Know What's Happening in Science
Know What's Happening in Science
Artemis II crew prepares for historic lunar flyby
NASA’s Artemis II astronauts have passed the mission’s halfway point and are gearing up for a five‑hour lunar flyby on April 6, during which they will photograph the Moon’s far side. Orion has completed the trans‑lunar injection burn, placing the crew on a free‑return trajectory for the flyby.
Researchers have created a silicon chip that integrates a 61,952‑pixel focal‑plane array capable of both emitting and receiving FMCW LiDAR signals, delivering 4D imaging that captures distance and speed simultaneously. The prototype generated detailed 3D point clouds at ranges from 6 to 65 meters and measured moving objects’ velocity instantly. By using a continuous‑wave laser instead of pulsed light, the sensor achieves a compact, cost‑effective form factor suitable for robots and drones. The team notes further work is needed on resolution and range before commercial rollout.
A Dartmouth study published in PNAS shows that social information can reshape how people experience physical pain, observe others in pain, and assess mentally demanding tasks. Participants received fabricated “social cues” about how painful or effortful prior participants found an...
NASA gave Artemis 2 a tentative go‑ahead for an April 1‑6 launch, with the Space Launch System slated to roll out on March 19 after a successful flight‑readiness review. The crew, including NASA’s Wiseman, Glover, Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen, confirmed readiness, while...
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has launched a three‑phase prize challenge, managed by yet2, to develop technologies that stop aquatic invasive species from hitchhiking in watercraft ballast water. The competition offers a total prize pool of $550,000. It targets high‑risk...
The OpenFold Consortium unveiled OpenFold3’s major update, releasing the full training datasets, model weights, code, and evaluation scripts via AWS’s Registry of Open Data. The open‑source co‑folding system now includes a dedicated portal with onboarding documentation and a public support...
OpenAI partnered with amplitude researchers to use an internal LLM, dubbed GPT‑5.2 Pro, to conjecture and prove a simplified scattering‑amplitude formula (equation 39) in a twelve‑hour run. The accompanying paper and press release provide scant detail on prompts, model outputs, or...
Conversation relies on rapid brain predictions that keep turn‑taking gaps around 200 milliseconds. People with mild‑to‑moderate hearing loss use these predictive cues more heavily when listening conditions are comfortable, compensating for reduced auditory input. In noisy or low‑volume settings the extra...
Paramagnetic materials exhibit a weak, positive attraction to magnetic fields due to unpaired electron spins aligning with an external field. Their magnetic susceptibility is small (10⁻³‑10⁻⁵) and follows Curie’s Law, decreasing as temperature rises. In the space economy, these materials...
Black carbon is the 2nd-leading cause of global warming after CO2, with 1 million x the warming per unit mass as CO2, but with a lifetime of only a few weeks in the air versus decades for CO2 Oil fires produce...
Agnitron Technology’s Agilis 100 MOCVD platform has been selected by the Institute for Materials Chemistry at IFW Dresden to advance precursor chemistry and ultra‑wide‑bandgap semiconductor research. The system’s patented showerhead and low‑vapor‑pressure delivery enable flexible handling of novel metal‑organic precursors. Initial...
South Africa has signed the non‑binding Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy Capacity by 2050, joining 33 other nations at the 2023 UN climate summit in Dubai. The move was announced at the Africa Energy Indaba, where the energy minister called...
Shilpa Biologicals and mAbTree Biologics received FDA orphan drug designation for an investigational monoclonal antibody that targets an immune‑evasion pathway in essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera. The designation validates the novel mechanism and accelerates plans for IND‑enabling studies and first‑in‑human...
Researchers reported a two‑stage tandem system that converts CO₂ and water into carbon nanofibers at 450 °C and ambient pressure. By varying the palladium‑to‑copper atomic ratio in a Pd‑Cu electrocatalyst, they tuned the syngas composition, achieving a peak CO partial current...
A new Physical Review B feasibility study finds that both the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) and quantum phase estimation (QPE) algorithms face prohibitive technical barriers for quantum chemistry. VQE demands error rates far below today’s noisy devices and can require decades...
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) continues to deliver high‑resolution lunar imagery, with its March 2026 Science Image of the Month highlighting an unnamed crater illuminated by early‑morning sunlight. The image, captured on 30 August 2023 by LROC, showcases the Moon’s rugged terrain and...
