Know What's Happening in Science
Know What's Happening in Science
Spike D614 Reversions Detected in Delta and Omicron BA.2 Variants
Researchers from the University of Tsukuba and the Institute of Science Tokyo identified nonrandom reversions of the SARS‑CoV‑2 spike protein from the dominant G614 back to the ancestral D614. The reversions are concentrated in delta and omicron BA.2 lineages and show distinct temporal spikes and geographic clustering.
USC researchers have built a memristor‑based memory chip that continues to function at 700 °C—hotter than molten lava—by stacking tungsten, hafnium oxide and a single‑atom graphene layer. The device stored data for over 50 hours without refresh, survived more than a billion switching cycles, and operated at 1.5 V with nanosecond response times. Its extreme‑temperature resilience opens the door to on‑board computing for Venus‑level planetary probes, deep‑well geothermal tools and nuclear reactors. The team is now pursuing commercial AI accelerators through their startup TetraMem.
Cocrystal Pharma (COCP) saw its shares climb 50.98% to $1.54 after the FDA granted Fast Track designation to its oral antiviral candidate CDI-988 for norovirus. The designation could accelerate development and bring the first oral therapy for the virus closer...
Lifelong restriction of dietary valine has sex-specific benefits for health and lifespan in mice "Our results demonstrate for the first time that Val-R improves multiple aspects of healthspan in mice of both sexes and extends lifespan in males, and suggests that...
TRPM3 is a calcium‑permeable ion channel activated by heat and neurosteroids such as pregnenolone sulfate, playing a central role in pain perception, insulin secretion, and vascular regulation. Genetic variants in the TRPM3 gene have been associated with heightened susceptibility to...
The University of Adelaide is spearheading the Wheat Spatial Omics Consortium (WSOC), a partnership of more than 30 institutions in nine countries, to build a comprehensive spatial omics atlas of wheat. By mapping genes, proteins and metabolites at subcellular resolution,...
Researchers at Kyoto University have announced a new microporous aerogel that can be molded without chemical cross‑linking, thanks to reversible van der Waals interactions between metal‑organic polyhedra. The breakthrough, published in JACS, promises mechanically robust, shape‑able nanomaterials for insulation, filtration...
To boot, 11% of all energy worldwide is used just to mine, transport, process, and/or refine fossil fuels and uranium. https://t.co/c3RjxqKhcO Whereas wind, solar, geothermal, and hydro require 0 such energy because wind comes right to the turbine, etc. So for anyone to...
Biodexa Pharmaceuticals saw its Nasdaq‑listed shares climb 69% after revealing a partnership with Syngene International to manufacture the active pharmaceutical ingredient and dosage form of its MTX240 candidate. The deal paves the way for an IND filing and a Phase...
Researchers led by Richard Bakiaj used resting‑state fMRI and unsupervised machine learning on 200 German adults to identify neural signatures of dark‑triad traits. Elevated baseline activity in the central executive network and reduced activity in a posterior default mode network...
Astronomers using ALMA have identified a warm, 1,000‑AU gas ring encircling a newborn protostar in the MC 27/L1521F core. The ring appears to be created by massive magnetic‑flux ejections—dubbed “sneezes”—that expel excess energy from the nascent star. This phenomenon expands earlier...
Researchers at Chiba University have demonstrated a compact method to generate nondiffracting optical bottle beams using a binary axicon and a flat multilevel diffractive lens (MDL). The system reshapes a Gaussian beam into a modified zero‑order Bessel beam, which the...
China’s experimental Hukeda‑2 satellite demonstrated a major in‑orbit refueling capability by using its octopus‑like robotic arm to dock with a target port on the same spacecraft. The test, conducted on 24 March, marks the first self‑docking refuel maneuver since the Shijian‑25...
A joint study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Queensland found that 73% of the world’s 16,491 marine protected areas (MPAs) are polluted by sewage and non‑point source waste. In coral‑dependent regions, contamination rises to 87‑92%, with...
Bayshore Park, a 19.4‑acre former golf‑course site in Miami Beach, opened last year as a climate‑resilient public space. Designed by Savino & Miller, the park captures runoff from an 85‑acre watershed, storing up to 65.62 acre‑feet of water—enough for a three‑day storm—while providing recreation, native...
Researchers at VIB and KU Leuven introduced CREsted, a new software package for modeling and designing gene regulatory enhancers. The framework unifies preprocessing, deep‑learning model training, interpretation, and synthetic enhancer generation into a single, reusable workflow. Demonstrated on mouse brain,...
Scientists have documented the shellear (Parakneria thysi), a ziti‑sized fish, scaling a 50‑foot waterfall in the Congo River Basin. The fish press fin‑covered microscopic hooks against the slick rock, using bursts of upward motion interspersed with long rests, completing the...
Biologists have documented that the tiny shellear fish Parakneria thysi climbs the 50‑foot cliffs of Luvilombo Falls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spending up to ten hours on the ascent. The fish use hook‑like fin projections and lateral body...
Researchers have demonstrated that tiny oil droplets suspended in a soapy fluid can form a crystalline shell that changes shape with temperature. By heating or cooling the system, the droplets reversibly morph from a regular hexagon to a six‑pointed star...
Muscle loss doesn’t just gradually decline with age. A lot of it may happen in ‘catabolic crises’ - sharp drops after periods of disuse like injury, bed rest, hospitalization, or stopping training. The real harm is not just aging itself,...
Moog Inc. supplied the critical actuation and motion‑control systems that steered NASA’s Artemis II launch, including thrust‑vector control, launch‑abort actuators, fluid‑control hardware, and mobile launch‑pad mechanisms. The SLS rocket lifted four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center, marking a record‑setting step toward...
QuiX Quantum announced the first below‑threshold error mitigation on a photonic quantum computer, using a 20‑mode processor and a photon‑distillation gate. The technique achieved a 2.2× reduction in photon‑indistinguishability error and a net 1.2× overall system‑error decrease. Collaborators include NASA’s...
A new systematic review in Nutrients synthesizes evidence on folic acid supplementation to prevent neural tube defects (NTDs) in women of child‑bearing age. It highlights a global NTD prevalence of 18.6 per 10,000 live births and a 75% mortality rate...
University of California‑Riverside researchers have created a robotic system that maps soil moisture at the individual tree level in citrus orchards. By measuring electrical conductivity and integrating data from existing moisture sensors, the robot generates detailed moisture maps that guide...
A multi‑institution team led by Michigan State University unveiled GPS, a machine‑learning platform that predicts how a compound will alter gene expression from its chemical structure. Trained on millions of transcriptomic measurements across more than 70 cell lines, GPS screened...
Artemis II’s April 1 launch delivered the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo, underscoring NASA’s push for a 2028 Moon landing. SpaceX has filed confidentially for an IPO that could value the company above $1 trillion, the largest market debut ever. Virgin Galactic...
New memory chip survives temperatures hotter than lava 🌋 😳 💬 The electronics inside your phone, your car, and every satellite currently orbiting Earth share one critical weakness: heat. Push them past about 200 degrees Celsius and they start to fail....
Aleksandra Ćiprijanović, a Wilson Fellow and associate scientist at Fermilab, received a 2025 DOE Early Career Award to develop a universal AI analysis framework for high‑energy physics. The project tackles the persistent domain‑shift problem where models trained on simulated data...
Nelson Dellis, a six‑time U.S. memory champion, has been scanned with high‑resolution neuroimaging, revealing the brain structures that power his method‑of‑loci technique. The scans show heightened activity in the hippocampus and posterior parietal cortex, regions linked to spatial navigation and...
Researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo have demonstrated a 2.4 GHz Wi‑Fi receiver that survives up to 500 kilograys of gamma radiation, a level far beyond what space‑qualified electronics can tolerate. The hardened chip, presented at ISSCC, kept functional performance with...
Bayer’s oral factor XIa inhibitor asundexian (BAY 2433334) has delivered positive Phase 3 data in the OCEANIC‑STROKE trial, positioning it as a potential first‑in‑class therapy for secondary stroke prevention. The drug aims to block pathological clot formation while minimizing the bleeding complications common...
Periodical cicada nymphs emerging from 17‑year underground burrows use a shadow‑seeking behavior called skototaxis to locate tree trunks for molting. Researchers studying Brood XIII observed that the insects move in near‑straight lines toward dark silhouettes, deviating minimally from the optimal path....
