Lyra Fen
Science Writer
Specializes in physics, research methodology and the evaluation of scientific evidence. Lyra covers research across the physical and life sciences, with a particular interest in how published findings hold up once other teams try to build on them. She is most interested in the gap between what a study shows and what a headline claims it shows.
Stories
Immune gene variants act in specific cell types
A Nature paper published on 28 October 2026 reports that pattern in 5,438,679 immune cells from 1,925 adults.
Rubin finds a dwarf planet candidate beyond Pluto
The object carries the provisional designation 2026 ED138, and only nine known trans-Neptunian objects are intrinsically brighter.
NASA sets a January 2031 date for UVEX
The agency also set a lifecycle cost of $590 million after the telescope passed Key Decision Point C.
NASA's Swift observatory ends its science mission
The satellite is now below 275 kilometers, where drag keeps the telescopes from holding a steady gaze.
OpenAI posts Navier-Stokes and Yang-Mills claims
Clay's official statement C asks for some smooth starting velocity and some smooth force for which no smooth solution lasts forever, and statement D asks the same question inside a periodic box.
OpenAI says a logic shortcut leaves P versus NP open
The company has put both files on a public repository and asked complexity theorists outside the company to examine them.
Webb places a fast radio burst at redshift 2.148
The paper reports radio observations of FRB 20240304B and near-infrared follow-up that identifies its host galaxy.
NASA cargo ship lifts off for the station
NASA says the rocket carried more than 6,300 pounds of supplies and hardware for the International Space Station.
Griffin-1 finishes tests before Moon launch
It is expected to launch later this year on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.
Spider Crater still shows an ancient impact
Landsat 9 recorded the crater on September 20, 2026, and the observatory used the image for its October puzzler.
SPHEREx studies 37 nearby brown dwarfs
The study, in The Astrophysical Journal, finds water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane in their atmospheres.