Plus: France has become the first EU country to ban social media for under-15s. Shape-shifting mirrors on NASA's new space telescope could unveil Jupiters like our own When NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches, as early as the end of next month, it will attempt one of astronomy's most precise disappearing acts to date. It will carry the first space-bound "active" coronagraph, an instrument that effectively erases most of the light from a star during photography. The technology will allow astronomers to take the first pictures of planets orbiting other stars that are similar to those in our solar system. Ultimately, it could pave the way for a future mission that could snap the first photos of Earth-like worlds. "I hope it's remembered for it being that critical stepping stone for finding Earth 2.0," says Brandon Creager, the instrument's lead mechanical engineer.

Expanded carrier screening: Is it worth it? Carrier screening tests would-be parents for hidden genetic mutations that might affect their children. It initially involved testing for specific genes in at-risk populations. Expanded carrier screening takes things further, giving would-be parents an option to test for a wide array of diseases in prospective parents and egg and sperm donors. The companies offering these screens "started out with 100 genes, and now some of them go up to 2,000," Sara Levene, genetics counsellor at Guided Genetics, said at a meeting I attended this week. "It's becoming a bit of an arms race amongst labs, to be honest."

Taiwanese politics increasingly revolves around one crucial question: Will China invade? China's ruling party has wanted to seize Taiwan for more than half a century. But in recent years, China's leader, Xi Jinping, has placed greater emphasis on the idea of "taking back" the island (which the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, has never controlled). Many in Taiwan and elsewhere think one major deterrent has to do with the island's critical role in semiconductor manufacturing. Taiwan produces the majority of the world's semiconductors and more than 90% of the most advanced chips needed for AI applications.

Many in Taiwan and elsewhere think one major deterrent has to do with the island's critical role in semiconductor manufacturing. Taiwan produces the majority of the world's semiconductors and more than 90% of the most advanced chips needed for AI applications. Bloomberg Economics estimates that a blockade would cost the global economy, including China, 5 trillion in the first year alone. "The international community must certainly do everything in its power to avoid a conflict in the Taiwan Strait; there is too great a cost." The island, which is approximately the size of Maryland, owes its remarkably disproportionate chip dominance to the inventiveness and prowess of one company: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC.