Today's Science Pulse
UK-led study reveals hidden massive star clusters deep within nearby galaxies
Astronomers using the VLA and ALMA uncovered previously unseen giant star clusters embedded deep inside nearby galaxies. The findings show that young stellar activity drives the evolution of these galaxies, reshaping their interstellar environments. Multiple observations confirm the clusters act as hidden “ring factories” of star formation.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Foundation Alloy raises $22M Series A
Midlife Vitamin D Deficiency Tied to Early Alzheimer‑Like Tau Build‑Up in Large Framingham Study
Researchers analyzing 793 adults from the Framingham Heart Study found that lower vitamin D levels measured at an average age of 39 were associated with greater tau protein deposits on brain scans 16 years later. The observational finding highlights a potentially modifiable risk factor for preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, prompting calls for earlier screening and supplementation.
Study Links Kids' Screen Time to Junk‑Food Cravings as AAP Guidelines Remain 2016 Standard
Researchers highlighted in an NPR‑backed interview say prolonged screen use triggers dopamine pathways that increase cravings for ultra‑processed snacks. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ most recent screen‑time guidance, published in 2016, still serves as the benchmark for parents.
The Deep Space Network Acquires Artemis II Signal
NASA’s Deep Space Network successfully captured the radio‑frequency signal from Artemis II, marking the first crewed deep‑space mission to be handed off from the Near Space Network to DSN. The handoff followed the April 1, 2026 launch, ending a 50‑year gap since a...
Brain Rewards Future Thinking and Imagination, New Studies Show
Professor Ekrem Dere and colleagues published evidence that mentally projecting into the future activates the brain's reward circuitry. A separate study shows that imagining activates many of the same neurons as actually seeing, linking perception and imagination to motivation.
New Four‑Term Equation Predicts Brain's Ability to Generalize Across Tasks
Harvard physicist SueYeon Chung and colleagues introduced a four‑term error equation that predicts how neural populations—biological and artificial—generalize to new tasks. Tested on rats, monkeys and deep‑learning models, the model offers a quantitative bridge between brain geometry and learning flexibility,...
Study Finds Same Neurons Fire When Seeing and Imagining, Boosting Mindfulness Visualization
Researchers at Cedars‑Sinai Medical Center and Caltech reported that roughly 40% of neurons in the ventral temporal cortex fire both when subjects view an object and when they picture it with eyes closed. The finding, published in Science, provides a...
Study Finds Maintaining Muscle Strength Cuts Mortality Risk for Older Women
A peer‑reviewed study released this week shows that older women who preserve muscle strength experience a significantly lower mortality risk than peers who lose strength, highlighting strength training as a key longevity strategy.
Wyss Institute’s Organ‑Chip Avatars Fly on Artemis II to Probe Astronaut Health
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Emulate, Inc. have placed human bone‑marrow organ‑chip “avatars” on NASA’s Artemis II mission, launched April 1, 2026, to study how radiation and microgravity affect astronaut tissue. The experiment could reshape space‑medicine research and give...
Target Insulin Resistance, Inflammation for Superior Diet Benefits
As a medical school professor, I teach my students about DASH, Mediterranean, and other "healthy" diets. They all help. But new research shows they're not targeting the right pathways. A massive study of 205,852 adults followed for 32 YEARS found that metabolic...
'Poor Man's Majoranas' Can Be Used as Quantum Spin Probes
A new theoretical study shows that “poor man’s Majoranas” – unprotected Majorana‑like states in a minimal two‑dot Kitaev chain – can act as quantum spin probes. By coupling an external magnetic spin to the chain, a spillover effect creates subgap...
Revvity Unveils Its Signals BioDesign Offering
Revvity Signals Software introduced Signals BioDesign, a cloud‑native molecular cloning platform aimed at biotech and pharma R&D teams. The solution consolidates Golden Gate, Gibson assembly, restriction/ligation, primer design, and sequencing analysis, supporting up to 1,000 constructs per project. Integrated with...
