See the world's best space images from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 award

Astronomer Jo Dunkley is planning to use the Simons Observatory to snare evidence for inflation, the theory that the universe expanded at incredible speed after its birth

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

My first sight of Saturn through a telescope inspired my love of space. Dig out your telescopes or visit your local astronomy club, and you may be lucky enough to spot our sixth planet's stunning thick band of rings, says Leah Crane

The first “failed star” ever discovered has been a weird outlier since it was found nearly 30 years ago. New observations show that it is unusually massive because it isn’t a single star after all

Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who has worked on the JWST, catalogues the science behind its most stunning images in her new book, Webb's Universe. Here's her pick of the telescope’s best shots

From nuclear strikes to giant spikes, discover the systems in place to prevent a collision and test your decision-making to see if you could avoid a catastrophic impact

A Spot robot equipped with a blowtorch can locate weeds on farms and precisely heat them up to stop them growing, offering a possible alternative to herbicides

Combining two neural networks has helped researchers predict potentially disastrous collapses in complex systems, such as financial crashes or power blackouts

The first ever full-scale demonstration of a nuclear reactor designed to passively cool itself in an emergency was a success, showing that it should be possible to build nuclear plants without the risk of dangerous meltdown

A robot mimics the clever fin-folding mechanism used by tuna fish, which increased the bot's turning velocity by almost 33 per cent

A newly identified smartphone vulnerability can reveal the floor plans of where you are and what you are doing - and it is possible that companies or intelligence agencies are already making use of it

Advances in generative AI mean fake images, videos, audio and bots are now everywhere. But studies have revealed the best ways to tell if something is real

It can be difficult to spot AI generated videos known as deepfakes, but there are ways to spot one if you know what to look for

Supremacy, a new book from tech journalist Parmy Olson, takes us inside the rise of machine learning and AI, and examines the people behind it

Our Future Chronicles column explores an imagined history of inventions and developments yet to come. This time, Rowan Hooper takes us to the early 2030s, when a technological step change enabled us to produce all the food we needed without the use of animals

A new design for a nuclear battery that generates electricity from the radioactive decay of americium is unprecedentedly efficient

Voice assistants can build profiles of their users’ habits and preferences, but the consistency and accuracy of these profiles vary

Gears just a few micrometres wide can be carved from silicon using a beam of electrons, enabling tiny robots or machines that could interact with human cells

Two of the three science Nobel prizes in 2024 have been won by people working in AI, but does this mean that AI models are now vital for science?

Autonomous taxis are already operating on US streets, while Elon Musk has spent years promising a self-driving car and failing to deliver. The newly announced Tesla Cybercab is unlikely to change that

A simulator for the process of scientific discovery shows that AI models still fall short of human scientists and engineers in coming up with hypotheses and carrying out experiments on their own

While quantum computers are still in their infancy, more and more people are training to become quantum software developers

A specialised algorithm could help autonomous vehicles track hidden objects, such as a pedestrian, a bicycle or another vehicle concealed behind a parked car

I have a confession to make. After taking a handful of autonomous taxi rides, I have gone from a hater to a friend of robot cars in just a few weeks, says Annalee Newitz

The controversies surrounding football’s video assistant referee (VAR) system highlight our troubled relationship with uncertainty – and point to potential solutions

AI and Google Street View have created 'digital twins' of living trees in North American cities – part of a huge simulation that could help make urban tree planting and trimming decisions

Tigerair has again cancelled flights in and out of Denpasar, and there is no sign of the dispute being resolved.

That’s not his deal, you guys.

Gary is up to his usual schtick with Dani. Will he or the new stews ever learn? (Don’t answer that.)

Just in time to watch with the whole family over Thanksgiving.

Ghost dads are so embarrassing.

Mike Tyson has not fought professionally since suffering a stoppage defeat to Kevin McBride in 2005.

PGMOL chief Howard Webb has responded after referee David Coote was suspended for comments he appeared to make in a video.

Former FIA race director Niels Wittich has rejected the motorsport governing body's version regarding his departure.

Thirteen years since a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in northern Japan, causing a loss of power, meltdowns and a major release of radioactive material, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) finally seems to be close to extracting the first bit of melted fuel from the complex—thanks to a special telescopic robotic device.

