Scientific American-Technology

“Scientific American-Technology: Viral AI that runs your digital life.”

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Accessed on 03 February 2026, 2229 UTC.

Content and Source: “Scientific American-Technology.”

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.com).

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February 3—Hi everyone, happy February. Here’s what to know this week: buoyant spiders inspire unsinkable metal; AI agent OpenClaw goes viral; and—rejoice!—Heathrow lifts the ban on flying with anything but the smallest containers of liquids. Please enjoy.

And reach out to me with your technology comments and questions at eric.sullivan@sciam.com.

—Eric Sullivan, Senior Desk Editor, Technology & Engineering

Top Stories

Elon Musk fuses SpaceX with xAI

Acquiring xAI could boost SpaceX’s plans to launch a one-million-strong satellite constellation to act as an orbital data center network

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Spiders taught scientists how to make unsinkable metal

Researchers mimicked the air-trapping tricks of diving bell spiders to create aluminum that stays afloat—even when punctured

Deni Ellis Béchard

Fuel your curiosity and feed your inner scientist with a subscription to Scientific American.

Software is becoming something you speak into existence

Coding for the rest of us finally feels possible now that tools like Claude Code turn plain English into working software

Deni Ellis Béchard

OpenClaw—what happens when AI stops chatting and starts doing

This open-source agent installs software, makes calls and runs your digital life—redefining what “digital assistants” are supposed to do

Deni Ellis Béchard

Heathrow dropped its 100-ml liquids rule. This scanner tech made it possible

New CT scanners can build a 3D model of your carry-on, helping airport staff spot risks without making you unpack or decant liquids into tiny bottles

Eric Sullivan

WHAT WE’RE READING

Deep Inside an Antarctic Glacier, a Mission Collapses at Its Final Step | The New York Times
Inside Russia’s secret campaign of sabotage in Europe. | The New Yorker
High-Speed Internet Boom Hits Low-Tech Snag: a Labor Shortage | Wall Street Journal

From the Archive

U.S. Glossed Over Cancer Concerns Associated with Airport X-Ray Scanners

Experts say the dose from the backscatter is negligible when compared with naturally occurring background radiation, but a linear model shows even such trivial amounts increase the number of cancer cases

Hawaii Science Journal.