Science News and Headlines
Science News and Headlines
Researchers developed a random‑forest machine learning model that predicts hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk using only routine clinical data—demographics, electronic health records, and standard blood tests. In a UK Biobank cohort the model achieved an AUROC of 0.88, and external validation in the US All of Us registry confirmed similar performance. A streamlined version with just 15 variables retained comparable accuracy and outperformed traditional scores such as FIB‑4, APRI and aMAP. The study suggests a scalable tool for early liver‑cancer detection in primary care.
A 19‑year Swedish cohort study of 20,811 adults aged 35‑64 found that mentally passive sedentary activities, such as TV watching, increase dementia risk, while mentally active sitting—reading or desk work—significantly lowers it. Substituting equal amounts of passive with active sedentary...
The article clarifies that a radio telescope is the antenna‑based instrument that captures cosmic radio emissions, while a radio observatory is the broader facility housing one or more telescopes along with control, data processing, and research infrastructure. It highlights examples...
Birutė Galdikas, a pioneering primatologist, died at 79 after five decades of field work on Borneo’s orangutans. She established one of the longest‑running wild‑mammal studies in 1971, documenting solitary behavior, slow reproduction, and the species’ vulnerability. Galdikas founded Orangutan Foundation...
A new longitudinal study of 851 families shows twins fall behind their singleton siblings in language, cognition, and social‑emotional development from ages two to four. The early gaps largely persist through age seven, except that twins surpass singletons in verbal...
The University of Pittsburgh launched the Trivedi Institute for Space and Global Biomedicine to harness spaceflight for health research. NASA and other agencies have invested billions in precision‑health studies that examine how microgravity and radiation affect the human body. Findings...
New research published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology shows percutaneous cryoablation delivers high local control for medically inoperable stage IA non‑small cell lung cancer, especially tumors under 2 cm. In a single‑center analysis of 176 patients, one‑year and three‑year...
NASA has awarded Intuitive Machines a $180.4 million contract under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program for its fifth task order, dubbed IM‑5. The mission will deploy a larger Nova‑D lunar lander to the South‑Pole ridge Mons Malapert, delivering seven science...
Germany’s National Academy of Science and Engineering (Acatech) says the country could have a commercial fusion power plant by 2045 if it dramatically accelerates the program. Achieving this would demand massive investment—tens of billions of dollars—expanded training, industrial‑scale component manufacturing,...
Researchers have recovered the earliest known dog genomes, dated 14,000‑16,000 years ago, extending the canine domestication record by more than 5,000 years and revealing a pan‑Eurasian dog population exchanged among hunter‑gatherers. A new brain‑connectivity atlas, built from scans of 3,600...
Breakthrough Listen, a $100 million, ten‑year SETI program announced in July 2015 by Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking, has deployed a global network of radio and optical telescopes to scan one million nearby stars, the Galactic plane and 100 galaxies for artificial signals. The...
Tulane neuroscientists identified two central amygdala neuron types—CRF and SOM—that act as a neural switch between high‑intensity escape (jumping) and low‑intensity freezing or darting during fear extinction. Using optogenetic manipulation in mice, inhibiting CRF neurons reduced panic‑like jumps, while activating...
A new study in Scientific Reports shows heterosexual women report higher jealousy when imagining rivals with highly feminine faces flirting with their partners. The effect persisted using natural, unedited photographs of 50 white women, measured by both objective facial landmarks...
Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero, famed for his controversial head‑transplant ambitions, claims a $100 million operation would require an 80‑person surgical team and could eventually give patients a new body. He cites early animal work—rat nerve‑fusion with polyethylene glycol, monkey and dog head...
The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research released its FY 2025 GDUFA Science & Research Report, detailing more than 50 funded projects across eight priority scientific initiatives. The program targets bioequivalence, manufacturing standards, and advanced analytical methods to streamline abbreviated...
Researchers at Longeveron reported that a single infusion of laromestrocel, a mesenchymal stem‑cell therapy derived from donors aged 14‑18, significantly boosted mobility in frail seniors. In a double‑blind trial of about 150 participants aged 70‑85, the highest dose (200 million cells)...
