Issue 103October 21, 2026  Scienza e salute |
 Photo by Ousa Chea on Unsplash Japan Launches Mission to Retrieve Phobos Sample
The MMX spacecraft is scheduled to attempt up to two landings on Phobos in 2029, marking the mission’s planned sample-collection phase.
arstechnica.com 20 Oct 2026
Triton’s Capture May Have Powered a Modern Dynamo
Thermal-evolution modelling examines how Triton’s presumed capture by Neptune may have produced conditions for a modern dynamo.
nature.com 20 Oct 2026
Webb Finds Metal-Rich Gas Around Milky Way Black Hole
Researchers at McGill University’s Trottier Space Institute found the gas orbiting Sagittarius A* contains abundant metals.
phys.org 19 Oct 2026
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 Photo by JC Gellidon on Unsplash Pennsylvania Raises Alarm Over Congenital Measles
The report highlights concern about congenital measles in Pennsylvania, but the supplied material gives no case count, timing, or explanation for the alarm.
cidrap.umn.edu 20 Oct 2026
Facial Photos May Help Predict Cancer-Treatment Survival
The report describes research testing whether facial photographs can help predict cancer-treatment survival, but the supplied material gives no study size, results, or researchers’ affiliation.
cnn.com 21 Oct 2026
Yellow Fever Mosquito Found in Davis County
The invasive species, introduced to southern Utah nearly a decade ago, has now reached northern Utah, marking its first detection in Davis County.
ksl.com 20 Oct 2026
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 Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash SpaceX Plans First Double Starship Catch Attempt
Elon Musk said the upcoming test would attempt to catch both Starship stages, describing success as more likely than failure.
space.com 20 Oct 2026
Uzbekistan Joins Artemis Accords as 77th Signatory
Uzbekistan became the 77th signatory during a ceremony in Samarkand, committing to the accords’ practical principles.
nasa.gov 20 Oct 2026
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One standout result: in a study of 2,587 adults, people read short stories and rated some AI-written stories as more engaging and higher quality on average than human-written ones—but they still preferred stories when they believed a human wrote them, and most readers were poor at telling which was which (Cambridge). What was measured here was simple: reader ratings, stated preferences, and accuracy at guessing the author. The takeaway is that our reaction to writing depends not just on the words on the page, but also on what we think produced them. What this does not prove is that AI is now “better than humans” at fiction in general; the result comes from a specific experimental setup with selected stories and short-form reading, not the full range of novels, voice, originality, or cultural impact.
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