Our eyes do not always tell us exactly where things are—and that may be a feature of how biological vision works, rather than simply a flaw. A new study by York University researchers uses a common illusion to ask: If artificial intelligence is meant to see more like us, should it make some of the same systematic perceptual “mistakes”?

For example, after staring at something moving steadily in one direction, a stationary object viewed immediately afterward can appear slightly displaced in the opposite direction. This well-known visual illusion, called a motion aftereffect, gives scientists an unusual window into the computations underlying perception: The image itself has not moved, but our experience of where it is has changed.

The study, title...

ESA’s Juice spacecraft raced past Earth on September 28, using our planet’s gravity to dramatically reshape its path toward Jupiter without burning much fuel. The flyby changed its direction by 20 degrees and increased its speed by 3.5 km/s, while also giving scientists a rare chance to test its instruments on Earth and the Moon.

The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) made a close pass by Earth on September 28, skimming the outer reaches of the atmosphere and using our planet’s gravity to reshape its path toward Jupiter while consuming very little fuel.

The carefully planned gravity assist changed Juice’s direction by 20° relative to its previous trajectory and increased its speed by 3.5 km/s...

The spread of cancer from a primary tumor to another place in the body, called metastasis, remains one of the greatest challenges in cancer treatment and is responsible for most cancer-related deaths.

“Cancer cells that have moved to another part of the body can stay dormant for years after the original tumor has been treated,” explains Crick group leader Ilaria Malanchi, who leads a lab studying how cancer cells interact with the rest of the body. “It’s a worrying period for people, as they don’t know if these metastatic cells will reactivate, leading to a relapse.”

Breast cancer cells often spread to the bone marro...

On Earth, most of us rarely have to think about the signals that keep our internal clocks aligned. The sun rises, daylight changes, darkness arrives and morning comes again.

Our bodies have evolved alongside this roughly 24-hour cycle. Light is one of the strongest signals our bodies use to synchronize the circadian clock. But what happens when the sun no longer provides a reliable schedule?

A spacecraft orbits Earth roughly every 90 minutes, so astronauts experience about 16 sunrises and sunsets every 24 hours. They cannot go to sleep every time the sun disappears—but their bodies still need to know when it is time to sleep, wake, eat, exercise and work.

This makes spaceflight more than just an engineering cha...