Moderna Curbing Investments in Vaccine Trials Due To US Backlash, CEO Says
An anonymous reader shares a report: Moderna does not plan to invest in new late-stage vaccine trials because of growing opposition to immunizations from U.S. officials, CEO Stephane Bancel said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday. “You cannot make a return on investment if you don’t have access to the U.S. market, … ⌘ Read more

Weight-Loss Drugs Could Save US Airlines $580 Million Per Year
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have transformed millions of lives with easily administered treatments and quick results. Now it turns out the dropped pounds may have a surprising perk for airlines, too: lower fuel costs, as slimmer passengers lighten their aircraft’s loads.

According to … ⌘ Read more

Ozempic is Reshaping the Fast Food Industry
New research from Cornell University has tracked how households change their spending after someone starts taking GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, and the numbers are material enough to explain why food industry earnings calls keep blaming everything except the obvious culprit.

The study analyzed transaction data from 150,000 households linked to survey responses on medicati … ⌘ Read more

HHS Announces New Study of Cellphone Radiation and Health
An anonymous reader quotes a report from U.S. News & World Report: U.S. health officials plan a new study investigating whether radiation from cellphones may affect human health. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the research will examine electromagnetic radiation and possible gaps in current science. The initiati … ⌘ Read more

He Went To Prison for Gene-Editing Babies. Now He’s Planning To Do It Again
He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who served three years in prison after creating the world’s first gene-edited babies in 2018, is now preparing for another attempt at germline editing – this time to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. In an interview, He said he has established an independent lab in south Beijing and raised $7 m … ⌘ Read more

The Fastest Human Spaceflight Mission In History Crawls Closer To Liftoff
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Preparations for the first human spaceflight to the Moon in more than 50 years took a big step forward this weekend with the rollout of the Artemis II rocket to its launch pad. The rocket reached a top speed of just 1 mph on the four-mile, 12-hour journey from the Vehicle … ⌘ Read more

The World’s Longest-Running Lab Experiment Is Almost 100 Years Old
alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: It all started in 1927, when physicist Thomas Parnell at the University of Queensland in Australia filled a closed funnel with the world’s thickest known fluid: pitch, a derivative of tar that was once used to seal ships against the seas. Three years later, in 1930, Parnell cut the funne … ⌘ Read more

Is the Possibility of Conscious AI a Dangerous Myth?
This week Noema magazine published a 7,000-word exploration of our modern “Mythology Of Conscious AI” written by a neuroscience professor who directs the University of Sussex Centre for Consciousness Science:
The very idea of conscious AI rests on the assumption that consciousness is a matter of computation. More specifically, that implementing the right kind of computation, … ⌘ Read more

EHT Astronomers Will Film Swirling of a Supermassive Black Hole for the First Time
“Astronomers are preparing to capture a movie of a supermassive black hole in action for the first time,” reports the Guardian:

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) will track the colossal black hole at the heart of the Messier 87 galaxy throughout March and April with the aim of capturing footage of the swirli … ⌘ Read more

SpaceX Launches New NASA Telescope to Help JWST Study Exoplanets
Last week a University of Arizona astronomy professor “watched anxiously…as an awe-inspiring SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried NASA’s new exoplanet telescope, Pandora, into orbit.”

In 2018 NASA had approached Daniel Apai to help build the telescope, which he says will “shatter a barrier — to understand and remove a source of noise in the data … ⌘ Read more

Astronomers Finally Explain How Molecules From Earth’s Atmosphere Keep Winding Up On the Moon
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:

Particles from Earth’s atmosphere have been carried into space by solar wind and have been landing on the moon for billions of years, mixing into the lunar soil, according to a new study [published in the journal Nature Communications Ea … ⌘ Read more

China Builds ‘Hypergravity’ Machine 2,000X Stronger Than Earth
Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 shared this report from Futurism:

China has unveiled an extremely powerful “hypergravity machine” that can generate forces almost two thousand times stronger than Earth’s regular gravity.

The futuristic-looking machine, called CHIEF1900, was constructed at China’s Centrifugal Hypergravity and Interdisciplinary Exper … ⌘ Read more

Could We Provide Better Cellphone Service With Fewer, Bigger Satellites?
European satellite operator Eutelsat “plans to launch 440 Airbus-built LEO satellites in the coming years to replenish and expand its constellation,” Reuters reported Friday. And last week America’s Federal Communications Commission approved SpaceX’s request to deploy another 7,500 Starlink satellites, while Starlink “projects it … ⌘ Read more

How Much Do AI Models Resemble a Brain?
At the AI safety site Foom, science journalist Mordechai Rorvig explores a paper presented at November’s Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing conference:

[R]esearchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Georgia Tech revisited earlier findings that showed that language models, the engines of commercial AI chatbots, sh … ⌘ Read more

2026’s Breakthrough Technologies? MIT Technology Review Chooses Sodium-ion Batteries, Commercial Space Stations
As 2026 begins, MIT Technology Review publishes “educated guesses” on emerging technologies that will define the future, advances “we think will drive progress or incite the most change — for better or worse — in the years ahead.”

This year’s list incl … ⌘ Read more

NASA Livestreams the Rocket That Will Carry Four Astronauts Around the Moon
“A mega rocket set to take astronauts around the Moon for the first time in decades is being taken to its launch pad,” the BBC reported this morning.

