Alex Wilkins

Another moon launch tomorrow, including: 🌑 The southern-most point ever visited 🌑 A hopping robot entering a crater w/ permanent shadows (for the 1st time) 🌑 An asteroid mining mission 🌑 A rover with a tiny cute ant-sized rover on its back https://t.co/38Un9i1ONz

A lucky bit of timing meant astronomers could witness a thunderstorm on Jupiter in exquisite detail, as NASA's Juno spacecraft floated directly overhead 🛰️ https://t.co/o8k85EkdCj

Good news: asteroid 2024 YR4, which was on a collision course for Earth, will probably miss us. But that doesn't mean scientists aren't still considering a space mission to study it up close! (The chance of a moon impact has also quadrupled, at 1.2%) https://t.co/F0utPCQ36l

Microsoft researchers have shown off a new AI tool that can produce full-length, physically accurate gameplay sequences for Bleeding Edge, a multiplayer online battle game 🎮 Could this lead to fully AI-designed games? Probably not anytime soon. https://t.co/dmXqMMJPEX

When the first exoplanets were discovered 30 years ago, we had only the faintest idea of what they looked like. Fast forward to today, and we have mindboggling detail - 3D atmospheres, actual wind speeds (70,000 km/h!) and altitude-dependent elements! https://t.co/u1UASJYub5

The asteroid barreling towards Earth (maybe) has just got an even higher risk rating from NASA - it's now at a 1-in-38 chance, the highest odds yet of collision. Not worth worrying (yet), but the world's space agencies are keeping a *very* close eye. https://t.co/MgxY4RUsev

Jonathan McDowell has painstakingly amassed one of the world's largest collections on the space industry 🚀 @planet4589 is now retiring, after four decades, and considering the future of his collection. We spoke all things space for @newscientist https://t.co/WP2xyXVnfW

If this planet's atmosphere really is as packed full of sulphur as it looks, then it is probably *brimming* with volcanoes 🌋 Volcanoes as far as the eye can see, magma ocean just below nearly the whole planet, eggy-smelling air - hell, basically. https://t.co/nkl2yixfxt

The new largest thing in the universe is mind-bogglingly large 🫨 Quipu is a structure of nearly 70 galactic superclusters and, in total, is more than 100,000 times as massive than a galaxy like our Milky Way. (1.4 billion light years across!) https://t.co/Fl8LH7CjOJ

This robotic hand is almost as dexterous as a human hand, but half as heavy 👋 The hand, which is voice-controlled, can tie knots, comb hair and play chess, thanks to a clever system of heat-sensitive metal strips that function like human tendons. https://t.co/xYOjfunq0t

There is now a 1-in-43 chance that asteroid 2024 YR4 will hit Earth in 2032. It could be as wide as 100-metres, and would cause serious damage if it collides in populated areas. How worried should we be? My analysis for @newscientist https://t.co/4v4Dma8iBp

If you want to cook a perfect boiled egg, then set aside 30 minutes and grab yourself two pans. That's according to new research from Italian food physicists who say that they have found a foolproof (but admittedly time-consuming) method for egg cooking. https://t.co/enLwSoxvpr

A mysterious kind of superconductivity found in a twisted crystal could eventually help us build room-temperature superconductors. But first, we need to figure out what's going on inside it. https://t.co/2vspFCpt14

Human urine contains lots of tasty nutrients (for plants), but it's difficult to separate them out into useable fertiliser. A new method from Chinese researchers shows that we might be able to more easily extract fertiliser from wastewater. https://t.co/fqO1jy60Gt

The winds on this alien planet are blisteringly fast 🌬️ WASP-127b, a puffball planet 500 lightyears from Earth, has circulating winds of 33,000 km/h, or nearly 30 times the speed of sound on Earth. That's the fastest planetary winds we know of. https://t.co/H2cLbmfDnN