2025 Nears Climate Heat Record, Mpox Variant Discovered, and Hobbit Extinction Explained
This week’s science roundup covers 2025’s near-record heat, a new mpox strain and fresh clues about why hobbits vanished 50,000 years ago.
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Deep-learning model predicts how fruit flies form, cell by cell
During early development, tissues and organs begin to bloom through the shifting, splitting, and growing of many thousands of cells.
Indoor tanning triples melanoma risk and seeds broad DNA mutations
Researchers discovered that tanning beds cause widespread, mutation-laden DNA damage across almost all skin, explaining the sharply increased melanoma risk. Single-cell genomic analysis revealed dangerous mutations even in sun-protected regions. Survivors’ stories underscore
Italian bears living near villages have evolved to be smaller and less aggressive, finds study
A paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution, reports that Italian bears living in areas with many villages evolved and became smaller and less aggressive.
Researchers find how plants survive without sunlight or sex
The study reveals how Balanophora plants function despite abandoning photosynthesis and, in some species, sexual reproduction. Their plastid genomes shrank dramatically in a shared ancestor, yet the plastids remain vital. Asexual reproduction appears to have evolved repeatedly,
Researchers identify viral suspects that could be fueling long COVID
Scientists are uncovering a new possibility behind long COVID’s stubborn symptoms: hidden infections that awaken or emerge alongside SARS-CoV-2. Evidence is mounting that viruses like Epstein-Barr and even latent tuberculosis may flare up when COVID disrupts the immune system,
A new five-year survey of the Magellanic Clouds will answer some questions about our neighbors
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are irregular dwarf galaxies and satellites of the Milky Way. The LMC is about 163,000 light-years away and the SMC is about 206,000 light-years away, and their close proximity makes them excellent laboratories for the study of galaxies in
Scientific discovery was slower when women were ignored, research shows
As far as nicknames go, the moniker "Mad Madge" would not suggest that Margaret Cavendish enjoyed the full respect of her peers.
How a new algorithm predicts cell fate from just one genetic snapshot
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH have developed a computational method that can reveal how cells change and specialize in the body. The study, which has been published in the journal PNAS, can provide important knowledge about why this process sometimes goes wrong
Femtosecond laser technique captures elusive atomic oxygen in water
A never-before-seen image of individual oxygen atoms dissolved in water has been captured.
Neutron star P13 shows dramatic X-ray variability linked to rotation velocity
A research team has investigated long-term X-ray variability in the neutron star NGC 7793 P13, an object thought to be driven by supercritical accretion, where an extraordinary amount of gas falls onto the object and emits intense X-rays. The team found a relation between the
Supernova immersion model suggests Earth-like planets are more common in the universe
Rocky planets like our Earth may be far more common than previously thought, according to new research published in the journal Science Advances. It suggests that when our solar system formed, a nearby supernova (the massive explosion of a star near the end of its life) bathed
Coral skeletons' Li/Mg ratios shaped by growth speed, not just environmental change
A team of researchers led by the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), in collaboration with colleagues from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the University of Bristol, and Nanjing University, has identified the primary
Typhoons vacuum microplastics from ocean and deposit them on land, study finds
Tropical storms such as typhoons, hurricanes, and cyclones are Earth's most powerful weather systems. Born over warm oceans, they travel thousands of kilometers to land, traversing waters now polluted with plastics, from coastal runoff to the vast oceanic garbage patches.
Hundreds of iceberg earthquakes detected at the crumbling end of Antarctica's 'doomsday glacier'
Glacial earthquakes are a special type of earthquake generated in cold, icy regions. First discovered in the Northern Hemisphere more than 20 years ago, these quakes occur when huge chunks of ice fall from glaciers into the sea.
Harvard gut discovery could change how we treat obesity and diabetes
Scientists found that certain molecules made by gut bacteria travel to the liver and help control how the body uses energy. These molecules change depending on diet, genetics, and shifts in the microbiome. Some even improved insulin response in liver cells when tested in the
Scientists discover nine new species of butterfly from South America stored at London's Natural History Museum
An international team of scientists have identified nine new species of butterflies using a combination of geographical, morphological and molecular analysis.
