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 at the University of Pennsylvania have unveiled an integrated sequencing workflow that simultaneously reads DNA sequence and distinguishes cytosine modifications—5‑methylcytosine (5mC) and 5‑hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC)—on a single molecule. The method creates a hairpin duplex, incorporates deamination‑resistant analogs on the copy strand, and selectively deaminates the template strand before sequencing both strands. By preserving the full genetic code while mapping epigenetic marks, it overcomes the trade‑off inherent in earlier deaminase‑based techniques. The team envisions applications in ultra‑sensitive, cell‑free cancer diagnostics.
New research presented on BBC Inside Science indicates the planet is heating faster than climate models projected for the past decade. Professor Laura Wilcox explains the aerosol‑climate interaction data driving the revised warming trend, while scientists remain divided on whether...
Vitalist Bay 2026, the world’s largest longevity festival, returns to Berkeley’s Lighthaven campus from May 14‑17. The four‑day event consolidates six thematic tracks—Biotech, Investors, Replacement, Longevity Science, AI × Bio, and Biostasis—and features more than 60 top researchers, founders, and clinicians as...
Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, previously found in northern elephant seals, has now been confirmed in a sea otter and a sea lion along California's San Mateo coast. The virus carries the A3 mutation, which facilitates mammal‑to‑mammal transmission and originates...
QphoX has released a commercial Quantum Transducer that converts microwave‑based qubit states into optical photons for transmission over standard fiber at room temperature. The device leverages photonic integration, MEMS and superconducting nanofabrication to achieve high‑fidelity, low‑noise state conversion. IBM will...
Researchers at UC Riverside have identified a conserved brain‑stem and cervical spinal‑cord circuit that works alongside the cortex to produce fine hand movements. Functional MRI in mice and humans revealed relay centers in the medulla and C3‑C4 propriospinal segments that...
A new study of Kenya’s Mara conservancies shows that lions increasingly steer clear of zones where Maasai cattle have recently grazed, even after the herds have moved on. Researchers surveyed seven community‑owned conservancies between 2015 and 2023, covering roughly 69,000...
French researchers found that the personality trait of novelty‑seeking is the strongest predictor of alcohol relapse within three months after inpatient withdrawal. In a cohort of 76 patients, 29 relapsed and scored higher on novelty‑seeking and lower on harm avoidance,...
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers unveiled a novel simulation method that lets atoms be added or removed gradually, mimicking real‑world defect dynamics. Published in Physical Review Letters, the technique accurately models point defects and grain‑boundary structures at finite temperatures. By...
Axial spondyloarthritis affects about 1.4% of adults but patients wait an average of nine years for diagnosis in North America, far longer than rheumatoid arthritis. Augurex has introduced SPINEstat, an anti‑14‑3‑η multiplex blood test that can distinguish inflammatory back pain...
Researchers at VIB and the University of Antwerp have identified a repeat expansion in the GOLGA8A gene as a major genetic risk factor for atypical frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin‑positive inclusions (aFTLD‑U). The expansion appears in nearly 60 % of examined...
A large‑scale field trial led by Washington State University tested APIX Biosciences' nutritionally complete pollen‑replacing feed across five commercial beekeeping operations in California and Idaho. Colonies receiving the feed showed dramatically lower winter mortality—dropping from 28.8% to 15%—and emerged from...
NASA announced that the Artemis II Space Launch System rocket has passed its final flight‑readiness review and is slated for a launch as early as April 1, following repairs that sealed hydrogen leaks and corrected a helium‑flow fault. The 322‑foot vehicle will...
Sperm have to survive a brutal journey. The vagina is naturally acidic (pH around 4) to protect against infection. That same acidity kills sperm. Around ovulation, your cervical mucus is supposed to shift. It becomes clear, stretchy, and more alkaline, creating a...
A recent AAOS presentation revealed that patients aged 50 and older experience high satisfaction after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, with 91.5% meeting expectations. The NYU Langone Health retrospective study of 155 cases reported a 7.1% graft‑failure rate and a...
