Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, this is Allison Parshall filling in for Rachel Feltman. Let’s kick off the week with a quick roundup of some of the latest science news.
First, an update on the doomed Soviet-era spacecraft mentioned last week. After more than half a century orbiting Earth, the Kosmos-482 probe made a crash landing on May 10. According to a post on the app Telegram from Russian space agency Roscosmos, the spacecraft crashed into the Indian Ocean somewhere west of Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Other space agencies have estimated different landing spots for the probe, from locations on land in South Asia to stretches of the eastern Pacific. We may never know exactly where Kosmos-482 finally came to rest. In any case, there have been no reports of falling space junk causing harm to humans, so it seems likely the object crashed somewhere out of the way.
Now, onto some accidental alchemy. Physicists at the Large Hadron Collider have managed to turn lead into gold, albeit very briefly. The scientists published a description of this transformation earlier this month in the journal Physical Review C.
Here’s how it worked: Scientists at CERN use the Large Hadron Collider to study the early universe by firing lead nuclei at one another at nearly the speed of light. In near-misses, the powerful electric field from one nucleus can knock out three protons from an incoming lead nucleus, transforming it into gold. The researchers estimate that 89,000 gold nuclei are produced per second during these experiments. Unfortunately, these atoms tend to get obliterated in about a microsecond.
In public health news, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released last Wednesday indicates a significant drop in overdose deaths between 2023 and 2024. Deaths dropped from about 110,000 in 2023 to roughly 80,000 in 2024, representing a nearly 27 percent decrease. Experts attribute this drop to factors such as the increased availability of naloxone for treating overdoses.
Moving on to some fun animal stories, flamingos were found to be surprisingly active beneath the surface. They create little water tornados to coax food into their mouths. The researchers liken this behavior to how spiders use webs to trap prey.
In another study, researchers observed chimpanzees in Uganda using leaves for various purposes, from first aid to bathroom hygiene. This behavior is similar to what was reported in orangutans in Indonesia last year. The use of medicinal plants by chimpanzees suggests that wound care may be more widespread among our close relatives than previously thought.
That’s all for this week’s news roundup. Stay tuned for more updates in the world of science. Have a great week!
