Week in Science: These two habits are linked to more than a third of all cancer cases

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February 6—Artemis II has a new launch window in March, preventable causes have been linked to more than a third of all cancer cases and—my personal favorite—snakes in India may be inadvertently boarding trains. Also, endangered southern resident killer whales are on the path toward extinction. Our documentary follows the scientists rushing to bring them back from the brink. —Emma Gometz, Newsletter Editor What science news do you want to know more about? Email newsletters@sciam.com anytime.

Top Stories

These two habits are linked to more than a third of all cancer cases More than one-third of cancer cases are preventable, a massive study finds Gemma Conroy, Nature magazine

Jupiter isn't as huge as we thought it was "Textbooks will need to be updated": the solar system's largest planet appears to be smaller and flatter than we knew Jackie Flynn Mogensen

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The sun just unleashed its most powerful solar flare in years The sun is experiencing a violent solar storm, releasing one of the strongest solar flares seen in the past 30 years Joseph Howlett

Scientists discover brain network that may cause Parkinson's disease An "extraordinary" brain network discovery shows that Parkinson's disease may not be a movement disorder after all Allison Parshall

NASA document reveals new Artemis II moon mission target launch dates for March NASA quietly updated its potential launch windows for its delayed moon mission. The agency is apparently now targeting March 6 to 11 Claire Cameron

The Protectors: Inside the Desperate Rush to Save an Orca Community As endangered southern resident killer whales fight for survival, federal funding cuts threaten the scientists working to save them. Carin Leong, Kelso Harper

Software is becoming something you speak into existence Coding for the rest of us finally feels possible now that tools like Claude Code turn plain English into working software Deni Ellis Béchard

Spiders taught scientists how to make unsinkable metal Researchers mimicked the air-trapping tricks of diving bell spiders to create aluminum that stays afloat—even when punctured Deni Ellis Béchard

Largest galaxy survey yet confirms that the Universe is not clumpy enough The six-year results from the Dark Energy Survey highlight unresolved tensions in standard cosmological theory Nature magazine

U.S. quietly declassifies cold war–era 'JUMPSEAT' surveillance satellites The National Reconnaissance Office has now declassified a satellite program used to spy on America's adversaries Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Epstein files show a complicated relationship with science and journalism Jeffrey Epstein aggressively sought access to publishers, mentions of Scientific American and other media in Department of Justice files show Dan Vergano, Ari Sen

New chicken-sized dinosaur baffles paleontologists The tiny Foskeia pelendonum was a plant-eating dinosaur with a "weird" anatomy, scientists say Jackie Flynn Mogensen

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