Supernovae, Autonomous Vehicles, Life on Earth: NOVA Next Week in Review

This Week’s NOVA Next Feature

Autonomous vehicles will transform the way we move. The only question is how. NOVA Next contributing editor Phil McKenna reports the story.

In other news:

• This supernova is 570 billion times brighter than the Sun —and pushes the limits of known physics.
• Can warning labels stop climate change?
• Could the early universe have contracted and expanded… at the same time ?
• Nearly two-thirds of Earth’s minerals were created by life.
• Scientists map the ages of 70,000 stars—and confirm how our galaxy grew .

What We’re Reading

• To you, boredom feels… well, boring. But to a scientist, your boredom holds plentiful secrets about the human condition. [Nature News]
• This flexible football helmet could protect players’ brains . [Wired]
• A baby dinosaur died 67 million years ago. Today, fossil evidence shows it was eaten by a very unlikely predator: a snake. [Scientific American]
• Meteorologists are calling for a 54% chance of a below-normal number of tornadoes this year, due to El Niño. [Scientific American]