Rhythm babies, rocket delays, solar fireworks

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Science Quickly, we dive into NASA’s latest headaches as the Artemis II moon mission hits delays. We also take a look at a massive solar flare that lit up the skies—and disrupted some tech—along with fresh concerns that PFAS “forever chemicals,” used to replace ozone‑depleting substances, are accumulating far more than expected. And new research shows that babies are actually born with a sense of rhythm. Recommended Reading: NASA document reveals new Artemis II moon mission target launch dates for March NASA delays Artemis II moon mission after critical test raises issues NASA’s Artemis II launch rehearsal hits a snag The sun just unleashed its most powerful solar flare in years Nearly half of people in the U.S. have toxic PFAS in their drinking water 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, Emily Makowski 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	The world moves fast. Your workday? Even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports,
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0:14.0	PowerPoint, and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize.
0:21.6	So you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work.
0:25.6	Learn more at Microsoft.com slash M365 copilot, I'm Kendra Pure Lewis, in for Rachel Feldman.
0:52.2	You're listening to our weekly science news roundup.
0:55.3	Last week, NASA's Artemis II moon mission was delayed by at least a month after the agency's so-called wet dress rehearsal revealed hydrogen fuel leaks in the launch vehicle, among other problems.
1:06.2	Here to give us the latest is Scientific American's Breaking News Chief, Claire Cameron.
1:10.6	Hi, Claire. Thanks for joining us today.
1:12.4	No problem. Glad to be here.
1:14.1	First up, what exactly is Artemis II?
1:17.4	Artemis II is a planned mission to send four astronauts in a giant loop around the moon.
1:25.3	It'll take them 10 days, and they're not actually going to land on the
1:28.7	moon. Instead, they're going on this big journey around the moon. They're going to do some
1:33.2	observations and then land back on Earth. And it's essentially a test flight for future moon
1:39.8	missions that will see astronauts actually land on the moon, if all goes to plan.
1:44.6	My understanding is that there are a number of potential launch dates for this year,
1:49.2	and the most recent one was slated for February, and they did a, what is it, a wet launch,
1:55.9	a wet test?
1:56.9	So before every launch with crew, certainly, they do what's called a wet dress rehearsal. The wet part of it is
2:06.5	referring to the fact that they load the rocket up with liquid fuel. So in this case, it's liquid hydrogen and
2:13.3	oxygen that they load the rocket up, make sure that it can be fueled properly, and then
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