Today's Science Pulse
Hidden Star Clusters Discovered Deep Inside Nearby Galaxies
A UK‑led study using VLA and ALMA data uncovered previously hidden giant star clusters deep within nearby galaxies, describing them as “ring factories.” The findings highlight how young stellar activity shapes galactic evolution across the universe.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Foundation Alloy raises $22M Series A
NASA Partners with Microchip to Build Next-Generation Spaceflight Chips with 100x the Power of Current Offerings — Chip Designed to...
NASA has teamed up with Microchip Technology to create a next‑generation system‑on‑a‑chip (SoC) for spacecraft that promises 100 times the computing capacity of today’s spaceflight processors. The partnership will produce two variants: a radiation‑hardened chip for deep‑space, Moon and Mars missions, and a radiation‑tolerant version for low‑Earth‑orbit satellites. By integrating compute and networking on a single die, the chips aim to cut weight, cost and power consumption while enabling scalable, autonomous operations. NASA also expects the technology to spin off into terrestrial markets such as drones, AI and medical equipment.
Olive Oil and Coffee Linked to Slower Cellular Ageing in Spanish Study
Researchers from the University of Navarra presented data showing that regular intake of olive oil and coffee correlates with slower telomere shortening in middle‑aged Spaniards. The findings, unveiled at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, add new evidence that...
Once Again, SpaceX Has Set a New Record for the Tallest Rocket Ever Built
SpaceX has stacked its newest Starship Version 3, a 408‑foot vehicle that eclipses previous models, at a brand‑new launch pad in South Texas. The rocket features uprated Raptor 3 engines delivering roughly 18 million pounds of thrust—about 10% more than earlier versions—and a...
NASA’s Apollo Moon Missions Relied on This Computer Scientist and Differential Equations
Margaret Hamilton’s software engineering made the Apollo 11 lunar landing possible by designing a fault‑tolerant onboard computer that could handle overloads and prioritize critical tasks. The guidance computer, with just 74 KB of ROM, solved differential equations in real time using...
Global Study Shows Psychedelics Disrupt Brain's Hierarchical Organization
Researchers from a consortium of universities reported that psychedelics dissolve the brain's hierarchical organization, a finding that could reshape therapeutic approaches to creativity, mental health and self‑exploration. The study, published this week, analyzed brain‑imaging data from participants across several continents.
Faster Quantum Relaxation Achieved Via Controlled Energy Loss
Researchers at the University of the Balearic Islands have experimentally modeled a quantum Pontus‑Mpemba effect, showing that a two‑step relaxation protocol can make an excited atom decay 33% faster than a conventional single‑step process. By abruptly increasing the cavity photon‑loss...
Scientists Question $1,000‑Plus NAD+ Supplements Amid Booming Longevity Market
Leading researchers say the surge in NAD+ supplements and infusions outpaces the scientific evidence supporting them. While clinics charge hundreds to thousands of dollars per treatment, human trials remain small and inconclusive, fueling a debate between biohackers and the scientific...
Iris Van Herpen’s ‘Sculpting the Senses’ Opens at Brooklyn Museum
The Brooklyn Museum opened Iris van Herpen’s North American retrospective, “Sculpting the Senses,” on May 16, 2026. The show displays more than 140 of the Dutch designer’s avant‑garde creations, including a 2025 “living look” woven with 125 million bioluminescent algae. The...
Morning Caffeine Subtly Reshapes Sleep EEG Patterns
The caffeinated brain - effects on brain activity during sleep 💤 This new review synthesised evidence from 32 studies to establish the effects of caffeine on sleep-related EEG outcomes 🔍 Rather than subjective sleep quality, this paper investigated outcomes including… 📊 Sleep...
BridgeBio’s Attruby Challenges Pfizer’s Vyndamax Legacy in Pivotal ATTR Trial
BridgeBio unveiled pivotal Phase III ATTRibute‑CM data for its FDA‑approved drug Attruby at the ESC 2026 Heart Failure congress. The study showed sustained wild‑type transthyretin levels, a 40% drop in outpatient worsening heart‑failure events, and a 34% reduction in cardiovascular hospitalisations...
