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
Exobasidium Arctostaphyli
On March 15, 2026, a citizen scientist documented Exobasidium arctostaphyli, a Basidiomycete fungus, in Monterey County, California. The observation includes high‑resolution photos but remains classified as "Needs ID" because it lacks multiple expert confirmations. The record adds a rare data point for a species that typically infects Arctostaphylus shrubs along the Pacific coast. This entry underscores the growing role of crowd‑sourced platforms in filling gaps in fungal biodiversity monitoring.
A Regional Network Is Racing to Save the Midwest’s Native Seeds
The Chicago Botanic Garden launched the Midwest Native Seed Network in 2024, uniting roughly 300 restoration ecologists, land managers and seed growers from 150 institutions across 11 states. The coalition’s first survey revealed that more than 500 native Midwestern species...
Wafer‐Scale Self‐Limiting Epitaxy of Bernal‐Stacked Single‐Crystal Boron Nitride
Researchers have demonstrated wafer‑scale epitaxial growth of single‑crystal Bernal‑stacked boron nitride (bBN) bilayers using flow‑modulated metal‑organic chemical vapor deposition on Ni(111)/sapphire. Monoatomic Ni step edges direct AB stacking, creating a self‑limiting bilayer with uniform thickness across the wafer. The resulting...
Dorothy Hodgkin: Part I
Dorothy Hodgkin, a pioneering British chemist, earned the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry while battling severe rheumatoid arthritis that had crippled her hands for over two decades. Despite limited finger mobility, she used X‑ray crystallography to elucidate the structures of...
China Completes Two Launches Today
China launched two missions today from separate interior spaceports. A Long March 6A lifted a military remote‑sensing satellite from Taiyuan, while a Kuaizhou‑11 placed eight satellites into orbit from Jiuquan. State media gave no details on the payloads or where the...
Chiral‐Induced Spin‐Polarized Molecular Switching in a Magneto‐Controlled 2D System Using Electrical Readouts
Researchers have engineered a chiral two‑dimensional germanane platform by covalently attaching cysteine molecules, creating a spin‑filtering material that exhibits reversible bistable quantum states. When paired with a ferromagnetic electrode, the system’s spin polarization can be switched by an external magnetic...
E‐Beam‐Mediated Rapid Synthesis of Graphite/Diamond Heterojunctions via (111) Facet‐Dirven Global Graphitization
Researchers have introduced a catalyst‑free, electron‑beam technique that rapidly converts diamond into graphite, forming in‑situ graphite/diamond heterojunctions. By targeting the (111) crystallographic facet, the process triggers a global graphitization pathway rather than traditional nucleation‑and‑growth. The method works on both polycrystalline...
Dual Tasks Impact Gait, Stability in Older Adults
A recent study examined how dual‑task conditions—simultaneously walking and performing a cognitive task—alter gait and postural stability in adults over 65. Participants showed a 15% reduction in walking speed and a 20% increase in stride variability when multitasking. Balance assessments...
Can Potatoes Grow on the Moon?
Researchers at Oregon State University recreated lunar regolith and mixed in 5% vermicompost, enabling potatoes to sprout and produce tubers over a two‑month period. The harvested potatoes showed activation of stress‑related genes and higher copper and zinc levels, yet their...
Skin‐Structure‐Inspired Hierarchical Metafabric for Multifunctional Personal Thermal and Moisture Management
Researchers introduced a skin‑structure‑inspired hierarchical metafabric that combines electrospun polyamide nanofibers with electrosprayed functional nanospheres. The composite achieves 97.3% solar reflectance, 91.3% infrared emissivity, and a 7.3 °C temperature drop under identical test conditions, surpassing traditional cotton fabrics. Simultaneously it delivers...
Inter‐Crystal Spacing of Implantable Polymeric Surfaces as a Key Suppressor of Microbial Adhesion.
The researchers demonstrated that repeated shape‑memory polymer (SMP) recovery aligns surface crystals and compresses amorphous gaps, dramatically reducing bacterial adhesion. In vitro assays with Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus showed progressive detachment as programming cycles increased. An SMP...
