Does technological advancement need a place to go? ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
November 10, 2025—Commercial space projects need regulation, experts say. Plus, why some people with schizophrenia hear voices, and the history of AI slop. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Galaxy M61 sports a long stellar stream. NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/A. Romanowsky et. al. | | - The first image from the Vera C. Rubin telescope reveals a previously unnoticed "tail" on the iconic galaxy M61. | 2 min read
- James Watson, who helped discover the double helix structure of DNA, died last week at age 97. He leaves a complicated legacy. | 2 min read
- The fate of life on Earth may hinge on leaving our planet behind, says astrobiologist Caleb Scharf in his new book The Giant Leap. | 13 min read
- Today a lot of things are labeled AI "slop," but by dismissing all of it, we risk missing out on the minority of creations that are keepers. | 4 min read
- Migraine and cluster headaches affect millions—yet research remains surprisingly thin. We sit down with journalist Tom Zeller Jr. to discuss his latest book, The Headache. | 15 min listen
| | Zany and contentious ideas like these have become commonplace over the past few years. Lower launch costs and better spacecraft designs have allowed myriad commercial schemes to surface. But such commercial ventures need better oversight, some experts say. Why this is matters: The bedrock of space law, the Outer Space Treaty, states the overarching principle that countries must have "due regard" for others, which ultimately means that it's everyone's shared responsibility to protect Earth orbit and the moon for all humanity. More than 25,000 pieces of trackable human-made junk currently orbit Earth, and big players like SpaceX hope to launch tens of thousands more satellites in the coming years. Not only do objects in orbit interfere with launches of spacecraft, but they obscure astronomical observations and cause damage when they strike existing space missions. What the experts say: We need investment in space projects, yes, but potential innovations can't be the only consideration, says Jordan Bimm, a space historian and an assistant professor of science communication at the University of Chicago. "I'm not against being bold in space," he says. "I think being bold is important, but you must also be thoughtful." | | Why do many people with schizophrenia hear voices? It's been a hard question for scientists to answer, given that the experience is so private and internal. For a new study, researchers did an EEG scan on patients with and without schizophrenia who did and did not hear voices. The participants were instructed to imagine saying a syllable in their heads while a noise was played to them on external speakers. What they found: Simultaneously hearing and mentally producing a sound dampened the auditory cortex's response in adults without schizophrenia. When people without schizophrenia speak or prepare to speak, this brain region suppresses signals in the auditory cortex. This helps people distinguish their own speech from external sounds. In people with schizophrenia, the researchers found the opposite: that imagining or preparing to speak boosted activity in the auditory cortex. What the experts say: Having auditory hallucinations doesn't always indicate severe schizophrenia and a severe case of the condition doesn't necessarily mean that a person will experience hallucinations, says Albert Powers, a psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine. But disentangling the various pathways in the brain that could drive these hallucinations may lead to new and novel treatment options, he says.
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- Living through the pandemic may have left a subtle, measurable imprint on your brain, even if you never had COVID. Immunologist Zachary Rubin explains a recent study in the U.K. of the brain MRIs of 1,000 healthy adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. | 2 min watch
| | - Fetal monitoring is the most widely-used procedure in childbirth. But does it lead to unnecessary C-sections? | New York Times
- A new physics-based video game set on Mars. | Space.com
- Data centers that train AI can consume as much electricity as a city. Here's an inside look. | The New Yorker
| | - On her birthday in 2021, Anna reached an age in years equal to the sum of the digits of her birth year. In addition, Anna was less than 100 years old in 2021. In what years could she have been born? (This problem was inspired by a post by puzzle writer Presh Talwalkar.) Click here for the solution.
| | Space junk and AI slop have something in common: they seem to result from a cringeworthy excess of innovation with no productive place to go. Both the byproduct of remarkable invention, it may take a keen eye (or many) to help sort the projects that advance science from the ones we never asked for and don't want—or that cause us harm. | | Welcome to a new week of scientific discovery. Send cool ideas, comments or feedback on this newsletter to: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow! —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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