Despite Japan’s prowess in industrial robotics, TEPCO had no robots to deploy in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Since then, however, robots have been used to measure radiation levels, clear building debris, and survey the exterior and interior of the plant overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

It will take decades to decommission Fukushima Dai-ichi, and one of the most dangerous, complex tasks is the removal and storage of about 880 tons of highly radioactive molten fuel in three reactor buildings that were operating when the tsunami hit. TEPCO believes mixtures of uranium, zirconium and other metals accumulated around the bottom of the primary containment vessels (PCVs) of the reactors—but the exact composition of the material is unknown. The material is “fuel debris,” which TEPCO defines as overheated fuel that has melted with fuel rods and in-vessel structures, then cooled and re-solidified. The extraction was supposed to begin in 2021 but ran into development delays and obstacles in the extraction route; the coronavirus pandemic also slowed work.

While TEPCO wants a molten fuel sample to analyze for exact composition, getting just a teaspoon of the stuff has proven so tricky that the job is years behind schedule. That may change soon as crews have deployed the telescoping device to target the 237 tons of fuel debris in Unit 2, which suffered less damage than the other reactor buildings and no hydrogen explosion, making it an easier and safer test bed.

“We plan to retrieve a small amount of fuel debris from Unit 2, analyze it to evaluate its properties and the process of its formation, and then move on to large-scale retrieval,” says Tatsuya Matoba, a spokesperson for TEPCO. “We believe that extracting as much information as possible from the retrieved fuel debris will likely contribute greatly to future decommissioning work.”

How TEPCO Plans to Retrieve a Fuel Sample

Getting to the fuel is easier said than done. Shaped like an inverted light bulb, the damaged PCV is a 33-meter-tall steel structure that houses the reactor pressure vessel where nuclear fission took place. A 2-meter-long isolation valve designed to block the release of radioactive material sits at the bottom of the PCV, and that’s where the robot will go in. The fuel debris itself is partly underwater.

The robot arm is being preceded by a smaller telescopic device. The telescopic device, which is trying to retrieve 3 grams of the fuel debris without further contamination to the outside environment, is similar to the larger robot arm, which is better suited for the retrieval of larger bits of debris.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning and UK-based Veolia Nuclear Solutions developed the robot arm to enter small openings in the PCV, where it can survey the interior and grab the fuel. Mostly made of stainless steel and aluminum, the arm measures 22 meters long, weighs 4.6 tons and can move along 18 degrees of freedom. It’s a boom-style arm, not unlike the robotic arms on the International Space Station, that rests in a sealed enclosure box when not extended.

The arm consists of four main elements: a carriage that pushes the assembly through the openings, arm links that can fold up like a ream of dot matrix printer paper, an arm that has three telescopic stages, and a “wand” (an extendable pipe-shaped component) with cameras and a gripper on its tip. Both the arm and the wand can tilt downward toward the target area.

After the assembly is pushed through the PCV’s isolation valve, it angles downward over a 7.2-meter-long rail heading toward the base of the reactor. It continues through existing openings in the pedestal, a concrete structure supporting the reactor, and the platform, which is a flat surface under the reactor.

Then, the tip is lowered on a cable like the grabber in a claw machine toward the debris field at the bottom of the pedestal. The gripper tool at the end of the component has two delicate pincers (only 5 square millimeters), that can pinch a small pebble of debris. The debris is transferred to a container and, if all goes well, is brought back up through the openings and placed in a glovebox: A sealed, negative-pressure container in the reactor building where initial testing can be performed. It will then be moved to a Japan Atomic Energy Agency facility in nearby Ibaraki Prefecture for detailed analysis.

While the gripper on the telescopic device currently being used was able to reach the debris field and grasp a piece of rubble—it’s unknown if it was actually melted fuel—last month, two of the four cameras on the device stopped working a few days later, and the device was eventually reeled back into the enclosure box. Crews confirmed there were no problems with signal wiring from the control panel in the reactor building, and proceeded to perform oscilloscope testing. TEPCO speculates that radiation passing through camera semiconductor elements caused electrical charge to build up, and that the charge will drain if the cameras are left on in a relatively low-dose environment. It was the latest setback in a very long project.

“Retrieving fuel debris from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is an extremely difficult task, and a very important part of decommissioning,” says Matoba. “With the goal of completing the decommissioning in 30 to 40 years, we believe it is important to proceed strategically and systematically with each step of the work at hand.”

This story was updated on 15 October, 2024 to clarify that TEPCO is using two separate tools (a smaller telescopic device and a larger robot arm) in the process of retrieving fuel debris samples.

