Vol. 3 No. 8

Explainer

Technically Fiction

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More Stories from the September 1, 2024 issue

  1. Planets

    Pluto’s heart may hide the rocky wreckage of an ancient impact

    A huge, rocky remnant beneath Pluto’s surface could explain the odd location of Sputnik Planitia — its famous heart-shaped basin.

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  2. A new test could help weed out AI-generated text

    AI text generators can help people cheat and spread false information. A clever yet simple technique may help separate bot-talk from real-talk.

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  3. Climate

    Climate change is changing how scientists measure time

    Polar ice sheets are melting faster. This is slowing Earth’s spin, which changes how we sync our clocks to tell time.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Cough! What happens when something goes down the wrong way

    Certain cells can sense water and acid on the way to the lungs, prompting reactions such as coughing and swallowing, research in mice shows.

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  5. Physics

    Experiment: Measure the speed of light with a laser

    Grab a laser pointer and some Jell-O, because today we’re measuring the speed of light.

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  6. Materials Science

    A bit of electricity can glue hard metals to soft materials

    Using this method to stick and unstick metals from soft materials could one day create new types of batteries.

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