Mayo Clinic interventional cardiologists and radiologists have repurposed Terumo's WEB SLS II intrasaccular flow disruptor—originally approved for intracranial bifurcation aneurysms—to treat saccular coronary aneurysms. The first case involved a 74‑year‑old patient undergoing aortic valve replacement and bypass surgery, where the device achieved...
Regenerative medicine promises to shift healthcare from a reactive model to proactive disease modification by targeting early biological drivers of chronic degeneration. Cell‑based therapies such as mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) can modulate inflammation, immune signaling, and tissue repair, showing benefits...
UCSF researchers have mapped a gut‑brain signaling cascade that explains why parasitic worm infections cause loss of appetite. They discovered that tuft cells detect parasite‑derived succinate and release acetylcholine, which prompts nearby enterochromaffin cells to secrete serotonin. The serotonin then...
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a plan to build a public supercomputer dedicated to climate modeling, aiming to improve forecasts and early warnings for extreme weather. The initiative will partner with Barcelona’s Supercomputing Center to standardize Mexico’s weather data, leveraging...
Researchers at Princeton unveiled two low‑impact lithium extraction techniques that could dramatically accelerate supply growth. The porous‑string method uses capillary‑wicking cotton fibers to concentrate lithium chloride up to 6% in a process up to twenty times faster than conventional evaporation,...
Researchers at the University of Guelph announced that their sugar‑based vaccine candidate against Campylobacter jejuni demonstrated safety and immunogenicity in a small Phase 1 human trial. Participants experienced only mild side effects, and the formulation generated measurable antibody responses even at...
A recent Australian study uncovered a two‑phase relationship between integrated visual‑field loss and low‑light difficulties in glaucoma patients. Below an IVF total‑deviation of –6.3 dB (or sensitivity‑based IVF of 21.7 dB), LLQ scores drop sharply, indicating functional impairment. Inferior field defects were...
A bold hypothesis called quantum immortality suggests consciousness persists by jumping to parallel universes after death. The idea derives from the many‑worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which posits that each quantum observation creates branching universes. Critics such as Dartmouth philosopher...
New research of 1,493 breast‑cancer survivors aged 65 and older shows that more than 60 % of those who received chemotherapy report moderate to severe neuropathy five years after treatment, compared with 36 % of non‑chemo patients. The risk is driven largely...
Work on a sewer line southeast of Amsterdam was halted after crews uncovered a timber slab over 10 feet long, likely belonging to a Viking‑era ship from the 9th century. The find could become Wijk bij Duurstede’s first archaeological ship‑timber discovery, linking...
NASA’s GRACE twin‑satellite mission, operating from 2002 to 2017, produced a high‑resolution gravity map of Earth that reveals subtle variations in the planet’s pull. The visualization shows a relatively weak gravity zone off India’s coast and a stronger field over...
Silent Waves introduced Zephyr, a traveling‑wave parametric amplifier that integrates the microwave pump coupler onto the chip, eliminating bulky external directional couplers in dilution refrigerators. The design targets the spatial constraints of scaling quantum processors, enabling higher multiplexing—potentially up to...
Atom Computing and Cisco have signed an MOU to explore integrating neutral‑atom quantum processors into distributed quantum architectures. The partnership will combine Cisco’s quantum networking protocols and a network‑aware compiler with Atom’s 1,000‑qubit neutral‑atom platform, aiming to create a fault‑tolerant,...
Voyager 2’s 1989 flyby captured the closest-ever images of Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, passing within roughly 25,000 miles (40 km). The high‑resolution shot shows dozens of dark plumes up to 100 miles (160 km) long erupting from several‑mile‑wide vents, while a wider view taken from...
At the ACS Spring 2026 meeting in Atlanta, the Medicinal Chemistry division unveiled six new drug candidates transitioning from discovery to clinical testing. The molecules, presented by researchers from Biohaven, Bristol Myers Squibb, Regor Therapeutics, Olema Oncology, FoRx Therapeutics, and Iambic Therapeutics,...
Terran Orbital, a Lockheed Martin company, unveiled a new star tracker product line—M10, H6, and F4—at SATSHOW 2026. The three models are engineered to balance cost, mass, and performance while leveraging the firm’s extensive flight heritage. Each unit features robust...
