Sunday Special: Scientists find the light of life

You’re glowing, but it doesn’t have anything to do with your skincare routine. A recent scientific study has found that all living beings tend to emit a subtle “light of life” up until the moment they die. Meanwhile, capuchin monkeys are on a crime spree, and scientists think it’s because they’re bored.

P.S. The Sunday Special is designed to help you discover the most important scientific and technological breakthroughs outside of AI. Our regular AI and Tech updates will resume as usual on Monday.

SCIENCE SUNDAY

The most interesting scientific discoveries and breakthroughs this week

Sea Serpent: Scientists have finally identified the fossils of an ancient sea monster as the 'Traskasaura sandrae', a bizarre 12-meter plesiosaur discovered in Canada in 1988 that had baffled researchers for its unique hunting style. The ancient marine reptile dove down on prey from above — completely opposite to how other ocean predators hunted by looking upward toward surface light. The Traskasaura probably met the same fate as all plesiosaurs when an asteroid supposedly wiped out large marine animals 66M years ago.

Reaching For The Stars: China has started work on an ambitious space supercomputer network that could one day include as many as 2,800 satellites. The first batch of a dozen satellites successfully entered orbit last week. Unlike traditional satellites that simply relay data back to Earth, the "Star Computing" constellation will be able to operate totally independently, helping it sidestep the cooling requirements and physical vulnerabilities that limit other arrays.

Light of Life: Scientists have discovered that living humans emit a subtle light that flickers out immediately when we die. It’s about 1,000x to 1,000,000x dimmer than what the human eye can see, but can be detected using specialized cameras. While not the mystical auras of spiritual belief, this biological luminescence offers a non-invasive method for monitoring tissue health, transplant viability, and stress levels in living organisms — essentially providing a scientific way to measure the light of life itself.

Primate Problem: Scientists have documented a bizarre new primate behavior — capuchin monkeys are kidnapping baby howler monkeys and carrying them off for days. With over 11 babies kidnapped over 15 months, scientists think the behavior likely emerged from boredom, as capuchins live in a predator-free environment. The trend started from a single misbehaving monkey, representing the first documented case of animals developing a destructive cultural fad, paralleling human social media trends.

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NEW TECH

Our favorite new tech gadgets this week

1. xBloom Studio Coffee Machine: A coffee machine that integrates a grinder, brewer, scale, and mobile app for the perfect pour. It includes recipe cards that activate roasters’ preferred presets, including bean-specific brewing profiles.

2. Aniwow Folding Bike: The world’s smallest 16" folding bike. It folds in seconds and transforms into a rolling cart, picnic table, or pet stroller. It’s available on Kickstarter.

3. Vizio MicMe: A two-in-one device that can be used both as a soundbar and a karaoke machine.

4. Eight Sleep Pod 5: A full-bed system that cools, heats, and tracks your sleep. Each side automatically adapts to your body temperature for deeper, uninterrupted rest.

SOCIAL SIGNALS

What’s trending in tech on socials this week

☕️ Coffee Run: Elon Musk has broken the internet with a video of a Tesla owner brewing espresso on the go, thanks to the car's autonomous driving feature. It’s a brief glimpse into what may be the future of autonomous transport.

🚨 Caught Red-Handed: An AI-generated text detector claims that the Declaration of Independence was written almost entirely by AI. “Crazy that even the founding fathers used AI to cheat on their homework,” one commenter quipped.

🌌 Cosmic Dance: A resurfaced simulation showing scientists’ first direct detection of gravitational waves is going viral. It shows a pair of black holes colliding and unleashing a mind-blowing 3.6×10⁴⁹ watts of power. That’s presumably "greater than the combined power of all light radiated by all the stars in the observable universe.”

💸 Bargain Find: Harvard paid $27.50 for a stained copy of the Magna Carta in 1946. It turned out to be an original — one of only seven known surviving copies — and could now be worth millions. Here’s what it looks like.

ONLY GOOD NEWS

A healthy dose of optimism to kickstart your week

Medical Marvel: UCLA and USC surgeons just made medical history by performing the world's first human bladder transplant, giving a 41-year-old cancer patient a new lease on life. The eight-hour procedure required years of preparation due to the bladder's complex blood vessel network. The patient was able to urinate without assistance for the first time in seven years — offering hope for millions suffering from bladder dysfunction.

Ray Remedy: Scientists are discovering that controlled UV light therapy could revolutionize treatment for autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and Type 1 diabetes — conditions that mysteriously become more common as one moves further from the equator. Unlike biologic drugs, which can cost patients as much as $80,000 each year, UV light boxes go for around $2,000. While larger trials are needed, this breakthrough suggests millions may find relief not in lab-created drugs, but in what’s been shining down on us all along.

X-Ray Eyes: Scientists claim to have cracked the code on infrared vision. They’ve developed contact lenses that convert near-infrared light into visible wavelengths, giving humans the ability to see infrared even in the dark or when they have their eyes closed. In human trials, participants detected Morse-code-like flickering from infrared LED sources and were able to determine signal direction — potentially opening new applications in security, rescue operations, encryption, and assistance for the visually impaired.

Pain Pivot: Scientists have developed SBI-810, an experimental painkiller that delivers powerful pain relief without the side effects that make opioids so risky. While opioids flood multiple brain pathways indiscriminately, SBI-810 uses "biased agonism" to target only specific pain-relief signals while avoiding ones that cause the euphoric high linked to addiction. With over 80,000 Americans dying annually from drug overdoses (mostly opioids), this targeted approach could finally provide a much safer pain management option.

SUNDAY SCIENCE TRIVIA

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Zain and the Superhuman AI team