Week in Science: Artemis II crew returns today

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April 10—Why is NASA's livestream quality from the moon better than my FaceTime call on Earth? The answer seems to be lasers. Plus, the latest Artemis II updates, the mysterious origins of the "Oh-My-God" particle and scientist skepticism about a CIA technology claim. —Emma Gometz, Newsletter Editor Have thoughts? Email newsletters@sciam.com anytime.

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Watch live—NASA’s Artemis II crew returns to Earth On Friday these four astronauts and their Orion spacecraft will splash down in the Pacific Ocean after a 10-day mission around the moon Jackie Flynn Mogensen

NASA’s Artemis II crew returns today—here’s what to know ahead of splashdown After a 10-day mission around the moon, the Artemis II astronauts will have traveled nearly 700,000 miles Jackie Flynn Mogensen

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How Artemis II is beaming back stunning video from the moon A new laser system aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft is sending sharper video and more data back to Earth Adam Bluestein

Is the ‘Ghost Murmur’ quantum device possible? Scientists are skeptical Ghost Murmur was described as a futuristic CIA tool that could detect a heartbeat from vast distances. Physicists say the public story clashes with the basic limits of magnetic sensing Deni Ellis Béchard

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts are officially farther from Earth than any human has gone before The four astronauts onboard NASA’s moon mission just broke the record for the farthest distance from Earth traveled by any human Meghan Bartels

NASA’s Artemis II crew experience total solar eclipse from space From the perspective of the Orion capsule, the moon will fully block the sun’s disk for nearly an hour Meghan Bartels

NASA’s Artemis era may finally solve three major moon mysteries If NASA’s ambitious lunar exploration plans succeed, scientists will cover the moon with sensors—and find answers to several long-standing questions about the inner solar system Robin George Andrews

NASA’s Artemis II’s moon flyby is underway On Monday, the four astronauts of Artemis II observed the far side of the moon, setting distance records and experiencing a solar eclipse Jackie Flynn Mogensen

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic don’t work for everyone. Genetic variants offer new clues The weight you lose and the nausea you experience from GLP-1 drugs may be linked to common gene variants, but they can’t fully explain why some people lose more weight than others Lori Youmshajekian

The mathematically correct way to slice a pizza The intermediate value theorem shows us how to find an even center on an irregular shape Manon Bischoff

Where did the ‘Oh-My-God’ particle come from? A single subatomic particle from deep space had the same energy as a baseball pitch, and scientists still don’t know how it got here Phil Plait

In an echo of Apollo 8, NASA’s Artemis II astronauts capture stunning ‘Earthrise’ and ‘Earthset’ Artemis II’s astronauts got the opportunity to re-create an iconic 1968 photograph on either side of their journey around the moon, showing Earth as beautiful—and precious—as ever Jackie Flynn Mogensen

NASA’s Artemis II nears the moon, oil trumps endangered species, snowpack plummets An update on NASA’s historic moon mission, alarm over the low snowpack in the western U.S. and a move that could endanger wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico Kendra Pierre-Louis, Andrea Thompson, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

Humans have been gambling since the last ice age A new archeological finding shows that Native Americans were exploring probability through games of chance far earlier than their Old World counterparts Joseph Howlett

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