First Do No Harm: Hospitals Are Trying to Decarbonize Anesthesia
Hospitals worldwide are eliminating high‑impact anesthetic gases, especially desflurane, to curb their climate footprint. Studies show a 27% drop in anesthetic‑related greenhouse gases after bans, and modeling suggests switching entirely to sevoflurane could slash emissions by 73%. Initiatives such as UPMC’s Center for Sustainability and the University of Michigan’s Green Anesthesia Initiative have cut CO₂ emissions while saving costs and preserving patient outcomes. New ASA guidelines and EU regulations now require avoiding desflurane and nitrous oxide unless medically necessary, prompting broader adoption of low‑flow techniques and waste‑capture technologies.
Study: Parrots Use Names in Flexible, Sometimes Human-Like Ways
Researchers from four universities examined data from 889 companion parrots in the ManyParrots project, uncovering evidence that these birds can assign and use proper names. Of 413 audio clips submitted, 88 demonstrated parrots labeling specific people or animals, and many...
AACR 2026: Cancers of Unknown Primary Identified by DNA Methylation AI Model
Researchers at Kindai University unveiled a machine‑learning model that reads CpG‑based DNA methylation to pinpoint the tissue of origin for cancers of unknown primary (CUP). In a test set the model achieved roughly 95% accuracy, and it maintained 87% accuracy...
How Do Astronauts Adapt Their Grip and Move Objects when Transitioning Between Earth and Space?
A new study in the Journal of Neuroscience examined how astronauts adjust hand grip when moving between Earth’s gravity and microgravity. Researchers found that even after months in space, the brain’s internal model of gravity causes astronauts to over‑compensate their...
Handle with Care: Soft Robot Gripper Picks Ripe Fruit without Bruising
Cornell researchers led by Rob Shepherd have built a soft‑robot gripper that uses stretchable fiber‑optic strain gauges to gauge fruit stiffness and determine ripeness. The device gently twists strawberries off the plant with a planetary‑gear wrist, avoiding the bruising that...
Increasing Heat Can Boost Malnutrition Among Children
A new Lancet Planetary Health analysis of 6.5 million Brazilian children finds that each 1 °C rise in local temperature above 26 °C (79 °F) increases the likelihood of being underweight by 10 % and raises acute and chronic malnutrition odds by 8 %. The impact...
Inside SatEnlight’s Spiral Staircase of Lasers: Interview with Startup Space Winner Matteo Vismara
SatEnlight, an Italian optical‑communications startup, unveiled a laser terminal that stacks multiple beams in a multi‑layered spiral‑staircase configuration. Co‑founder Matteo Vismara, a former CERN researcher, left a secure academic path to commercialize the technology. The company captured the top prize...
Today Is the Last Day to Save on ASCEND 2026 Registration
ASCEND 2026, the flagship gathering of the global space community, is closing its early‑registration discount today. The conference will host more than 2,000 leaders from industry, government and academia across 130 sessions and 190 technical papers. Backed by the AIAA,...
Substack Live | Flagship Pioneering Announcement: Building on the Code of Life
Flagship Pioneering is hosting a Substack Live session on April 21 at 12:30 pm ET featuring origination partner Jake Rubens. The event will unveil a new initiative that leverages the "code of life" to advance synthetic‑biology‑based therapeutics. Rubens, an MIT‑trained synthetic biologist...
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NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 19 2026 showcases a 27‑frame mosaic taken in 2019 from the Atacama Desert’s Ojas de Salar lagoon. The still captures a reflective lake that resembles an eye gazing at the Milky Way’s star‑filled band,...
Conservation Collects More Data than Ever. What Is It For?
A new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, led by Kate Helmstedt, argues that conservation monitoring must begin with a clear purpose rather than treating data collection as a default activity. The authors identify fifteen distinct reasons for monitoring,...
Are Vegetable Oils High Carbon & Bad For Climate Change?
A 2022 study shows vegetable‑oil crops occupy roughly 20% of the world’s arable land, making oil production a sizable source of greenhouse‑gas emissions and biodiversity loss. Clinical research indicates that consuming any oil, including extra‑virgin olive oil, impairs endothelial function...
