Nature Briefing

"Planets lighter than candy floss" and 
arXiv preprints are chock full of authors' private info."

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Hello Nature readers, Today we discover two huge planets that are lighter than candy floss, hear that arXiv preprints are chock-a-block with authors’ private info and explore which ‘AI scientist’ might suit your lab.

A star named TOI-791 (left) is orbited by two extremely lightweight planets (middle and right). (NASA/Daniel Rutter)

‘Super-puff’ planets lighter than candy floss Data from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission has revealed two super-rare, ‘super-puff’ planets. Though as big as Jupiter, TOI-791 b and TOI-791 c “have densities comparable to a nice blob of shaving foam, fresh from the can,” says astrophysicist George Dransfield. Associated Press | 4 min read Reference: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society paper

Most preprints contain private info Nearly all papers posted on the arXiv preprint server contain details the authors never meant to share, according to a study of almost three million articles available on the repository. Some 88% of submissions that contained LaTeX source files included some form of hidden information, including passwords, to-do lists and derogatory comments such as “WTF does this mean?” The findings are “really just the tip of the iceberg,” says security and privacy researcher Jan Pennekamp, who co-authored the study. Nature | 9 min read Reference: arXiv preprint

Which ‘AI scientist’ suits your lab? 'AI scientists' such as Claude Science, a tool unveiled by artificial-intelligence firm Anthropic, can help with tasks such as literature reviews and data analysis. But not all tools are the same, and some might suit certain labs better than others. To work out which might work best for you, the first step is to get stuck in, says Ashu Singhal, president of cloud platform Benchling. But start with small tasks, the output of which is easily verifiable, says Gabriele Corso, chief executive of the AI firm Boltz. “Worst case, you have to do them over,” he says. Nature | 6 min read

Features & opinion

Meet the ‘practical PhD’ graduates In 2024, China introduced PhD programmes that could be passed with a practical achievement instead of a written thesis. Since then, around 60 students have graduated with ‘practical PhDs’, three of whom spoke to Nature about their experience. “What matters more to me as an engineer is whether innovations will work well in the real world,” says Wu Xiangyang, who completed his PhD in railway engineering. “I will never forget the moment that the production line moved for the first time under the command of my system.” Nature | 9 min read

Futures: Those who forget A trio of students begin to lose themselves in the latest short story for Nature’s Futures series. Nature | 7 min read

Podcast: satellite could detect space nukes The 1967 Outer Space Treaty bans countries from putting nuclear weapons into orbit, but there isn’t a way to make sure that no country has snuck one onto a satellite. Now, nuclear physicist Areg Danagoulian has proposed a method to investigate: a shoebox-sized ‘inspector’ satellite that could detect the neutrons emitted when high-energy protons in Earth’s magnetic field strike the uranium in nuclear weapons. Danagoulian’s idea is theoretical, but he’s published a modelling study “to show that the physics is scientifically feasible”, he tells the Nature Podcast. Nature Podcast | 25 min listen Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Music, or use the RSS feed.

Quote of the day “I loved every minute of it. I just wish it had been longer.” At the age of 82, Wally Funk became the oldest person to go to space, on a Blue Origin rocket. In the 1960s, as a member of the ‘Mercury 13’ programme of female astronaut trainees, she had performed on par with male contemporaries, but never got to launch with NASA. Funk has died, aged 87. (The Guardian | 7 min read)

Today, Leif Penguinson is checking out a fen in the forest-tundra of the Arkhangelsk region, Russia. Can you find the penguin? The answer will be in Monday’s e-mail, all thanks to Briefing photo editor and penguin wrangler Tom Houghton. This newsletter is always evolving — tell us what you think! Please send your feedback to briefing@nature.com. Thanks for reading, Flora Graham, chief editor, Nature Briefing With contributions by Jacob Smith and Gemma Conroy

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