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Science Quickly

NASA Curiosity, suicide hotline hope, AI voice clone

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.41.4K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this week’s Science Quickly news roundup, we dive into NASA’s new discovery of organic molecules on Mars, including some that have never been found there before. We also explore how human migration may have been shaped by a surprising factor: malaria. Plus, we go over the encouraging results of a new study that links declines in youth suicides in the U.S. to the adoption of the three-digit 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in 2022. And finally, we’ll turn to some interesting findings about AI voice clones. Recommended Reading: “NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars.” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Published online April 21, 2026 “Malaria shaped human spatial organization for the past 74 thousand years,” by Margherita Colucci et al., in Science Advances, Vol. 12, No. 17; April 22, 2026 Young adult suicide rates dropped after U.S. launched 988 hotline  “Voice clones are easier to understand in noise than their human originals: The voice cloning intelligibility benefit,” by Patti Adank and Han Wang, in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 159, No. 4; April, 2026 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 Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, 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

Instagram teen accounts with automatic protections on who can contact teenagers and the content they can see.

0:06.0

Instagram teen accounts have contact limits on by default, so teenagers get messages from people they know, not strangers,

0:14.0

and default content settings.

0:17.0

Plus, teenagers under 16 can't change these default settings without parental approval.

0:22.8

So parents can help teenagers connect safely.

0:26.5

Learn more at Instagram.com slash teen accounts.

0:31.6

Have you ever wondered what's the best glass shape to drink beer out of?

0:35.4

And why do elevators always seem to be going the opposite direction

0:38.0

when you need them the most? And how are you supposed to cut pizza fairly if the toppings are all in

0:42.5

different places? These questions and many more can be answered with math. Hi, I'm Andrea Garleski,

0:48.8

I'm in charge of all newsletters here at Scientific American. We have a new weekly newsletter called

0:53.1

Proof Positive.

0:55.2

It's about the math that can help you answer questions

0:56.6

like these

0:57.2

and many other mysteries of life.

0:59.3

Plus, it rounds up the latest math news

1:00.9

and has a puzzle to challenge your mind.

1:03.0

Go to scientificamerican.com

1:04.4

slash newsletters to sign up.

1:21.8

Music Happy Monday, For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.

1:25.6

You're listening to our weekly science news roundup.

1:33.4

Let's start on a high note with some space news. NASA's Curiosity rover has turned up some

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