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.
In summer 2021 the author published a BMJ investigation alleging that leading science journalists had embraced a virologist‑led narrative dismissing a lab‑origin theory for COVID‑19. New email disclosures from the nonprofit U.S. Right to Know reveal NIH officials and the same virologists sharing the BMJ piece and coordinating a contact with a BMJ editor about the author. The correspondence suggests a concerted effort to challenge the investigation’s findings. The leak underscores ongoing tensions over pandemic origin research and the influence of scientific networks on media coverage.
China’s space agency has identified Aten‑class asteroid 2016 WP8 as the target for its first planetary‑defense kinetic‑impact test, slated for a December 2027 launch on a Long March 3B from Xichang. The mission will deploy two spacecraft—a kinetic impactor that will strike the asteroid...
Sanofi’s oral glucosylceramide synthase inhibitor venglustat has earned U.S. FDA breakthrough therapy designation for treating the neurological aspects of type 3 Gaucher disease. The designation follows the Phase III LEAP2MONO trial, which showed significant improvements in motor and cognitive scores compared with...
The UK Space Agency and Ukraine’s State Space Agency have signed a memorandum of understanding, marking the first agency‑to‑agency space agreement between the two nations. The MoU commits both parties to collaborate on civil and commercial space projects, supporting the...
A new study shows Earth hosts a broader range of analog sites that replicate Titan’s methane‑driven hydrology than previously thought. These terrestrial analogs let scientists test instruments, refine models, and train for extreme conditions before missions launch. The research underpins...
Excalipoint Therapeutics, a Shanghai‑based biotech, closed a $68.7 million seed round, including a $41 million founding raise and a $27.7 million extension led by MPCi, Centurium Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, and Eisai Innovation. The capital will fund six tri‑specific T‑cell engager candidates, notably...
Johnson & Johnson received FDA clearance for Icotyde, the first oral daily pill for moderate‑to‑severe plaque psoriasis. The drug, originally called icotrokinra, is approved for patients aged 12 and older and is designed to replicate the efficacy of injectable biologics...
Researchers in Shenzhen have built a superconducting microwave quantum network that remains coherent despite thermal noise, using radiative cooling and tunable couplers to purge heat photons. The system transmits quantum states through a channel warmed to up to 4 K and...
Public health officials confirmed a fatal meningococcal group B outbreak in Kent, highlighting a less‑targeted strain. The letter notes that vaccination coverage among university students has slipped since the COVID‑19 pandemic, increasing vulnerability in high‑density campuses. It urges routine provision of...
A phase 2 trial of the Na‑GST1/Al–CpG vaccine demonstrated near‑complete protection against hookworm infection in healthy adults, with vaccinated participants shedding a median of zero eggs per gram versus 67 in the placebo group. The study, conducted in Washington, DC,...
Researchers from Shanghai Institute of Technology and partners have created a highly porous NiCo₂V₂O₈@GO hollow‑sphere electrode that dramatically improves supercapacitor performance. The yolk‑double‑shell architecture, coated with graphene oxide, delivers a specific capacitance of 1683 C·g⁻¹ at 1 A·g⁻¹ and retains 87% at...
Researchers have engineered microscopic capsules made from red blood cell membranes that encase single, healthy mitochondria and can be injected into animals. In mouse models of Parkinson‑like disease and Leigh syndrome, the capsules restored neuronal function, improved motor activity, and...
The "CO₂ greening story" is bad science @DavidUllrich202 It ignores the system Any growth boost is overwhelmed by heat, water stress, and nutrient limits. Net effect: weaker carbon uptake, not stronger. This is only "news" to those ignorant enough to be played...
The International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC) has issued new minimal specifications to modernise how nucleotide sequence data and metadata are submitted and exchanged. The framework outlines supported data types, required metadata, linkage rules, and quality checks, creating a unified...
Recent research frames autophagy as a double‑edged sword in aging, proposing a threshold model where modest autophagic flux preserves mitochondrial health and blocks senescence, while excessive autophagy sustains the metabolic needs of established senescent cells. Above the damage threshold, autophagy...
Libby Houston, an 80‑year‑old poet‑botanist, has spent decades cataloguing whitebeam trees in England’s Avon Gorge, even discovering a rare silver‑leafed species that now bears her name. A new 13‑minute documentary by Alex Darby and Jake Morris captures her dual passion...
