Reporting world updates to you
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is now just two days from launch, marking the arrival of the agency’s next flagship astrophysics mission after the James Webb Space Telescope. University of Arizona faculty and students will be watching from Cape Canaveral as Roman begins its journey toward science operations, which…
Walking through the savanna-woodland landscape of Boé National Park, Guinea-Bissau, you might encounter a tree covered in gnarled scars, with an accumulation of rocks surrounding its base. The chimpanzees may have left the area, but you are lucky nonetheless, because you have stumbled upon evidence of a rare — and…
Vanillin, a flavoring chemical commonly used in e-cigarettes, may interfere with normal embryonic development in pregnant women who vape, according to research led by UC Riverside. The findings, published on August 12 in Human Reproduction, offer a possible explanation for previously observed links between vaping, difficulty becoming pregnant, and miscarriage.…
Students who attended public school pre-K went on to perform better academically through high school than children who received family-based childcare, according to new research from Florida International University. The findings come from one of the largest long-term studies of early childhood education outcomes. Led by George Mason University and…
A large survey of plant-based foods and beverages sold in the UK has found that mycotoxins, toxic compounds naturally produced by fungi, are widespread across vegetarian and vegan products. Researchers analyzed 212 plant-based meat alternatives (PMBAs) and plant-based beverages (PBBs) purchased from UK stores. Every product tested contained at least…
For millennia, people have transformed landscapes, forcing wildlife to adjust to cities, farms, roads, and other human activity. But new research suggests animals are responding not only to the environments we build, but also to the simple fact that people are physically nearby. Researchers from UC Santa Barbara, the Smithsonian’s…
Soil supports the food we eat, stores water, carbon and nutrients, and provides habitat for an enormous share of life on Earth. Scientists estimate that more than half of global biodiversity exists below the surface. But soil biodiversity is declining around the world, threatening agriculture, food security and the ability…
Rock glaciers look very different from conventional glaciers. Instead of exposed ice, they resemble sprawling fields of loose rock, while potentially concealing large quantities of ice below the surface. These formations are widespread across Utah’s Wasatch and Uinta ranges and can also be found on the Colorado Plateau in the…
Washington State University researchers have used artificial intelligence to identify a faster and less costly way to 3D print a high-performance metal alloy, avoiding the need to manually test more than 100 million possible printing configurations. The advance could eventually make the alloy, which is widely used in aerospace applications…
Astronomers now have their strongest evidence yet that Betelgeuse, one of the best-known stars in the night sky, has a stellar companion. A team led by French astronomer Miguel Montargès used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) to capture the clearest image so far of what is…
As the global population grows and climate change places increasing pressure on food systems, researchers and policymakers are looking more closely at alternative sources of nutrition. Insects are one possible option. A total of 1,611 insect species are classified as edible, and organizations including the Food and Agriculture Organization of…
Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) now supply nearly 60% of the calories consumed by adults in the United States and about 70% of those consumed by children. These industrially produced foods include soft drinks, packaged cereals, snacks, and processed meats. They are typically made with refined fats, oils, sugars, starches, salts, and…
From the first hint of cold winter mornings, supermarkets and pharmacies begin heavy marketing to coax us to stock up on vitamin C to get through the cold and flu season. But where did that idea come from? As we’ll see, it’s a story including a Nobel Prize winner, a…
A faint background of extremely low frequency gravitational waves detected through networks of pulsars could contain clues to events that unfolded more than 13 billion years ago, including the emergence of some of the Universe’s earliest supermassive black holes. In a study published as a Letter in Physical Review D,…
A recently proposed form of magnetism known as altermagnetism could eventually help researchers make computer memory smaller, faster, and more efficient. Now, scientists have found evidence that ruthenium dioxide, a quantum material previously considered nonmagnetic in its bulk form, may display this unusual magnetic behavior when prepared as an ultrathin…
The rise of complex ecosystems on land was one of the major turning points in the history of life. As organisms expanded beyond the oceans, terrestrial environments became home to increasingly diverse communities. Insects, which today make up the most species-rich animal group on Earth, eventually became central to these…
Glioblastoma is considered the most aggressive type of brain cancer. One reason it is so difficult to treat is that cancer cells spread into nearby brain tissue. That makes complete surgical removal extremely challenging because surgeons must avoid damaging healthy areas of the brain. The blood-brain barrier creates another obstacle…
Deep inside the brain, a small group of nerve cells helps control how strongly pain signals are felt. Under normal conditions, this system can suppress pain traveling through the spinal cord. After nerve damage, however, the same circuitry can become overactive and help sustain chronic pain. Researchers at Washington University…
Nearly 90 years ago, Werner Heisenberg predicted a strange quantum effect known as vacuum birefringence, in which seemingly empty space can change the way light behaves. According to the idea, even a perfect vacuum is not truly empty. Instead, it should contain “virtual particles” that briefly appear and disappear. Despite…
NASA’s Starling mission has reached another milestone in autonomous spaceflight by demonstrating a system that can determine a satellite’s orbital position using other objects in space as reference points rather than depending on an external navigation network. The technology, called FALCON (Fast Autonomous Lost-in-space Catalog-based Optical Navigation), is designed to…
Reducing calorie intake has extended lifespan in animals including mice, rhesus monkeys, and fruit flies. In some studies, the animals also remained healthier for longer. But severe calorie restriction can come with serious costs. Mice placed on a diet with 40% fewer calories, for instance, become more vulnerable to infections,…
Pangolins look almost prehistoric. These medium-sized mammals, found only in Africa and Asia, have long, powerful tails, large curved claws, and bodies covered in overlapping scales that resemble a pinecone. Those distinctive scales are also a major reason pangolins are in danger. They are heavily targeted by poachers and are…
An international team of researchers, led in part by the University of Ottawa, has documented a major calving event at Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland. On August 4, 2026, the glacier released a 76.4 km2 ice island, its largest loss of floating ice since 2012 and the biggest Arctic calving…
Could how much sugar you consumed before your second birthday shape your health decades later – even into your 70s? A new study that my colleagues and I conducted suggests the answer could be yes. People who had less sugar exposure during the first few years of life were much…
Curcumin, the natural compound responsible for turmeric’s vivid yellow color, is widely studied for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. New research in rats suggests it may also help protect blood vessels from damage linked to diabetes. The findings were presented at the 2026 American Physiology Summit in Minneapolis. The Summit…
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is now one major step closer to liftoff. On Aug. 21, teams enclosed the observatory inside the protective fairing of its SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The fairing is the large shell…
An international team led by the University of Bern has found evidence that a single asteroid collision may have dramatically reshaped Deimos, the smaller of Mars’ two moons. By combining detailed computer simulations with recent images from ESA’s Hera spacecraft, the researchers concluded that one impact could account for both…
Children who spend more time indoors looking at screens and less time outside are more likely to develop myopia, also known as nearsightedness. The problem is growing rapidly worldwide, with some experts estimating that nearly 5 billion people (or 50% of the world population) could be nearsighted by 2050. New…
Severe stress during childhood can increase a person’s vulnerability to anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders when new challenges arise later in life. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Princeton University have now identified a biological process that may help explain how early trauma can…
Low-carb diets have become increasingly popular, but their effects on cholesterol are far from uniform. Some people see little change, while others experience a substantial increase. New research suggests that genetics may help explain why. The findings indicate that saturated fat, which can make up a larger share of some…