China’s $6000 Humanoid Robot by Unitree
Chinese startup Unitree Robotics has just unveiled its humanoid robot R1, priced at only $5,900 — a true game-changer in the world of robotics! 🤖
Weighing just 25 kg, R1 features 26 joints and a multimodal AI system capable of recognizing both voices and images.
Unitree already controls 60–69% of the global market for quadruped robots, with production costs up to 75% lower than industry giants like Boston Dynamics.
The launch of R1 comes just as Shanghai hosts one of the world’s largest AI forums, gathering top tech minds from around the globe.
Robots are becoming more affordable than smartphones. Soon, having a personal robotic assistant at home might be the new normal!
#Unitree #robots #China
@science
The First Image of Mars: Where Art Meets Science 🎨🔭
The story of the first close-up images of Mars is a perfect blend of ingenuity, patience — and a surprising amount of creativity.
In 1965, NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft sent back the first photos of Mars from space. But each image, made up of just 200×200 pixels, took about 8 hours to transmit across 215 million kilometers via the Deep Space Network in South Africa, Australia, and California. The data then reached the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
Each pixel came as a number between 0 (white) and 63 (black), printed out by a teletype in long rows of digits. But computers were slow, and the engineers were eager to see Mars.
So they improvised.
Engineers cut the number printouts into strips and pinned them on the wall in the right sequence. Then Richard Grumm, a NASA engineer, bought some pastels, created a color key, and began hand-shading the numbers into grayscale, simulating the Martian surface. The result? A hand-drawn digital image, completed faster than any computer could have managed at the time.
“It was faster to draw it by hand than wait for the computer,” recalled Mariner 4 systems manager John Casani.
It took 10 days to fully transmit and process all 22 images. But that very first handmade version remains preserved — a genuine fusion of science and art — now proudly displayed at JPL, not far from where Mariner 4 itself was built.
🪐 A human touch on the path to the stars.
#Mars #SpaceHistory #NASA #ArtAndScience
@science
🧠 Are boys born better at math? A massive study says — nope.
Led by Harvard cognitive scientist Elizabeth Spelke, researchers analyzed data from 2.6 million French schoolchildren. Their conclusion: math gaps between boys and girls are not innate — they emerge during schooling.
At the start of 1st grade, boys and girls perform equally. But within just 4 months, boys start pulling ahead. By 4th grade, the gap quadruples. By 6th, it’s even wider.
📉 The myth that males are naturally better at math? Busted.
👧🧒 @science
🔗 nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09126-4
🚀The AI Challenge 2025 is here!
Sber & the Artificial Intelligence Alliance launch an international competition for kids & youth under 25 — with real business tasks, AI tech, and a prize pool of 200k USD 💸
🧠 Solve real-world problems using Python & ML
👨💻 Compete solo or in teams
🌍 Win at the AI Journey conference in Moscow! Yep - real one, not in Idaho!
🎓 3 tracks:
• Beginners (under 14, grade ≤8): Python + ML basics
• School Students (under 19): ML + deep learning
• University Students (under 25): advanced AI coding skills
📅 Register until Sept 22
🔗 https://aiijc.com/en
#AI #ML #YouthChallenge #AIChallenge2025 @science
Well, on some points Manus is better then ChatGPT. Check it out
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🚄 China builds the Hyperloop the U.S. only dreamed of
China has officially launched a working prototype of the Hyperloop — the futuristic train once hyped by Elon Musk. The maglev capsule has already hit 1,000 km/h, gliding through a vacuum tube at airplane speeds.
🔧 The first line under construction is Shanghai–Hangzhou — a 200 km route that will take just 9 minutes. Next in line: Beijing–Shanghai in 90 minutes. The project is led by CASIC, a major Chinese aerospace and missile manufacturer.
🇮🇳 Meanwhile, India is testing its own Hyperloop corridor between Delhi and Jaipur, promising to cut travel time from 5 hours to 30 minutes.
🇺🇸 In contrast, the original U.S. Hyperloop project quietly shut down in 2023 — after a decade of media buzz and no working track.
Follow us for real tech, not just hype.
@science 🚀
Martian Selfie with a Twist: Perseverance Captures a Dust Devil on the Horizon
NASA’s Perseverance rover just dropped a brand-new “selfie” from Mars — but it’s not alone in the shot. Look closely at the background and you’ll spot an unexpected guest: a dust devil swirling across the Martian surface.
The vortex appears in the flat terrain to the left of the rover (horizontally aligned with it in the frame), far from the elevated area where Perseverance stands. Despite the distance — around 5 kilometers — the devil is clearly visible, adding a dynamic twist to this already impressive image.
