SPACE.com: A robot destined for the International Space Station has made a hit on Twitter—attracting more than 7600 followers since it started posting messages last month. Created by NASA and General Motors, Robonaut 2 (or R2 for short) is scheduled to travel on NASA’s space shuttle Discovery in November. R2 has no legs—just a torso, arms, hands, and head. Neither does it have a voice, just a Twitter account, and its NASA handlers do the posting. The first humanoid robot to go into orbit and work on the space station, R2 is capable of operating the same tools as the astronauts and will help them by performing the more mundane or risky tasks. To follow R2, go to http://twitter.com/AstroRobonaut.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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