Stanford bioengineers have unveiled a "reverse translation" chemistry that tags amino acids with DNA barcodes, allowing existing high‑throughput DNA sequencers to read protein sequences. The method achieves single‑molecule sensitivity, potentially analyzing thousands of cells and detecting proteins a thousand times...
In this episode, Dr. Gil Blander talks with Dr. Terry Moffitt, a leading psychologist behind the 50‑year Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, about how early‑life mental health influences the biological pace of aging. Dr. Moffitt explains the study’s unique...
A 31‑year‑old man in Wardha, India, sought care for a severe urinary‑tract infection and was unexpectedly diagnosed with a supernumerary kidney fused to his right kidney, forming a horseshoe shape. CT imaging revealed swollen kidneys and calculi, leading doctors to...
In the first quarter of 2026 ESA demonstrated Europe’s autonomous heavy‑lift capability with the successful four‑booster Ariane 6 launch. Copernicus‑3 radar monitored severe flooding in Bordeaux, while astronaut Sophie Adenot joined the International Space Station. A student team prepared a CubeSat...
Today, high above your head, 2 human beings will be working outside in the eternal emptiness of the universe. astro_chrisw (1st spacewalk) & astro_jessica (4th) are improving solar arrays. Needed, as the International Space Station will be up & working through...
Why “CPT” is the Universe’s most unbreakable symmetry Some symmetries are always preserved, although things could be different if they weren't. But particle physics's CPT symmetry may truly be unbreakable. https://t.co/tcGehBgNs7
The APEC Climate Centre issued an El Niño watch, forecasting a warming phase through mid‑2026 with above‑normal temperatures across most regions. Rainfall will become uneven, bringing wetter conditions in parts of the Pacific and drier, below‑normal precipitation over the Maritime Continent,...
The US now has the production capacity to supply 100% of its energy-storage systems domestically https://t.co/WdSoY7xi2L
Researchers at the University of Łódź observed that blue tits deliberately place cigarette butts in their nests, a behavior echoed in finches across the Americas and New Zealand. The study tracked 99 hatchlings in three nest‑box conditions and found that tobacco‑derived...
The 30th UN climate conference (COP30) convened in Brazil in November 2025, branding itself as a "COP of implementation" a decade after the Paris Agreement. Delegates adopted the non‑binding Belém Package, which pledges to triple adaptation finance for vulnerable nations...
The European Space Agency awarded OHB Sweden a contract to build 20 satellites for the EPS‑Sterna weather constellation, with six operational units at any time and two spares. The first six satellites are targeted for launch in 2029, and the...
Charles Bennett and Gilles Brassard, pioneers of quantum information theory, have been awarded the ACM A.M. Turing Award. Their 1979 collaboration produced the BB84 protocol, the first quantum key distribution scheme, and laid the groundwork for quantum teleportation and the...
Researchers at RMIT University have created a fabric coated with nanodiamond particles that can pull heat from the body and release it, lowering skin temperature by about 2‑3 °C. The diamonds are synthesized from carbon waste such as plastic, making the...
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Climate Impacts Summary and Outlook released its winter 2025‑2026 edition, a quarterly briefing produced by the MARISA partnership and funded by NOAA. It reviews significant weather events from December 2025 to February 2026, compares seasonal temperature and...
New nuclear reactor designs are poised to reshape how high‑level waste is handled. While most existing reactors rely on water pools and dry casks, advanced concepts such as TRISO‑fuel, molten‑salt, and sodium‑cooled fast reactors introduce bulkier or hotter spent fuel...
A retrospective cohort of 201 Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients and 202 matched controls revealed that a lower albumin‑globulin ratio (AGR) is strongly associated with poorer motor function and faster loss of ambulation. Logistic and Cox models showed lower AGR...
Platinum, long‑held as the benchmark electrocatalyst for acidic hydrogen evolution, is shown to absorb hydrogen and deuterium deep within its lattice rather than merely at the surface. Operando quartz crystal microbalance measurements revealed an irreversible mass increase during water splitting,...
A new knowledge‑infused neural framework extracts non‑taxonomic and ternary relations from patient‑generated texts, addressing gaps left by taxonomic‑only approaches. Using a four‑layer architecture, delayed fusion, rule‑based dictionaries, and BioBERT validation, the system processes 38,115 anxiety and depression documents. It achieves...