The J. Craig Venter Institute unveiled a 4D, nanoscale simulation that tracks the entire life cycle of a minimal bacterial cell, marking a milestone for synthetic biology. A new gene‑editing platform designs DNA donors that dodge immune detection, enabling safer,...
A new analysis of Australopithecus pelvis fossils reveals that these early hominins experienced birth forces comparable to modern humans, exposing mothers to significant perineal stress and potential tearing. Researchers, including midwife Pierre Frémondière, argue that the pelvic floor was subjected...
San Francisco biotech Tahoe Therapeutics is building the world’s largest single‑cell atlas of cell‑chemical interactions, leveraging Integra Biosciences’ Assist Plus pipetting robot, Parse Biosciences’ Evercode scRNA‑seq kits, and its own AI analytics. Automation has increased single‑cell preparation throughput more than fivefold...
Researchers conducted a meta‑analysis of 23 studies covering 228 mining‑related samples to assess the bioaccessibility of lead and arsenic. They found that total metal concentrations and pH are the strongest predictors of how much of these contaminants become soluble in...
They say motherhood changes you forever. Anyone who's a mother knows this is 100% true. But most people don't realize that it happens at a cellular level. ...
A recent PLOS Biology study shows that acute cortisol administration disrupts grid‑cell activity in the entorhinal cortex, impairing participants' ability to navigate virtual environments. The hormone blurs the brain's internal coordinate system, leading to larger positional errors, especially when landmarks...
The latest ASCO GU strategic intelligence report spotlights renal cell carcinoma (RCC) as a field entering a transformative phase. Analysts highlight emerging biomarkers, novel HIF‑2α inhibitors, and evolving immunotherapy combinations as potential high‑impact developments. While these advances promise to reshape...
Recent neuroscience research is reshaping our understanding of brain health by highlighting ethnic diversity in Alzheimer’s biomarkers, a blood‑based test that predicts dementia decades before symptoms, and sex‑specific effects of GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs. Advanced genomic tools uncovered new autism‑linked variants,...
China’s National Medical Products Administration has granted the first commercial approval for an invasive brain‑computer interface, developed by Shanghai‑based Neuracle Medical Technology. The coin‑sized, wireless implant sits on the brain’s surface and enables users with partial spinal‑cord injuries to operate...
A nationwide Phase 3 trial found that a home‑based exercise regimen called EXCAP can protect chemotherapy patients from the cognitive fog known as “chemo brain.” Participants who followed a structured walking and resistance‑band program maintained their baseline activity levels, while those...
An international team led by ESA has commissioned the first European galactic cosmic ray (GCR) simulator at the GSI/FAIR accelerator in Darmstadt. Using a hybrid active‑passive approach that varies iron ion beams and passive modulators, the facility reproduces the mixed...
Researchers have developed a self‑amplifying RNA injection that directs skeletal muscle to produce the heart‑healing peptide Nppa, dramatically reducing scar formation in pig models of myocardial infarction. The lipid‑nanoparticle‑delivered RNA sustains protein expression for at least four weeks, far outlasting...
China’s state‑run media announced that construction of the Tianwen‑3 Mars sample‑return spacecraft will begin this year, with a launch planned for 2028. The mission targets a return of at least 500 grams of Martian material to Earth by around 2031. Tianwen‑3...
Peptide therapeutics are powerful. But making them has always been difficult. Traditional chemical synthesis can involve long routes, poor selectivity, and significant environmental impact, while biological production is often limited by the pathways evolution happened to provide. What if we could design...
Researchers identified a high‑altitude Retsat Q247R mutation that enhances myelin formation under hypoxic stress and accelerates remyelination in mouse models. The variant boosts neuronal production of the vitamin‑A‑derived metabolite ATDR, which activates the RXR‑γ pathway in oligodendrocyte progenitors. Administering ATDR...
Immutep’s LAG‑3 fusion protein eftilagimod‑alpha failed to improve overall survival in a Phase 3 randomized study in non‑small cell lung cancer. The trial, enrolling roughly 600 patients, did not meet its primary endpoint and showed no statistically significant benefit versus standard...