Researchers Develop Innovative Model for Risk Assessment for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
A NIH‑funded international study of 2,700 hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients introduced a new risk‑assessment model that combines clinical history, contrast‑enhanced cardiac MRI, and NT‑proBNP blood biomarker data. Over a seven‑year follow‑up, the model more accurately predicted sudden cardiac death, heart‑failure...
Paris Agreement Committee Snubbed over Missing NDC Climate Plans
The UN’s Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee (PAICC) reported that at least 55 countries have not submitted their 2025‑round nationally determined contributions (NDCs), with only two submissions recorded since the March meeting. Roughly half of the lagging nations—about 28—have...
Pancreatic Cancer Patient Vicky Stinson Survives Two Years on New Targeted Drug Daraxonrasib
Vicky Stinson, a 65‑year‑old pancreatic cancer patient, has survived two years after receiving daraxonrasib, a genetically targeted therapy that extended progression‑free survival to 8‑9 months—three to four times longer than standard chemotherapy. The drug’s trial results signal a potential shift...
Daily Vitamin D Chocolate Wafer Achieves Sufficiency in Three Months, Study Suggests
A double‑blind trial in India tested vitamin D‑fortified chocolate wafers delivering 0, 400, 600 or 800 IU daily to 108 young women with deficiency. After 12 weeks, 65.4% of the 800 IU group reached sufficiency (≥20 ng/mL), compared with 37.0% at 600 IU and 26.9%...
Gemstones on Mars—Why the Red Planet Could Be Harboring Rubies, Opals, and More
NASA’s Perseverance rover and orbiting satellites have identified trace amounts of corundum—the mineral family of rubies and sapphires—and microscopic opal‑like silica crystals on Mars. The study attributes the corundum to rapid heating during asteroid impacts rather than Earth‑style plate tectonics,...
Aging Sets the Stage for Respiratory Dysfunction and Disease
Aging fundamentally impairs lung function, increasing susceptibility to diseases such as COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, and sleep apnea. The review highlights that most knowledge derives from extrapolations from other organs, animal models, or diseased tissue, leaving many aspects of normal lung...
Contributor: Fuel Drug Development, Not Big Pharma's Profits
The author, a 65‑year‑old ALS patient, urges faster U.S. drug development for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, highlighting the pending ACT for ALS legislation. He notes more than 200 ALS drug candidates are stalled by a system that favors large pharmaceutical firms...
Celastrol as an Exercise Mimetic to Modestly Slow Aging
Researchers identified the natural triterpenoid celastrol as a promising exercise mimetic that can counteract age‑related muscle loss and mitochondrial dysfunction. In cell cultures, celastrol boosted myogenic differentiation and oxidative metabolism without detectable toxicity. In vivo, the compound extended Caenorhabditis elegans...
Zhejiang University Unveils Graphene Composite Doubling Strength and Boosting Conductivity Tenfold
A team from Zhejiang University introduced an "inverse phase enhancement" method that creates a bulk graphene‑polymer composite with 117% higher tensile strength and ten‑times the thermal conductivity of conventional composites. The advance could accelerate heat‑management solutions for AI chips, smartphones...
Microplastics Absorb Heat in the Atmosphere and Contribute to Global Warming — as if They Weren't Bad Enough
A new study in Nature Climate Change finds that airborne micro‑ and nanoplastics absorb sunlight, producing a net warming effect that outweighs their cooling scattering. The warming is modest—equivalent to a few hundredths of a degree Celsius or the emissions...
MIT and IBM Launch Joint Lab to Fuse AI with Quantum Computing
MIT and IBM have unveiled the MIT‑IBM Computing Research Lab, a decade‑long partnership that now adds quantum computing to its AI portfolio. The lab will serve as a hub for hybrid‑system research, targeting breakthroughs that blend quantum hardware with advanced...
NASA JPL Engineers Unveil Rotor Breakthrough for Next-Gen Mars Helicopters
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced a breakthrough in rotor design that could lift heavier payloads and extend flight times for upcoming Mars helicopters. The advance underpins the SkyFall mission slated for a late‑2028 launch, marking a step change from the...
The Global Sand Crisis: It’s Being Used up Faster than It Can Be Replaced
A new UN‑UNEP report warns that the world extracts roughly 50 bn tonnes of sand each year—far faster than natural processes can replace it. Sand underpins construction, concrete, silicon chips and solar panels, yet its removal erodes riverbanks, coastal defenses and...
