News Feed Digest: Science, Technology, and Environment

Tiny Hairs That Help Corals Breathe May Malfunction in Warming Oceans

Several new studies have uncovered this long overlooked aspect of coral physiology that could be the key to the animals’ fate in a changing climate.

What the Heck? Another Perfect Geometric Shape Has Been Detected on Saturn

The discovery adds to the planet’s history of strange atmospheric phenomena that scientists don’t fully understand.

A Gravitational Battle Within the Earth Is Changing the Length of Days

A competition between the gravity of the inner core and other forces in the mantle is altering the Earth’s rotation.

With a Better Understanding of Physics, We Could Predict Volcanic Eruptions

“There’s no reason we can’t think that, at some point in the future, we can have volcano forecasts that are like weather forecasts.”

Scientists Have Found the Most Convincing Evidence Yet of a Dark Matter Particle

An underground detector recorded a strange interaction pointing to a particle with some properties that signify dark matter. The detection is small but promising.

It Still Feels Like Summer in Parts of the US. Blame El Niño

Heat records are being shattered thanks to a boost from the natural climate pattern—and burning fossil fuels, of course.

What I’d Give the Plant Lover Who Already Has Too Many Plants

From smart apps and planters to unique tools, these gifts will turn even a black thumb into a next-level plant parent.

These Cyborg Cockroaches Could Save Your Life

The team embedded electrodes into live cockroaches, then outfitted them with cameras and injection devices to deliver medication via remote control.

Scientists Detect Radio Signals From an Exoplanet for the First Time in History

No, it’s not aliens, but a phenomenon caused by magnetic activity that astronomers have never before been able to pin on a specific planet.

He Won the Nobel Prize for Protein Design. Now He Uses AI to Create Molecules Not Found in Nature

David Baker spoke with WIRED en Español about where biological design is headed next and the great potential and risks of taking biology outside the bounds of the natural world.

Dyson Won’t Say What’s Wrong With Its CameraJet Toothbrush

Despite admitting to a “component issue,” the company refuses to say what went wrong, how many units are affected in how many countries, and why it won’t recall its $500 AI toothbrush.