Biologists reveal ancient form of cell adhesion
The cells of all animals—including humans—are characterized by their ability to adhere particularly well to surfaces in their environment. This mechanically stable adhesion enables the development of complex tissues and organs and is made possible by certain cell surface
Scientists finally uncovered why the Indus Valley Civilization collapsed
A series of century-scale droughts may have quietly reshaped one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations. New climate reconstructions show that the Indus Valley Civilization endured repeated long dry periods that gradually pushed its people toward the Indus River as
Ultrashort laser pulses catch a snapshot of a 'molecular handshake'
Liquids and solutions are complex environments—think, for example, of sugar dissolving in water, where each sugar molecule becomes surrounded by a restless crowd of water molecules. Inside living cells, the picture is even more complex: tiny liquid droplets carry proteins or
Male bonobos use hidden clues to boost mating success
Male bonobos have an impressive ability to detect when females are most fertile, even though the usual visual cues are unreliable. Researchers tracking wild bonobos in the Congo discovered that males skillfully interpret a mix of swelling timing and a female’s reproductive
A grad student’s wild idea triggers a major aging breakthrough
Senescent “zombie” cells are linked to aging and multiple diseases, but spotting them in living tissue has been notoriously difficult. Researchers at Mayo Clinic have now taken an inventive leap by using aptamers—tiny, shape-shifting DNA molecules—to selectively tag these
Cracking the mystery of heat flow in few-atoms thin materials
For much of my career, I have been fascinated by the ways in which materials behave when we reduce their dimensions to the nanoscale. Over and over, I've learned that when we shrink a material down to just a few nanometers in thickness, the familiar textbook rules of physics
Long-hypothesized dynamic transition seen in deeply supercooled water for the first time
In a new study published in Nature Physics, researchers have achieved the first experimental observation of a fragile-to-strong transition in deeply supercooled water, resolving a scientific puzzle that has persisted for nearly three decades.
High-energy photons drive conversion of greenhouse gases into high-value chemicals, no catalyst needed
Scientists have found a way to turn carbon dioxide and methane, the two most notorious greenhouse gases, into useful chemicals without any expensive catalysts, using only light.
Natural compound supercharges treatment for aggressive leukemia
Forskolin, a plant-derived compound, shows surprising potential against one of the most aggressive forms of leukemia. Researchers discovered that it not only stops cancer cells from growing but also makes them far more vulnerable to chemotherapy by preventing them from pumping
AI finds a hidden stress signal inside routine CT scans
Researchers used a deep learning AI model to uncover the first imaging-based biomarker of chronic stress by measuring adrenal gland volume on routine CT scans. This new metric, the Adrenal Volume Index, correlates strongly with cortisol levels, allostatic load, perceived
Predictive framework for 2D materials puts low-cost, printable electronics on the horizon
Imagine wearable health sensors, smart packaging, flexible displays, or disposable IoT controllers all manufactured like printed newspapers. The same technology could underpin communication circuits, sensors, and signal-processing components made entirely from
Astronomers watched a sleeping neutron star roar back to life
Astronomers tracked a decade of dramatic changes in P13, a neutron star undergoing supercritical accretion. Its X-ray luminosity rose and fell by factors of hundreds while its rotation rate accelerated. These synchronized shifts suggest the accretion structure itself evolved
Webb finds a hidden atmosphere on a molten super-Earth
Webb’s latest observations reveal a hellish world cloaked in an unexpected atmosphere: TOI-561 b, an ultra-hot rocky planet racing around its star in under 11 hours. Despite being blasted by intense radiation that should strip it bare, the planet appears to host a thick layer
Trump Officials Keep Comparing the U.S.’s Vaccine Schedule to Denmark’s. They’re Missing the Point
The U.S.’s and Denmark’s health systems are starkly different, so it makes sense that their vaccination schedules would differ, too