A historic moon mission, AI that helps restore stroke patients’ voice and the oldest cave art ever found

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Science Quickly, we look at the stakes behind Artemis II, NASA’s historic lunar flyby mission that’s preparing to launch soon. We’ll also dive into the science behind Revoice, an artificial-intelligence-powered wearable device that could help stroke patients with speech impairment communicate. Plus, we discuss how previously overlooked art on the ceiling of an Indonesian cave could rewrite the story of early human migration. Recommended Reading: NASA’s historic Artemis II moon mission is almost ready to launch Oldest cave art ever found discovered in Indonesia ‘Bat accelerator’ unlocks new clues to how these animals navigate E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Vanta.
0:03.0	Security and compliance done wrong is a headache.
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0:13.0	using AI to get you compliant fast.
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0:18.0	risk and automating workflows.
0:20.0	From startups like Cursor to enterprises like Snowflake, top companies choose Vantta.
0:25.1	Do security and compliance right.
0:27.1	Get started today at Vantor.com.
0:33.1	For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pier-Lewis, in for Rachel Feldman.
0:43.1	You're listening to our weekly science news roundup.
0:53.0	First, we have an update on humans going back to the moon.
0:56.6	In the coming weeks, the first launch window will open for NASA's Artemis 2 mission.
1:01.1	The planned lunar flyby will be the first crewed mission to go beyond low Earth orbit since
1:05.2	Apollo 17 in 1972.
1:08.7	To learn more about it, we chatted with Lee Billings, Siam's Senior Desk Editor for Physical
1:12.7	Science.
1:13.6	Here he is.
1:15.5	Artemis is NASA's mission to send astronauts back to the moon.
1:18.8	It's been in development in various forums under various guises.
	...

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