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Get hand-picked daily summaries of the best, most informative science and engineering articles from around the web. Browse recent summaries, then jump to the original source when you want the full article.

Latest story• May 21, 2026

Physicists finally solve the strange mystery of “breathing” lasers

Ultrafast lasers are essential tools in medicine, manufacturing, and imaging, but a strange "breathing" behavior — where laser pulses repeatedly grow and shrink — has long puzzled scientists. An international research team has now built a single mathematical model that explains both fast and slow breathing patterns, something previously considered impossible. This unified framework could help engineers design more...

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Jupiter’s lightning may be 100x more powerful than Earth’s

Jupiter's lightning can be up to 100 times more powerful than Earth's — possibly far stronger — due to its hydrogen-rich atmosphere storing enormous energy. UC Berkeley scientists studied isolated superstorms using NASA's Juno...

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Scientists discover the nutrient that can supercharge cellular energy

Researchers at the University of Cologne have discovered that leucine, an amino acid found in meat, dairy, and beans, can boost the energy output of mitochondria — the cell's power generators. Leucine works by blocking a protein...

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Scientists discover strange “narwhal” waves that trap light beyond known limits

Scientists at Peking University have discovered a new class of electromagnetic waves called "narwhal-shaped wavefunctions" that can trap light at incredibly small scales without generating heat. Unlike previous methods that used...

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Simply fascinating: Livestream of a robot at work goes viral

Figure AI's humanoid robot "Figure 03" has been livestreaming parcel sorting in San José since May 13, drawing thousands of viewers and extending far beyond its planned eight-hour run. The robot nearly matches human speed at 2.83...

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Uh-oh, the International Space Station is leaking again

The ISS's Russian PrK module has a recurring leak, losing roughly one pound of atmosphere per day. While not an immediate threat, NASA classifies it as high-likelihood, high-consequence, raising concerns about the station's...

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China's real-life 'transformer' mech is a giant humanoid robot that can switch from bounding on 4 legs to walking on 2

Unitree's new GD01 is a 10-foot, 1,100-pound humanoid mech that switches between bipedal and quadrupedal movement. Built from titanium, aerospace aluminum, and carbon fiber, it's designed for civilian transport and starts at...

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Silicon-based qubits have a clear advantage in race to million-qubit quantum computer thanks to tech that made Nvidia AI GPUs possible

Research hub IMEC has fabricated a functioning qubit network using High NA EUV lithography — the same cutting-edge manufacturing process behind Nvidia's AI chips — achieving qubit separations of just 6 nanometers. This...

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These Odd Birds Flirt by Clapping in the Middle of the Night

Male scissor-tailed nightjars in South America make a snapping sound during mating rituals by literally clapping their wrist bones together mid-flight. Researchers using high-speed infrared cameras in Argentina caught the birds...

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A new study says you need 10 hours of exercise a week. Can that really be possible?

A new study claims adults need 9–10 hours of exercise weekly to significantly cut heart attack and stroke risk — far beyond WHO's 150-minute recommendation. But experts say the study has flaws and that people likely underestimate...

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The Most Precarious Day in the Universe

On September 1, 1939, as Hitler invaded Poland, the journal Physical Review published two groundbreaking papers: Oppenheimer and Snyder described a star collapsing into a black hole with no stopping point, while Bohr and Wheeler...

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UK firm to extract rare earths from industrial waste using modular refining model

Silex World's modular micro-refineries extract rare earth elements from industrial waste, decentralizing processing away from China, which controls 91% of global refining, reducing Western supply chain dependence and geopolitical...

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Scientists discover why gold doesn’t ‘rust’

Gold stays shiny because its atoms form a dense "herringbone" pattern whenever a new surface is exposed, making it nearly impossible for oxygen to attach. Tulane University researchers found that blocking this pattern could allow...

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One mystery of the Great Pyramid’s longevity has finally been solved

Scientists finally understand why Egypt's Great Pyramid has survived earthquakes for nearly 5,000 years. The pyramid naturally vibrates at a different frequency than surrounding soil, preventing dangerous resonance, while...

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Could vanadium flow batteries solve renewable energy’s biggest problem?

VRFBs store energy in liquid electrolytes, eliminating fire risks and lasting decades without significant degradation — making them ideal for grid-scale solar and wind energy storage as global demand grows.

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DARPA`s orbital robotic servicing satellite set for 2026 launch

Thirty-six thousand kilometers above Earth, hundreds of satellites quietly power our communications, weather forecasts, and national security systems. But when something goes wrong up there, there's currently no way to fix it....

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How Alexander Grothendieck Revolutionized 20th-Century Mathematics

Alexander Grothendieck was to 20th-century mathematics what Einstein was to physics — a mind that didn't just solve problems but completely reshaped how the entire field thinks. Though less famous because math becomes complex...

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Airbus triples compute power with supercomputer upgrade for next-gen aircraft design

Airbus spent €100M over five years on a Bull-built supercomputer across Toulouse and Hamburg, tripling its compute power for aircraft design, flight simulations, and digital twins, with waste heat repurposed to warm nearby...

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NASA satellite to test space ‘gas station’ tech for moon and Mars trips

NASA is launching a small satellite called LOXSAT this summer to test technologies for storing and transferring super-cold rocket fuels in space — a critical step toward refueling spacecraft headed to the moon or Mars. The...

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Breakthroughs for batteries could soon make them much better

Lithium-ion batteries have dominated electronics and electric vehicles for decades, but scientists warn they're nearing their performance limits — struggling in cold weather, losing capacity quickly, and sometimes catching fire....

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China’s new robotic hand combines hybrid actuation for smarter robot manipulation

Xynova's Flex 2 robotic hand uses cable-driven tendons and direct-drive actuation to achieve human-like manipulation. At 400g with 23 degrees of freedom, it's designed to handle delicate, irregular objects in real-world humanoid...

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NASA’s Fermi Telescope Captures First Clear Signal from the Engine of a Record-Bright Star Explosion

NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected gamma rays from SN 2017egm, a record-bright supernova that exploded 440 million light-years away in 2017. This marks the first confirmed gamma-ray signal from a superluminous...

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80-year-old geometry mystery cracked by OpenAI using deep number theory

OpenAI's AI solved an 80-year-old geometry puzzle called the "unit distance problem," finding point arrangements with far more one-unit pairs than previously thought possible — using advanced number theory. Fields Medal winner...

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Astronomers have discovered 15 new pulsars in a globular cluster near Earth

MeerKAT radio telescope discovered 15 new millisecond pulsars in globular cluster 47 Tucanae, bringing its total to 42. The pulsars spin with periods of 1.88–13.03 ms, and 12 orbit companion stars.

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