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Kairos Power have signed a $27 million partnership to fast‑track the development of Kairos’s fluoride‑salt‑cooled, high‑temperature reactor, known as Hermes. The collaboration gives ORNL access to its specialized facilities for fuel testing, component manufacturing, and remote‑maintenance...
MIT researchers have built a multimaterial extrusion 3‑D printer with four independent extruders that can handle conductive, magnetic and dielectric feedstocks. Using this platform they printed a fully functional linear electric motor in about three hours, employing five different materials...
Human milk contains two key sugars—human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and lactose—that serve distinct yet complementary roles in infant development. HMOs, present at 0.5‑1.5 g/dL, bypass digestion to nourish specific gut microbes such as Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis, which in turn produce...
Researchers led by Cole Monnahan released SparseNUTS, an R package that preconditions Hamiltonian Monte Carlo using a sparse Laplace approximation at the marginal mode of hierarchical models. By leveraging the sparse precision matrix from TMB or lme4, the method replaces...
Researchers at Kyushu University have introduced SeeDB‑Live, an isotonic optical‑clearing medium based on bovine serum albumin that renders brain tissue transparent while preserving normal neuronal function. The solution, refined after screening nearly 100 compounds, enables three‑fold brighter fluorescence imaging in...
Engineers at NJIT and partners in the U.S. and Singapore have shown that lithium dendrites inside batteries are not soft but brittle, snapping like dry spaghetti. The team harvested dendrites from operating cells, measured their mechanical strength, and paired the...
A critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle washed ashore near Galveston, Texas, heavily encrusted with barnacles, algae and other epibionts. Rescuers from the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research (GCSTR) and veterinarians from the Houston Zoo provided emergency care and...
The article argues that belief in green chemistry is essential for its broader adoption, noting that the 12 principles introduced in 1998 remain peripheral in many sectors. It highlights how educators’ values shape students’ perception of sustainable practices, turning safety...
Researchers found golden spiny mouse (Acomys russatus) lives longer and retains regenerative abilities compared to its sister species. In a non‑pathogen‑free setting, aged A. russatus showed minimal frailty, reduced inflammaging, and preserved thymic structure beyond four years. Transcriptomic analysis revealed youthful...
A recent PLOS Biology study shows that a high‑fat diet induces gut dysbiosis and increased intestinal permeability in mice, allowing live bacteria to migrate directly to the brain via the vagus nerve. The bacterial presence was reversible when mice returned...
Scientists at the Salk Institute released the most comprehensive single‑cell atlas of epigenetic aging in the mouse brain, profiling over 200,000 cells across eight regions and 36 cell types with methylation, chromatin conformation, and spatial transcriptomics. The map uncovers cell‑type...
Japan’s Super‑Kamiokande detector has received a major upgrade that dramatically improves its ability to detect the diffuse supernova neutrino background – the faint, ancient neutrino glow from every core‑collapse supernova in the universe. The enhancement, involving denser photomultiplier coverage and...
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Argonne National Laboratory funding for more than a dozen AI‑driven research projects under the Genesis Mission. Argonne will lead the Transformational AI Models Consortium (ModCon), building self‑improving AI models that leverage DOE’s supercomputers, experimental...
NASA's SPARCS CubeSat has returned its first ultraviolet images, proving the spacecraft’s camera and detectors work in orbit. The one‑year mission will continuously monitor far‑UV and near‑UV emissions from about 20 low‑mass stars, whose frequent flares influence the habitability of...
Researchers used NASA's Pleiades supercomputer to simulate the final 7.7 milliseconds of two 1.4‑solar‑mass neutron stars spiraling toward merger. The study tracked how their magnetospheres intertwine, reconnect, and accelerate particles, producing photons up to TeV‑PeV energies. While the most energetic gamma‑rays...
Researchers documented the first confirmed case of evolutionary rescue in the wild, where the scarlet monkeyflower (*Mimulus cardinalis*) developed drought tolerance within three years of California's megadrought. Genetic analysis revealed multiple mutations linked to climate adaptation, enabling surviving populations to...