Scientists have identified a new opioid, N-desethyl‑fluornitrazene (DFNZ), derived from the long‑abandoned nitazene class, that delivers strong pain relief in rodents without causing respiratory depression or high addiction potential. The molecule acts as a μ‑opioid‑receptor superagonist yet exits the brain...
The FDA approved Eli Lilly’s oral GLP‑1 obesity pill orforglipron, marking the first FDA‑cleared oral weight‑loss drug. The approval puts Lilly into direct competition with Novo Nordisk, which is developing its own oral GLP‑1 candidate. Simultaneously, a draft Trump administration order could...
Late-in-life treadmill training mitigates gut microbiome imbalances and cardiovascular disease risk in mice "Here we demonstrate that a 12-wk treadmill running program in older mice rejuvenates the gut microbiome and attenuates markers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Notably, specific microbial taxa correlate...
Timeline of Artemis 2 key events (in Mission Elapsed Time) is in NASA's press kit. https://t.co/dKNkKadt10 NASA is posting updates on the Artemis blog. https://t.co/WeDPP3en7T TLI burn is next major event ~7:35 pm ET today (1d1h37s post-launch) https://t.co/kQH3BiJIJG
Researchers applied a machine‑learning model to sleep‑EEG recordings from more than 7,000 participants, generating a “brain age” index that reflects how fast the brain appears to age. The analysis showed that a brain age ten years older than a person’s...
Thanks to the US Space Force, there is finally tracking data for the "Russian Starlink" group, indicating that all 16 satellites are in their nearly original orbit, a few kilometers above the third stage of the Soyuz-2 rocket, which had...
March 2026 was the 4th warmest March on record for the planet's surface in the ERA5 dataset, coming in at 1.48C above preindustrial levels. https://t.co/Z0Jja9ncx4
The FDA gave fast‑track approval to Eli Lilly’s oral GLP‑1 obesity drug Foundayo, and the UK’s NHS announced a rollout of semaglutide (Wegovy) to over 1 million adults with prior heart attacks or strokes. Both moves broaden the therapeutic reach of GLP‑1...
This thread explores many interesting aspects of brainless clones. It raises the issue of whether this is even useful (including as animal model) It surfaces the terminology "decorticate" which is what's in the literature.
🧵The most underrated superpower in science: Bioinformaticians and wet biologists working together. Here’s why it matters. https://t.co/PRuGiq6CbV
Harvard investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital have started a randomized clinical trial to evaluate whether adding psychedelic coaching to FDA‑approved ketamine infusions improves outcomes for patients with treatment‑resistant depression. The study aims to settle a growing debate over the role...
NASA launched Artemis II on April 1, 2026, sending three Americans and a Canadian on a ten‑day circuit around the Moon – the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17. The 32‑story Space Launch System rocket carried 700,000 gallons of propellant, marking...
The UK’s National Health Service will prescribe semaglutide (Wegovy) to about 1.2 million adults who have had a heart attack or stroke and have a BMI of 27 or higher. The move follows NICE’s recommendation and a cost‑effective deal with Novo...
On their first apogee, nearly 44,000 miles from Earth, the Artemis II crew is getting a look at home unseen in 53 years. Here's Christina Koch describing her view of sunset in India a few minutes ago. https://t.co/uBZmQjCoFt
The National University of Singapore announced a wearable sensor that continuously monitors fatigue and stress, achieving 93% peak‑detection accuracy and ISO‑grade signal quality. The device, built on a metahydrogel platform with AI denoising, could give meditation practitioners a reliable physiological...
NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft, is teaming with National Geographic to document the journey. The four astronauts will serve as photographers, videographers, and filmmakers, creating content for the magazine, social media, and a documentary....
EnerVenue announced a $300 million Series B extension and the appointment of veteran executive Henning Rath as CEO. The funding, led by Full Vision Capital and backed by Hong Kong’s Investment Corporation, will fuel large‑scale manufacturing and a new regional headquarters in...
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University employed patient‑specific digital heart‑twin models to guide ventricular tachycardia ablations in ten patients, achieving arrhythmia‑free outcomes in eight and only brief episodes in two – a success rate well above the typical 60%. The FDA‑approved...
Scientists from the Harbin Institute of Technology have built DNA‑based nanorobots that can locate and bind SARS‑CoV‑2 virus particles in vitro. The machines, only a few dozen nanometers across, use strand‑displacement chemistry to change shape and deliver drugs directly to...