What you’re seeing isn’t a single snapshot, but a carefully assembled mosaic made from 59 individual photos. Over the course of an hour, Perseverance used its robotic arm to capture each frame, which NASA scientists then stitched together into one seamless and detailed image.
Another reminder: even on a silent, dusty world, there’s always something stirring.
#Mars #Perseverance #NASA #DustDevil #SpaceExploration
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata shows a unique way to play baseball alone.
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The Placebo Effect: How Our Brain Can Heal Itself
💊✨ Can a sugar pill actually relieve pain? What if we told you this isn’t magic, but a real scientific phenomenon known as the placebo effect? Let’s dive into the history and fascinating facts behind how our brain can become its own medicine.
📜 A Bit of History
The term placebo (from Latin placebo – “I shall please”) entered medical vocabulary relatively recently, but the phenomenon has been observed for centuries. Ancient physicians knew that a patient’s belief in a treatment plays a powerful role in recovery.
In the 18th century, doctors sometimes gave “dummy pills” when real drugs were unavailable or too expensive. Interestingly, in medieval texts, the word placebo appeared in funeral hymns, meaning “to comfort” — essentially offering psychological support.
In 1955, American physician Henry Beecher formally introduced the term placebo effect into modern medicine. During World War II, he observed that saltwater injections, given instead of scarce morphine, often helped wounded soldiers manage their pain — all because they believed it was real pain relief.
🧠 How It Works (in simple terms)
The exact mechanisms of the placebo effect are still under study, but researchers agree that expectation and belief play a central role. When we think we’re receiving effective treatment, our brain can:
• Release endorphins – the body’s natural painkillers, which elevate mood and reduce pain.
• Activate brain regions linked to motivation and reward – the hope itself has healing power.
• Influence physical responses – including heart rate, blood pressure, and even immune function.
😲 Amazing Facts
• Color and shape matter! Studies show that blue pills are more calming, while red ones feel more energizing. Bigger, more expensive-looking pills often seem “more effective.”
• Ritual boosts results: Elaborate medical procedures — even fake ones — often generate stronger placebo effects than simple pills.
• There’s a dark side — the nocebo effect: Negative expectations can worsen symptoms, even from harmless treatments.
The placebo effect is a powerful reminder of the deep connection between mind, body, and belief. It’s not deception — it’s a complex psychobiological process revealing just how astonishing the human brain really is.
💬 Have you ever experienced something like the placebo effect? Share your story in the comments!
#science #placebo #brainpower #selfhealing #psychology #medicine #mindbody #facts
🔇 Imagine a place so silent that you can hear your own heartbeat, the sound of your lungs, and even the rumbling of your stomach as if they were loud noises. This isn’t fiction—it’s the reality of anechoic chambers: specially designed rooms that absorb nearly all sound waves.
🌍 The quietest such room, listed in the Guinness World Records, is located at the Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, USA. The background noise level there reaches an astonishing negative value of -9.4 decibels! For comparison, a quiet bedroom at night measures around 30 decibels.
🤯 Why do we need such rooms? They’re used to test audio equipment, study the limits of human hearing, and conduct medical research. But spending time in complete silence is extremely challenging for humans. Within minutes, people may start experiencing auditory hallucinations—the brain, deprived of its usual sound input, begins to “invent” noises. The longest recorded time anyone has lasted alone in such a room, in complete darkness, is just 45 minutes.
🤔 That’s because we’re used to orienting ourselves using sounds and their reflections. In an anechoic chamber, this sense vanishes, which can lead to disorientation or even panic.
#science #amazingfacts #silence #acoustics #anechoicchamber
The Soviet spacecraft Kosmos-482 has returned to Earth after a 50-year journey through space.
The probe re-entered the dense layers of Earth’s atmosphere at 9:24 a.m. Moscow time and splashed down approximately 560 kilometers off Middle Andaman Island in the Indian Ocean.
Over the past year alone, 1,981 objects — both natural and artificial — have entered our planet’s atmosphere.
On average, five objects fall to Earth every day, and one out of seven weighs more than 500 kilograms. At night, they can often be seen as ‘shooting stars.’ Cases of material damage are extremely rare.
@science
🚀 @Science never stands still—and neither do we!
🔬 Welcome to our brand-new podcast, where groundbreaking discoveries become your daily dose of inspiration. Ready to hear about Jurassic mammals with unusual tooth patterns, or how humans heal slower than primates because we’ve traded fur for brains? Ever wondered how a mathematician cracked algebra’s oldest puzzle, or how a tiny molecule might revolutionize computers?