Researchers identified six circulating piwi‑interacting RNAs (piRNAs) that forecast two‑year survival in adults over 71 with up to 86% accuracy, surpassing conventional metrics such as age, cholesterol, and activity levels. The study of 1,200 participants linked lower piRNA concentrations to...
The U.S. Climate Prediction Center says the current La Niña will shift to ENSO‑neutral conditions by May 2026, with a 55% probability through July. A 62% chance of El Niño developing between June and August 2026 follows, likely persisting through year‑end. Warm subsurface...
A new Nature study finds that roughly 90 % of existing sea‑level impact assessments underestimate baseline coastal water heights by about one foot, especially in the Pacific, Southeast Asia, and other Global South regions. This mis‑measurement could increase projected inundated land...
Meanwhile, shockingly, the other major global power is doing the very opposite within its own borders... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-13/china-s-new-law-signals-xi-won-t-curb-environmental-ambitions
How dark will the Universe become? #AskEthan Sure, dark energy will empty out the Universe and galaxies will run out of fuel to form new stars. But that doesn't mean our sky will only get darker. Look forward to the brightness ahead. https://t.co/huqNduzpjh
NASA’s 6U CubeSat, part of the SPARCS exoplanet mission, has returned its first images of a distant planetary system. Launched in early 2025, the spacecraft captured ultraviolet and visible light data of the star Proxima Centauri and its orbiting exoplanet,...
Great signal at the 72hr mark which is peak RUBY accumulation. Parsley uniquitin promoter as reliable as 35s for my projects. Glory be. Here's the expired patent: https://t.co/njN84BkHho https://t.co/kDfx1RoenJ
Cancer vaccines are showing marked efficacy vs refractory cancers and are going to be part of the future Rx armamentarium. Beyond that, ultimately, for prevention in high-risk individuals. A new stellar review @NatureMedicine https://t.co/PhtdZDtSBl https://t.co/okmwCD8AyB
Ultragenyx announced that its investigational gene therapy for ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency met a primary endpoint in a Phase 3 trial involving 37 patients. The study demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in blood ammonia levels, the key marker of disease...
Also: How climate scientists are using AI and El Niño is on the horizon. https://t.co/Hch1WACEJx
In my experience, ideas that take seconds to conceive take years to confirm in the lab and 1–2 years to get published in a top journal. This is biology’s Achilles heel Let’s see if AI can fix that https://t.co/3On4DrTcU6
Recent neuroscience research reveals that sustained focus, not just raw intelligence, is a critical driver of better decision‑making. When attention remains steady, the brain’s prefrontal circuits can weigh options more clearly and project outcomes farther into the future. Studies show...
100 brain microhemorrhages in a patient with cerebral amyloid angiopathy and 2 copies of APOE4 after amyloid antibody therapy https://t.co/ASpVuijFNW https://t.co/hdtwtv1usq
Get off dat ass. 8 minutes a day of vigorous exercise linked to a 36% lower mortality risk. Benefits start at 2.2 min/day. https://t.co/UQlUv8NHI7
Researchers have demonstrated that the unicellular ciliate Stentor coeruleus can perform Pavlovian learning, specifically habituation, despite lacking a brain or neurons. The organism reduced its response to a repeated, harmless stimulus, mirroring the simplest form of learning observed in animals...
The reactivation of herpes simplex virus (HSV-1, not only herpes zoster) may be tied to accelerated aging and dementia, and account in part for the mechanism of Shingrix vaccine''s protection @WIRED https://t.co/iKF1JcYSu0
Links between gut microbiome proteins and pace of aging, metabolic diseases, and medications @Cell_Metabolism https://t.co/Vg6vMPjnXm https://t.co/3SKNH6IEhJ
Colorectal cancer remains a major global health burden, with over 1.9 million new cases and 900,000 deaths in 2022, placing it high on biotech priorities. Treatment has shifted from surgery‑centric approaches to a blend of refined chemotherapy backbones and biomarker‑driven targeted...
Life's Hidden Ingredient 💥 See full video here: https://t.co/VXWXNHRiyO #science #abiogenesis chirality - Also called: dissymmetry. the configuration or handedness (left or right) of an asymmetric, optically active chemical compound https://t.co/zi6zYW7RtE
