Life is Strange

French media are focused on smells this week. Le Figaro reports that researchers say global warming is changing the odours the planet once gave off, and teams are working to preserve humanity's olfactory memory before scents linked to forests, flowers and other environments disappear. Separately, Ouest-France covered a department store evacuated and closed for several hours after staff reported a strange burning smell. Together the stories have sparked wide discussion about how scent shapes memory and daily life.

Scientists report that free fall may mark the boundary where quantum behavior gives way to classical physics, offering a new way to understand how the strange rules of the quantum world connect to everyday reality. The finding is drawing attention from physics enthusiasts curious about one of science's oldest unanswered questions: why quantum effects are not seen in daily life.

The Institute of Art and Ideas is drawing attention with a piece arguing that quantum mechanics applies not just to particles but to everyday life, including human beings. The discussion revives a long-running debate over how the strange behaviour of the quantum world connects to the classical reality we experience, and whether quantum effects play a role in biology and consciousness.

A new write-up tackles the Wood cryptogram from 1950, an encoded message reportedly created as a test of whether communication was possible after death. The author works through the cipher's mechanics and explains how it was decoded, drawing interest from cryptography enthusiasts and readers fascinated by its unusual spiritual premise.

San Francisco is hiring people to walk robot dogs at a pay rate of $20 per hour. The unusual job posting has drawn attention as an example of how robotic pets are moving from novelty demos into everyday public life, and of the strange new service jobs that come with them. Commenters are debating whether the pay is fair for what is effectively testing and demonstrating quadruped robots in public.

A diver in the Gili Islands, off Lombok, Indonesia, has drawn attention with a photo of what look like strange fruits growing on a tree there. The posts carry scuba diving and marine life hashtags popular with the islands' dive tourism scene, and have prompted curiosity about the unidentified growths and the area's underwater environment.

A gaming content creator has published a new video on Life is Strange: Before the Storm Remastered, the 2017 prequel to the narrative adventure game Life is Strange. The release was shared with Portuguese-language gaming hashtags. Beyond the announcement itself, no details about the video's content or reception are available, and there is no indication yet of significant public reaction.