Science News: 15 August 2025 - 19 August 2025

Exposed: Inside the Secret AI Race – Leaks, Rumors, and the Hidden Quest for AGI
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Exposed: Inside the Secret AI Race – Leaks, Rumors, and the Hidden Quest for AGI

In late 2023, OpenAI researchers circulated an internal letter about a code-named model “Q” (Q-Star) that reportedly solved certain math problems at roughly grade-school level, fueling AGI speculation. OpenAI released GPT-4 in March 2023 with no architecture, training data, hardware, or training
August 18, 2025
Rewinding the Clock: How Yamanaka Factors Are Resetting Aging Cells
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Rewinding the Clock: How Yamanaka Factors Are Resetting Aging Cells

Shinya Yamanaka discovered the OSKM factors—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc—in 2006 to reprogram mature cells into pluripotent stem cells. In 2016, Izpisúa Belmonte and colleagues showed partial in vivo reprogramming in progeria mice by cycling OSKM for 2–4 days with rest, yielding
August 18, 2025
IBM’s 4,000-Qubit Quantum Supercomputer Could Change Computing Foreve
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IBM’s 4,000-Qubit Quantum Supercomputer Could Change Computing Foreve

IBM plans a 4,000+ qubit quantum supercomputer by 2025, achieved by interconnecting three 1,386-qubit Kookaburra chips to form a 4,158-qubit system. The Quantum System Two modular platform, debuted in 2023, is designed to host multiple chips and features a cryogenic refrigerator and
August 17, 2025
Asteroid Minerals: Mining C-Type, S-Type & M-Type Space Rocks Worth Trillions
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Asteroid Minerals: Mining C-Type, S-Type & M-Type Space Rocks Worth Trillions

C-type asteroids make up over 75% of known asteroids and are rich in water bound in clay minerals and organics, enabling in-space fuel and life-support resources. S-type asteroids account for about 17% of known asteroids and contain iron, nickel, cobalt, plus trace
August 17, 2025
The Secret “Zombie Cell” Killers: Niche Senolytic Drugs Fighting Aging’s Clock
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The Secret “Zombie Cell” Killers: Niche Senolytic Drugs Fighting Aging’s Clock

In 2015, a Mayo Clinic and Scripps Research team showed that a combination of dasatinib and quercetin selectively kills senescent cells in aged mice, improving frailty and heart function. The first-generation senolytics include dasatinib and quercetin and entered human safety testing for
August 17, 2025
Asteroid Gold Rush: Inside the Race to Scout and Mine Space’s Richest Rocks
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Asteroid Gold Rush: Inside the Race to Scout and Mine Space’s Richest Rocks

OSIRIS-REx, the NASA asteroid-sample-return mission (2016–2023), delivered a ~250-gram Bennu soil sample to Utah in September 2023, with early analysis showing carbon-rich material around 5% by weight and water-bearing clays. The Psyche mission, launched in October 2023, targets the metal-rich asteroid 16
August 16, 2025
Perovskite Solar ‘Stickers’ Are Almost Here: How Flexible Laminates Could Turn Walls, Cars & Roofs into Power Plants
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Perovskite Solar ‘Stickers’ Are Almost Here: How Flexible Laminates Could Turn Walls, Cars & Roofs into Power Plants

A flexible perovskite module with WVTR ≈ 5.0 × 10⁻³ g/m²/day retained 84% of its power after 2,000 hours at 85°C/85% RH (Damp-Heat). Japan is subsidizing Sekisui Chemical to build a 100 MW film-type perovskite plant by 2027 to help reach about
August 15, 2025
Bug Love vs. Bugs: How Synthetic Pheromones Are Quietly Replacing Pesticides in Your Food—What You Need to Know in 2025
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Bug Love vs. Bugs: How Synthetic Pheromones Are Quietly Replacing Pesticides in Your Food—What You Need to Know in 2025

1) First things first: pheromones aren’t “hormones” Hormones act inside an organism. Pheromones are chemical messages released to affect other members of the same species (for pests: “find me and mate”). In crop protection we don’t dose insects with endocrine drugs; we
August 15, 2025
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