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Latest story• Jun 1, 2026

7 animal-inspired robots solving real-world engineering challenges

Seven legs, fins, and trunks are teaching engineers something remarkable: nature already solved most of our hardest problems. Researchers and roboticists are designing machines modeled after animals, and the results are genuinely surprising. Boston Dynamics' dog-like robot Spot navigates collapsed buildings and power plants too dangerous for humans. Snake robots slither through earthquake debris searching for...

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NVIDIA unveils full-stack platform for humanoid robots, robotaxis and smart factories

NVIDIA unveiled Cosmos 3, a unified AI model handling text, images, video, sound, and robotics, alongside a humanoid robot, autonomous vehicle tools, and AI-driven chip manufacturing with TSMC, advancing its physical AI ambitions.

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Smart drug that strips cancer cells of ‘invisibility cloak’ can shrink tumours by 30%, trial shows

A new drug called GRWD5769 strips cancer cells of their ability to hide from the immune system, making immunotherapy treatments far more effective. In an 83-patient trial across six common cancer types, tumours shrank in 26...

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NASA confirms meteor exploded over northeastern US with force of 230 tons of TNT

A small but fast-moving meteor exploded over New England on May 30, releasing energy equal to 230 tons of TNT. Despite being only 5 feet wide, it traveled at 42,000 mph, broke the sound barrier, and shattered 31 miles up, sending...

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Scientists discover inherited traits that break Mendel’s Laws of genetics

A federally funded study in *Nature Genetics* found that ~7% of inherited epigenetic patterns in mice break Mendel's Laws, including the first mammalian observation of paramutation, where methylation on one gene triggers changes...

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New research reveals how tiny sea-faring microbes compete for nutrients and help regulate the planet’s climate.

Trillions of ocean microbes quietly break down carbon, playing a major role in regulating Earth's climate — but their complexity has made them hard to study. USC Dornsife researchers analyzed genetic data from thousands of marine...

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Hubble reveals an image of a dwarf galaxy located 23 million light-years away

ESO 490-017 is a dwarf galaxy 23 million light-years away, spanning just 12,000 light-years. Its loose structure and low metallicity mirror early universe conditions, making it a valuable analog for studying cosmic evolution.

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A tiny part of your brain may still listen under anesthesia

While patients were fully under general anesthesia, individual neurons in their hippocampi could detect unexpected sounds, decode language, and even predict upcoming words — complex tasks scientists believed required...

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China brings world’s first 30 MW supercritical CO2 waste heat power plant online

China has brought the world's first commercial-scale supercritical CO2 waste heat power plant to full operation by connecting its second 15 MW unit to the grid on May 30. Located at a steel plant in Guizhou Province, the 30 MW...

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Spain launches floating solar platform that uses the sea to improve power output

Spanish company BlueNewables launched its first offshore floating solar platform, named Paiporta, in Vigo on May 18, 2025. The platform will soon be towed to Valencia for open-sea testing. The technology targets underused marine...

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Young children see meaning in human looks but not in robot gazes, new study finds

A new study found that 12-month-old babies understand that human gaze points to something meaningful, but don't apply the same logic to humanoid robots. Using eye-tracking technology with 64 infants, researchers discovered that...

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Africa’s first crane-less 6 MW turbine installed amidst extreme wind conditions

Nabrawind installed Namibia's first 6 MW wind turbine without a traditional crane, even in desert winds reaching nearly 45 mph — far beyond what standard cranes can handle. The crane-free method opens remote locations to large...

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The math of choosing a restaurant meal is revealed in Richard Feynman’s notes

Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, solved a real-world math puzzle in the 1970s — when dining out, should you return to a favourite or try somewhere new? His scribbled notes, undeciphered until recently, revealed...

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New 10-watt antenna helps underwater robots communicate across 2,296 feet

BlueME is a 10-watt magnetoelectric antenna system enabling underwater robots to communicate across 2,296 feet using low-frequency signals, supporting naval, energy, and environmental drone missions with real-time coordination.

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New research helps explain how human brains are able decode speech so quickly

New research is uncovering how the brain rapidly pulls individual words from a continuous flow of sound. Rather than processing speech one sound at a time, the brain uses predictive patterns and context to decode language almost...

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Going from 1+1=2 to Quantum Mechanics

Written by a UCLA undergrad, this handwritten self-teaching guide builds quantum mechanics from middle school math to college-level concepts, deriving everything from scratch—no prior advanced knowledge needed.

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World’s largest tokamak cools 330-ton superconducting magnet for fusion plasma

At nearly 270 degrees below zero Celsius, a 330-ton magnet coil is being pushed to its absolute limits, and scientists say that's exactly the point. At ITER's newly activated Magnet Cold Test Facility, engineers are running...

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A new way to build chips: Sequentially stacking silicon to extend Moore's Law

University of Illinois researchers have found a way to stack silicon computer chips vertically, potentially extending Moore's Law beyond its current limits. By transferring ultra-thin silicon layers — just 10 nanometers thick —...

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The Physics of the Block Stacking Problem

The block stacking problem asks how many blocks are needed for the top block to hang completely beyond a table's edge. Using center of mass calculations, just four identical blocks can achieve this. Each added block shifts the...

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Nuclear fusion durability gets US breakthrough with first-ever hydrogen-uranium scan

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made a first-ever recording of how hydrogen corrodes uranium metal, a process critical to nuclear fusion and fuel durability. Using a light-based, non-destructive scanning...

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Quantum light could help scientists retrieve entanglement from strange metals faster

Rice University researchers propose using quantum light inside mirrored cavities to extract entanglement from quantum materials more easily. By pushing materials toward a "quantum critical point," the threshold for entanglement...

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James Webb telescope spots the most chemically primitive galaxy in the ancient universe

Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope and gravitational lensing to discover LAP1-B, the most chemically primitive galaxy ever observed, existing just 800 million years after the Big Bang.

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This strange new phase of matter could transform quantum technology

Researchers from Brown University and the University of Michigan stabilized a long-theorized "missing" phase of matter using specially shaped silver nanoparticles. This new material not only reveals how metals shift between...

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The Ghost Who Solved a Theorem

Mathematician Robert Thomason spent three years stuck on a major unsolved problem in algebraic K-theory. Then, 94 days after his close friend Thomas Trobaugh died by suicide, Thomason dreamed of Trobaugh suggesting an approach...

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