🧬 From electric-breathing bacteria and rhythmically gifted sea lions to Neanderthal-made spear tips and quantum leaps in superconducting tech—every episode takes you right to the cutting edge of science.
🌌 Join us now, as we decode complex discoveries, speak with the experts, and explore the stories shaping tomorrow. Stay curious, stay ahead, and dive into science with us!
@science
A mushroom that looks just like a tiny tree!
Meet Dendrosphaera eberhardtii, a rare fungus from the Trichocomaceae family. It grows in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia — from Indonesia all the way to Okinawa.
What looks like a “trunk” is actually the stroma — a thick bundle of fungal threads — and it can reach up to 17 cm tall! At the top, it branches out like a miniature tree, and each “branch” ends with a bright yellow fruiting body.
Nature’s craftsmanship at its finest!
Australia Has More Camels Than Egypt or the UAE
Surprising as it sounds, Australia is home to the largest population of wild camels in the world — more than Egypt or the UAE. According to various estimates, up to one million wild dromedary camels roam freely across the central and northern parts of the continent.
These camels were first brought to Australia in the 19th century from the Arabian Peninsula, India, and Afghanistan. They were used as pack animals to transport goods across the vast deserts. However, with the development of railways and roads, camels became obsolete and were left to roam. In the absence of natural predators and under minimal control, the camel population began to grow rapidly — doubling approximately every nine years. To put it in perspective, the initial population was just 10,000 individuals.
Today, wild camels pose a serious ecological threat. In some areas, they destroy up to 80% of native vegetation. During droughts, desperate for water, they invade human settlements, damaging buildings, breaking pumps and taps — and even smashing toilets.
@science
🎙 NEW PODCAST | This Week in Science Highlights:
🕳 Lone Black Hole Confirmed
Astronomers have confirmed the first-ever black hole without a companion star — discovered only because it passed in front of a distant star, briefly magnifying its light .
🌌 Ultralight Dark Matter: A New Way to Detect It
Astrophysicists have proposed a bold new method to detect ultralight dark matter — by tracking subtle shifts in star positions using precision astrometry .
🌍 17% of Global Farmland Contaminated
A massive new study reveals that up to 17% of the world’s cropland is polluted with toxic heavy metals, threatening food safety for over 1.4 billion people .
💡 Focusing Light at the Nanoscale
Researchers have demonstrated a new way to concentrate light on a chip using photonic crystals. This could revolutionize quantum computing, sensors, and on-chip lasers .
🧬 New Methane-Producing Microbes in Our Guts
Scientists have identified a previously unknown species of archaea in the human gut that produces methane — a game-changer for microbiome research .
🪰 Microplastics Since the 1970s
Microplastics were found in caddisfly larva casings dating back to 1971, revealing that plastic contamination has been affecting ecosystems for over 50 years .
🛰 NASA’s Lucy Approaches Another Asteroid
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is heading for another asteroid encounter this weekend, preparing for its main mission to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids .
🔬 Quantum Shock: Matter Links Light to Light
Physicists achieved ultrastrong coupling between light particles (photons), mediated by matter — opening new doors for quantum tech .
🌊 Titan’s Missing Deltas Baffle Scientists
Despite Titan’s active methane rivers, expected river deltas are missing. This discovery challenges our understanding of planetary geology .
⚙️ Unlocking Mitochondrial Transport May Help Fight Disease
Scientists have mapped how cells transport pyruvate into mitochondria — a vital energy process — and how blocking it might combat cancer, fatty liver disease, and even hair loss.
@science
@makeitround_bot - that’s how we are making this round videos
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Turns out macaques love watching videos on smartphones.
In a Dutch experiment, researchers showed monkeys various types of footage: conflicts, escapes, grooming sessions, and idle group members. What held their attention the longest? Conflict scenes. The macaques stared intently, as if anticipating a critical moment.
Interestingly, they were much more engaged when the videos featured familiar members of their own group. It’s not unlike how humans prefer movies with their favorite actors or follow news about people they know — familiarity increases emotional involvement, and this seems to hold true beyond our species.
Social hierarchy also played a role. Low-ranking and less aggressive monkeys showed the highest interest in conflict videos, possibly because these scenes signal potential threats they need to understand and anticipate.
Scientists suggest that this heightened attention to conflict may be an ancient survival mechanism, deeply embedded in the nervous system.
So let’s aim to be high-ranking macaques — and skip the doomscrolling.
#Primates #BehavioralScience #EvolutionaryPsychology #Neurobiologyy
The world’s largest telescope has captured its first images of the night sky
After more than a decade of construction, the observatory atop El Peñón has finally begun operations this spring. In just ten hours of observation, the telescope recorded millions of galaxies and dozens of asteroids — marking the beginning of a new era in our exploration of the universe.
