AI and robots are running experiments around the clock

The labs of the future could far outpace human discovery. But how will humans be involved? ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­

July 6, 2026—The pace of scientific discovery may be about to explode. Plus, experts examine records of an ancient aurora and a new book investigates whether short-term memory gives rise to consciousness. I'm thrilled to be back with you—let's get to it! —Andrea Gawrylewski Chief Newsletter Editor TODAY'S NEWS A research volunteer uses augmented reality goggles to perform astronautlike tasks during a simulated space mission. NASA NASA put out a call for volunteers to spend a year locked in a Mars simulation. The mission will test the effects of long-term isolation during space exploration. | 2 min read In a new game called Anthropeum, players guess where and when various artifacts from New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art come from. It's pretty tough! | 3 min read For 70 years scientists believed that female mammals are born with a finite ovarian egg supply, and that supply declines after birth. But new research is challenging that dogma. | 5 min read NASA's exoplanet telescope TESS captured the signal of Gaia23bra b, a planet orbiting a star nearly 40,000 light-years away—more than 250 times the distance of the nearby stars TESS was designed to study. | 2 min read Trying to kill algae, like those in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, with chemicals is a common response when community ponds or other water features go green. But there's a better option, says this freshwater ecologist. | 4 min read  Archaeologists uncovered new artifacts from the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first major clash of the American Revolution. The discovery includes everything from musket balls to wig curlers. | 4 min read Could working memory somehow give rise to consciousness? | 12 min read  Can AI help improve the chances of a successful IVF pregnancy? AI could select optimal sperm and embryos, but some fertility experts question whether the technology will lead to more live births. | 4 min read Tiny investment, enormous universe: subscribe to Scientific American for 90 days for just $1 and help keep this newsletter going.​ TOP STORIES Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s A-Lab pairs robots and AI to run experiments at all hours, no humans required. Marilyn Sargent © 2023 The Regents of the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Labs of the (Near) Future A new kind of scientific laboratory is coming: it pairs robots and AI to run experiments, interpret the results, and propose the next round of tests. Researchers call it a lab in the loop, and it can run 24-7. One such lab, the A-lab at U.C. Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is powered by LBNL’s supercomputer. Today the lab generates test results at roughly 100 times the speed of a human researcher, and the humans working at the lab serve as architects of the process, refining the machines, setting the direction of inquiry and deciding what to test next.  ​ Why this matters: Machines can run experiments faster than any human, but the results still have to be verified and interpreted by people. Lab buildings at biotech and pharmaceutical companies are being redesigned with more room for servers and heavier power supplies for robotic systems, biomanufacturing and data centers. This new model could shorten the timeline of scientific discovery—with stakes that run from the cost of new drugs to the global race for biotech leadership. The question is whether faster science will also be better science.  ​ What the experts say: Without a doubt AI and robotics will soon be transforming the pace of discovery. “If you’re a scientist, you’re like, ‘Wait, I can run an experiment overnight? I can wake up in the morning to data with my coffee?’” says Jason Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks, a company building robotic equipment that could be used in many scientific experiments. “That’s a totally new experience.” ​ ​ Join the conversation: Robots and AI can dramatically outpace traditional human-conducted research. What role do you think AI should play in scientific discovery? What are the potential benefits and dangers? Click here to join our online discussion.  Ancient Auroras In the winter of 1204, a Japanese noble and poet named Fujiwara Sadaie wrote about a three-day aurora in his diary. In a recent study, scientists used the preserved diary and other medieval literature to track down the ancient solar storm that may have fueled the aurora. Periods of high solar activity fling high-energy particles at the Earth, which then react with tree bark to form rare isotopes like carbon-14. The scientists compared the historical literature records to 13th century tree rings, looking for the carbon-14 that solar storms would have left behind. They found matching evidence for powerful solar storms confirmed in other pieces of literature of the time.  ​ Why this is interesting: A very powerful solar storm between 1200 and 1201 was found in the tree ring evidence, which matched up with descriptions of an aurora and sunspots in Chinese and Korean texts. But the three-day aurora from the diary in 1204 didn’t show up in the tree rings. Some powerful solar storms, the researchers found, do not actually show up in tree ring records—something they hope to investigate further. Also, they found that the solar cycles back in the 13th century were shorter, lasting between seven and eight years instead of the 11 years that we observe today.  ​ What the experts say: The 1204 aurora occurred at a time of lower solar activity, rather than the cycle peak when the 1200-1201 storm happened. Hiroko Miyahara, a physicist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology who co-authored the study, hopes to search for details of these cycle-minimum storms in her future historical work. “This is unexpected, and we will be looking further into what solar conditions could cause this,” she says. —Emma Gometz, Newsletter Editor

YOUNG AMERICAN SCIENTISTS While the weather can be predicted with a pretty good degree of accuracy, there are still some weather processes, like cloud formation, that must be approximated. To address this, Dmitrii Kochkov and his teammates at Google Research built NeuralGCM, a machine-learning tool that replaces those approximations (and the errors and bias that come with them) with predictions trained on past weather data. Researchers have used his program to forecast weather crucial for agriculture, like the start of monsoon rains in India. Now, Kochkov’s team is creating a newer version of the model that is easier to use, which will eventually allow scientists to study how climate change is altering weather extremes and water availability. “Enabling people to do the best work they can with given resources seems more important than ever before,” he says. —EG ​ Read the rest of the Young American Scientist profiles here. MONDAY MATH PUZZLE A fireworks display launches 40 fireworks in sequence. Each firework reaches a random height, independent of the height that any other firework reaches. Every time you see a firework that shoots higher than all of the ones that preceded it, you gasp. This means that you always gasp on the first firework. Is it more likely that your second gasp occurs on the seventh firework or that your final gasp occurs on the sixth firework? ​ The fireworks are all equally likely to reach any height, but no fireworks reach the same height as another. Click here for the solution.  WHAT WE'RE READING Extensive delays on the tarmac could peak this year in air travel. |  The Atlantic Anthropic launched Claude Science, a large language model that could independently conduct research. | MIT Technology Review Influencers are using biotrackers for their poops. | New York Magazine I am so glad to be back with this community of science lovers! Thanks for staying with us. There's so much great science happening and it's my honor to share it with you.    ​ Reach out anytime with your questions, thoughts or feedback on this newsletter at newsletters@sciam.com. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

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