Sunday, May 24, 2026

An OpenAI chatbot has autonomously solved an 80-year-old geometry problem first posed by mathematician Paul Erdős in 1946, producing a proof that mathematicians call 'clever' and 'elegant' and marking the first time AI has independently solved a prominent open problem central to a field of mathematics.^[1]

The James Webb Space Telescope has observed the first daily weather cycle on an exoplanet, revealing that the hot Jupiter WASP-94Ab has sand-like clouds made of vaporized magnesium silicate every morning that clear by evening, allowing astronomers to more accurately measure the planet's atmospheric composition.^[2]

Scientists using NASA's Juno spacecraft discovered that lightning on Jupiter can pack up to 100 times the power of Earth's lightning bolts, and possibly much more, with massive storms generating violent flashes across cloud tops towering over 100 kilometers high.^[3]

Climate scientists have fully explained the causes behind global sea level rise over the past six decades, finding that the rate has doubled from 2 millimeters per year (1960-2023) to 4 millimeters per year (2005-2023), with warming seawater as the biggest factor and melting glaciers and ice sheets adding more water each year.^[4]

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a joint declaration following their meeting in Beijing, announcing approximately 40 intergovernmental and corporate agreements aimed at building a 'multipolar world' and deepening bilateral cooperation.^[5]

NASA's Juno spacecraft captured a new view of Thebe, the second largest of Jupiter's inner moons, during a close pass on May 1, 2026, from approximately 3,100 miles at a resolution of about 1.9 miles per pixel.^[6]

Scientists have proposed a new two-stage theory of aging suggesting that many age-related diseases like cancer, osteoarthritis, and shingles may actually begin decades earlier as hidden damage that remains dormant until aging weakens the body's ability to keep it under control.^[7]