Friday 16 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 18:03 · fully dark from 19:24
No evening passes this week; at the moment it's only visible before dawn (next: Sat 17 Oct, 05:53).
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
by Ieuan Scanlon, Anna Rawlings, David Tucker, Daniel S. Thayer, Hywel T. Evans, Joanne Given, Sam Jones, Maria Loane, Chloe Morgan, Joan K. Morris, Sue Jordan Background Education outcomes are associated with life chances. However, deprivation, ill-health…
The El Gordo supercluster is unusually large given its distance. How could such a large galaxy cluster form so quickly? The answer could be that dark matter is self-interacting in an interesting two-state way.
On May 10, 2025, a spacecraft built in the Soviet Union to land on Venus came home. Launched in 1972, Cosmos-482 was stranded by a failed upper stage of its rocket and circled Earth for 53 years. In its last days, several space agencies and research groups…
Astronomers have discovered a star being torn apart by a massive black hole more than 1,000 parsecs from the center of its host galaxy. The tidal disruption event, TDE 2023mfm, was first discovered by ZTF and then studied with a wide range of telescopes…
As part of the ALMA COMPASS Large program, an international research team has detected a rare form of methanol in space for the first time.
Revisiting a previous post that frequently comes to mind.
Ministers promise to reform the scheme that provides financial support for those injured or bereaved by vaccines in the UK.
What matters more than reality itself? The post “Is it Your Assertion That Picking Headlines of Dead Kids is a Good Way to Evaluate a Policy?” first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.
New neurodata laws will shape how researchers gather, share and reuse brain data. A use-based governance protects basic researchers and those whose data are being used, without freezing science.
Annals of Internal Medicine has retracted a paper on treatments for Long COVID because the authors did not report dosing information for metformin, one of the drugs tested in the study. The editor-in-chief of the journal called the exclusion “sloppy” and…
Chronotherapy promises to improve medicine by aligning treatment with the body’s internal clock. As this idea moves into clinical trials, a high-profile retraction reveals the ups and downs of circadian medicine.
The hope with CAR T cell therapies for autoimmune disease is that they can reset the immune system and induce deep remission. But recent trial pauses have renewed concerns about safety, patient selection and acceptable risk.
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.
The researchers in the Quantum Detection Microscopy group at CIC nanoGUNE, in collaboration with chemists at CiQUS of the University of Santiago de Compostela, have demonstrated that adding or removing a single molecule from a quantum chain can fundamentally…
Handheld optical coherence tomography device will make diagnosis and monitoring of eye diseases more affordable and accessible
Author(s): Marric Stephens A technique known as ghost imaging has been adapted so that an object can be imaged by discarding all photons that interact with it. [Physics 19, s127] Published Thu Oct 15, 2026
Tech billionaires have raised more than $340m to defeat Prop 40, a one-time 5% wealth tax that will fund healthcare and education Tech billionaires have been dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the fight against a wealth tax in California. They’ve…
Online grooming is rising, with children as young as five targeted, prompting calls for reform.
The incident is likely 1st confirmation of mercenary spyware delivered by targeted ads.
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
Evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers explains how fungal networks in soil trade nutrients with plants, help keep carbon underground, and strike bargains without having a brain. The post How Do Fungi Keep the Planet Healthy? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
The Tesla Roadster 2 drove up a curved ramp before using SpaceX rocket thrusters to fly, flip and land Elon Musk has revealed Tesla’s latest model, which he claims will be the world’s first flying car, using technology from his aerospace company SpaceX to…
Researchers hunted for clues in modal analysis of 20th-century replica bell at Penn State Behrend.
SEOUL — Wedged between skyscrapers and a bustling passenger ferry port in Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, a celebrity of sorts is drawing thousands of admirers as it has been swimming for weeks now in a shallow city canal. Bukangi, a shark named…
Ukraine says temporary speed limits to the Starlink internet network disrupted its battlefield missions.
‘Unprecedented’ mass mortality event that began in 2025 may have led to the collapse of some populations, ecologists fear Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast More than 8,000 sharks and rays died during South Australia’s toxic algal…
British star Sonay Kartal says she is due a couple of new tattoos after enjoying "one of the best weeks" of her life by reaching the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open.
Rafael Jodar says he ‘is not perfect’ after apologising for his behaviour towards a ball boy during his quarter-final match at the Shanghai Masters. The Spanish rising star received a code violation from the umpire after he was heard saying ‘Give me the…
Sonay Kartal's winning streak following a long injury lay-off continues as she seals a hard-fought victory over fifth seed Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open.