Researchers used Apple HealthKit to continuously monitor gait in a 77‑year‑old man with Parkinson’s disease from January 2024 through December 2025. The study found a 14.3 % reduction in walking speed and a 31 % decrease in step length over the year, with step...
A new study examines how the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Dry Spell Index (DSI) relate to maize productivity in Jammu & Kashmir’s rain‑fed, temperate districts from 1997 to 2024. The analysis finds that DSI better captures intra‑seasonal dry...
A cross‑sectional study of 124 term infants examined how biological, maternal, and environmental factors predict neurodevelopment at six months using the ASQ‑3. Hierarchical regression showed that birth weight was the strongest and most consistent predictor across communication, gross motor, problem‑solving,...
In the Net Hero Podcast, Robin Saluoks of eAgronom argues that soil, not trees, holds the majority of terrestrial carbon and is a critical yet deteriorating climate asset. He notes that intensive farming has degraded roughly a third of global...
Chile’s ambassador Julio Cordano unveiled a roadmap to revive the stalled UN plastics treaty process. The plan calls for informal talks in Nairobi from June 30 to July 3, followed by virtual consultations every four to six weeks and a possible second in‑person...
In this episode, Immuneering CEO Ben Zeskin explains the company’s novel “deep cyclic inhibition” dosing strategy, which delivers intense, short‑duration MEK inhibition pulses instead of continuous suppression. By restoring the natural intermittent signaling rhythm in healthy cells while repeatedly ambushing...
Researchers evaluated leaf extracts from three Italian plants for activity against triple‑negative breast cancer (TNBC). Salvia pratensis showed the strongest selective effect, cutting viability of MDA‑MB‑231 cells by roughly one‑third while sparing non‑cancerous MCF‑10A cells. The extract triggered mitochondrial reactive...
A retrospective study of 78 Saudi hospital patients with Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) found that continuous enteral feeding markedly lowered diarrhea severity compared with intermittent feeding (OR = 7.91, p < 0.001). Continuous feeding also stabilized serum sodium and reduced biochemical instability, while intermittent...
A randomized, double‑blind pilot trial examined 8‑week consumption of a fermented milk protein beverage versus an equivalent non‑fermented milk protein drink and a protein‑free placebo in 44 prepubertal boys who play soccer. Both fermented and non‑fermented milk protein groups showed...
The review highlights Rehmannia glutinosa polysaccharides (RGPs) as multifunctional heteropolysaccharides with immunomodulatory, anti‑inflammatory, antitumor, anti‑aging, and metabolic benefits. It details how structural attributes—molecular weight, monosaccharide composition, and glycosidic linkages—drive these activities and why poor oral bioavailability and batch variability impede...
Researchers have developed active bio‑packaging films by reinforcing poly(3‑hydroxybutyrate‑co‑3‑hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx) with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. The ZnO nanofiller enhances mechanical stiffness, thermal stability, oxygen‑barrier performance, and provides antimicrobial and UV‑shielding functions. Real‑food trials show refrigerated shelf‑life extensions from 6‑8 days...
A large NHANES analysis of 21,360 adults examined the triglyceride‑glucose (TyG) index’s relationship with melanoma prevalence and all‑cause mortality, complemented by a 475‑patient hospital cohort. While higher TyG tertiles initially appeared linked to increased mortality, the association vanished after full...
Voro Therapeutics has signed a research collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo’s San Diego research institute to create tumor‑activated antibody‑drug conjugates (ADCs) using Voro’s PrimeBody platform. The partnership will focus on masked ADCs that employ proprietary masking domains and protease‑cleavable linkers to achieve...
Chinese researchers at Shandong University have engineered the probiotic strain Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 to synthesize and deliver the anticancer drug Romidepsin directly within breast‑tumor tissue in mice. The bacteria colonized the tumors, releasing the drug locally and achieving tumor‑inhibiting...
The polyvagal theory, once a cornerstone of trauma‑informed therapy, has been declared untenable by a 38‑author neurophysiological review published in Clinical Neuropsychiatry. The paper dismantles the theory's core claims about vagal anatomy, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and evolutionary hierarchy, arguing they...
Osaka Metropolitan University researchers unveiled an AI‑driven robot that evaluates the “harvest‑ease” of each tomato before attempting to pick it. The system blends image recognition with statistical analysis to select optimal picking angles, achieving an 81% success rate in field...
