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New York topped the list of most polluted major cities in the world on Tuesday night, as smoke from the wildfires in Canada continues to blanket the East Coast of the United States. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images hide caption

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David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

The California two-spot octopus can edit the RNA in its brain on a massive scale, likely allowing it to keep a clear head in both warm and cool waters. Tom Kleindinst/Marine Biological Laboratory hide caption

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Tom Kleindinst/Marine Biological Laboratory

Octopuses tweak the RNA in their brains to adjust to warmer and cooler waters

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A late Triassic-era rausuchian, one of the rival reptile lineages who lost out to the dinosaurs. Dmitry Bogdonav/Wikimedia Commons hide caption

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Dmitry Bogdonav/Wikimedia Commons

A new study finds that stimulating the brain during sleep can improve memory. DrAfter123/Getty Images hide caption

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DrAfter123/Getty Images

Scientists zap sleeping humans' brains with electricity to improve their memory

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Head of the Brain-Computer Interface Programm at the French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA), Guillaume Charvet from France, shows implants that allows a paralyzed man to walk naturally, during a press conference in Lausanne on May 23, 2023. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

Helping a man walk again with implants connecting his brain and spinal cord

This week's science news roundup reunites All Things Considered host Ailsa Chang with Short Wave hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber to dig into the latest headlines in biomedical research, also known as cool things for the human body. We talk new RSV vaccines, vaccination by sticker and a new device helping a man with paralysis walk again.

Helping a man walk again with implants connecting his brain and spinal cord

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Scientists are studying police camera footage to understand why some car stops of Black men escalate and others don't. Hill Street Studios/Getty Images hide caption

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Hill Street Studios/Getty Images

For Black drivers, a police officer's first 45 words are a portent of what's to come

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Mora Leeb places some pieces into a puzzle during a local puzzle tournament. The 15-year-old has grown up without the left side of her brain after it was removed when she was an infant. Seth Leeb/Seth Leeb hide caption

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Seth Leeb/Seth Leeb

Meet the teen changing how neuroscientists think about brain plasticity

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The seven galaxies noted in this James Webb Space Telescope image are at a distance that astronomers refer to as redshift 7.9, which correlates to 650 million years after the big bang. NASA, ESA, CSA, T. Morishita (IPAC). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI) hide caption

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NASA, ESA, CSA, T. Morishita (IPAC). Image processing: A. Pagan (STScI)

A lodgepole chipmunk (Tamias speciosus) on a rock. Ketki Samel hide caption

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Ketki Samel

Climate change stresses out these chipmunks. Why are their cousins so chill?

Kwasi Wrensford studies two related species: the Alpine chipmunk and the Lodgepole chipmunk. The two have very different ways of coping with climate change. In this episode, Kwasi explains to host Emily Kwong how these squirrelly critters typify two important evolutionary strategies, and why they could shed light on what's in store for other creatures all over the globe.

Climate change stresses out these chipmunks. Why are their cousins so chill?

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Tuesday, researchers at Ozyegin University and Middle East Technical University published a paper in the journal Physics of Fluids that investigates various formulations and storage settings for gummy candy. Cosmin Buse / 500px/Getty Images/500px hide caption

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Cosmin Buse / 500px/Getty Images/500px

Scientists finally know the secret to creating — and storing — perfectly gummy candy

This week for our science news roundup, superstar host of All Things Considered Ari Shapiro joins Short Wave hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber to discuss the joy and wonder found in all types of structures. The big. The small. The delicious. We ask if diapers can be repurposed to construct buildings, how single-celled organisms turned into multi-cellular ones and how to make the best gummy candy?

Scientists finally know the secret to creating — and storing — perfectly gummy candy

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A sweeping new study sheds light on butterflies' origins

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A blue morpho butterfly sits on a leaf. A new study finds that butterflies likely originated somewhere in western North America or Central America around 100 million years ago. Kristen Grace/Florida Museum hide caption

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Kristen Grace/Florida Museum

Butterflies originated in North America after splitting from moths, new study suggests

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Why hammerhead sharks 'hold their breath' in deeper, colder waters

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As part of studying Long COVID, graduate researcher Bradley Wade Hamilton separates out microclots from blood platelets in a solution. Anil Oza/NPR hide caption

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Anil Oza/NPR

Scalloped hammerhead sharks can dive to depths of more than 2,600 ft (800 m) to hunt for squid and other food. Gerard Soury/Getty Images hide caption

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Gerard Soury/Getty Images

Hammerhead sharks 'hold their breath' in deeper, colder waters, research shows

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This artist's impression shows a hazy sub-Neptune-sized planet recently observed with the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC) hide caption

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NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

The James Webb Space Telescope reveals a mysterious planet to be weirdly shiny

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An artist's impression of an aging star swelling up and beginning to engulf a planet, much like the Sun will do in about 5 billion years. K. Miller/R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC) hide caption

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K. Miller/R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)

This star ate its own planet. Earth may share the same fate

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This video still shows a view of one person's cerebral cortex. Pink areas have above-average activity; blue areas have below-average activity. Jerry Tang and Alexander Huth hide caption

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Jerry Tang and Alexander Huth

A decoder that uses brain scans to know what you mean — mostly

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About 6,500 mammal species live on Earth today. Credit from left to right: John Moore/Getty Images; Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP via Getty Images; Koichi Kamoshida/Getty Images; Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Getty Images hide caption

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Getty Images

Welcome to the mammalverse: Scientists sequence DNA from 240 species around the world

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Worms in Sulphur Cave, Steamboat Springs, Colorado. These worms are believed to live on the chemical energy in the sulfur in the cave, similar to the way tube worms live in a world without light at the bottom of the ocean. Also visible on the left side of the image are streamers — colonies of microorganism, similar to those seen in hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. Norman R. Thompson hide caption

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Norman R. Thompson