A daily read for the science-curious ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
August 27, 2025—SpaceX's Starship has a successful launch after many setbacks. Also, does your culture affect your visual perceptions? —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | SpaceX's Starship soars through the sky during the rocket's ninth test flight on May 27, 2025. Both the "Super Heavy" booster and the Starship upper stage suffered spectacular failures before the flight's completion, marking the rocket's third unsuccessful test in a row. Joe Marino/UPI/Alamy Live News | | Why are they exploding? The Starship failures have had the same type of mishap—a leak, fire, or explosion in the fuel system. That fuel, and the plumbing that moves it around, might be the problem, writes freelance journalist Adam Rogers. The cryogenic mix of liquid methane and oxygen can easily combust without careful design and maintenance. Another possibility is a hardware problem. After the failure on flight seven, SpaceX's official blog reported that the cause of the leaks and fires was a "harmonic response several times stronger than had been seen during testing, which led to increased stress on hardware in the propulsion system," which means the hardware shook itself apart, according to Rogers. What the experts say: "The way I read what Elon's trying to do, wow, is it complicated. And when you deal with a very complicated device, there's multiple modes of failure," says Joseph Powers, an aerospace engineer at the University of Notre Dame. "With a rocket, that almost always results in detonation." But despite some minor structural damage to Starship on its re-entry after the successful launch yesterday, astronomer Jonathan McDowell wrote on X: "Overall a good flight putting the program back on track." —Andrea Tamayo, newsletter writer | | A long-standing psychology theory has met its downfall. The "carpentered-world" hypothesis theorized that the prevalence of carpentry features, such as rectangular spaces and right angles, trained the visual systems of people in more wealthy, industrialized cultures to fall for the Müller-Lyer illusion (pictured below). The results suggested that the culture or environment in which someone grows up could shape their brain's visual system. However, since then, the theory has been heavily disputed and a slew of new research has compiled evidence against the claim. | | Franz Carl Müller-Lyer, restyled by Eve Lu | | Newer findings: Recent research has found that the illusion still works when the lines in the image were curved or when dots replaced the lines, suggesting that carpentry has nothing to do with the illusion. Additionally, kids who had been blind their whole life and then underwent lens replacement surgery were susceptible to the illusion just after gaining sight. Even animals, such as birds, fish and reptiles fell for the trick, which means something more innate might be responsible.
What the experts say: When tying a perceptual difference to a specific aspect of culture, such as carpentry or collectivism, researchers should think hard about what they are truly measuring and avoid making too many assumptions, especially those that involve cultures outside their own, says Dorsa Amir, an anthropologist at Duke University. —Andrea Tamayo, newsletter writer | | | | |
In honor of Scientific American 's 180th anniversary, we're featuring some gems from the archive. This one is from our November 1919 issue. | | - Americans aged 25 to 44 are dying at an alarming rate and these experts explain what might be going on. | Slate
- As measles struck Texas, local health officials reached out to the CDC for guidance. They never heard back. | KFF Health News
- A law firm representing wind power opponents wants Brown University to retract research it published showing that anti-wind misinformation campaigns are linked to the fossil fuel industry. | The New York Times
| | One of my favorite illusions was developed by Japanese designer Kouki Fujiwara. Check it out here. Although the black center of the magenta-patterned background seems to continuously expand or appear as if it were an animation, in reality the image is static. The illusion of movement results from how the eye adjusts to perceived light levels. Interestingly, some people don't detect movement at all, a reminder that each person is literally seeing the world differently. | | I always want to know how YOU perceive the world. Tell me by emailing: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow! —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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