Thanks to Natural Selection, Indigenous Andeans May Digest Potatoes Better than Anyone Else in the World, Study Finds
Indigenous Andeans in Peru carry an average of ten copies of the salivary amylase (AMY1) gene, the highest worldwide, a trait linked to the region’s early potato domestication about 10,000 years ago. Global populations average seven copies, highlighting a strong genetic shift. The study, published in Nature Communications, analyzed 3,723 genomes from 85 populations and found a 1.24 % survival advantage for individuals with ten or more copies. Similar high copy numbers were observed in the Akimel O’odham, suggesting parallel dietary adaptation.
'A Disease Anywhere Can Be a Disease Everywhere Tomorrow Morning': Public Health Expert on Ebola and the Threat of Future...
The WHO has declared a public‑health emergency as an Ebola outbreak driven by the Bundibugyo virus spreads across the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with 515 confirmed cases and 91 deaths in the DRC and 19 cases with...
'Crystals' Of Space-Time Could Be the Origins of Certain Rare Black Holes, Theoretical Study Hints
A new theoretical study published in Physical Review Letters provides an analytic description of “space‑time crystals,” self‑similar ripples in the fabric of spacetime that can give rise to naked singularities and microscopic black holes. By taking the number of spacetime...
Why Can't We Figure Out How Strong Gravity Is?
Scientists continue to chase a precise value for Newton's gravitational constant (G), the weakest of nature’s four fundamental forces. In April 2026, a team led by Stephan Schlamminger used 13 tons of mercury to repeat a classic torsion‑balance experiment and reported G...
Scientists Race to Collect the Last Seeds From a Critically Endangered Tree Before It Goes Extinct
Scientists have harvested hundreds of seeds from the sole wild individual of the critically endangered Chilean tree Dendroseris neriifolia on Robinson Crusoe Island. The seeds were sent to the Millennium Seed Bank at Kew, where X‑ray analysis showed 25 of...
James Webb Telescope Detects Most Distant Dormant Black Hole, Invisible in All Wavelengths and Weighing as Much as 6 Billion...
The James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered the most distant dormant black hole ever observed, residing in galaxy MRG‑M0138 more than 10 billion light‑years from Earth. The black hole’s mass is estimated at roughly six billion times that of the Sun, a...
Satellite Images Reveals Mangroves Rebounding Worldwide — but Here's Why They Could Still 'Drown'
A new 40‑year satellite study published in Science shows mangrove forests worldwide have shifted from a long‑term decline to a modest rebound, with net area now only 1% lower than in the 1980s. Gains accelerated after 2010, driven by both...
'Cannibal' CME From Rare 'Anti-Hale' Sunspot Will Slam Into Earth Today, Bringing Auroras to 23 US States
A rare anti‑Hale sunspot (4455) produced a series of X‑class flares on June 2, launching multiple coronal mass ejections. A faster CME overtook a slower one, forming a “cannibal” eruption that NOAA expects to strike Earth on June 4 with a G3‑G4...
Astronauts Could Use Lightning-Like Plasma Jets to Kill Germs on the Moon and Mars, Demo Hints
Researchers at the University of Alabama demonstrated that lightning‑like plasma jets can sterilize fabric faster and more effectively than current International Space Station methods. By directing a thin, electrically powered plasma stream at cotton samples seeded with Staphylococcus caprae, they...
Heading a Soccer Ball Just Once Is Enough to Raise Levels of Proteins Associated with Brain Damage
A Dutch study published in JAMA Neurology found that even a single soccer header triggers a temporary rise in blood proteins linked to brain injury. In 302 amateur male players, S100B levels spiked immediately after matches, while p‑tau217 increased after...
Bronze Age 5-Year-Old's Skull Found in Uzbekistan Is the Oldest Known Evidence of Surgery in Central Asia
Archaeologists uncovered the 4,000‑year‑old skull of a five‑year‑old child in Uzbekistan that bears clear signs of cranial trepanation, marking the oldest documented surgical procedure in Central Asia and one of the earliest in Asia. The find came from the Djarkutan...
'Astonishing': James Webb Telescope Spots the Most Chemically Primitive Galaxy in the Ancient Universe
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have identified LAP1‑B, an ultra‑faint galaxy that existed 800 million years after the Big Bang, making it the most metal‑poor galaxy observed from that era. By leveraging a foreground galaxy cluster as a gravitational lens,...
Astronomers Gaze Into the 'Crystal Ball Nebula' And See a Vision of Our Dying Sun — Space Photo of the...
Astronomers captured a high‑resolution image of NGC 1514, the Crystal Ball Nebula, using the Gemini North telescope. The nebula lies about 1,500 light‑years away in Taurus and hosts a binary star system at its core, the longest‑period binary known in a...
Scientists Got Mouse Eyes to Perform Photosynthesis — and No, They Didn't Turn Green
Scientists have engineered eye drops containing spinach thylakoid grana that enable mouse eyes to perform light‑driven photosynthetic reactions. The formulation, dubbed LEAF, produces the antioxidant NADPH, reducing inflammation and restoring tear production in a dry‑eye mouse model. After five days,...
New Device Could Make Processors Run 1,000 Times Faster without Additional Waste Heat — Scientists Say It Could Reduce Data...
Japanese researchers have unveiled a non‑volatile switching element that can toggle a bit in 40 picoseconds—roughly 1,000 times faster than conventional processors—without producing significant extra heat. The device uses ultrathin layers of tantalum and antiferromagnetic Mn₃Sn, driven by 60‑picosecond light...