Science news this week: Exploding rocket overshadows NASA’s next steps to the moon, ‘Doomsday Glacier’ faces big loss, quantum computer AI hybrid shows impressive results, and war deepens Iran’s water crisis

Space dominated this week’s science news, with NASA announcing its imminent next steps in plans to develop a permanent moon base being slightly overshadowed by the spectacular explosion of a rocket intended to carry its payloads.

Three uncrewed missions targeted for later this year will involve private companies carrying payloads to the lunar surface ahead of astronauts’ return by 2028. Nonetheless, some experts have voiced skepticism about NASA‘s highly ambitious timeline, with the gigantic detonation of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket during a static “hotfire” test likely prompting significant delays.

In other space news, the solar system‘s largest moon, Jupiter’s Ganymede, may be heating up due to a unique and mysterious process linked to the planet’s inexplicable magnetic field, an unexpected effect is squeezing Mars’ atmosphere like toothpaste, and bizarre, scratch-like patterns on Venus’ surface have scientists scratching their heads.

If that’s not exotic enough for you, we reported on the far-out mystery of the controversial “JuMBO” planets discovered by the James Webb telescope, alongside the telescope’s discovery of a “naked” black hole that’s heavier than its host galaxy.

But you don’t need to go to space to find new ways of looking at the universe, as you can see in this fascinating interview on the uses of radio astronomy in space exploration and the search for aliens. Indeed, you can gain that sense of awe by watching this new footage of a brilliant-green fireball meteor exploding over an erupting volcano in the Philippines.

Hybrid quantum computer AI can solve questions base models can’t

Today’s artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are notoriously prone to getting things wrong.

To get more accurate, large language models historically (LLM) had to get bigger, using ever more parameters and thus gobbling up more compute time. Now, however, scientists have found a way around this seemingly inevitable tradeoff — and they did it by inserting a quantum computing component into the AI.

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The result led to a small reduction in the perplexity score — used to quantify the inaccuracies LLMs make in predicting their next tokens — and an improvement in the questions the hybrid AI could answer compared with a base model.

Discover more technology stories

—Can AI really simulate human thinking? Research casts doubt on an influential study, suggesting an advanced model was just really good at memorizing patterns.

—Scientists found the optimal robot body, and it has 20 legs ‪—‬ watch it scale walls and move through trees

—OpenAI’s internal AI model just solved an 80-year-old math problem ‪—‬ and mathematicians verified it

Life’s Little Mysteries

If you’ve taken a long-haul flight before, you’re likely well aware of what jet lag feels like — the enervating feeling of temporal discombobulation that lingers for days after hopping into a new timezone. But what’s going on in our bodies to cause it? And can it be prevented?

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“Doomsday Glacier” will lose ice shelf

Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier is nicknamed the “Doomsday Glacier” because its collapse would raise global sea levels by 2.1 feet (65 centimeters) and flood coastal communities worldwide.

This week, we reported that a key shelf buttressing the glacier is set to fall apart this year.

It sounds depressing, but that doesn’t necessarily spell immediate doom. While scientists can’t put an exact timeline on Thwaites Glacier’s collapse, they don’t think it will be anytime soon. That at least gives people living in cities such as New York, Boston, and Miami a little time to consider moving inland.

Discover more planet Earth news

—A single day of attacks on Iranian oil refineries released as much sulfur dioxide as a volcanic eruption

—The ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is poised to lose its ice shelf this year. An Antarctic researcher explains what that means for global sea levels.

—Gold glitters around Ghana’s ‘lake of souls’ thanks to catastrophic meteor strike — Earth from space

Also in science news this week

—Chemists create ‘water armor’ that prevents stains and germs from sticking to clothing ‪

—1,200-year-old gold hoard discovered in Saudi Arabia may have been buried by a medieval pilgrim

—The Romans and Vikings left few genetic traces of their occupations of Britain, research suggests

—Diagnostic dilemma: Whiplike rashes appeared on a woman’s back after she ate shiitake mushrooms

—A new test could flag people at risk for anemia by filming their eyeballs — no needles required

—It’s illegal to repair most of our devices. There’s a surprising reason for that.

Science Spotlight

The U.S.-Israeli war has come at a price measured not just in military expenditures but in human lives, key infrastructure and rising energy prices.

But some costs of the war aren’t immediately apparent. One of the less-publicized tolls, for example, is the effect on Iran’s water system, which was already collapsing before the current war. In this Science Spotlight, Live Science staff writer Sascha Pare walks us through how the water crisis originated, how the war made things worse, and whether the situation can be turned around.

Something for the weekend

—‘It’s being promoted like there’s absolutely no risk’: Why some experts say melatonin should be considered a drug rather than a supplement [News analysis]

—Live Science crossword puzzle #45: The tallest waterfall on Earth — 10 across [Crossword]

—‘We can identify these really early, before the clinical diagnosis’: Epigenetic markers may help explain why Native Hawaiians are aging faster [Interview]

—AI-generated images are making it impossible to distinguish truth from fiction. We need laws and AI watermarks to protect our shared reality. [Opinion]

Science news in pictures

This snapshot of the bruised-blue Martian surface was taken by NASA’s Psyche spacecraft as it passed within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the Martian surface on May 15.

The image — a close-up of the double-ringed Huygens crater and the cratered southern highlands that surround it — was captured by the probe to test its multispectral cameras before it arrives at the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche in 2029. The enhanced-color processing in the photos revealed veins of hidden mineral deposits, hence the blue.

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Science news this week