis II splashdown on April 10, 2026, U.S. Navy divers captured underwater imagery of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield.
Sunset 18:00 · fully dark from 19:22
No visible passes this week.
Times are local to Amman. Away from city lights you’ll see much more.
Moritz Hardt, author of a new book on benchmarks, believes these “standardized tests” for artificial intelligence are fundamentally broken — but not unfixable. The post He Wants AI Benchmarking To Be a Science, Not a Dark Art first appeared on Quanta Magazine
At 6 months, a cohort of 8,127 women in the UK initiating GLP-1 receptor agonist therapy via a digital platform showed mean weight reduction comparable to that in randomized clinical trials.
Pioneering software engineer whose work was critical to the Apollo moon landings Apollo was a bold, innovative project. It tested the boundaries of technology and human achievement, and took people to the moon. However, one thing it failed to challenge was…
A Japanese space mission is about to launch towards Mars. But it will not land on the planet itself. Instead, the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission will focus on Phobos, the bigger of Mars's two small moons.
Japanese space agency leads five-year mission to Phobos, one of ‘most important unclimbed mountains in the solar system’ Japan is to launch a spacecraft on the world’s first mission to bring back samples from Phobos, one of the two small, potato-shaped moons…
A new study in Science Advances addresses the pressing questions about how long-duration exposure to microgravity affects the human genome.
The notice, published in Nature last week, also addressed an image duplication identified by a prominent research-integrity sleuth.
When Diane Gentry, a 71-year-old retiree from Watauga, Texas, was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer in 2015, she learned the tumor had grown into her inferior vena cava, the body's largest vein. This potentially life-threatening complication can require…
Yvette Cooper also announces £140m investment in England's urgent care system, ahead of winter.
Exclusive: rules on same-sex wards could lead to delays in care, discrimination and animosity between groups, finds internal assessment Trans people could face delays and a greater risk of “corridor care” under new NHS England guidance that means they will no…
Science Translational Medicine has retracted a paper on COVID-19 vaccines after an institutional investigation revealed a former Ph.D. student fabricated data and falsified images in the article. The retraction is the former student’s second for fabrication…
Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study of middle-aged adults in Canada, higher UPF intake was associated with greater adiposity and higher odds of MRI-defined VBI but not cognitive performance. Associations with VBI were sensitive to UPF exposure definition. Longitudinal studies are needed to establish temporality.
In a small study involving patients with blindness due to advanced retinitis pigmentosa, optogenetic therapy appears safe; early efficacy signals are promising and reveal opportunities for technical refinement.
This cross-sectional study describes health outcomes attributed to recent use of psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), ibogaine, and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) in a nationally representative survey of US adults.
Researchers have developed and demonstrated a new hybrid photonic platform that integrates quantum emitters with photonic devices, providing a way to reliably control the interaction between photons and quantum information carriers. The chip-based platform…
New study places a quantum limit on how fast a system can reach a state of thermal equilibrium
Quantum pioneer calls for more investment in Europe’s quantum industries
Wikipedia’s 68m articles have been consulted trillions of times. Not bad for a website that has barely changed since it was founded 20 years ago A few years ago, I was struck by the tension between how Wikipedia was used, and how it was talked about. Everyone…
Sarah Helm, who is married to Jonathan Powell, was responding to a discussion about the author Sally Rooney.
More and more city governments are using advanced technologies to improve livability for their residents. Municipalities use data from smartphones and sensors for traffic enforcement, traffic control, and waste management. They also have implemented…
Cicero’s ideal of manly virtue stressed the performance of self-control and bravery, not boastful egotism and domination - by Catharine Edwards Read on Aeon
The research is rolling in, and the answer is yes. It’s possible to turn tedious work gatherings into more effective and enjoyable experiences.
As the planet warms, airlines are grappling with what this means for air travel – and for the passengers who simply refuse to keep their seatbelts fastened It was a swelteringly hot afternoon in south-west Myanmar on 21 May 2024. Tropical thunderstorms…
Judge says Congress must decide whether to extend a pause on reorganization and relocations
Nature staff discuss a new ink that could be useful for medical tattooing — plus, an insight into why small dogs live longer than big ones.
Public Health Wales advises people living nearby to shut their doors and windows due to the smell.
Thousands of delegates are now gathering in Yerevan to discuss the future of life on Earth as we know it at the U.N.’s COP17 biodiversity summit. Countries have made considerable progress in developing national conservation plans under the biodiversity…
While masked lapwings have a reputation for swooping during nesting season, Windsor Park oval’s resident plover just wants a good innings At Windsor Park in Riverside, just outside Launceston in northern Tasmania, a masked lapwing has claimed prime real…
Britain's Sonay Kartal was beaten in a deciding set by Poland's Maja Chwalinska in a pulsating Wuhan Open final.
Holger Rune’s return from a lengthy injury spell has encountered a blip after he was forced to pull out of the European Open on Sunday. The former world No.4 accepted a wildcard into the ATP 250 a week ago but has now withdrawn due to a back issue. Rune…
French Open finalist wins 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 for her first title Kartal will become new British No 1 after record run Sonay Kartal missed out on winning the biggest title of her career as her brilliant run at the Wuhan Open ended in a final defeat by Maja…