Recent Advances in Chemical Vapor Deposition of Two‐Dimensional Magnetic Oxides
Recent advances in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) have enabled scalable production of two‑dimensional magnetic oxides with tunable magnetic properties. The review classifies these oxides by structural dimensionality and composition, and details vapor‑phase techniques such as additive‑assisted growth, confined epitaxy, and...
Semiconducting Covalent Organic Frameworks as Functional Dopants for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells
Researchers introduced pyrene‑based covalent organic frameworks (PyCOFs) as bulk dopants for formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) perovskite solar cells. The COFs feature π‑conjugated linkages and Lewis‑basic groups (–C≡N, –C═N–, –SH) that coordinate with undercoordinated Pb2+ sites, passivating deep traps without altering...
More Young People Are Having Memory Issues / Scientists Learned Nothing From Jurassic Park / Your Annoying Relatives Might Be...
In this episode, host Keith Conrad discusses a new study showing rising memory and cognitive issues among younger adults, attributing them to digital distractions and suggesting practical focus habits like summarizing chapters and using Pomodoro. He then explores the controversial...
#384 – Special Episode — Obicetrapib: The CETP Inhibitor with Cardiovascular Benefits and Potential Alzheimer’s Prevention
Obicetrapib, a next‑generation CETP inhibitor, has demonstrated potent LDL‑C, apoB, and Lp(a) reductions in a large phase III lipid trial. A pre‑specified biomarker sub‑study reported a marked attenuation of p‑tau217 progression, especially among APOE4/4 carriers, hinting at a potential Alzheimer’s‑related benefit....
Red Meat in Plant-Forward Diet Impacts Aging Biomarkers
Effects of Minimally Processed Red Meat within a Plant-Forward Diet on Biomarkers of Physical and Cognitive Aging: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Feeding Trial https://t.co/hpjHcUsbtP https://t.co/Kf2yZhbmVe
Denali’s Hunter Syndrome Candidate in the Spotlight After REGENXBIO Rejection
REGENXBIO's gene therapy RGX‑121 for Hunter syndrome received an FDA Complete Response Letter, with the agency flagging patient‑eligibility definitions, natural‑history control comparability, and the surrogate endpoint as problematic. The rejection redirects focus to Denali Therapeutics, whose enzyme‑replacement candidate tividenofusp alfa...
The Three Great Lies About Climate Change
The article debunks three common myths about climate change: that it is not happening, that mitigation is quick, easy and cheap, and that the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is the primary barrier to essential infrastructure projects. It cites recent...
Aging Driven by DNA Instability and Mitochondrial Decline
So great to see the OG work that helped spark the longevity revolution taken to the next level: New paper confirms two main causes of aging: 1. DNA instability -> epigenetic noise 2. Mitochondrial decline ...independently causing failure of the cell Is this relevant to...
Large-Scale Neuroimaging Datasets Often Lack Information Specific to Women’s Health, Constraining AI’s Analysis Potential
Large‑scale neuroimaging studies largely omit women‑specific health information, limiting AI’s ability to model female brain dynamics. Only about 0.5 % of neuroscience papers address women’s health, and few datasets capture menstrual, pregnancy, or menopause data. Recent precision‑imaging work and the Women’s...
Judith Curry Led Trump‑appointed Group to Undermine EPA Science
#JudithCurry was a key member of the "unlawful" working group tasked by the Trump administration with discrediting the science underlying the EPA endangerment finding (the legal basis for regulating carbon emissions).
Samsung Bioepis and Epis NexLab Sign Research Collaboration and License Agreement with G2GBIO to Develop Novel Assets Including Long-Acting Semaglutide
Samsung Bioepis and its sister firm Epis NexLab have signed a research collaboration and exclusive license agreement with G2GBIO to develop a long‑acting semaglutide formulation using G2GBIO’s proprietary microsphere technology. The deal grants Samsung Bioepis full rights to the semaglutide...
Vitamin B2 Pathway Identified as Potential Target for Cancer Therapy
A CRISPR‑Cas9 screen revealed that riboflavin (vitamin B2) sustains the ferroptosis suppressor protein FSP1, shielding cancer cells from iron‑driven lipid peroxidation. Depleting vitamin B2 destabilizes FSP1 and renders tumor cells highly susceptible to ferroptosis. The researchers demonstrated that roseoflavin, a bacterial analog...
