Science news this week: Artemis II lifts off, diabetes cured in mice, and smog in China shapes Arctic storms - By - Nicoletta Lanese - published - 4 April 26 - April 4, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

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'Trust us; you look amazing': Artemis II crewmembers share first message from space - By - Kenna Hughes-Castleberry - published - 3 April 26 - As Artemis II begins humanity's first return to the moon in over 50 years, the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft shared their first message from deep space.

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Homo habilis is the earliest named human. But is it even human? By - Colin Barras - published - 3 April 26 - Between 2 million and 3 million years ago, humans appeared in Africa - but identifying them in the fossil record is turning out to be surprisingly difficult.

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Scientists mapped all the nerves of the clitoris for the first time - By - Lauren Schneider - published - 3 April 26 - High-resolution X-ray offers a new look at an understudied organ: the clitoris.

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New tweak to Einstein's relativity could transform our understanding of the Big Bang - By - Andrey Feldman - published - 3 April 26 - A new physics paper proposes modifications to Einstein's theory of relativity that could solve one of the biggest issues about our understanding of the Big Bang.

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Physics & Mathematics

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In photos: Artemis II's historic launch for the moon - By - Ben Turner - published - 2 April 26 - Millions watched on April 1 as the Artemis II mission sent humans back to the moon for the first time since 1972. Here's the day in pictures.

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Ancient children's teeth reveal a syphilis-like disease was spreading in Vietnam 4,000 years ago - By - Sandee Oster - published - 2 April 26 - Remains from three Stone Age children in Vietnam may challenge long-standing ideas about the origin of syphilis, scientists say.

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Chemists discover groundbreaking reaction that turns breadcrumbs into hydrogen - By - Victoria Atkinson - published - 2 April 26 - Chemists say they've found a way to turn breadcrumbs into hydrogen, potentially offering a sustainable alternative to one of the most common chemical manufacturing processes.

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Earth's energy imbalance is much more extreme than climate models show ‪-‬ but scientists aren't sure why - By - Sascha Pare - published - 2 April 26 - For reasons that are still unclear, climate models underestimate the growing gap between the amount of energy Earth receives from the sun and the amount the planet radiates into space.

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Chinese satellite with robotic 'octopus arm' passes key refueling test in orbit - making longer-lived space assets more likely - By - Harry Baker - published - 2 April 26 - The experimental Hukeda-2 satellite and its highly flexible robotic arm have passed a major refuelling test in low Earth orbit. The demonstration is the latest step toward China significantly expanding the longevity of its spacecraft.

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'Not how you build a digital mind': How reasoning failures are preventing AI models from achieving human-level intelligence - By - Owen Hughes - published - 2 April 26 - Existing LLM architecture may not support the problem-solving capabilities needed to underpin human-level AI, the authors of a new study argue.

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'We go for all of humanity': Artemis II rocket lifts off to the moon - look back at our live coverage - By - Ben Turner, Patrick Pester, Brandon Specktor, Harry Baker, Kenna Hughes-Castleberry - last updated - 1 April 26 - Live Blog - The Artemis II crew have left Earth and are bound for the moon. Take a look back at our live blog's launch coverage from the days, hours and seconds until takeoff.

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'Farting' comet seen reversing its spin for the first time ever - By - Harry Baker - published - 1 April 26 - A new analysis of archival Hubble Space Telescope photos reveals that a peculiar comet slowed its spin before fully reversing its rotational direction via "outgassing" during a flyby of Earth in 2017.

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