Researchers at UCSF discovered the Src kinase, traditionally an intracellular signaling protein, displayed on the outer membrane of malignant cells. The finding, published in Science, showed surface Src was absent from healthy donor tissue, suggesting a tumor‑specific marker. This unexpected...
A new study in *Science* shows that rising ocean temperatures are forcing fish to mature earlier at smaller sizes, leading to higher mortality and reduced reproductive output. Incorporating these evolutionary responses, the researchers project a 20 % drop in global fish...
Physicist Konstantin Zloshchastiev proposes that our universe emerged from a primordial quantum multiverse when a super‑position of possible spacetimes collapsed during the pre‑inflationary era. He frames the collapse as a Shannon‑type information transfer that produced a logarithmic quantum liquid, eventually...
Scientists have discovered that blackwater lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are releasing carbon up to 3,500 years old, overturning the belief that ancient peat carbon remains locked underground. Measurements from Lake Mai Ndombe, Lake Tumba and the Ruki...
New research argues that humans are born with a biological blueprint for music, termed "musicality," which predates language. Evidence from newborns shows innate beat and pitch detection, while brain imaging reveals distinct neural pathways for music versus speech. Comparative studies...
A University of Helsinki team compared bacterial colonisation on untreated versus treated wood surfaces, focusing on Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Laboratory experiments showed higher counts and viability on raw wood, while field trials in public spaces confirmed the trend....
The NOAA Climate Prediction Center now sees an 80% chance that an El Niño will develop by August, up from a 60% forecast in February. Scientists warn the upcoming event could be as strong as the 2023‑24 episode that pushed global...
The Water Security Agency’s spring runoff outlook shows most of Saskatchewan will see near‑to‑below‑normal runoff. The southwest, from Kindersley to Assiniboia, is projected well below normal, while eastern areas near Yorkton should experience normal conditions. Recent fall precipitation was below...
El Niño is coming, and it is shaping up to be a big one. Over at The Climate Brink I've put together a compilation of the latest forecasts by different modeling groups. They suggest that we might see an event...
Climate folks: Who are the experts on how undersea cable data is used to measure North Atlantic salinity and currents, and detect potential AMOC weakening?
Scientists at Johns Hopkins warn that the federal plan to break up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) threatens the nation’s premier weather‑forecasting infrastructure. The Office of Management and Budget announced the move on social media, labeling NCAR a...
A new Science #Robotics study demonstrates that #haptic feedback from wearable upper body #exoskeletons can improve coordination between violin duos more effectively than visual cues. https://t.co/iLG2uygK1v https://t.co/ZWKc88BaUy
You a cat or dog person? Own a dog + exercise: 63% lower dementia risk. Own a dog + don't exercise: 0% benefit. Own a cat: 0% benefit. https://t.co/sHDhqcfYvB
A new study by Martin Luther University Halle‑Wittenberg, FernUniversität Hagen and the Medical School Hamburg shows that even after extensive training, multitasking performance never reaches true parallel processing. In three experiments participants performed a visual‑manual and an auditory‑verbal task simultaneously;...
I've updated the Climate Dashboard to use the new 11-model ENSO multi-model mean to help predict 2026 temperatures. It caused the 2026 estimate to jump from 1.45C to 1.51C, reflecting the much higher likelihood of a strong El Nino developing: https://t.co/Dx8ydDOXyC...
Are you destroyed by teleportation? If your quantum information over here is copied and posted over there into another set of particles, is it still you? https://t.co/GTCLhiF2rD
How to get bacteria to move from the gut into the brain? —eat a high-fat diet —vagus nerve is the conduit —in the mouse model https://t.co/BI6HIbVgPl
🆕 @ScienceMagazine An exciting new approach vs pancreatic cancer: "cancer interception" Considered ubiquitous, the pancreas in healthy adults has hundreds of PanINs of microscopic premalignant cancer that can be regressed in the experimental model https://t.co/erVtthSMjS https://t.co/2xHIYdIPrx
A common misunderstanding about genetics https://t.co/iwIbf7gUfo New Note Self by @ProfAMGregory for Psyche. People’s misunderstanding of terms like ‘heritability’ shows how important it is to communicate science carefully https://t.co/eFg2BP5DXs
