Geoscientist’s innovative approach aims to safeguard irrigation canals
Irrigation canal maintenance in western Nebraska is taking a giant step forward thanks to an innovative, non-invasive method by Husker geoscientist Mohamed Khalil to check canal integrity. His sophisticated time-lapse analysis pinpoints canal seepage and structural settlement far more accurately and efficiently than traditional approaches—using a technology that can have wide-ranging uses statewide for agriculture, … ⌘ Read more
Cul-de-sac effect: Why Mediterranean regions are becoming more prone to extreme floods in a changing climate
In May 2023, Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region experienced devastating, if not unprecedented, floods that caused widespread damage to infrastructure, homes, businesses, and farmland. Seventeen people lost their lives, and the disaster caused an estimated €8.5 billion in damages. The persistent rainfall and resulting landslides and flooding displaced tens of thousands of residents, leaving a deep ma … ⌘ Read more
Now in 3D, maps begin to bring exoplanets into focus
Astronomers have generated the first three-dimensional map of a planet orbiting another star, revealing an atmosphere with distinct temperature zones—one so scorching that it breaks down water vapor, a team co-led by a Cornell expert reports in new research. ⌘ Read more
Sinking Indian megacities pose ‘alarming’ building damage risks
Sinking land is quietly destabilizing urban infrastructure in India’s largest cities, putting thousands of buildings and millions of people at risk, according to Virginia Tech scientists. ⌘ Read more
China’s Zhuque-3 reusable rocket passes key milestone
The Chinese company LandSpace continues to develop the Zhuque-3 (ZQ-3), a two-stage reusable launch vehicle inspired by SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy. They achieved their first milestone in January 2024 with a vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) using their VTVL-1 test vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in northern China. By September, the company conducted a second VTVL test where the prototype hovered for over 200 … ⌘ Read more
The fate of Marineland’s belugas exposes the ethical cracks in Canadian animal law
Most people think countries like Canada have strong animal protection laws, but it doesn’t. A case in point is the unfolding tragedy-in-the-making at Marineland. ⌘ Read more
Iguanas on Clarion Island, Mexico, found to predate human presence in the Americas
An international team of biologists, including those at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, have discovered that the spiny-tailed iguanas on Clarion Island (Mexico), previously thought to be introduced by humans, have likely been there since before humans colonized the Americas. ⌘ Read more
Racial disparities persist in victim compensation for homicide survivors
Families of Black homicide victims are more likely to file victim compensation claims but face disproportionately high denial rates, according to a Rutgers Health study. ⌘ Read more
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@movq It's way more expensive and time-consuming in the end. If only somebody had warned us!!1
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Young stars ejecting plasma could offer clues into the sun’s past
The sun is frequently ejecting huge masses of plasma, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), into space. They often occur together with sudden brightenings called flares, and sometimes extend far enough to disturb Earth’s magnetosphere, generating space weather phenomena including auroras or geomagnetic storms, and even damaging power grids on occasion. ⌘ Read more
Earliest long-snouted fossil crocodile from Egypt reveals the African origins of seagoing crocs
In the Egyptian Western Desert, where red sandstones and green shales rise above the arid plains of Kharga Oasis, paleontologists have uncovered a fossil that fundamentally reshapes our understanding of crocodile evolution. ⌘ Read more
White oak genome reveals genetic markers for climate adaptability and pest resistance
White oak (Quercus alba) is important economically, ecologically, and culturally. However, the species currently faces a significant challenge: a low rate of seedling recruitment, the process by which seeds successfully germinate and grow into new trees. ⌘ Read more
Dark matter could color our view of the universe
Dark matter has two central properties: it has mass like regular matter, and unlike regular matter, it reacts weakly or not at all with light. Neutrinos satisfy these two criteria, but neutrinos move through space at nearly the speed of light, making them a form of hot dark matter. The observations we have suggest that dark matter is cold. ⌘ Read more
Why US activists are wearing inflatable frog costumes at protests against Trump
Three frogs, a shark, a unicorn and a Tyrannosaurus rex dance in front of a line of heavily armored police in riot gear. ⌘ Read more
How the Mayans were able to accurately predict solar eclipses for centuries
The Maya Civilization, from Central America, was one of the most advanced ancient civilizations, known for its significant achievements in astronomy and mathematics. This includes accurate calendars and detailed celestial records, but scientists don’t fully understand all the details of their calculations. However, new research is shedding light on how they predicted future eclipses with remarkable accuracy. ⌘ Read more
Hurricane Melissa strengthens as it crawls toward Jamaica
Hurricane Melissa was cutting a deadly path through the Caribbean on Sunday, strengthening into a Category 4 storm as it crawled along a worryingly slow course toward Jamaica and the island of Hispaniola. ⌘ Read more
Japan successfully launches new cargo spacecraft to deliver supplies to International Space Station
Japan’s space agency successfully launched Sunday its most powerful flagship H3 rocket, carrying a newly developed unmanned cargo spacecraft for its first mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. ⌘ Read more
4MOST telescope facility captures first light
On October 18, 2025, the 4-meter Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST) facility, installed on the VISTA telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Paranal Observatory in Chile, obtained its first light. This milestone is a crucial step in the life of any telescope, marking the moment it is ready to begin its scientific journey. ⌘ Read more
Saturday Citations: Primate skull diversity; exploring matter-antimatter asymmetry; asthma clarified
Howdy, pards! This autumnal week brought a new challenge to last decade’s claim of a strong Yellowstone trophic cascade after the reintroduction of wolves. Evolutionary biologists propose that carrion-eating was a dependable nutritional strategy for early humans that may have influenced evolution. And Chinese researchers report that LLMs and humans represent sentences similarly. ⌘ Read more
New forecasting tool improves accuracy of epidemic peak and hospital demand predictions
During an epidemic, some of the most critical questions for healthcare decision-makers are the hardest ones to answer: When will the epidemic peak, how many people will need treatment at once and how long will that peak level of demand for care last? Timely answers can help hospital administrators, community leaders and clinics decide how to deploy staff and other resources most effectively. Unfortunately, man … ⌘ Read more
‘Destructive’ swans in the crosshairs as California allows hunting
Hunters will soon be allowed to kill mute swans as part of an effort to cull the “destructive, non-native” species statewide, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. ⌘ Read more
Virtual reality can help people understand and care about distant communities
For many of us, climate change feels like a distant threat—damage that will happen in the future somewhere far away to people we know little about. A new Stanford University-led study reveals how virtual reality can close that distance, enabling users to explore faraway places, develop a sense of attachment to those places, and care more about how a warming world is wreaking havoc on people’s lives. ⌘ Read more
A food tax shift could save lives—without a price hike in the average shopping basket
More expensive steak, cheaper tomatoes, but the same total cost for the average basket of groceries at the supermarket. A comprehensive study, led by researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, has analyzed the potential effects of a food tax shift—where VAT is removed from healthy foods and levies are introduced on foods that have a negative impact on the climate. ⌘ Read more
Gene variant that protects against norovirus spread with arrival of agriculture, prehistoric DNA reveals
The arrival of agriculture coincided with a sharp rise in a gene variant that protected against the virus that causes winter vomiting, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Linköping University report after analyzing DNA from over 4,300 prehistoric individuals and cultivating “mini guts.” ⌘ Read more
1 in 3 US nonprofits that serve communities lost government funding in early 2025
About one-third of U.S. nonprofit service providers experienced a disruption in their government funding in the first half of 2025. ⌘ Read more