QpiAI unveiled a custom hardware quantum error correction decoder for its 64‑qubit Kaveri superconducting processor. The decoder employs a union‑find algorithm to implement a distance‑5 rotated surface code, requiring 49 physical qubits to encode a single logical qubit. It achieves...
Seaport Therapeutics is embedding a fail‑safe mechanism into its Phase 2b trial of SPT‑300, an experimental therapy for major depressive disorder. The study will enroll roughly 300 patients at multiple U.S. sites and uses an adaptive design that can halt...
In 1996 Honda unveiled Prototype 2 (P2), the first self‑contained bipedal robot that could walk dynamically without falling, standing 183 cm tall and weighing 210 kg. The robot’s real‑time posture control, multi‑joint coordination, and stair‑climbing capability earned it IEEE Milestone status, with a...
NASA, ESA, and CSA combined the James Webb Space Telescope’s infrared power with Hubble’s visible‑light imaging to deliver the most detailed, layered view of Saturn to date. The paired observations captured a long‑lived jet stream, remnants of the 2011‑12 Great...
Researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Science tracked nearly 11,000 Japanese adults aged 65+ for six years and found that frequent home cooking was linked to up to a 30% lower risk of developing dementia. Even cooking once a week...
A new report by the Harkin Institute and the Iowa Environmental Council links Iowa's soaring cancer rates to four major environmental exposures—pesticides, PFAS, nitrate‑laden fertilizer runoff, and radon. The analysis cites heavy pesticide use (over 60 million pounds annually), widespread PFAS...
Scientists analyzing data from China’s Chang’e 4 lunar lander discovered a magnetic "cavity" extending from Earth to the Moon, where galactic cosmic rays are deflected by the planet’s magnetosphere. The study, published in Science Advances, shows Earth’s magnetic influence reaches farther...
CERN has secured European Union Horizon Europe funding for 13 new projects slated to start in 2026, with the laboratory leading coordination of five flagship initiatives: ATTRACT EXPAND, EPITA, iRIS, PRISMAP+ and RADNEXT 2030. ATTRACT EXPAND will channel support to 30 high‑potential technologies...
NASA and Japan’s space agency JAXA have used the XRISM X‑ray telescope to capture the first high‑resolution view of a scorching galactic wind blowing out of the starburst galaxy M82. The Resolve spectrometer measured gas heated to roughly 10 million kelvin...
India has officially approved its next climate NDC, setting a 47% reduction in greenhouse‑gas emissions intensity by 2035 relative to 2005 levels. The plan also targets non‑fossil electricity capacity of 60% and a carbon‑sink increase of up to 4 billion tonnes...
QpiAI and Alliance University have launched the AU QUASAR Experience Center at Alliance’s Electronic City campus in Bengaluru. The center houses QpiAI’s 8‑qubit superconducting QVidya quantum processor and the Explorer software, delivering on‑site quantum computing as a service. It aims to...
Human milk delivers leptin, adiponectin and insulin, hormones that influence infant appetite and growth. A Brazilian cohort examined how these hormones vary across five intrauterine environments and relate to child BMI‑for‑age Z‑scores from birth to preschool. Significant differences emerged: adiponectin...
Researchers created biodegradable cellulose acetate fibers infiltrated with up to 8 wt % zinc‑oxide nanocrystals using vapor‑phase infiltration and centrifugal spinning. A short oxygen plasma treatment converted the fibers from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, enabling Zn²⁺ release. Plasma‑modified fibers showed clear antibacterial activity,...
A large U.S. retrospective study of 295,016 gastroparesis patients found that 29.9% also suffered constipation, yet only 1.4% were diagnosed with a defecatory disorder. Among those diagnosed, just one‑third underwent anorectal manometry (ARM) and fewer than 4% received biofeedback therapy....
Recent JWST spectroscopy of interstellar object 3I/ATLAS revealed an unexpectedly high deuterium‑to‑hydrogen ratio in its methane and water emissions. Two pre‑print papers, one submitted to Nature Astronomy and another to Nature, attribute the enrichment to formation in an ultra‑cold, metal‑poor...