Nicotinamide Study on Amyloid Beta Retracted Over Editing Concerns
FYI - Retracted paper in the NAD field: Nicotinamide Ameliorates Amyloid Beta-Induced Neurodegeneration in Adult Mouse Brain. The editors lost confidence in the findings after "indications" of inappropriate editing & partial duplication https://t.co/WVJBCeKjQ4 https://t.co/lmUObhFxcK
The UK Will Invest Billions to Build a Nuclear Fusion Industry
Britain’s science minister unveiled a £2.5 billion, five‑year programme to jump‑start a domestic nuclear‑fusion industry. The core of the plan is a £1.3 billion investment in the STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) prototype at the former West Burton coal site, targeted...
Scientists Discover AI Can Make Humans More Creative
Swansea University researchers found that AI can act as a creative collaborator, not just an efficiency tool. In a study of over 800 participants designing virtual cars, an AI system using MAP‑Elites generated diverse galleries of designs, including intentionally flawed...
Reading Europa's Fingerprints
A new James Webb Space Telescope study used spectral decomposition to map Europa’s surface chemistry, revealing that carbon dioxide extends far beyond the previously isolated Tara Regio chaos terrain. The CO₂‑rich areas align with unusual ice textures, indicating that the...
Life, But Not As We Know It
A new study by Sara Walker et al. proposes using Assembly Theory to detect extraterrestrial life by quantifying how difficult molecules are to assemble. Instead of searching for Earth‑like biosignature gases, the approach assigns an Assembly Index to atmospheric compounds, with...
Timely Scan Could Save Lives of Emergency Department Patients with Blood in Urine
The WASHOUT study, presented at the EAU26 congress, found that one in ten emergency‑department patients presenting with visible blood in urine (hematuria) dies within three months. A diagnostic scan—CT or cystoscopy—performed within 48 hours cut mortality risk and accelerated cancer detection,...
Graph AI Accelerates Longevity Drug Discovery in New Alliance
Solve Aging: Biophytis and LynxKite are expanding their alliance to use graph-based AI to speed discovery of new longevity drugs, aiming to map complex aging biology and surface novel targets for age-related disease. The “AI x longevity” stack is quietly...
Little Liars: Babies Younger than One Practise Deceit, Study Suggests
Researchers surveyed 750 parents across the UK, US, Australia and Canada and found that babies as young as eight months engage in basic deceptive acts, such as pretending not to hear or hiding objects. By ten months, roughly a quarter...
Integrating Behavioural Experimental Findings Into Dynamical Models to Inform Social Change Interventions
The paper proposes a framework that fuses behavioural experiment results with dynamical systems models to better predict and steer collective social change. By grounding threshold and cascade models in empirical decision‑making data, the authors show how interventions can be calibrated...
Young Meteorologist Chris Martz, Dubbed ‘Anti-Greta Thunberg,’ Calls for Data-Driven Climate Debate
Young meteorologist Chris Martz, dubbed the "anti‑Greta Thunberg," has transitioned from mainstream climate positions to a data‑focused stance after independent research. He now serves as a policy analyst and meteorologist for the Washington‑based Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow. Martz leverages...
Now They Are Actually Admitting That There Is A Massive "Gravity Hole" Underneath Antarctica?
Scientists have confirmed that Antarctica sits above the planet's strongest gravity anomaly, often called a "gravity hole." Using global earthquake recordings and physics‑based modeling, researchers reconstructed a three‑dimensional view of the low‑density mantle beneath the continent. The study, published in...
Singapore: AI, Genomics to Advance Precision Cancer Diagnostics
Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research has teamed with a precision‑oncology firm and the National Cancer Centre to launch UNITED 2.0, a SG$6 million three‑year project aimed at a clinical‑grade cancer profiling test. The new platform will replace the gene‑panel approach...
Hong Kong: Cross-Border Corridor to Drive Medical Innovation
The University of Hong Kong and Suzhou Industrial Park have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the HKU‑Suzhou Innovation Corridor, a cross‑border platform for medical technology development. The corridor will link HKU’s research expertise with Suzhou’s clinical and biotech...
Success Stories: Eyeing Underground Utility
Common Ground Alliance estimates annual U.S. social costs of underground utility damage at about $30 billion. Purdue University engineers have created a patent‑pending method that combines ground‑penetrating radar with a Bayesian uncertainty‑aware model to pinpoint pipe location, orientation, and radius. The...