A Giant 'Shadow' Has Been Creeping Across Mars for 50 Years — and Scientists Aren't Sure Why
A dark, ash‑covered patch in Mars' Utopia Planitia has been steadily expanding for five decades, moving southward at roughly 6.5 km (4 miles) per year. The feature, first photographed in 1976, consists of volcanic minerals such as olivine and pyroxene left by ancient...
Six New Isolated Millisecond Pulsars Discovered with FAST
Chinese astronomers analyzing archival FAST data from the core‑collapsed globular clusters NGC 6517 and M15 uncovered six new isolated millisecond pulsars—four in NGC 6517 and two in M15. The pulsars spin between 3.68 ms and 9.29 ms and were detected using a stacking power‑spectrum...
Autism Spectrum Disorder Is Associated with Specific Congenital Malformations
A population‑based case‑control study in Israel found that children later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are significantly more likely to have been born with congenital malformations. Overall, ASD cases had 75% higher odds of any malformation, driven mainly by...
Merck Partner Reveals Bispecific Data; Biogen Pays $100M for Antibody Rights
Merck’s partner Sino Biopharm disclosed first‑in‑human results for its PD‑1×VEGF bispecific antibody, MK‑2010, reporting that six of 11 lung‑cancer patients achieved a response at a low dose. A second cohort showed four responses among nine patients, indicating activity across dosing...
450-Million Year Old Jellyfish Ancestor Looks Like a Flailing Carwash Tubeman
Marine paleontologists in Quebec have described a new 450‑million‑year‑old jellyfish ancestor, *Paleocanna tentaculum*, from the Upper Neuville Formation. The discovery is based on 135 fossilized polyps, with 39 specimens analyzed, revealing a tubular, anchored organism that died in rapid, low‑oxygen...
ATLAS Acts as a Cosmic-Ray Laboratory
The ATLAS experiment at CERN performed its first proton‑oxygen collisions in July 2025, recreating cosmic‑ray interactions with Earth’s atmosphere. By tracking charged particles from these collisions, ATLAS measured production rates, multiplicities, energies and angular distributions with a few‑percent precision. The...
STORM-PE: Mechanical Thrombectomy Boosts Walking and Daily Living Gains
The STORM‑PE interim analysis shows that computer‑assisted vacuum thrombectomy (CAVT) markedly improves functional recovery in acute intermediate‑high‑risk pulmonary embolism. At 90 days, patients receiving mechanical thrombectomy walked an average of 479 m versus 368 m for anticoagulation alone, and 97% achieved NYHA class I...
New Open-Source Python-Based Software Boosts Space Weather Modeling
A research team at the University of Birmingham has released an open‑source Python‑based platform that dramatically improves space‑weather modeling. The software integrates real‑time measurements from NOAA and ESA satellites and cuts simulation runtimes by roughly 50% compared with legacy tools....
Oddball Exoplanet System Discovered with Help of Antarctic Telescope
Astronomers using the Antarctic Survey Telescope (AST3) at Dome A have identified a highly unconventional exoplanet system orbiting a Sun‑like star 320 light‑years from Earth. The system hosts three planets, including one with an extreme eccentricity of 0.92 and a second...
Volunteers Discover Rare Space Weather Events Using Their Ears
Volunteers in NASA’s citizen‑science program have detected rare space‑weather events by listening to audio recordings of solar radio emissions. Using a web‑based platform, participants flagged unusual bursts linked to high‑energy solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The effort has already...
Migratory Blackcap Bird Brain Mapped for the First Time, Opening a New Era of 3D Digital Atlases
Scientists at UCL and the University of Oldenburg have produced the first high‑resolution 3D digital brain atlas of the Eurasian blackcap, a migratory songbird. Using serial two‑photon tomography, they imaged eight brains and generated a template with 44 annotated regions...
Interstellar Comet Reveals Methane on Its Journey Through Our Solar System
Caltech astronomers have identified methane gas in the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov as it traversed the inner solar system. Using high‑resolution infrared spectra from NASA’s IRTF and the James Webb Space Telescope, they measured methane at about 0.5 % of the comet’s...
Gut Microbiome Can Reveal Risk of Parkinson’s, Scientists Say
A multinational study has identified a distinct gut‑microbiome signature that can flag individuals at heightened risk of Parkinson’s disease years before clinical symptoms appear. The microbial pattern is especially pronounced in people carrying known Parkinson’s risk genes and intensifies as...
