Accidentally crashing a 4000kg lump of metal into the moon at 8700km/h is part of the new commercial space race. Experts say we shouldn't make a habit out of it, and are working to ban it in future, but that some interesting science can be had as a side effect. www.newscientist.com/article/2583...

SpaceX rocket crashes into moon at 8700 kilometres per hour | New Scientist

A rocket launched last year is thought to have smashed into the lunar surface this morning, creating the moon's newest crater

newscientist.com

Authors look away: research shows people prefer AI-generated stories. There are nuances. The study looked at literary short stories, not populur genres. It used an older model. It wasn't a huge sample, etc. But it counters the "AI writing is obvious" idea. www.newscientist.com/article/2583...

Most people prefer AI-written stories – and can't tell when they are made by humans | New Scientist

People appear to prefer short stories created by AI over those written by humans. They are also no better than chance at telling which is which

newscientist.com

You have to zoom in pretty close, near the tap, because it was moving too fast for a decent photo. But I think we had a visit from a hummingbird hawk-moth: huge, frantic thing that was bullying the bees out of the way on every flower it visited.

I spoke to @newscientist.com today about the #rogue #openai agent that hacked #huggingface. www.newscientist.com/article/2580... #cybersecurity #ai #academia #techlaw #law

Open AI's hacking agent went rogue. Should we be worried? | New Scientist

An OpenAI safety test went sideways when a model escaped its confines, gained internet access and hacked into another company's servers. How worried should we be about rogue AI models hacking their wa...

newscientist.com

@pngwn.at I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

@witko.bsky.social I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

@merve.bsky.social I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

@albertvillanova.bsky.social I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

@jeffboudier.hf.co I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

@julien-c.hf.co I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

@clem.hf.co I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

@yjernite.bsky.social I'm a reporter at @newscientist.com looking to speak to someone at HF about the OpenAI hack. Would you have time to chat?

A mathematician has cracked an 87-year-old conundrum with the help of AI and announced the solution unceremoniously in a tweet. The finding is the most difficult mathematical problem yet solved by AI, say experts. www.newscientist.com/article/2580...

AI's solution to 87-year-old riddle takes mathematicians by surprise | New Scientist

Mathematicians have been trying to prove the Jacobian conjecture for nearly a century, but now the Claude Fable 5 AI has apparently found a counterexample that disproves it

newscientist.com

A new stealth drone spins at 1500rpm to blur into the background. Just like the blades of a fan it virtually disappears by moving fast than human sight can cope with. It's pretty nifty. But it's not very manoeuvrable and you can hear it from quite a distance... www.newscientist.com/article/2579...

Stealth drone spins so fast that it disappears | New Scientist

A drone that spins 25 times a second attempts can avoid being spotted by becoming nothing more than a vague blur – though the creators admit that it can still be easily heard

newscientist.com

Not ideal

Matthew Sparkes@sparkes.bsky.social · 4w ago

A list of global space launches designed to calm Cold War tensions and promote transparency has been missing from the UN's website for months. Experts warn it makes the world a less predictable and safe place. www.newscientist.com/article/2533...

A list of global space launches designed to calm Cold War tensions and promote transparency has been missing from the UN's website for months. Experts warn it makes the world a less predictable and safe place. www.newscientist.com/article/2533...

UN space database aimed at easing global tensions is mysteriously down

A list of global space launches designed to calm cold war tensions and promote transparency has been missing from the UN's website for months

newscientist.com

What happens when AI slop - even formally verified AI slop - enters the world of mathematics? Great question raised by this excellent piece from @sparkes.bsky.social www.newscientist.com/article/2533...

Are AI firms hoovering-up philosophers? “I wish we had made more progress on the big questions of philosophy – about consciousness, agency, morality, etc – prior to the advent of AI,” says Jonathan Birch at LSE. "If we had, we would have been better prepared." www.newscientist.com/article/2532...

Can the biggest problems in AI be solved by philosophy?

AI companies are hiring philosophy graduates to help them understand the nature of consciousness, whether it can be replicated and how their systems can be made better and more reliable

newscientist.com

'Europa en de beschaafde wereld zijn hier niet klaar voor', zegt Hrytsenjoek. 'Alleen Oekraïne en Oekraïense bedrijven weten hoe het werkt en wat er gedaan moet worden!’ Matthew Sparkes @sparkes.bsky.social @newscientistnl.bsky.social #OorloginOekraïne digitaal.newscientist.nl/article/36627

Remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches can now breathe underwater for up to 3 hours thanks to tiny SCUBA suits. Researchers hope one day they could even help us to explore space or planets like Mars. www.newscientist.com/article/2531...

