Week in Science: The quirky geology of Olympic curling stones

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February 13—Everything there is to know about the biomechanics, physics and even geology of the 2026 Winter Olympics is below. Plus, AI helps decode the rules of an ancient Roman board game, why it's been so cold in the eastern U.S. and more. —Emma Gometz, Newsletter Editor Too much Winter Olympics content? Too little? Email newsletters@sciam.com with your thoughts anytime.

Top Stories

The quirky geology behind Olympic curling stones The rocks used in the Olympic sport of curling come from one island in Scotland and one quarry in Wales. What makes them so special? Andrea Thompson

What came before the big bang? Physicists cannot access anything that existed before the start of time and space, but they have theories Sarah Scoles

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Mathematicians issue a major challenge to AI: Show us your work Frustrated by the AI industry's claims of proving math results without offering transparency, a team of leading academics has proposed a better way Joseph Howlett

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show highlighted Puerto Rico's power grid. Here's why Bad Bunny performed part of the Super Bowl halftime show from a power-line-themed set, drawing attention to the problem of widespread blackouts in Puerto Rico Stephanie Pappas

Yellowstone's earthquakes spark microbial boom deep underground Earthquake swarms can supercharge microbial growth Damien Pine

Mathematicians discover new ways to make round shapes A new proof solves a long-standing problem about the doughnut-shaped torus Rachel Crowell

How the 'Quad God' lands impossible jumps How do figure skaters like Ilia Malinin keep landing harder and harder jumps? Allison Parshall

Rules of mysterious ancient Roman board game decoded by AI A Roman stone board game has been unplayable since its discovery more than a century ago, but AI might have just worked out the rules Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Heated Rivalry: The linguistics behind Ilya's Russian How a Russian dialect coach helped Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie master challenging Russian sounds and build a believable accent Kendra Pierre-Louis, Allison Parshall, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Why has this winter been so cold? While it's been a frigid winter in the eastern U.S., the western region of the country has seen record warmth Andrea Thompson

Lindsey Vonn's knees reveal the toll of elite skiing—and the body's resilience The decorated Olympic skier has had numerous injuries and a partial knee replacement but still plans to go for the gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics Tanya Lewis

The largest-ever satellite of its kind just unfurled its wings in low-Earth orbit BlueBird 6 features the biggest commercial communications array antenna ever deployed in orbit around Earth, spanning some 2,400 square feet Claire Cameron

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