What Physical ‘Life Force’ Turns Biology’s Wheels?
Scientists have finally unraveled the molecular mechanism of the bacterial flagellar motor, revealing how proton flow through stator complexes generates torque that drives rotation and directional switching. Cryogenic electron microscopy studies completed by March 2026 identified the pentagonal‑ring stators and their...
Bringing Quantum Time Into the Lab—A Single Clock Can Run Young and Old at Once
Physicists from Stevens Institute of Technology, Colorado State University and NIST have shown that ultra‑precise trapped‑ion optical clocks can be placed in quantum superpositions of their own proper time, effectively ticking both faster and slower at once. By leveraging squeezed...
Bruce Is Missing His Upper Beak, but It Has Not Stopped Him From Dominance
Bruce, a rescued kea in Christchurch’s Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, lost his upper beak as a juvenile but has become the group’s alpha male. Researchers observed that he invented a "beak‑jousting" technique, thrusting his exposed lower beak to repel rivals, achieving...
This Kea Parrot Is the First-Known Disabled Alpha Male
Researchers at the University of Canterbury documented Bruce, a beak‑missing kea, as the alpha male of a nine‑male circus at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. Over four weeks Bruce won all 36 of his direct dominance encounters and secured first access to...
The Strange Way Cocaine Water Pollution Is Changing Salmon
Researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences implanted juvenile Atlantic salmon with slow‑release cocaine or its primary metabolite, benzoylecgonine, and released them into Lake Vättern. The study found that fish exposed to benzoylecgonine swam up to 1.9 times farther—about...
Bruce the Parrot Is Missing His Upper Beak — but that Hasn't Stopped Him From Becoming an Undefeated Jousting Champion
Researchers observed Bruce, a kea missing its entire upper beak, develop a novel jousting style that has made him the undefeated alpha male in his captive group. By thrusting with his exposed lower beak, he displaced opponents in 73% of...
Little Red Dots: New Clues From the Early Universe
A team of astronomers leveraging the Texas Advanced Computing Center’s supercomputing power has identified dozens of compact, red‑shifted objects—dubbed “little red dots”—in early‑universe images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The objects, likely galaxies at redshifts z ≈ 9‑12, were isolated using a...
Tandem PV Launches Commercial Perovskite-Silicon Manufacturing in California
Tandem PV has launched a 40 MW commercial demonstration factory in Fremont, California, converting perovskite‑silicon tandem technology from lab to repeatable manufacturing. The 65,000‑square‑foot plant produces panels roughly 60 times larger than its research devices, delivering 29.7% efficiency and less than...
Tebentafusp Shows Durable Survival in Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, Immunocore Reports
Immunocore reported five‑year overall survival data from its phase 3 trial of tebentafusp‑tebn (Kimmtrak) in HLA‑A*02:01‑positive metastatic uveal melanoma. The study showed 16% of patients on tebentafusp were alive at five years versus 8% on standard therapy, with a hazard ratio...
Annual Gray Wolf Counts Find Increased Numbers In Oregon and Washington
The 2025 annual gray wolf reports show population growth in both Oregon and Washington. Oregon’s wolf count rose to 230 individuals, a 13% increase, while Washington reported 270 wolves, up 17% from 2024. Washington also saw a sharp decline in...
AACR 2026: Revolution’s Next Prospect, Merck’s Reveal and a Lung Cancer Battle
At AACR 2026, Revolution Medicines reported that its RAS‑G12D inhibitor zoldonrasib produced a 52% response rate and a median 11.1‑month progression‑free survival in heavily pre‑treated non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, hinting at accelerated‑approval potential. Merck presented early data on...
Biotech Has Become a Good News Story. Let the Sun Shine
Biotech is back in the spotlight as Revolution Medicines reported a Phase 3 trial that doubled survival for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer, a disease with a historically low five‑year survival rate. In March, Denali Therapeutics earned the first FDA approval...
GaN Breaks the 250 W Barrier in Flyback Power Supplies
Power Integrations has launched the TOPSwitchGaN family, extending the single‑ended flyback converter’s practical power ceiling from the traditional 200‑250 W limit to 440 W. By replacing silicon MOSFETs with gallium‑nitride HEMTs, the new devices achieve lower on‑resistance, reduced gate charge and output...