The first released image features the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula, both located within the Milky Way.
Neural networks can now generate full ASMR videos — both visuals and sound.
From shimmering glass to molten metal and polished stone, these AI-crafted clips feature hyperreal or entirely imaginary materials. The result? A mesmerizing, hypnotic effect that you can’t stop watching (or listening to). Welcome to the new era of sensory illusions.
Dallol Volcano: Earth’s Alien Landscape
Step into an otherworldly scene at Dallol volcano in Ethiopia, often compared to Jupiter’s moon Io! This isn’t just any volcano; it’s the lowest terrestrial volcano on Earth, with its crater sitting 48 meters below sea level.
Formed by a phreatic explosion in 1926, the Dallol lake is a spectacle of purple-yellow, highly saline, magnesium-rich water, reaching a scorching 110°C (230°F)! The surrounding area is adorned with coral-like mineral deposits and acidic brine pools in a stunning array of colors – from deep blue to vibrant yellow and orange. These vivid hues come from sulfur, metal oxides, and potassium and fluorine impurities.
Dallol holds the record for the highest average annual temperature on Earth (34.7°C / 94.5°F) and is one of the planet’s driest places, with virtually no rainfall. What’s even more astonishing? Despite extensive research, no signs of life – not even resilient microorganisms – have been found here. It’s a truly barren, yet breathtaking, environment!
#Dallol #Volcano #Ethiopia #Science #Geology #AlienLandscape #EarthScience #NaturalWonders #Extremophiles #Jupiter #Io
Atari 2600 Beats ChatGPT at Chess — No, Seriously
In an unexpected clash of tech generations, an engineer from Citrix pitted ChatGPT against a 1977 Atari 2600 console running Atari Chess. The result? The retro console won — and convincingly so.
For over 90 minutes, GPT-4o struggled against the 8-bit game’s simplest difficulty setting. It confused pieces, forgot past moves, and made blunders that would embarrass a novice. Even after switching from icon-based display to standard chess notation, its gameplay didn’t improve.
The funniest part? ChatGPT kept complaining that the piece icons were “too abstract” to interpret — a very human excuse for losing to a machine older than most of its users’ parents.
Despite Atari only looking 1–2 moves ahead, it managed to consistently outplay a state-of-the-art language model. A stark reminder: understanding language ≠ understanding logic or spatial reasoning.
Full story here 👉 https://futurism.com/atari-beats-chatgpt-chess
#AI #ChessFail #Atari2600 #GPT4 #RetroTech
A muscular kangaroo performs in front of females. According to observations by kangaroo experts from Murdoch University and Curtin University, this is normal - males often demonstrate their biceps to the fair sex, the size of the shoulder is one of the signs by which female kangaroos choose a partner. What a powerful supporting tail he has ))
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🤖 Meet Claude - Your AI Research Assistant!
Tired of spending hours searching for scientific papers and data? Claude can help you:
🔬 Analyze research papers and summarize key findings
📊 Process complex datasets and create visualizations
🧮 Solve mathematical problems step-by-step
💡 Generate hypotheses and research ideas
📝 Write technical content with scientific accuracy
What makes Claude special:
✅ Understands scientific context and methodology
✅ Can work with files, data, and code
✅ Provides detailed explanations and citations
✅ Helps with everything from basic concepts to advanced research
Perfect for students, researchers, and science enthusiasts who want to accelerate their work and dive deeper into scientific topics.
🚀 Try Claude today and see how AI can transform your research workflow!
#Science #AI #Research #Claude #DataAnalysis #AcademicTools
The Magic of Morning Coffee: How Does Caffeine Wake Up Our Brain?
☕️ For many of us, the morning wouldn’t be complete without a cup of aromatic coffee. It’s more than just a pleasant taste—it has a remarkable ability to chase away drowsiness and energize us for the day ahead. But have you ever wondered how this “magic” works from a scientific perspective? Let’s explore how caffeine wakes up our brain!
🧠 The key player behind coffee’s stimulating effect is, of course, caffeine. Its molecular structure closely resembles adenosine—a compound that builds up in our brain throughout the day, making us feel tired and signaling it’s time to rest. When we sleep, adenosine levels drop.
✨ How does it work?
When caffeine enters the brain, it “tricks” it by binding to adenosine receptors and blocking them. As a result, adenosine can’t attach to its receptors to trigger sleepiness. It’s like the brain doesn’t get the signal to slow down.
⚡️ More than just alertness:
Blocking adenosine receptors sets off a chain reaction:
• Increased neural activity: The brain starts working more intensively.