Oricell Therapeutics Secures $110 Million Pre‑IPO Funding, Spotlighting Investment Banking Activity
Oricell Therapeutics closed a pre‑IPO financing round exceeding $110 million, co‑led by Vivo Capital, Beijing Medical and Health Care Industry Investment Fund and Qiming Venture Partners. The capital will fund global expansion and pivotal trials for its lead CAR‑T candidate, while...
These Cheap Solar Cells Work Better because They’re Flawed
Lead‑halide perovskite solar cells, despite impurities, now achieve efficiencies comparable to silicon. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria identified a three‑dimensional network of domain walls that act as internal charge‑highways, explaining the material’s high performance. They visualized...
Artemis II to Splash Down Despite Heat‑shield Concerns, NASA Confident
NASA will bring the four‑person Artemis II crew back to Earth on Friday, using a steeper re‑entry trajectory to offset heat‑shield damage observed on Artemis I. Agency officials say the risk is managed, while some former astronauts continue to warn that the...
Infleqtion Partners with NASA to Deploy Quantum Hardware on ISS, Stock Rises 3%
Infleqtion, Inc. announced a partnership with NASA to deliver upgraded quantum hardware to the International Space Station via the Northrop Grumman‑24 cargo mission. The news sent the company's NYSE‑listed shares up 3.36% to $11.70, underscoring investor enthusiasm for space‑enabled quantum...
Why Humans Don’t Have Tails
Humans and other great apes lost their tails during the Miocene, roughly 20‑30 million years ago, as their ancestors diverged from tailed monkeys. Fossil evidence, especially the reduced sacrum of genera like Ekembo and Nacholapithecus, shows that the vertebral structure...
Sora Fuel Secures $14.6 Million to Scale Carbon‑Negative Jet Fuel
Sora Fuel announced a $14.6 million financing round co‑led by Spero Ventures and Inspired Capital. The Boston startup will use the capital to build a pilot facility that captures CO₂ from air and water, aiming to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)...
Artemis II Crew Set for Pacific Splashdown as NASA Eyes Safe Return
NASA’s Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—are slated to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego at 5:07 pm local time on Saturday. The re‑entry will test Orion’s heat shield at 2,760 °C and a peak velocity...
Exploring the Value of Quality Peptide Supplies
Peptide research has surged, making high‑purity synthetic peptides essential for reliable experiments. Quality hinges on ≥98% purity verified by HPLC, accurate molecular weight confirmed by mass spectrometry, and proper lyophilization with cold‑chain logistics. The article outlines a supplier checklist—third‑party testing,...
U.S. Scientists Build Copper-Contacted TOPCon Solar Cell with 24.3% Efficiency
U.S. researchers have demonstrated a TOPCon silicon solar cell that uses screen‑printed, fire‑through copper paste on the rear and silver on the front, combined with laser‑enhanced contact optimization (LECO). The LECO process reduces rear contact resistivity from roughly 300 mΩ·cm² to...
Chinese Researchers Demonstrate CRISPR Cure for Β‑Thalassaemia in Clinical Trial
A consortium of Chinese scientists has shown that an enhanced CRISPR/Cas9 platform can safely correct the genetic defect behind β‑Thalassaemia in patients. The study builds on the recent FDA approval of a CRISPR therapy for sickle‑cell anemia and suggests a...
April 10, 2019: First Look at a Black Hole
On April 10, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released the first direct image of a black hole, capturing the supermassive black hole at the core of galaxy M87. The picture, assembled from 2017 data collected by an eight‑site global array,...
Politicians Say Glyphosate Weedkiller Causes Cancer But Evidence Not Clear-Cut
An executive order from the Trump administration accelerates domestic glyphosate production, prompting Democratic lawmakers to label the herbicide a cancer risk. While some laboratory animal studies and epidemiological research on agricultural workers suggest a link to cancers, particularly non‑Hodgkin lymphoma,...
Senju Launches First-in-Class Dry Eye Disease Drug in Japan
Senju Pharma has launched Avarept, the first TRPV1 antagonist drug for dry eye disease (DED) in Japan, licensed from Mochida and distributed by Takeda. The ophthalmic suspension is priced at ¥577.50 (approximately $3.63) per 5 ml bottle. DED affects over 20 million...
