Section
Science
Research findings and methods, including what a result shows and what it does not yet show.
Leg bone fragment from Flores cave described as new megapode species
The bird, named Megapodius rokusi, weighed approximately 3.9 kg.
Crossed wiring of the mammalian brain began with early vertebrate vision
They don't see it as a survival advantage.
Darwin wasps rarely turn back once their host strategies change
That is the finding of an international team led by the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, which reconstructed the evolutionary history of the insects' parasitic strategies from genetic data on 697 species.
Altar Stone's mineralogy and chemistry fit poorly with northeastern Scotland
They stop short of ruling it out entirely.
Salt-loving archaeon grew in a chamber built to mimic Martian subsurface brine
It used nitrate or perchlorate in place of oxygen, according to a paper published online November 5, 2026, in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (doi:10.1128/aem.01749-26).
LOFAR image is the sharpest yet at low radio frequencies
It shows almost 63,000 radio sources, among them active galactic nuclei and star-forming galaxies, across an area about 25 times that of the full moon.
How to update your beliefs when new evidence arrives
A positive test result can raise our assessment of the probability of a disease without settling the diagnosis. Two results that agree can add less information than we expect. Bayesian reasoning shows how to weigh new evidence in diagnosis, in science, and when reading the news.
Gas rising through Alba Mons fissures may be venting from hot magma
That is the proposal from an international team led by Alexander Trokhimovskiy, reported by the European Space Agency in a story carried by Phys.org.
A slow dopamine signal from the gut teaches mice to like foods
The findings were published online November 4, 2026, in the journal Nature, according to Sci.News.
Cooking is the largest local PM1 source at mealtimes in London and Beijing
The percentages are shares of particles released at those hours, not the mix in the air people breathe, and the same campaign recorded a different mix in Delhi.
Roughly one in 14 adults say someone made, shared or threatened to share AI-generated sexual images of them
The researchers, led by Professor Nicola Henry of RMIT University, surveyed 7,230 adults in July and August 2024. Their results appeared on September 8, 2026 in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction.
Virginia Tech engineers tap buried rocks with vibrations to measure their depth
The method has so far been tested only on stone samples that Ph.D. candidate Yiyan Ruan buried in a large sandbox, not on an actual planetary surface.
IGTP and BST validate GMP-compliant platform for extracellular vesicle manufacturing
Extracellular vesicles are small particles that cells release into their surroundings.
Mineralized red blood cell remnants retain heme chemistry in Aratasaurus bone
The dinosaur lived during the Early Cretaceous epoch, some 115 million years ago, an age estimate given for this species in the Sci.News account of the work.
Toxicology traces psychoactive substances in Inca mountain sacrifice mummies
Those compounds leave durable traces in keratin in hair and nails, so preserved bodies from the capacocha can be read long after the rites ended.
Nitric oxide particles help infected wax moth larvae survive in University of Reading study
In the team’s 2026 survival measurement in infected wax moth larvae, tiny particles that release nitric oxide helped nine in 10 treated larvae survive, compared with around six in 10 that were not treated.
When a result becomes knowledge
What settles its meaning is not the fact of publication, but the checking that follows: scrutiny of the methods, independent measurements, and a confrontation with other evidence.
Carbon reserves rise where Southern Hemisphere conifers outgrow native ranges
University of Mississippi ecologist Stephen Brewer was among more than two dozen researchers across multiple continents who tracked those contrasts.
Carrion crow neurons encode an upcoming motion choice about 70 milliseconds after onset
That early, evidence-weighted buildup is the mechanism the paper puts at the center of an unusually quick visuomotor decision loop.
New megaraptorid genus named from incomplete Late Cretaceous skeleton in northern Patagonia
The animal sits inside Megaraptoridae, a group of medium- to large-sized theropods known for slender hind limbs, strongly curved teeth, and large claws on their hands
Metabolic carbon dioxide from human bodies rose 74% worldwide between 1985 and 2015
The work, published in The Lancet Planetary Health under lead author professor Javier Gonzalez of the university’s Center for Exercise, Nutrition and Metabolism
Sahara meteorite Teghaza 001 samples Mars's primordial crust from at least 4.1 billion years ago
The rock is a coarse-grained igneous body, a plagioclase-rich gabbro, whose texture records slow cooling, probably underground, before an impact lofted it into space and onto Earth.
MutexaGPT converts plain-English enzyme requests into physics-based mutation designs
The report from Vanderbilt University, carried by Phys.org, names Yang’s former doctoral student Qianzhen Shao, now a postdoc at Stanford, among the team members behind the tool
Algal virus carries a tandem potassium channel gene of apparent viral origin
The study, published in 2026 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Spora dataset posted on arXiv is a spatial proteomics corpus of multiplex images
The 15 October 2026 arXiv version counts 13,546 multiplex images from 5,477 patients.
How preterm birth leaves cerebellar cell lineages on clocks that no longer match
A 29 October 2026 Science paper describes the diversion in living infants and in postmortem tissue, and commentators say it is unknown whether the cellular differences last.
The answer is not the skill: how AI is reshaping human thinking
Artificial intelligence can make us more productive without making us more capable: classroom and workplace experiments show why some AI systems strengthen independent thinking while others encourage dependence.
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.
UK funds eight vaccine projects with £33.2 million
The department says the projects target Ebola, plague, Marburg, Lassa fever, Nipah virus, chikungunya, and Mayaro.
FDA approves a heart valve that can be widened
The agency says the device may reduce the need for repeat open-heart surgeries in children with heart defects.
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.