A Long-Sought Quantum Computing Milestone Arrives as Fermionic Atom Gates Top 99% Accuracy
Two independent teams at the Max Planck Institute and ETH Zurich have demonstrated collisional quantum gates using fermionic lithium‑6 atoms, achieving two‑qubit gate fidelities above 99 %. Bojović’s group reported a peak accuracy of 99.75 %, while Kiefer’s team reached a loss‑corrected...
Lilly Adds Gene Delivery Technology to CAR T in up to $7B Kelonia Deal
Eli Lilly announced an up‑to $7 billion acquisition of Kelonia Therapeutics, securing its Phase 1 lentiviral in‑vivo CAR‑T candidate KLN‑1010 and the iGPS gene‑delivery platform. iGPS uses lentiviral particles to program a patient’s own T‑cells, potentially eliminating ex‑vivo manufacturing and pre‑treatment chemotherapy. The deal...
Magnetic Muon Measurements and Gene-Therapy Advances Win $3 Million Breakthrough Prizes
Researchers who measured the muon’s magnetic moment to a precision of 127 parts‑in‑billion earned a $3 million Breakthrough Prize, confirming the Standard Model while noting a lingering theoretical discrepancy. The award also honored three life‑science teams: the Penn group behind Luxturna, which...
Scientists Identify Main Cause of Extreme Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy
Scientists have pinpointed the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) gene as the leading cause of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), the most severe form of pregnancy nausea and vomiting. The genome‑wide study of nearly 11,000 HG cases and 420,000 controls also highlighted...
We Designed the Turf for Soccer’s Biggest World Cup Ever – Here’s How We Created the Same Playing Experience Across...
Researchers from the University of Tennessee and Michigan State University have engineered a hybrid turf system for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, ensuring consistent playing conditions across 16 stadiums in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The solution uses sod grown...
Agenus Cancer Cocktail Records 0% Response Rate, Missing Midstage Goal
Agenus and its spin‑out MiNK Therapeutics reported a zero percent overall response rate in a Phase 2 trial of a three‑drug cocktail for advanced gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma. The regimen combined two experimental immunotherapies, botensilimab and balstilimab, with MiNK’s allogeneic iNKT cell therapy...
Why the Right Kind of Stress Is Crucial for Your Health and Happiness
The article argues that not all stress is harmful, distinguishing acute, chronic, physical and positive stressors. Emerging research shows brief, high‑intensity stress—often called eustress—can sharpen cognition, boost physical performance, and support immune function, while prolonged chronic stress undermines health. The...
Novo’s Late-Stage Sickle Cell Win Piles Pressure on Competitors
Novo Nordisk reported that its oral pyruvate kinase‑R activator etavopivat reduced vaso‑occlusive crises by 27% in the Phase 3 HIBISCUS trial and more than doubled hemoglobin response rates versus placebo. The data support a regulatory filing slated for the second half...
In Brain Tumors, New Use for CSF cfDNA
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cell‑free DNA is emerging as a reliable source for genomic profiling of brain tumors, offering a less invasive alternative to surgical biopsies. Compared with plasma, CSF provides a higher signal‑to‑noise ratio, improving detection of tumor‑derived mutations. The...
STAT+: Finally Cracking KRAS as a Druggable Target
Revolution Medicines announced that its KRAS inhibitor daraxonrasib produced tumor shrinkage in a Phase 2 trial for pancreatic cancer, marking the first clear efficacy signal for an oral drug targeting the once‑undruggable KRAS protein. The result follows a wave of...
Redesigned Ball Could Reduce Heading Impact - Scientists
A Football Association‑backed study from Loughborough University discovered that heading a football generates a pressure wave that transfers energy to the brain at levels comparable to low‑level military blasts, with some balls delivering up to 55 times more energy than...
Young Africans Will Inherit a Climate Crisis: How Kids in Sierra Leone Are Getting Ready
Researchers and youth leaders in Bo, Sierra Leone, launched a Youth Climate Science Hub to equip secondary‑school students (ages 10‑19) with climate adaptation knowledge and leadership skills. The low‑cost, school‑based program reached about 100 students—over half girls—through two phases of...