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
How the Brain Builds Images Step-by-Step
A team at the Technical University of Munich used two‑photon microscopy and optogenetic silencing to record activity at individual thalamocortical synapses in live mice. Their data show that thalamic inputs to primary visual cortex are broadly tuned and lack orientation specificity, while orientation selectivity arises within cortical circuits. The findings directly confirm Hubel and Wiesel’s feed‑forward model and reveal that only corticocortical synapses exhibit calcium signals linked to learning. The study, published in Science, also introduces a versatile platform for probing synaptic function in health and disease.
Weizmann Scientists Engineer Tobacco Plant to Produce Five Psychedelics at Once
A team from the Weizmann Institute of Science has genetically modified a tobacco plant to produce five distinct psychedelic compounds in a single host. The breakthrough could streamline drug research and reduce ecological pressure on natural sources, while raising biosecurity...
This Chip Keeps Working at 700°C, Surviving Lava-Like Heat
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...
Cocrystal Pharma Shares Jump 51% After FDA Grants Fast Track to Norovirus Drug
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...
Valine Restriction Boosts Healthspan, Extends Male Lifespan
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: The Ion Channel Behind Pain, Migraines, and ME/CFS
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...
Aspect Biosystems – Announces $280 Million Partnership with Government of Canada to Advance Development of Bioengineered Cellular Medicines
Aspect Biosystems secured a CAD $79 million (≈ $58 million USD) investment from the Government of Canada, funding a CAD $280 million (≈ $204 million USD) multi‑year project to accelerate its bioengineered cellular medicines pipeline. The funding builds on a prior CAD $200 million (≈ $146 million USD) co‑investment announced in 2024 and will expand...
Omics Consortium Established to Supercharge Climate-Adapted Wheat Breeding
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,...
Kyoto University Unveils Moldable Microporous Aerogel Using Van Der Waals Forces
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...
Fossil Fuels Consume 11% of Global Energy; Renewables Need None
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 Pharma Shares Surge 69% After Partnering with Syngene to Produce MTX240
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...
Brain Scans Reveal the Neural Fingerprints of Dark Personality Traits
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...
Gravity From Positivity: Single Massive Spin-3/2 Particle Makes Gravity Logically Inevitable, Study Claims
Researchers at the Institute of Theoretical Physics and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have demonstrated that the mere presence of a single massive spin‑3/2 particle compels the emergence of gravity and supersymmetry. Using only causality and unitarity, they show that...
Why Protecting Flowering Plants Is Crucial to Our Future
Biologist David George Haskell argues that flowering plants are the planet’s "world creators," having sparked a 130‑million‑year surge in biodiversity and ecosystem productivity. Their genetic flexibility enabled them to colonize new habitats, from terrestrial prairies to underwater seagrass meadows, shaping...
Baby Stars Release Magnetic Bursts Forming Vast 1000 AU Gas Rings
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...
A Bessel Lens with a Flat Lens Unveils Technology that Creates a Nondiffracting Bottle Laser
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...
Chinese Satellite with Robotic 'Octopus Arm' Passes Key Refueling Test in Orbit — Making Longer-Lived Space Assets More Likely
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...
Seventy-Three Percent Of Marine Protected Areas Are Polluted By Sewage, Says Study
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...
How a Lush Miami Park Was Designed to Keep Flooding at Bay – in Pictures
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...
Software Package Makes Gene Regulation Easier to Study—And Tweak
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,...
See These Ziti-Sized Fish Scale a 50-Foot Waterfall
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...
These Tiny Fish Climb Waterfall Cliffs for 10 Hours
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...
Making a Star-Shaped Droplet
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 Spikes After Inactivity, Not Just Aging
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 Technology Successfully Steers Artemis II Launch
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...
Knocking on Quantum’s Door: QuiX Claims Photonic Error Reduction Breakthrough
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...
Review Explores Evidence for Folic Acid Supplementation to Prevent Neural Tube Defects
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...
Watering Smarter, Not More: A Modern-Day Robotic Divining Rod
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...
Major Ag Lender Warns of Arabica Land Losses From Climate Change
Rabobank, one of the world’s largest agricultural lenders, released a climate risk report warning that up to 20% of current Arabica coffee‑growing land could become unsuitable by 2050. Already 8% of the area is classified as unsuitable, with the most...
Accelerating Drug Discovery with “Paradigm Shifting” AI Model
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...
Does Artemis II Prove Space Tourism Might Soon Take Off?
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...
Memory Chip Survives Lava‑Hot Temperatures, Defying Thermal Limits
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....
Early Career Award Recipient Aleksandra Ćiprijanović Aims to Create Universal AI Analysis Framework
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...
Unprecedented Insight Into Memory Champion's Brain Reveals His Tricks
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...
Wi-Fi That Can Withstand a Nuclear Reactor
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...
Asundexian
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...
To Climb Trees, Cicadas Look to the Shadows
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....
New Opioid Painkiller Has Surprisingly Few Side Effects
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...
STAT+: Lilly’s Obesity Pill Enters the Oral GLP-1 Game, Novo Responds
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...
Exercise Restores Aging Mice Gut Microbiome, Cuts Heart Risk
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...
Artemis 2 TLI Burn Approaches: Updated Mission Timeline
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
How Old Is Your Brain, Exactly? Brain Age May Impact Dementia Risk
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...
US Space Force Confirms Russian Starlink Satellites Stay Near Rocket
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 Ranks Fourth Warmest, 1.48°C Above Pre‑industrial
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
FDA Approves Eli Lilly’s Foundayo Pill as NHS Expands Wegovy to Over 1 Million Heart Patients
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...
Brainless Clones: Expensive, Unethical, and Scientifically Useless
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.
Collaboration Between Bioinformaticians and Wet Biologists Drives Science
🧵The most underrated superpower in science: Bioinformaticians and wet biologists working together. Here’s why it matters. https://t.co/PRuGiq6CbV
Harvard Launches Trial to Test Psychedelic Coaching Boost for Ketamine Depression Therapy
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's Artemis II Launches First Crewed Moon Mission in 53 Years
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...
UK NHS to Offer Wegovy to 1.2 Million Heart Patients, Expanding GLP‑1 Use Beyond Obesity
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...