Marina Umaschi Bers has long been at the forefront of technological innovation for kids. In the 2010s, while teaching at Tufts University, in Massachusetts, she codeveloped the ScratchJr programming language and KIBO robotics kits, both intended for young children in STEM programs. Now head of the DevTech research group at Boston College, she continues to design learning technologies that promote computational thinking and cultivate a culture of engineering in kids.

What was the inspiration behind creating ScratchJr and the KIBO robot kits?

Marina Umaschi Bers: We want little kids—as they learn how to read and write, which are traditional literacies—to learn new literacies, such as how to code. To make that happen, we need to create child-friendly interfaces that are developmentally appropriate for their age, so they learn how to express themselves through computer programming.

How has the process of invention changed since you developed these technologies?

Bers: Now, with the maker culture, it’s a lot cheaper and easier to prototype things. And there’s more understanding that kids can be our partners as researchers and user-testers. They are not passive entities but active in expressing their needs and helping develop inventions that fit their goals.

What should people creating new technologies for kids keep in mind?

Bers: Not all kids are the same. You really need to look at the age of the kids. Try to understand developmentally where these children are in terms of their cognitive, social, emotional development. So when you’re designing, you’re designing not just for a user, but you’re designing for a whole human being.

The other thing is that in order to learn, children need to have fun. But they have fun by really being pushed to explore and create and make new things that are personally meaningful. So you need open-ended environments that allow children to explore and express themselves.

The KIBO kits teach kids robotics coding in a playful and screen-free way. KinderLab Robotics

How can coding and learning about robots bring out the inner inventors in kids?

Bers: I use the words “coding playground.” In a playground, children are inventing games all the time. They are inventing situations, they’re doing pretend play, they’re making things. So if we’re thinking of that as a metaphor when children are coding, it’s a platform for them to create, to make characters, to create stories, to make anything they want. In this idea of the coding playground, creativity is welcome—not just “follow what the teacher says” but let children invent their own projects.

What do you hope for in terms of the next generation of technologies for kids?

Bers: I hope we would see a lot more technologies that are outside. Right now, one of our projects is called Smart Playground [a project that will incorporate motors, sensors, and other devices into playgrounds to bolster computational thinking through play]. Children are able to use their bodies and run around and interact with others. It’s kind of getting away from the one-on-one relationship with the screen. Instead, technology is really going to augment the possibilities of people to interact with other people, and use their whole bodies, much of their brains, and their hands. These technologies will allow children to explore a little bit more of what it means to be human and what’s unique about us.

This article appears in the November 2024 print issue as “The Kids’ Inventor.”

Maryland's new education chief, Carey Wright, an old-school champion of rigorous standards, is pushing back against efforts in other states to boost test scores by essentially lowering their exp

Zeiger is president of the Jack Miller Center, an educational venture to advance the history, documents and ideals we hold in common as Americans.As a nation, we are failing to prepare citizens for leadership in our constitutional republic. According to a September 2023 Pew Research Center study, 72...

Who Will Fill the Democratic Vacuum?

EA FC 25 players can snag some big freebies this week, with EA Sports celebrating the Ballon d'Or in style for all Ultimate Team players with some of the best players around.

Black Ops 6 is here, and fans have been itching to know what's included in Season 1 - and now we have an answer. Here's what's included, and when you can play

Hackers are exploiting EA FC 25 to nab millions of coins and snipe the world's best football players and EA seems unable to stop it - and this is how it happens

Scientists say geoengineering, or doing things like intentionally increasing Earth’s reflectivity or blocking the sun, is a “really big deal” in slowing down climate change. Here are the ideas they are proposing.

Certain strains of E. coli are capable of causing severe disease, by rapidly spreading through the human digestive system, wreaking havoc throughout the bloodstream, and eventually damaging the delicate kidneys. That's the situation right now during a large outbreak in Alberta, with hundreds of children now affected.

Two large grizzly bears followed 13 hikers down a trail in Banff National Park for 20 minutes — with one even making a few quick runs at the group.

As artificial intelligence becomes more common in university classrooms, some professors are weighing the benefits — and downsides — of students using it for research projects.

A new Government Accountability Office report says that the Justice Department kept FBI employees in the dark for seven years after Congress updated whistleblower protections for bureau personnel in 2016.

Apple recently announced its new lineup of Macs and rolled out Apple Intelligence, its latest artificial intelligence-powered feature for its products.