The brightest take on this week’s science
This week we’ve got an eclectic mix of science stories to share.
From the future of wine in increasingly dry regions, to a weird loophole that might allow energy to move faster than the speed of light.
Also in this issue:
💎 Martian gemstones
🤯 A mind-blowing science fact
🔬 A microscope mystery
Let’s see where the science takes us!
WINE
Pinot Noir Might Be Doomed as Droughts Become More Frequent
(Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images)
Western Europe is nearing the end of its hottest summer on record, and growers across the world's most famous wine regions are starting their harvests early.
That’s if their grapes weren't already destroyed in the heat of fires and drought.
All evidence suggests wine regions across the world are going to continue to be hit with hotter, drier weather.
And it looks like certain cultivars of grape aren’t going to keep up.
Could the best Pinot Noirs of our lives be behind us?
HEADLINES
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MARS
NASA Rover Zapped a Rock on Mars And Found a Gemstone Surprise
(Ollila et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 2026)
Are there rubies on Mars? Well, maybe.
When NASA's Perseverance rover used its laser to tease apart some pale rocks lying around in Jezero Crater in 2025, scientists did not expect anything out of the ordinary.
Little did they know what was in store.
The rocks contained something never before found on the red planet – a mineral that, here on Earth, can constitute literal treasure.
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ZOOM ZONE
Microscope Mystery: What Do You See?
(Steve Gschmeissner/SPL/Getty Images)
A) Tardigrade feces
B) Blood clot
C) Dirty kitchen sponge
D) Liver vein
Answer at the bottom.
PHYSICS
Weird 'Loophole' Could Finally Let Energy Move Faster Than The Speed of Light
(Hans Strand/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images)
Some truths about the Universe seem absolute.
Entropy flows one way.
Gravity sucks.
And nothing can outrun the speed of light.
But a quirk of how sound waves interact in water may have just shown how something can appear to.
WOW FACTOR
Science Fact of The Week
(Mauricio Acosta/iStock/Getty Images)
Fungi can ‘hear’ white noise, even without ears.
When a high-frequency monotone crackle, like that of radio static, is played to some species, they grow and produce spores faster, almost as if they were feeding on the sound.
DOPAMINE HIT
Before You Go…
Watch the Moon passing in front of our Sun.
(NASA)
Microscope answer: Liver vein
The blood vessels in your liver are perforated with tiny holes. They are called fenestrae, which is derived from the Latin word for ‘window’. The holes allow nutrients and other microscopic substances within the bloodstream to pass into the liver.
That’s all for today… see you next week!
- Carly & Jess
