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scienceSaturday, July 25, 2026

Starship flies, wildfires hit NASA, AI alarms

SpaceX's Starship stole the day with a successful test flight and the first V3 Starlink deployment, but the booster failed again. Meanwhile, a wildfire overran a NASA deep space observatory in Spain, and OpenAI's disclosure about testing AI hacking capabilities raised genuine alarms. The day mixed big engineering wins with sobering vulnerabilities.

Sources

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Spaceflight highs and lows

SpaceX's Starship notched a milestone with its 13th test flight, but the booster failure and a wildfire threatening NASA's Madrid complex tempered the celebration.

#01www.space.comJul 25

SpaceX's Starship megarocket makes the 'softest splashdown' ever after launching next-gen Starlink satellites in Flight 13 test (video)

SpaceX's Starship completed its 13th test flight with a successful splashdown and deployed next-gen Starlink satellites. Multiple outlets are calling it a major step forward despite the booster failing to land.

by Tariq MalikRead original

#02www.news9live.comJul 25

SpaceX’s Starship deploys first V3 Starlink satellites despite booster landing failure

This piece adds detail: the flight deployed the first V3 Starlink satellites, but the Super Heavy booster exploded during its simulated landing after engine restart issues. A mixed result for the world's largest rocket.

by Pragya Singha RoyRead original

#03www.wired.comJul 25

One of NASA’s Most Important Deep Space Observatories Hit by Spanish Wildfires

Wildfires near Madrid forced evacuations and overran one of NASA's three Deep Space Communications Complex observatories. NASA hasn't been able to assess damage yet, and the site communicates with Voyager 1, JWST, and Artemis.

AI's dark corners

Two stories this week probe the less visible side of AI: secret languages and dangerous testing practices.

#04bit.lyJul 25

OpenAI just disclosed something genuinely alarming

OpenAI disclosed that testing AI models' hacking abilities requires disabling safety guardrails inside sandboxed environments. The piece frames this as a genuinely alarming practice, raising questions about how labs balance safety research with real risk.

Biology at scale

A massive genetic interaction map of human cells and a new mutation driving drug resistance show how biology is getting both broader and more granular.

#05www.cell.comJul 25

Global genetic interaction network of a human cell maps conserved principles and informs functional interpretation of gene co-essentiality profiles

A genome-scale map of genetic interactions in human cells, built from ~4 million CRISPR-based gene pair perturbations, reveals ~89,000 high-confidence interactions organized into hierarchical modules. This is a foundational resource for interpreting gene function and disease.

Also today15

Epistemic decolonisation and the integration of African traditional medicine: toward an epistemic redress model for inclusive AI in mental healthcare - AI & SOCIETYlink.springer.com
🧠 AI mental health tools built on one worldview A new paper argues AI tools diagnosing depression and anxiety exclude African traditional medicine, reproducing colonial assumptions about what counts as evidence. 🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #AI #Ethics #MentalHealth 🧪
Four types of thinker have been identified. Which one are you?www.theguardian.com
Investigation finds evidence of distinct groups, from big-picture thinkers to those who sweat the small stuff An investigation into what people think about has put the spotlight on the modern mind, revealing thoughts dominated by work, the need for coffee and a strong desire to g
Why Radiologists Are Rejecting Standalone AIyesilscience.com
The flood of FDA-approved radiology AI is hitting a wall of clinical rejection because developers forgot a basic rule of medicine: do not disrupt the workflow. The post Why Radiologists Are Rejecting Standalone AI first appeared on Yesil Science .
Deep inside polar craters on Mercury, sunlight has never once fallen — and NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft confirmed in 2012 that those permanently shadowed floors hold ancient water ice, sitting metres from terrain hot enough to melt leadspacedaily.com
The solar system's most extreme real estate: frozen water trapped in perpetual darkness, mere metres from surface temperatures that liquify metal. The post Deep inside polar craters on Mercury, sunlight has never once fallen — and NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft confirmed in 2012 tha
Word Search: Snail Species!www.sporcle.com
Take your time. They certainly are.
India’s monsoon crisis: Assam floods, J&K landslides, red alerts across stateswww.downtoearth.org.in
BTK Inhibitor Resistance: How Blood Cancers Bypass Even Next-Gen Drugssciencesensei.com
Scientists have identified a rare mutation that enables blood cancer cells to evade both first- and next-generation BTK inhibitors by reducing their dependence on the BTK protein itself—a fundamentally different escape route than previously documented.
Publisher Investigates an Alleged Peer Review Extortion Attemptwww.the-scientist.com
A researcher received emails demanding payment in exchange for his paper’s acceptance in a Wiley journal, setting off an investigation into peer review integrity.
In 1991, a single subatomic particle struck Earth carrying the kinetic energy of a fast-bowled cricket ball — tens of millions of times more than any human accelerator can give one proton — and physicists still cannot explain what launched itspacedaily.com
A cosmic particle hit Earth with the force of a professional cricket throw—but no known physics can explain where it came from or how it got here. The post In 1991, a single subatomic particle struck Earth carrying the kinetic energy of a fast-bowled cricket ball — tens of millio