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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Trackers may tip a warbler’s odds of returning to its nest
Geolocator devices that help track migrating birds could also hamper migration survival or timing.
- Tech
New printer creates color by shaping nanostructures
Researchers developed the structure-based color printing technique as an alternative to ink-based printing, in which colors fade with time.
- Health & Medicine
Readers concerned about cancer’s sugary disguise
Tricky cancer cells, brain-shaping smartphones, a cow-burying badger and more in reader feedback.
- Tech
SpaceX launches and lands its first reused rocket
Aerospace company SpaceX has successfully reused a Falcon 9 rocket’s booster section for the first time.
- Particle Physics
Readers question supernova physics
Star-destroying neutrinos, heart-hugging robots and more in reader feedback.
- Physics
Single-atom magnets store bits of data
Scientists read and write data by harnessing the magnetic properties of holmium atoms.
- Agriculture
Fleets of drones could pollinate future crops
Chemist Eijiro Miyako turned a lab failure into a way to rethink artificial pollination.
- Tech
Virtual reality has a motion sickness problem
Virtual reality games and experiences can make some people sick, and women are more susceptible.
By Betsy Mason - Science & Society
Choosing the right cyberattack response is a complicated game
Public shaming or retaliation aren’t necessarily the best strategies in the world of cyber warfare, an analysis reveals
- Computing
Winning against a computer isn’t in the cards for poker pros
Poker-playing computers beat professional players at heads-up no-limit Texas Hold’em.
- Quantum Physics
Readers amazed by Amasia
Quantum spookiness, shifting landmasses and more in reader feedback.
- Planetary Science
Europa lander mission takes another step toward reality
NASA is working on a possible lander mission in which the main science goal would be to search for signs of life on Jupiter’s moon Europa.