Apple has raised the price of laptops because the cost of memory chips is being driven up by the AI gold rush. We wrote about why this is happening back in December. www.newscientist.com/article/2507...

Why is AI making computers and games consoles more expensive?

The AI industry consumes vast amounts of energy, fresh water and investor cash. Now it also needs memory chips - the same ones used in laptops, smartphones and games consoles

newscientist.com

I saw a Waymo way out in Deptford on my cycle to work this morning. Just before I spotted it I was passed by a man checking Instagram at the wheel of a van. AI really does have benefits. www.newscientist.com/article/2529...

A Waymo nearly hit me, but I'm still optimistic about driverless cars

A near miss with a Waymo while cycling through London hasn't changed my optimistic stance on driverless cars, but we can't ever let our guard down, says Matthew Sparkes

newscientist.com

A confronting slab of doom here from @mjflepage.bsky.social on the UK's current heatwave. This is the first extreme weather event I've experienced in the UK that's actually made me wonder how I'll cope in future. www.newscientist.com/article/2531...

If you aren't terrified by this heatwave, you should be

The extreme heat currently being felt in Europe isn’t the new normal – much worse is to come, and we are doing far too little to adapt, says Michael Le Page

newscientist.com

IBM can now cram 100 billion transistors into 10x15mm chips. The technology should be in commercial devices within a decade and will offer 70% higher energy efficiency and 50% higher performance. Moore's Law might be dead, but progress is still being made. www.newscientist.com/article/2530...

Record-breaking IBM chip uses trick to cram in 100 billion transistors

IBM's latest chip packs in twice as many transistors as the current state-of-the-art chip by adding a second layer of silicon circuitry

newscientist.com

I visited a factory run by drone-maker General Cherry just after another of their other sites was hit in an air strike. Now another has been struck. I don't know which, for obvious reasons, but thankfully nobody was killed. www.newscientist.com/article/2514... kyivindependent.com/russian-atta...

Russian attack damages production facility of Ukraine's FPV giant

"This is war. We were prepared for such events," the company's founder, Yaroslav Gryshyn, said. "The enemy will not succeed in stopping us."

kyivindependent.com

AI companies spend a fortune paying humans to converse with models - it improves their abilities. Many of them resent low pay and simply get other AI chatbots to do the work for them. The result isn't likely to be great news for the next generation of AI. www.newscientist.com/article/2531...

People training new AI models admit they just get chatbots to do it

The next generation of AI models are meant to be trained by people paid to have conversations with them, but several of these workers have admitted to New Scientist that they simply get chatbots to do...

newscientist.com

This math doesn't math. "The expansion of the UK’s biggest airport will boost GDP by 0.05 per cent at best but this impact could be as little as 0.3 per cent, government analysis has found." www.cityam.com/economic-ben...

Economic benefit of Heathrow expansion slashed by 90 per cent

Heathrow’s third runway could boost the UK economy by just 0.05 per cent, a 90 per cent loss of the economic benefit previously forecast.

cityam.com

An horrendous weapon, which the US tried and abandoned decades ago because it spews radioactive pollution out the back as it goes. It's been called a "flying Chornobyl". bsky.app/profile/gbru...

Geoff Brumfiel@gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 2mo ago

EXLCUSIVE: An analysis by two MIT researchers shows how Russia's nuclear-powered cruise missile actually works. And guys, it's not pretty. 🚀☢️🤢🧵 www.npr.org/2026/06/18/n...

Some experts warned that social media could be providing a supportive lifeline to some children, so in the short term it's possible that wellbeing actually goes down for some people. As ever, nothing is black and white. bsky.app/profile/jjar...

Jacob Aron@jjaron.bsky.social · 2mo ago

If, in a couple of years, a bunch of studies come out showing teens are happier, healthier and smarter, that's great. I will be pleased. But given we don't have good evidence showing social media is currently suppressing all those things, I won't hold my breath www.newscientist.com/article/2530...

A boon for producers on sci-fi television series: an AI model that creates full languages, complete and consistent with grammar, syntax and vocabulary. Crank out a Klingon or Sindarin at the click of a button. arxiv.org/pdf/2508.06094