Sunday Special: A cosmic milestone after NASA’s 48-hour scare

Welcome back, Superhuman. Dinosaur bones are still giving up their secrets. Scientists say they’ve found blood traces preserved for 115 million years, offering a rare glimpse into ancient life. Meanwhile, Voyager 1 is approaching a distance so extreme that sending a message and getting a reply will take two full days — after giving NASA a communications scare last month.

1. Voyager 1 is about to reach a distance no spacecraft has reached before: On November 18, NASA’s veteran explorer will become the first human-made object one light-day from Earth, roughly 16.1 billion miles away. At that distance, a radio message takes 24 hours to reach it and another 24 hours for a reply to return. The milestone follows an October communications scare, when NASA lost the probe’s signal for 48 hours before contact returned on its own, without troubleshooting commands from Earth.

2. Mars’ tiniest dust particles could pose a serious problem for astronauts: NASA’s Perseverance rover has detected dust particles around 100 nanometers across clinging to spacesuit-material samples. Particles this small can penetrate deep into the lungs, while studies on Earth show that ultrafine particles can reach the brain through the nose. The findings could help shape future spacesuits and habitats. Meanwhile, scientists have identified one of the oldest pieces of Mars ever found: a Sahara meteorite called Teghaza 001, formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, whose minerals preserve clues to ancient interactions between water and rock.

3. Physicists find evidence of a particle transformation expected once in ten billion cases: Scientists at CERN have found evidence of a short-lived particle containing a “beauty quark” transforming into two muons, heavier cousins of the electron. The result marks a milestone in a 42-year search and gives researchers another way to test the fundamental rules of physics. The measurements currently agree with existing predictions, but increasingly precise studies could eventually reveal hints of undiscovered particles or forces.

4. Scientists report blood traces in 115-million-year-old dinosaur bones: Researchers led by Curtin University have reported finding mineralized red blood cells and blood-related molecules inside dinosaur bones recovered in Brazil. The team identified heme, a component of the protein that carries oxygen in blood, preserved within the ancient structures. They believe mineralization helped protect the remains, potentially giving scientists a rare window into the metabolism and physiology of animals that disappeared millions of years ago.

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1. Bambu Lab H3C: A desktop 3D printer with nine printing tools that switches materials in six seconds, making it easier to combine different colors and materials in one creation.

2. Samsung Galaxy Ring’s sleep-apnea update: A new feature that flags signs of sleep apnea and measures breathing disruptions, using as little as two nights of sleep data.

3. Casio CRW-002: Casio’s classic digital watch, shrunk to fit your finger. The tiny metal ring includes a working digital display, stopwatch, and light.

4. Peak Design Kickstand Travel Battery: A slim, magnetic 5,000mAh wireless battery with a built-in kickstand that props up your phone while charging. Currently listed as coming soon.

💉 A gallium needle developed in South Korea stays solid to pierce the skin, then softens inside the body for safety (26,000 likes).

🌓 What color is the moon? Well, that depends on when you look at it. Here’s a picture from NASA that documents how the moon has changed colors over 10 years.

⚔ Egypt isn’t the only empire with legendary pyramids. The Kingdom of Kush was so powerful that it conquered Egypt at its peak. See its 2,000 year old pyramids here.

🌞 Last week, NASA took pictures of the Sun that look like the Sun is smiling at us (32,000 likes).

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Slowly Healing: Earth’s protective ozone layer is still on course for long-term recovery, according to NASA and NOAA. This year’s Antarctic ozone hole was unusually large, driven by atmospheric conditions, but international restrictions on ozone-damaging chemicals continue to make a difference. Scientists estimate that the Antarctic hole could recover by the 2070s, showing how policies adopted decades ago are still helping repair the planet’s natural sunscreen.

Fighting Back: Two vaccine candidates could give scientists new tools against Bundibugyo Ebola, the virus behind the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WHO experts have recommended adding vaccines developed by Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna, to an ongoing clinical trial. Testing would begin following national approvals, helping establish whether the candidates can protect people during an outbreak.

Friendly Bacteria: A treatment using cultivated gut bacteria has shown promise in protecting blood-cancer patients receiving donor stem-cell transplants. In a small randomized trial, bloodstream infections occurred in 10% of patients given SER-155, compared with 42.9% receiving a placebo—a 77% relative reduction. Patients also needed fewer days of systemic antibiotics. The early results are encouraging, although larger trials are needed to confirm the treatment’s benefits and safety.

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Until next time,

Zain, Faiq, and the Superhuman AI team