Sunday Special: Artemis II heads to the Moon

Welcome back, Superhuman. It’s been one of those weeks where future generations may one day ask us: “Where were you when it happened?”. For the first time in over 50 years, NASA has launched a crewed mission to the Moon, marking a historic return to deep space travel. The Artemis II crew is now on a flight path that will take them farther from Earth than any human in history.

SCIENCE SUNDAY

The most interesting scientific and technological breakthroughs this week

1. Artemis II finally blasts off on historic journey to the Moon: On April 1, NASA's Artemis II made global headlines as it successfully lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, carrying four astronauts on a journey around the moon — the first crewed lunar mission in 54 years. In case you missed it, you can watch the groundbreaking moment here.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• The crew won’t actually be landing on the Moon. They’ll swing within 8,000 kilometers of the lunar surface, in an effort to stress-test the Orion spacecraft ahead of Artemis IV and V, which are slated to actually land on the moon in 2028.

• The astronauts have shared stunning views of the Earth from space — photos that have instantly gone viral.

• NASA issued each astronaut an iPhone 17 Pro Max, marking the first time an iPhone has been fully qualified for extended use in orbit and beyond. The crew has been using them to snap photos out of Orion’s windows.

2. Scientists invent injection that possibly 'reverses' deafness: Scientists have just published results from a small but landmark gene therapy trial, in which ten patients suffering from varying degrees of deafness received an injection delivering a working copy of the OTOF gene directly into the inner ear. Every patient saw major improvement, with average sound detection jumping from 106 to 52 decibels. Researchers are now eyeing other deafness-causing genes like GJB2 and TMC1 as the next potential targets.

3. Your skull could soon replace your passwords: Have trouble keeping up with all your login details? Scientists at Rutgers University may have the fix: they’ve built a biometric login system that uses the unique vibrations your breathing and heartbeat create in your skull to authenticate your identity. Across 10 months of testing with 52 users, VitalID authenticated the right person over 95% of the time, blocking imposters 98% of the time. The team sees it as the future of secure, frictionless login for VR and AR headsets.

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NEW TECH

Our favorite new tech gadgets this week

1. MontBlanc Digital Paper: A luxury e-ink tablet for handwriting. It comes with a pen that offers 4,000+ pressure levels, and syncs notes across phone and web apps.

2. Somnee 2.0: A sleep headband that uses neurostimulation that claims to help you fall asleep 50% faster and slash midnight wake-ups by a third.

3. Terra Kaffe Demi: A compact automatic machine for true café-quality coffee at home. It brews espresso, lungo, Americano, and drip from fresh whole beans, and packs a self-cleaning system for easy daily use.

4. Oclean X Ultra S: The world’s first Wi-Fi-enabled smart toothbrush, which tracks your brushing in real-time with AI-powered bone conduction technology and delivers more than 84,000 movements per minute.

SOCIAL SIGNALS

What’s trending in science on socials this week

🌘 Moon Map: Posts showing the trajectory of the Artemis II spaceflight don’t really do justice to the sheer scale of the mission. This viral Reddit post sets the record straight.

🚢 Drone Dazzle: Nearly 1,000 drones lit up the skies over Belfast Harbour, recreating the RMS Titanic to mark the anniversary of its historic departure from its birthplace in 1912. See the surreal display here.

💫 Stellar Scale: Most people don’t really grasp how big stars really are. Here’s a video showing the staggering size difference between Earth and Stephenson 2-18, the largest star in the known universe.

🗑️ Litter Lookout: Anonymous littering was always considered an incredibly hard problem to solve. AI may be changing that. The United Kingdom is testing out “Litter cam”, a new AI-powered system that catches drivers tossing rubbish from their cars and automatically issues fines.

🤖 Retro Robotics: A resurfaced video of Japan’s early-1990s space robotics has gone viral on Reddit. Hard to believe how advanced and forward-looking the technology still appears today.

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ONLY GOOD NEWS

A healthy dose of optimism to kickstart your week

Drop Check: Clean-looking water isn't always safe to drink, and testing for contamination usually takes hours. Now, scientists have built a portable water-testing device that clips onto your smartphone and delivers results in under a minute using a single drop of water. The system detects urobilin, a marker of human and animal waste, using a glowing test strip read by the phone's camera. For emergency responders and communities in developing regions, faster answers could potentially reduce exposure risks.

Patch Power: Scientists have developed a stretchy, bandage-like patch that they claim kills melanoma cells without needing surgery. When warmed to 108°F using a low-power laser, the patch releases copper ions that penetrate the skin and destroy cancer cells through oxidative stress while leaving healthy tissue untouched. In mouse trials, the patch also appeared to trigger an immune response that stopped cancer from spreading. With human trials coming up ahead, early results are already turning heads.

Sleep Science: Most people know that poor sleep takes a toll on the body, but the biological mechanism behind that has remained surprisingly unclear. Scientists have now mapped the brain circuits that control growth hormone release during sleep in mice, uncovering a feedback loop that connects deep sleep to muscle repair, fat metabolism, and cognitive performance. The findings could eventually inform new treatments for sleep disorders, metabolic disease, and conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

SUNDAY SCIENCE TRIVIA

Don’t Cheat: You can read more about the shocking incident here.

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Zain, Faiq, and the Superhuman AI team