Daily Science Brief

An announcement explaining why I'm cancelling the podcast. If you want more information about it, I wrote a public blog post over on the Patreon page. Check it out. https://www.patreon.com/c/DailyScienceBrief

Penguins with dagger-like beaks, a collapsing Atlantic current, a brain map of 600,000 cells, and a bear skull that proves gladiators fought wild animals.SOURCESEarly penguins may have used dagger-like beaks to skewer prey | New Scientist Key Atlantic current could start collapsing as early as 2055, new study finds | Live Science Map of 600,000 brain cells rewrites the textbook on how the brain makes decisions | Live Science Skull of bear held captive to fight Roman gladiators discovered near ancient amphitheater in Serbia | Live Science

Why scrolling on the toilet could be bad for your health, why we may have way less carbon storage underground than we thought, whether plant-based dog food really works, and how humans and AIs fall for the same persuasion tricks.SOURCESSmartphone scrolling on the toilet could increase risk of haemorrhoids | New Scientist We may have 10 times less carbon storage capacity than we thought | New Scientist Plant-based dog foods provide almost all the nutrients pets need | New Scientist These psychological tricks can get LLMs to respond to “forbidden” prompts | Ars Technica

Blobs from failed planets hiding in Mars, a possible anti-aging drug, a surprising benefit of the hepatitis B vaccine, and recycling old cars into new ones.SOURCESDozens of mysterious blobs discovered inside Mars may be the remnants of 'failed planets' | Live Science Rapamycin may extend lifespans by protecting against DNA damage | New Scientist Hepatitis B vaccine linked with a lower risk of developing diabetes | New Scientist Can we finally recycle all of the metal in scrap cars? | New Scientist

Volcanoes can lead to revolutions, onions powering solar panels, a spacecraft predicting solar storms, and computers you can throw in the wash.SOURCESVolcanic eruptions may have helped spark the French Revolution | New Scientist Scientists turned to a red onion to improve solar cells — and it could make solar power more sustainable | Live Science Spacecraft used to forecast solar storm 15 hours before it hit Earth | New Scientist Scientists cram an entire computer into a single fiber of clothing — and you can even put it through your washing machine | Live ScienceFibre computer enables more accurate recognition of human activity | EurekAlert! - AAAS

Stress in pregnancy may prime babies for eczema. Pee tests could help eliminate cervical cancer. Spiders use fireflies as glowing bait. China builds a macaque-sized brain supercomputer.SOURCESThe foundations of eczema may start to be laid down in the womb | New ScientistStress-Related Maternal Factors During Pregnancy in Relation to Childhood Eczema: Results From the LISA Study | JIACIUrine tests detect high-risk HPV as effectively as DIY vaginal swabs | New ScientistSpiders seen keeping fireflies as glowing prisoners that draw more prey to their webs | Live ScienceChina's 'Darwin Monkey' is the world's largest brain-inspired supercomputer | Live Science

A brain-inspired AI outsmarts ChatGPT, a new zap for your eyeballs could replace LASIK, middle age isn’t the low point it used to be, and CPR in space gets a boost from machines.SOURCESScientists just developed a new AI modeled on the human brain — it's outperforming LLMs like ChatGPT at reasoning tasks | Live Science Early test of new laser-free eye treatment shows promise | Live Science We're no longer at our unhappiest during middle age | New Scientist CPR in space could be made easier by chest compression machines | New Scientist

A pig lung transplanted into a human body, why half our farmed calories never reach our plates, microbes that shrug off 100,000 years of ice, and asteroid dust older than the solar system itself.SOURCESFirst-ever pig-to-human lung transplant attempted in brain-dead person in China | Live Science Fewer than half the calories grown on farms now reach our plates | New Scientist We are unlocking how frozen microbes stay alive for 100,000 years | New Scientist 'Potentially hazardous' asteroid Bennu contains dust older than the solar system itself — and traces of interstellar space | Live Science