Week in Science: We've hit peak denial as a society

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June 21—This week, does society have its head buried in the sand? Also, Voyager 1 is back to doing science and a heat dome roasts the Northeast. All that and more below! --Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor P.S. Never miss a science discovery! Join a community of science lovers by signing up for our free daily newsletter, Today in Science.

Top Stories

We've Hit Peak Denial. Here's Why We Can't Turn Away From Reality We are living through a terrible time in humanity. Here's why we tend to stick our heads in the sand and why we need to pull them out, fast Marianne Cooper; Maxim Voronov

Voyager 1 Is Back! NASA Spacecraft Safely Resumes All Science Observations NASA's venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft has resumed normal science operations with all four functioning instruments for the first time in more than six months Meghan Bartels

Huge Blobs of Seaweed Are Choking the Caribbean's Iconic White Sand Beaches Massive blobs of sargassum seaweed are taking over Caribbean beaches. The seaweed explosion is fueled by pollution washing into the ocean from rivers in the Americas and Africa Farah Nibbs; The Conversation US

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Vermont Will Be Hotter Than Miami This Week—Blame the Heat Dome A heat dome is sending temperatures soaring across the U.S. Midwest and East Andrea Thompson

Longer and Longer Freight Trains Drive Up the Odds of Derailment Replacing two 50-car trains with a single 100-car train increases the odds of derailment by 11 percent, according to a new risk analysis Ben Guarino

Electric Flying Taxis Are Quietly Sneaking Up on Us New electric-powered, vertical-lift aircraft are rising to the challenge of delivering clean and cheap air taxi services Steven Ashley

Stunning New Images Show Bright Future for Euclid, a Telescope Studying the 'Dark' Universe The latest images from Euclid, a European mission studying dark matter and dark energy, are spectacularly beautiful—and scientifically promising Phil Plait

This Isn't Your Grandparents' Summer Heat The face of summer is transforming, as people today face more frequent, longer-lasting and hotter heat waves than they did several decades ago Andrea Thompson

How This Real Image Won an AI Photo Competition Nature still outdoes the machine, says a photographer whose real image won an AI photography competition Allison Parshall

The Physics of Breakdancing, a New Olympic Sport Breakdancing will hit the global stage at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, and this physicist is excited to break down the science Amy Pope; The Conversation US

Humans Started Passing Down Knowledge to Future Generations 600,000 Years Ago The advent of "cumulative culture"—teaching others and passing down that knowledge—may have reached an inflection point around the time Neandertals and modern humans split from a common ancestor Jack Tamisiea

Has AI Already Brought Us the Terminator Future? Is baby Skynet already here? We need robust laws now to withstand eliminating humans from nuclear decision-making Tamlyn Hunt

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