Sunday Special: Starship enters orbit for the first time

Welcome back, Superhuman. Widely considered to be the company’s biggest launch in its history, SpaceX’s Starship finally took off for its first orbital test flight, clearing one of the largest hurdles standing between SpaceX and NASA’s Moon plans. Meanwhile, the penguin family just got a new member for the first time in 100 years.

1. SpaceX’s Starship lifts off in make-or-break orbital test flight: The massive rocket completed its 14th test flight, becoming the first time it entered orbit, deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites along the way. The mission was cut short, landing after about 90 minutes instead of a planned 10 hours. This is a massive win: NASA is relying on Starship to land astronauts on the moon for Artemis, and a major failure would have added to an already tight timeline. You can watch the historic launch here.

2. Scientists identify first new penguin species in over a century: Researchers studying gentoo penguins found they actually comprise four distinct species, including one that had been previously unknown. It's the first new penguin species named in over 100 years. But researchers project three of the four, including the new species, will lose significant habitat to climate change, while only the Antarctic-dwelling southern gentoo may actually expand its range.

3. Your walls could soon generate electricity by sitting in a humid room: Scientists claim to have built a paper-based wallpaper packed with tiny moisture-electric generators that pull water vapor from indoor air and convert it into a steady voltage. A full-scale sheet with 1,596 units produced enough power to run a wireless keyboard, while also lowering room humidity. It won't power big appliances yet, but could potentially keep battery-free sensors, thermostats, and other small smart-home devices running off your walls.

4. Medieval potion gives scientists new ideas for fighting antibiotic resistance: Scientists recreated Bald's eyesalve, a 10th-century remedy made from garlic, onion, bovine bile, and wine, and found it damages bacterial membranes, blocks cell-to-cell communication, and weakens biofilms that protect bacteria. Most strikingly, bacteria took far longer to develop resistance to it. Scientists aren't suggesting people brew it at home, but hope to use its key ingredients for a safer, lab-made version.

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1. Muse Charm: A Tamagotchi-like AI device that lets you talk to Muse, Meta’s AI agent, without opening your phone.

2. Sudo: A dedicated music player built around offline listening. It keeps your music library in your pocket with physical controls instead of relying on your phone.

3. Kamingo: A compact smart converter that turns your regular bike into an e-bike in less than 10 seconds.

4. Freckle: A phone for kids with no browser, app store, or social media, giving 7-to-13-year-olds tools to explore outside while still calling and texting family.

🐙 Now You See Me: An octopus realized it was being followed and responded with the ultimate disappearing act, changing its color until it practically vanished into the seafloor; the clip has racked up an eye-watering 92k likes.

🦈 Orange Is The New Shark: This mega-viral image, which shows a bright orange-colored shark, has resurfaced and is doing massive numbers on Instagram. Scientists say its orange skin comes from an extraordinarily rare pigment mutation. (100k+ likes)

🎬 Disney Déjà Vu: Social media users were shocked at a viral side-by-side (5.4M views) showing that Disney recycled almost identical character movements across some of its most iconic films. But what looks like copy-paste today was once a clever way to survive the brutal workload of hand-drawn animation.

🌌 Cosmic Crash: Two massive galaxies are slowly tearing through one another millions of light-years away. Check out what the stunning phenomenon looks like here. (46k likes)

🌲 Endless Green: From the air, the Amazon looks less like a forest and more like an ocean made of trees. The sheer scale is hard to appreciate until you see it all at once.

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Going Cleaner: Eindhoven University students have unveiled VENTRA, a concept EV designed to tackle the tire and brake particles that remain even when tailpipe emissions disappear. Its system electrically charges airborne particles near the wheels and attracts them to a grounded surface for cleaning and recycling, potentially cutting the particulate pollution that even exhaust-free EVs tend to release into the lungs and bloodstream.

Risk Reversal: Scientists claim to have found a potentially reversible weakness in Alzheimer’s biggest risk gene, showing that it actively damages the brain's blood vessels by converting support cells into scar-forming ones. The results are preclinical, but they identify potential treatment targets for protecting brain circulation and slowing protein accumulation in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and related diseases.

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Zain, Faiq, and the Superhuman AI team