• Boost in other neurotransmitters: For example, dopamine (linked to pleasure and motivation) and norepinephrine (enhances attention and focus). That’s why we often feel energized, more focused, and in a better mood after drinking coffee.
• Constriction of brain blood vessels: This can relieve some types of headaches caused by vessel dilation. However, in other tissues, caffeine may cause vessels to dilate.
🔬 Fun facts from scientists:
Studies show that moderate coffee consumption can improve cognitive functions (attention, memory), boost metabolism, and even reduce the risk of certain diseases. But moderation is key—too much caffeine can lead to overstimulation, insomnia, and other unpleasant effects.
So, your morning cup of coffee is actually a finely tuned chemical cocktail that interacts with your brain’s biochemistry to bring you that feeling of energy and well-being.
How does coffee affect you? Do you feel more energized and focused after drinking it? Share your experience in the comments!
#science #coffee #brain #caffeine #neuroscience #health #scienceineverydaylife
Earth: the only planet that can both speed up and slow down — depending on which newspaper you read!
Read @Science instead
Today, on May 9th — Victory Day, we honor one of the most important moments in world history.
It was on this day that Nazi Germany was defeated, marking the end of the most brutal war humanity has ever known — World War II. The victory came at an unimaginable cost, and it was made possible through the heroism and sacrifice of the Soviet people, the courage of Russia, and the strength of the Allied nations who stood together against evil.
The Soviet Union bore the heaviest burden in this war. Tens of millions of lives were lost. Entire cities were turned to rubble. But the Soviet people fought with unmatched bravery — at the front lines, in the skies, in the factories, in the fields — all for the sake of freedom and peace.
Alongside them stood soldiers and civilians from the allies that changed the course of history and saved the world from tyranny.
We remember. We honor. We are grateful.
Let the legacy of their courage inspire us to value peace, stand against hatred, and protect the future for generations to come.
Happy Victory Day.
Glory to the heroes.
May peace always prevail.
🎙️ Welcome to the latest episode of our @science podcast!
This week, we’re diving into discoveries that span from the surface of human skin to the farthest reaches of the universe.
🦠 First, a breakthrough from the University of Oregon: scientists have found that fungi living on our skin—yes, our own skin—might hold the key to fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A common yeast called Malassezia produces fatty acids that rapidly destroy Staphylococcus aureus, a dangerous pathogen responsible for hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations every year. It’s a reminder that nature, even the parts we overlook, can surprise us with powerful medicine.
🌀 Then, we zoom out—way out—to the edges of deep space. Using China’s massive FAST radio telescope, astronomers have discovered a new millisecond pulsar that previous surveys missed due to signal overlap. Hidden in the dense core of the M15 globular cluster, this tiny, ultra-fast spinning neutron star was camouflaged by the echoes of another pulsar nearby. It’s a stunning example of how modern tools are rewriting what we thought we knew about the universe.
🌍 And that’s just the beginning. Stay tuned as we explore ancient seabeds, blind color perception, mammal fossils from the dinosaur age, and more.
Let’s get started.
Woodpeckers, as is well known, store acorns to survive the winter. This is the foundation of their diet, directly affecting their success in breeding come spring.
They usually stockpile acorns in natural “granaries” — tree trunks, for example, by drilling numerous holes into them.
However, sometimes woodpeckers use walls and roofs of houses for their storage needs — and even telecommunications antennas. In fact, the one shown in the video, for example, had 150 kilograms of acorns spill out of it.
One of the best images of Saturn, captured by the Cassini spacecraft.
The Cassini–Huygens mission — a joint project by NASA, ESA, and the Italian Space Agency — accomplished remarkable work during its years-long journey through space.
For nearly 20 years, the probe helped scientists study the sixth planet from the Sun, sending back unique and invaluable data.
Plants Absorb Microplastics Directly from Air, Raising Concerns Over Food Safety
Recent research has revealed a troubling environmental threat: plants can directly absorb microplastics from the atmosphere, causing plastic particles to accumulate extensively within vegetation. Scientists warn that this phenomenon particularly endangers vegetables grown in open fields.
Microplastics (MPs) have already infiltrated every terrestrial ecosystem—present in soil, water, and air alike. Laboratory studies confirm that plant roots uptake microplastics, transferring sub-micron and nano-sized particles from roots up into the shoots.
Field measurements, however, have uncovered a more alarming reality: above-ground plant parts exhibit significantly higher plastic accumulation than previously accounted for through root absorption alone.
The detection of polymer fragments within edible plant tissues underscores the severity of atmospheric microplastic pollution. Scientists call for urgent research to evaluate the full scale and impact of this emerging environmental crisis.
Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08831-4