US Government Studies Into Vaccine Safety Are Being Suppressed | Robert B Shpiner
The FDA withdrew two peer‑reviewed COVID‑19 vaccine safety studies—one analyzing 7.5 million Medicare beneficiaries and another covering 4.2 million recipients—after political appointees refused to sign off, despite journal acceptance. A separate Shingrix safety abstract was also blocked, even though it confirmed a...
AI-Designed Drug Reduces Fentanyl Consumption in Animal Models by Targeting Serotonin Receptors
Researchers at UC Irvine used an artificial‑intelligence platform to design a novel serotonin‑receptor drug, GATC‑1021, that dramatically lowers fentanyl self‑administration in rats. In dose‑response studies the compound cut fentanyl intake by more than 60% and maintained efficacy without developing tolerance....
Cleaner Signals From X-Ray Pulses
Researchers at RIKEN SPring‑8, led by Taito Osaka, have introduced a background‑free intensity autocorrelation technique for femtosecond x‑ray laser pulses. By crossing two pulse replicas in a diamond crystal, the method separates the autocorrelation signal from stray light, delivering attosecond‑level...
Liquid Crystals Offer On-Demand Skyrmions
Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China demonstrated a new pretwisting technique that enables on-demand creation of skyrmion loops in liquid crystals using laser light, an electric field, or heat. By patterning opposing surfaces of a 10‑µm‑thick...
What Brazilian Supercentenarians Can Teach Us About Living To 110
Brazilian researchers examined over 100 centenarians, including 20 supercentenarians, uncovering three biological advantages—robust protein maintenance, resilient immune function, and rare protective gene variants. These elders often live without advanced medical care, highlighting lifestyle and genetic factors that sustain health into...
Novin AgriTech Secures USDA SBIR Grant to Develop Nitrogen Use Efficiency Trait in Elite Wheat Cultivars
Novin AgriTech secured a $174,906 USDA SBIR Phase I grant to fund an eight‑month project that will embed a nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) trait into elite wheat cultivars using its proprietary InPACT transformation platform. InPACT is a genotype‑independent, tissue‑culture‑free system licensed...
How an ‘Impossible’ Idea Led to a Pancreatic Cancer Breakthrough
Daraxonrasib, a KRAS‑targeting drug, is on the brink of regulatory approval and has shown the first meaningful survival benefit for pancreatic cancer patients. The molecule binds a mutated KRAS protein long deemed “undruggable,” a breakthrough that also appears effective against...
Improving the Reliability of Circuits for Quantum Computers
MIT and Lincoln Laboratory have unveiled a new method to detect and quantify second-order harmonic corrections that cause two‑Cooper‑pair tunneling in superconducting quantum circuits. By fabricating a test device that suppresses single‑pair tunneling while allowing the double‑pair process, the team...
JAXA Mach 5 Aircraft Engine Successfully Tested
Japan’s aerospace agency JAXA, together with Waseda University, has successfully completed the first Japanese combustion test of a Mach 5 ramjet engine. The test reproduced conditions of 5,400 km/h at 25 km altitude, confirming the engine’s heat‑resistance and thrust performance. Researchers say the...
Chip-Processing Method Could Assist Cryptography Schemes to Keep Data Secure
MIT engineers unveiled two low‑cost hardware innovations that could reshape security and computing at the edge. First, they devised a twin physical‑unclonable‑function (PUF) fabrication method that splits a chip so each half shares a unique fingerprint, enabling direct authentication without...
CEA-Leti and NcodiN Partner to Industrialise 300 Mm Silicon Photonics
CEA‑Leti announced a series of strategic collaborations aimed at scaling next‑generation silicon photonics and memory technologies. In partnership with French startup NcodiN, the institute will transfer the company’s nanolaser‑enabled optical interposer to a 300 mm silicon‑photonic process, targeting sub‑0.1 pJ/bit links for...
Beyond High-NA EUV: Particle Accelerator Technology Promises Exciting Future for Lithography
TAU Systems CEO Jerome Paye proposes compact laser‑wakefield acceleration (LWFA) free‑electron laser sources to replace traditional EUV lithography. High‑NA EUV is hitting both physical and economic limits, prompting a search for brighter, tunable light. LWFA can deliver orders‑of‑magnitude higher photon...