Magnetic Biochar Nanocomposite Rapidly Removes Antibiotic Pollution From Wastewater
Researchers at Shenyang Agricultural University have engineered a magnetic biochar nanocomposite incorporating Fe₃O₄ and SnO₂ that removes tetracycline from wastewater through combined adsorption and light‑driven photocatalysis. The optimized material achieved 91.8% removal in three hours and retained over 82% efficiency...
NVIDIA Just Helped Map 31 Million Protein Complexes and the Health Tech Investment Implications Are Enormous
NVIDIA, DeepMind, EMBL‑EBI and Seoul National University expanded the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database to include 31 million predicted protein complexes—23.4 million homodimers and 7.6 million heterodimers—across 4,777 proteomes. Using H100 DGX Superpod clusters, MMseqs2‑GPU and TensorRT‑accelerated inference, the team generated 1.8 million high‑confidence homodimer...
Does Marriage Prevent Cancer? And Who Benefits the Most?
A new population‑level study of more than 4 million adults across 12 U.S. states found that people who have ever been married face a markedly lower risk of cancer than those who have never married. Men who never married were about...
This New Chip Could Slash Data Center Energy Waste
Engineers at UC San Diego have unveiled a hybrid DC‑DC converter that blends a piezoelectric resonator with conventional capacitors, achieving 96.2% efficiency when stepping 48 V down to 4.8 V—levels typical for data‑center GPUs. The prototype delivers roughly four times the output...
Senior Official Calls for Orion Valve Redesign, Embraces Transparency
During the final Artemis II mission briefing yesterday there were lots of questions about Orion's helium valves. Lower level officials were hesitant to provide too much information on the consequences. Halfway through the senior official on stage, Amit Kshatriya, clearly...
Oxford BioTherapeutics Partners with BMS to Develop Next-Generation T-Cell Engagers for Solid Tumors
Oxford BioTherapeutics (OBT) announced a multi‑year strategic collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to discover and develop next‑generation T‑cell engager therapies for solid tumors. OBT will apply its OGAP‑Verify platform to identify tumor‑selective antigens and design candidate molecules, while BMS...
I Found a New Meteor Shower, and It Comes From an Asteroid Getting Broken Down by the Sun
A team of planetary scientists identified a new meteor shower composed of 282 meteors that originated from a small asteroid shredded by extreme solar heating. The stream follows an orbit that brings it almost five times closer to the Sun...
Friday Hope: Quercetin, Vitamin D and Curcumin All Modulate TGF-Β and Its Effects
Recent research shows that quercetin, vitamin D and curcumin each suppress the TGF‑β signaling cascade, curbing fibroblast activation and extracellular‑matrix deposition. Laboratory and animal studies report reduced collagen‑I, collagen‑III, fibronectin and Smad phosphorylation after supplement treatment. These antifibrotic actions complement...
Potential Applications of the X-37B Space Plane
The U.S. Space Force’s X‑37B orbital testbed has proven its ability to stay aloft for months, maneuver efficiently, and return payloads to Earth for post‑flight analysis. Recent missions demonstrated aerobraking, laser‑communications trials, and a quantum inertial sensor, highlighting its role...
NMN Daily Restores NAD, Supports Healthy Aging
David Sinclair takes 1 gram of NMN every single day. Here's why. As you age, your body loses up to 50% of a molecule called NAD. NAD is a molecule that acts like fuel powering your sirtuin genes - the genes responsible...
Young Mitochondria Transplants Could Reverse Aging and Disease
What if aging, ALS, Parkinson's, stroke, and diabetes all share a single upstream cause — and the fix is a transplant the size of a bacterium? Dr. Catherine Baucom and Van Hipp of MitoSense explain how injecting healthy young mitochondria...
Conserving Intact Nature Should Be Top Priority for Meeting 2030 Targets -Study
A new study published this week argues that preserving intact ecosystems is the most effective strategy for achieving the 2030 global biodiversity targets. The researchers found that protecting existing natural habitats outperforms both halting species extinctions and large‑scale ecosystem restoration...