Breast Milk Shifts Daily: Match AM/PM Feedings
Breast milk has a clock. Morning milk has higher cortisol and stimulating amino acids to help the baby wake up. Evening milk has more melatonin and nucleotides that have a sleep inducing effect on the nervous system to help the baby...
Pregnancy Changes the Brain, and We Are only Beginning to Understand How and Why
A longitudinal study of 127 first‑time mothers scanned before conception, twice during pregnancy, and at one and six months postpartum reveals a striking ~5% reduction in gray‑matter volume in regions governing emotion and social perception. The loss peaks in the...
What Pet Cats Can Tell Us About Human Cancer
Researchers sequenced DNA from 500 domestic‑cat tumors, covering 13 cancer types, and mapped mutations in 1,000 genes commonly altered in human cancers. The study found that TP53 and PIK3CA are among the most frequently mutated genes in cats, mirroring patterns...
Immigrants Powered Moon Landing and Modern Chip Revolution
"We were doing just fine without immigrants" is a commonly repeated trope. Just to to take the examples listed and the immigrants who made essential contributions... Landing on the moon: Wernher von Braun (Germany) → Chief architect of the Saturn V rocket, the...
Largest Ever Parkinson’s Study Shows How Symptoms Differ Between Men and Women
A new Australian study of 10,929 Parkinson’s patients – the largest cohort worldwide – reveals pronounced gender differences in symptom patterns and risk exposures. Non‑motor symptoms dominate, with 96% reporting sleep disturbances and two‑thirds experiencing pain, memory changes, or dizziness....
Seabird Guano Boosts Plant Growth, Stabilizes Coastal Dunes
Seabird guano accelerates plant growth on barrier islands, enhancing dune formation and aiding recovery from coastal erosion, highlighting the ecological role of birds in shaping and stabilizing vulnerable coastal landscapes. coastalecology
Genetics Shapes Smoking Habits, Recovery, and Free Will Beliefs
“Everything is related to your genetics, both your smoking and your quitting smoking, both your addiction and your recovery. Even your belief in free will is heritable and is more similar in identical twins.” — @kph3k 🔗 https://t.co/BxddkybDz0 https://t.co/LxTwp2vXIX
New Microscope Offers Sharper View Into Momentum Space
Researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich have unveiled a home‑built momentum microscope that uses a tabletop UV laser instead of large accelerator facilities. The new electron‑optics design delivers sharper momentum‑space images and captures spin, orbital and temporal information in a single measurement....
GLP‑1 Drugs: Promising yet Unproven Healthspan Extension
GLP-1 drugs for extending healthspan? Intriguing but we're a long way off from evidence Discussed at length in Super Agers as a candidate drug beyond lifestyle + factors @TheEconomist gift link https://t.co/A2dpfcnApF https://t.co/3gY8iACeGs
EPA Outperforms DHA in Sleep‑deprivation Cognitive Decline
Dietary EPA shows superior efficacy over DHA in chronic sleep deprivation-induced cognitive decline by disrupting the crosstalk between intestinal ferroptosis and gut-derived Aβ production 🧠👨🏻⚕️ 🔗https://t.co/rqUO058bO9 https://t.co/Kr137l2BvH
Low-Cost Preventive Measures Could Mitigate Spread of Bacteria Causing Neonatal Mortality
A joint Boston University and LSHTM study shows that a low‑cost infection‑prevention‑and‑control bundle temporarily halted a Klebsiella pneumoniae outbreak in a Zambian NICU, reducing neonatal mortality and suspected sepsis. Whole‑genome sequencing of 411 isolates identified hospital‑origin transmission and highlighted the...
Exercise Boosts BDNF, Enhancing Brain Plasticity
Exercise increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor, supporting brain plasticity. Trends in Neurosciences, 2002. Cotman and Berchtold https://t.co/jux3TwN0fS
High FSH, Not Low Estrogen, Drives Cognitive Decline
Follicle-stimulating hormone linked to cognitive decline and amyloid burden in postmenopausal women 👉"Elevated FSH, not low E2, is linked to cognitive decline and Aβ pathology in postmenopausal women." https://t.co/EkFxbjsao9