Week in Science: Earth is getting a new mini moon

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September 27—This week, we explore how your brain detects patterns without you even noticing, a small asteroid set to orbit Earth as a temporary mini moon, and why it's so challenging to figure out how many dinosaur species once roamed the Earth. Check out these stories and more below! –Sunya Bhutta, Chief Audience Engagement Editor

Top Stories

The Surprising Challenges of Using Prehistoric Diversity to Understand Life Today The incompleteness of the fossil record complicates efforts to figure out how life on Earth is faring today Asher Elbein

Earth Is Getting a New Mini Moon A small asteroid, 2024 PT5, will spend the next two months alongside our planet as a mini moon before swooping back to deep space Lee Billings

Stunning Bird Photographs Showcase Incredible Views of Life on the Wing Quirky perspectives, separated lovebirds and a tobogganing penguin star in 2024 winners of the world's largest bird photography competition Zane Wolf, intern writer

A custom article sponsored by Harmony Biosciences Reducing the stigma of narcolepsy Narcolepsy is different in real life than in the movies, and people with the sleep disorder can suffer from stigma. A global push for awareness could help bring narcolepsy to light.

Dark Matter Could Be Hiding Out as Atom-Sized Black Holes The universe's hidden mass may be made of black holes, which could wobble the planets of the solar system when they pass by Clara Moskowitz

As Earth's Climate Unravels, More Scientists Are Ready to Test Geoengineering More and more climate scientists are supporting experiments to cool Earth by altering the stratosphere or the ocean Mark Fischetti

'Spooky Action at a Distance' Observed in Quarks for the First Time Physicists report the first observations of quantum entanglement in top and anti-top quarks, the heaviest known fundamental particles and their antimatter counterparts, inside the Large Hadron Collider Dan Garisto; Nature magazine

Will This Comet Be the Brightest of 2024? Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) could soon shine very bright in Earth's skies Phil Plait

These Bizarre Fish Walk on Six Legs and Taste the Location of Buried Prey A species of legged fish uses taste receptors to search for hidden prey, providing an ideal window for scientists to study the emergence of new evolutionary traits Gary Stix

Dozens of Babies Have Been Born from Uterus Transplants Uterus transplants are becoming more common, opening up the possibility of pregnancy and parenthood to people with certain health conditions Tanya Lewis

Please Don't Ask AI If Something Is Poisonous From spotless giraffes to secret squirrels, Janelle Shane probes the absurdity (and dangers) of generative AI Sarah Lewin Frasier

How Your Brain Detects Patterns without Conscious Thought Neurons in certain brain areas integrate 'what' and 'when' information to discern hidden order in events happening in real time Miryam Naddaf; Nature magazine

What Really Happened at the Pentagon's Once-Hidden UFO Office? An office in the Pentagon investigated UFOs—and the paranormal—over a decade ago, segueing into a long saga leading to Congressional hearings and breathless news stories today. But the real story looks more like former defense officials pushing their personal mythology, rather than any cover-up of aliens Luis Cayetano Simmari, expert writer; Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos, expert writer

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