New Neuroscience Reveals Hidden Consciousness in Brain‑Injured Patients
In-depth piece in @nytimes - out yesterday - all about the neuroscience detecting covert consciousness after brain injury, and the ethics of communicating with these patients. Featuring (of course) the pioneering work of @Comadork @CIFAR_News https://t.co/lZw8eMaWOw
Upcoming arXiv Overlay Will Flag Errors in Papers
I expect that in a few months, someone will create an arxiv overlay that will summarize the small errors (or big ones) in each paper. That will be tremendously useful (once it's reliable).
Scientists Uncover the Neurological Mechanisms Behind Cannabis-Induced “Munchies”
A University of Calgary team published a study in PNAS showing that inhaled THC vapor triggers a robust, short‑lived increase in food consumption in both humans and rats. In a controlled trial with 82 volunteers, any dose of cannabis vapor...
Chang'e‑7 Mission Targets Lunar South Pole Exploration
The Planetary Society has a nice summary of what Chang’e-7 will do at the lunar South Pole. https://t.co/wmotppdsyf
Katherine Johnson Stresses Math's Vital Role in Space
Katherine Johnson, the brilliant mathematician who helped @NASA put a man on the Moon talks about the importance of math https://t.co/bgRPTeCXVc
Artemis II: As Humans Return to the Moon, Which of These 4 Futures Will We Choose?
Artemis II completed the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo, with four astronauts looping around the Moon and preparing for splash‑down. The mission revives NASA’s deep‑space agenda while highlighting policy friction as the U.S. Artemis Accords carve exclusive “safety zones” for...
Confusing the Normal Friday Linkfest for the Exceptional
The author’s new book *The Ecology of Ecologists* received its first scholarly review in the African Journal of Range Science, marking a notable academic endorsement. A recent experiment offering scientists a few hundred dollars to audit papers attracted minimal participation,...
Albedo Ratchets Up the Power for Its Second VLEO Flight
Albedo unveiled Vicinity, a very‑low‑Earth‑orbit (VLEO) satellite bus slated for a second flight in 2027. The bus boosts peak power to 3 kW and average power to 400 W while supporting up to one ton of payload and a five‑year lifespan at...
Regeneration Depends on Environment, Oxygen, and Epigenetics
Awakening latent regeneration in mammals “regeneration is not simply a fixed genetic trait but rather a state that is dependent on the extracellular environment, oxygen sensing, and epigenetics.” https://t.co/HtTXENUEur
3D Models of Plants for Research Available at Purdue Ag Alumni Seed Phenotyping Facility
Purdue's Ag Alumni Seed Phenotyping Facility (AAPF) now offers fully automated 3‑D plant models created from multi‑spectral RGB images and an X‑ray CT root scanner. Computer engineer Xiaomeng Liu developed an algorithm that stitches 2‑D photos into accurate three‑dimensional representations,...
Moog’s “Tip to Tail” Contributions to the Artemis II Flight
Moog Inc. supplied more than 100 actuation and control components for NASA’s Artemis II mission, ranging from thrust‑vector control on the Space Launch System to hatch‑opening actuators on Orion. The company’s actuator business has doubled in the past five years, prompting...
Diagnostics Lag Is Holding Back New Therapies, Says Study
A new UCSF analysis published in Science warns that diagnostic development is lagging behind therapeutic breakthroughs because of regulatory and reimbursement gaps. The authors highlight that nearly half of the world’s population—about 47%—has limited or no access to essential tests,...
ESA's Celeste IOV-1 Sends First Navigation Signals
.@esa's Celeste IOV-1 sat, built by @infoGMV /@OHB_SE & launched by @RocketLab March 28, sends 1st L-, S-band nav signals to ground. Mission's goal, w/ @Thales_Alenia_S-built IOV-2, is to register use of this spectrum w/ @ITU. IOV-2 signals expected...
March 2026: Climate in the USA
March 2026 recorded the hottest March ever for the contiguous United States, edging out the 2012 record by 0.45 °F. The temperature surge was concentrated in the West and Southwest, where March averages shattered previous highs by 4.1 °F and 5.3 °F respectively. Ten...