Sunday Special: Blue Origin closes in on SpaceX

Welcome back, Superhuman. Better late than never. After multiple delays, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin finally nailed the landing of a reusable booster for its New Glenn rocket, closing the gap with one of the biggest players in the industry. Meanwhile, scientists have confirmed an old calculation that could pave the way to one-hour flights around the world.

SCIENCE SUNDAY

The most interesting scientific discoveries and breakthroughs this week 

1. Blue Origin closes in on SpaceX with historic New Glenn landing: Jeff Bezos’ space venture has successfully landed the reusable booster for its New Glenn rocket on an ocean barge for the first time. While SpaceX has completed this maneuver over 500 times, this marks a major win for Blue Origin as it races to close the gap on the former’s dominance in the space industry. You can watch the historic landing here.

2. Scientists catch supernova in the act for the first time: Researchers using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope have captured the earliest stages of a supernova explosion, catching a massive star in its death throes just hours after material first burst through its surface. The rare observation is already ruling out some existing theories about how these cosmic explosions work at their core.

3. Hypersonic breakthrough could make one-hour global flights a reality: Scientists claim they’ve validated a 70-year-old hypothesis that could crack Mach 10 travel. The team discovered that turbulence at Mach 6 behaves surprisingly similarly to slower airflow. The finding means that designing planes that fly 10x the speed of sound becomes computationally feasible, potentially enabling one-hour flights anywhere on Earth.

4. Scientists extract 39,000-year-old RNA from frozen mammoth: Researchers have recovered the oldest RNA ever found from a woolly mammoth preserved in permafrost. Unlike DNA, RNA captures real-time cellular activity, offering an unprecedented peek into Ice Age biology. The discovery suggests RNA could survive longer under the right conditions, sparking new possibilities for studying ancient organisms.

PRESENTED BY AWS

Do your GenAI prompts cost too much and deliver inconsistent results?

Your AI is only as good as your prompts.

So learn AWS’s 5 pillars for prompt engineering, designed to help you cut costs while boosting performance and accuracy.

• Master the 5-pillar framework: Clarity, Context, Balance, Customize, Revise

• See real-world examples of successful prompt chaining

• Learn to optimize token usage and reduce input/output costs

This guide also includes ready-to-use templates you can implement today.

Download the guide here (costs nothing).

NEW TECH

Our favorite new tech gadgets this week

1. Flitedeck: A fully integrated smart cockpit for cyclists. It combines a navigation computer, lights, sensors, and ride data into one clean unit that removes clutter from the handlebars.

2. Nothing Headphones (1): An over-ear audio with KEF-tuned sound and a cassette-style transparent shell. It packs a roller for volume, a 35-hour battery with noise canceling, and quick switching between apps.

3. Zyon Helmet: A smart motorcycle helmet that filters incoming air through a four-layer system and adjusts airflow with a simple three-mode control.

4. Samsung Premier 5: A triple-laser projector that doubles as an interactive touchscreen to let you interact directly with games, apps, and videos on any surface.

SOCIAL SIGNALS

What’s trending in tech on socials this week

🎒 School’s in Session: For something that’s all around us, most people know surprisingly little about what dark matter really is. Here’s a short video of content creator Astrokobi breaking the complex concept down and explaining it like he would to a 5-year-old.

🧠 It’s All in the Mind: A Neuralink patient just took “hands-free” to a whole other level. He used his brain implant to write Arduino code and then guide an RC plane that he programmed himself.

🏸 Swing Switch: China just debuted “Super Perspective” badminton streaming — a 36-camera, AI-powered 360° system that lets viewers swing the angle whichever way they want. See it in action here.

🪐 Worlds Apart: A video from an innovative museum in Japan, where visitors can experience what it’s like to be on other planets, is doing massive numbers on Reddit.

👟 Walk Warp: Japanese scientists have built “robot tiles” that slide under your feet in real time, letting you walk endlessly in VR without moving an inch. It’s an interesting rethink of how we move in virtual worlds.

SPONSORED BY LINDY

AI that works like a teammate, not a chatbot

Most “AI tools” talk... a lot. Lindy actually does the work.

It builds AI agents that handle sales, marketing, support, and more.

Describe what you need, and Lindy builds it:

• “Qualify sales leads”

• “Summarize customer calls”

• “Draft weekly reports”

The result: agents that do the busywork while your team focuses on growth.

Start now with $20 in extra credits

ONLY GOOD NEWS

A healthy dose of optimism to kickstart your week

Finger Factory: Scientists have identified FGF8, a key protein that they claim can regenerate a whole finger joint. Despite still being early-stage, the discovery could possibly bring full limb regeneration in humans closer to reality. If the team is able to identify all the factors needed for finger regeneration, they could apply the same principles anywhere on an arm or leg, potentially helping millions facing limb loss.

Cage Closed: The British government has unveiled a detailed roadmap — one of the first of its kind — to end animal testing, pledging to replace major safety tests like the rabbit pyrogen test with human cell alternatives by year-end. The plan targets a 35% reduction in tests on dogs and primates by 2030, using stem cell tissues, AI, and organ-on-a-chip technology instead.

Defense Upgrade: Novartis has developed KLU156, which reportedly matches the efficacy of artemisinin-based therapies that have been the best frontline defense against malaria since 2001. The drug, which just nailed a large clinical trial, works especially well against resistant strains. Now, researchers are debating deployment strategy — roll it out immediately, or keep it as a backup option until current treatments fail completely.

SUNDAY SCIENCE TRIVIA

A Fossil in Motion

Don’t Cheat: You can watch a video of the ancient shark waddle around in the ocean here or read about it here.

Your opinion matters!

You’re the reason our team spends hundreds of hours every week researching and writing this email. Please let us know what you thought of today’s email to help us create better emails for you.

Until next time,

Zain and the Superhuman AI team