Spacesuit: A One‑Person Spaceship Inside a Fridge
Climbing into a spacewalking suit for a training session. I'm wearing padded long underwear full of cooling tubes. To get into the Orlan, you open the back like a fridge, perch in the door, hook up all connections, and slither...
AI Data Centers Strain Water; Startup Harvests Air Moisture
AI data centers are intensifying a global water crunch. One startup thinks it can help drought-stricken areas by pulling drinking water directly from the air. https://t.co/YbESDcqNoe
EktaH Links Novel Obesity Drug to Fat Loss, Muscle Retention in Early-Phase Trial
EktaH disclosed early‑phase data for two oral candidates that activate fat‑taste receptors CD36 and GPR120, aiming to treat obesity by restoring lipid sensing. In a four‑week dose escalation study, the CD36/GPR120 agonist NKS‑5 reduced fat mass by 4.30% and modestly...
Sleep Loss Targets Fast‑twitch Glycolytic Muscles for Atrophy
When muscular atrophy is recorded in animal models of sleep loss, the glycolytic fast twitch muscle fibers are preferentially affected. Why this happens is not immediately obvious. https://t.co/vBsCp0Wjch
Ultrasound-Activated Nanoparticles Shine a Light Deep Within Living Tissues
Stanford researchers have demonstrated that ultrasound can activate mechanoluminescent nanoparticles to emit blue light deep within living tissue. By coating Sr4Al14O25:Eu,Dy particles with a biocompatible film and injecting them into mice, they produced programmable 490 nm illumination in organs such as...
How Climate Change Could Help Hantavirus Find More Hosts
A cruise ship departing Ushuaia was forced to return after an outbreak of Andes hantavirus, the only known hantavirus that can spread between humans. The virus, carried by rodents, has killed three passengers and infected several others, highlighting the rarity...
RESEARCH: TOCOTRIENOLS in COLORECTAL CANCER - 2024 Review Paper From Malaysia
A 2024 review from Malaysia examined 38 peer‑reviewed articles on tocotrienols, a subclass of vitamin E, and their effects on colorectal cancer. The analysis highlighted two isoforms, gamma‑ and delta‑tocotrienol, which consistently inhibited tumor cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, and reduced metastatic...
Virologist Accused of Starting COVID-19 Will Fight U.S. Ban on Funding
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has moved to debar Ralph Baric, a leading coronavirus virologist at UNC, cutting off his federal funding for at least three years. The action stems from accusations that Baric’s 2014 mouse experiments with...
This Common Breakfast Food May Reduce Your Risk of Alzheimer’s
Researchers at Loma Linda University tracked nearly 40,000 adults for over 15 years and found that regular egg consumption is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Eating at least one egg five days a week reduced the risk...
A Specific Genetic Variation Activates the TaWUS-D1 Gene, Causing Wheat Plants to Develop Three Pistils
Researchers identified a natural genetic variation that switches on the wheat TaWUS‑D1 gene, causing plants to develop three pistils instead of the usual one. The extra pistils have the potential to boost grain number per spike, offering a new avenue...
Most Dementia Patients Have Multiple Brain Diseases. How Should They Be Treated?
Researchers are recognizing that most dementia patients harbor multiple neurodegenerative pathologies, a phenomenon called copathology. New blood‑ and spinal‑fluid tests aim to detect overlapping protein deposits such as amyloid, tau, alpha‑synuclein, and TDP‑43 in living patients. An upcoming clinical trial...
A New Tectonic Plate Boundary Could Be Forming in Southern Africa
Researchers analyzing gases from five hot springs and three geothermal wells in Zambia’s Kafue Rift have identified mantle‑derived helium‑3 and carbon isotopes, indicating deep mantle fluids are reaching the surface. The findings provide the first geochemical proof of an active,...
Tomatidine Boosts Memory and Cuts Cellular Aging in Mice
Tomatidine is a senotherapeutic compound that improves cognitive function and reduces cellular senescence in aged mice https://t.co/jVfshXgzxQ https://t.co/6l86CBdoBC
2024 Record Heatwave Predicted, Not Unexpected, Researchers Say
"2024 Record Heatwave Not an Unexpected Anomaly, Says US Research Team" by Kim Seungwook for @asiabus_daily: https://t.co/nySVEFi8yN