Sunday Special: Dark Energy Debunked

If you’re not much of a dog person, you might just turn into one this week. From helping us find life-boosting drugs to sniffing out cancer, our canine companions are doing everything under the sun to help us live longer. Also: scientists have finally cracked Schrödinger’s cat paradox. It’s been a big week in science.

SCIENCE SUNDAY

The most interesting scientific discoveries and breakthroughs this week

Sky Connect: In a first, scientists have synced a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite with 5G tech, ensuring seamless internet coverage in even the most remote regions of the world. This could revolutionize emergency response coordination, rural healthcare, and industrial operations in far-flung areas.

Bug Buster: Scientists have been on high alert for the next superbug since the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, they’ve come up with a clever system to spot the next one before it strikes. Using genetic sequencing on patient samples, they’re able to pinpoint vaccine-evading or antibiotic-resistant strains, leading to better vaccines and smarter treatments.

Cosmic Mirage: Physicists may have just debunked the existence of dark energy. For decades, they thought it drove the universe's expansion. They’re now suggesting that “time bubbles”—cosmic regions where gravity warps time itself— are a much better explanation. If true, one of astronomy’s biggest mysteries could be solved by 2030.

Super Sense: Columbia engineers have built one of the most sensitive nanosensors ever, with 100x better force sensitivity. Using light-based sensors with a super-broad dynamic range, they’re perfect for remote force readings in everything from cells to satellites—a game-changer for robotics, medicine, and space travel.

Memory Magic: Turns out your eyes can do more than just see. Cornell researchers tracked brain activity in mice and found that pupil size impacts memory formation during sleep. Contracted pupils help consolidate new memories, while dilated ones reinforce old ones. This discovery could shape next-gen memory enhancers for both humans and AI.

PRESENTED BY EIGHT SLEEP

How Zain gets an extra 17 days of sleep per year

As co-founder and CEO of Superhuman, Zain routinely works 60-80 hours per week. So what’s his secret to functioning at his peak? He hacks his sleep with Eight Sleep.

Studies show that adults sleep better when ambient temps range from 20-25°C. The Pod ensures Zain maintains this “Goldilocks Zone” every night:

• High-tech mattress cover that tracks sleep data throughout the night

• Automatically cools or heats each side of the bed to maintain optimal temps

• The most advanced version, the Pod 4 Ultra, can even reduce snoring

“Helps me sleep faster and deeper, and my deep sleep has gone up by more than an hour each night – that's almost 400 hours or 17 days of extra sleep each year” – Zain

Get your best night’s sleep with $350 off Pod 4 Ultra and $200 off Pod 4 with code: ‘SUPERHUMANAI’.

NEW TECH

Our favorite new tech gadgets this week

1. Withings BPM Pro 2: This next-gen blood pressure monitor tracks your symptoms, medication routine, and lifestyle with BPx3 technology, using these insights to deliver personalized health tips.

2. LG OLED T: LG just launched the OLED T, the world’s first transparent 4K TV. It uses a Zero Connect Box for wireless setups and leverages AI for enhanced image clarity.

3. Huupe Mini: This is the world’s first smart basketball hoop which tracks shots with built-in sensors and offers games like Battle Royale, daily challenges, and streaming.

4. Gloryang Thermal Printer: This portable printer connects with your device using Bluetooth, is completely wireless and inkless, and can print your documents on the go.

SOCIAL SIGNALS

What’s trending in Tech on socials this week

Lucky Oops: Reddit completely lost it after finding out that an AI hallucination led scientists to make a breakthrough in their study on protein design and landed them the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Elevator Squeeze: A video of "pocket elevators" in Milan has got Reddit users taking the stairs. These elevators have extremely compact designs, barely enough for one person.

Deep-Space Dispatch: A snapshot of the letter Jimmy Carter wrote and sent out into space on Voyager 1 has been doing the rounds on social media this week. The letter was written in case the probe bumped into aliens on its journey into the cosmos.

Solar Scoop: NASA's Parker Solar Probe successfully made the closest-ever approach to the Sun on Christmas Eve, reaching as close as 3.8 miles from its surface. Redditors are waiting to hear back on what it’s found.

Book Buff: A clip of Palantir CEO Alex Karp casually popping a Zyn and spinning a book during an interview has got X users smashing the like button.

ONLY GOOD NEWS

A healthy dose of optimism to kickstart your week

Pawsitive Life: Biotech startup Loyal is taking the bond between man and dog to the next level. They've developed a drug that targets metabolic changes tied to aging, potentially adding an extra year to a dog’s lifespan. Since dogs share similar age-related health issues to humans, this research could provide insights to help people live longer.

Cellular U-Turn: Korean researchers have developed an innovative technique for flipping colon cancer cells back into normal cells. By tweaking their "genetic switches"—molecules that control how genes turn on or off—and dialing down the proteins that control cell behavior, they’ve managed to reverse cancer non-invasively. 

Space Scouts: Young students from the Dyal Singh Public School in India have just made some stellar discoveries. They found 11 small objects in our solar system, including a possible main-belt asteroid. These finds are part of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, where citizen scientists get exclusive access to astronomical data.

Mystery Solved: Schrödinger’s mind-bending paradox had puzzled scientists for nearly a century. Now, borrowing from the "many-worlds" theory, they’ve found that every quantum possibility creates an alternate universe. So when you check on the cat, all but one reality gets shut down—explaining why it’s dead and alive at the same time.

Cancer Crushers: What do you get when you team up a dog with AI? A new screening method does just that to spot cancer in patients before it spreads in the body. Trained Labradors sniff breath samples from patients, while AI analyzes the cues to detect breast, lung, colorectal, and prostate cancers with 94% accuracy.

MEME OF THE WEEK

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Until next time,

Zain and the Superhuman AI team