NASA is livestreaming their move of the 11-million-pound “stack” — which includes the Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft secured to it, al … ⌘ Read more

Le 10ème Homme – Dossier du mois : la génomique
Imaginez un instant que vous déteniez le manuel d’instruction de votre propre vie. Un code secret, logé au cœur de chacune de vos cellules, qui dicte non seulement votre passé, mais aussi votre futur de santé et de résilience. Ce code, c’est votre génome. Longtemps restée le domaine réservé de la science-fiction, la génomique est […] ⌘ Read more

Pesticides May Drastically Shorten Fish Lifespans, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Even low levels of common agricultural pesticides can stunt the long-term lifespan of fish, according to research led by Jason Rohr, a biologist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. Signs of aging accelerated when fish were exposed to the chemicals, according to the study, published in Sc … ⌘ Read more

Microplastics From Washing Clothes Could Be Hurting Your Tomatoes
A new study from Cornell and University of Toronto researchers has found that polyester microfibers shed from synthetic clothing during laundry can interfere with cherry tomato plant development [non-paywalled source] when these particles accumulate in agricultural soil. Plants grown in contaminated soil were 11% less likely to emerge, gre … ⌘ Read more

PhD Students’ Taste For Risk Mirrors Their Supervisors’
A researchers’ propensity for risky projects is passed down to their doctoral students – and stays with trainees after they leave the laboratory, according to an analysis of thousands of current and former PhD students and their mentors. From a report: Science involves taking risks, and some of the most impactful discoveries require taking big bets. However, scient … ⌘ Read more

Astronauts Splash Down To Earth After Medical Evacuation From ISS
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Four astronauts evacuated from the International Space Station (ISS) have landed back on Earth after their stay in space was cut short by a month due to a “serious” medical issue. The crew’s captain, Nasa astronaut Mike Fincke, exited the spacecraft first, smiling and wobbling slightly on his … ⌘ Read more

Many People Who Come Off GLP-1 Drugs Regain Weight Within 2 Years, Review Suggests
Many people who stop using weight loss drugs will return to their previous weight within two years, a new review of existing research has found. CNN adds: This rate of weight regain is significantly faster than that seen in those who have lost weight by changing other lifestyle factors, such as diet and exerc … ⌘ Read more

AI Models Are Starting To Crack High-Level Math Problems
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Over the weekend, Neel Somani, who is a software engineer, former quant researcher, and a startup founder, was testing the math skills of OpenAI’s new model when he made an unexpected discovery. After pasting the problem into ChatGPT and letting it think for 15 minutes, he came back to a full solution. He ev … ⌘ Read more

The Swedish Start-Up Aiming To Conquer America’s Full-Body-Scan Craze
An anonymous reader quotes a report from DealBook: Fifteen years ago, Daniel Ek broke into America’s digital-content wars with his streaming music start-up, Spotify, which has turned into a publicly traded company with a $110 billion market value. Now he and his business partner, the Swedish entrepreneur Hjalmar Nilsonne, aim to crack … ⌘ Read more

NASA Acknowledges Record Heat But Avoids Referencing Climate Change
An anonymous reader shares a report: Global temperatures soared in 2025, but a NASA statement published Wednesday alongside its latest benchmark annual report makes no reference to climate change, in line with President Donald Trump’s push to deny the reality of planetary heating as a result of human activities.

That marks a sharp break … ⌘ Read more

NASA, Department of Energy To Develop Lunar Surface Reactor By 2030
NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy plan to deploy a nuclear fission reactor on the Moon by 2030 to provide continuous, long-duration power for lunar bases, science missions, and future Mars exploration. space & defense reports: NASA said fission surface power will provide a critical capability for long-duration missions by delivering … ⌘ Read more

Doubt Cast On Discovery of Microplastics Throughout Human Body
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: High-profile studies reporting the presence of microplastics throughout the human body have been thrown into doubt by scientists who say the discoveries are probably the result of contamination and false positives. One chemist called the concerns “a bombshell.” Studies claiming to have revealed … ⌘ Read more

You Can Now Reserve a Hotel Room On the Moon For $250,000
A newly founded startup called GRU Space is taking deposits of up to $1 million to eventually build inflatable hotels on the Moon. The bet is that space needs destinations, not just rockets, even if the first customers are essentially early adopters of sci-fi optimism. Ars Technica reports: It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? After all, GRU Space had, as of late Dec … ⌘ Read more

China is Geoengineering Deserts With Blue-Green Algae
An anonymous reader shares a report: Deserts are hard to reclaim because plants cannot survive on shifting sand, but scientists in northwest China are changing that – by dropping vast amounts of blue-green algae onto the dry terrain. These specially selected strains of cyanobacteria can survive extreme heat and drought for long periods, according to China Science Daily on … ⌘ Read more

Revolutionary Eye Injection Saved My Sight, Says First-Ever Patient
Doctors say they have achieved the previously impossible – restoring sight and preventing blindness in people with a rare but dangerous eye conditon called hypotony. From a report: Moorfields hospital in London is the world’s first dedicated clinic for the disorder and seven out of eight patients given the pioneering treatment have respon … ⌘ Read more

Exercise is as Effective as Medication in Treating Depression, Study Finds
A major new review by the Cochrane collaboration – an independent network of researchers – evaluated 73 randomized controlled trials involving about 5,000 people with depression and found that exercise matched the effectiveness of both pharmacological treatments and psychological therapies.

The biological mechanisms overl … ⌘ Read more

How Many Years Left Until the Hubble Space Telescope Reenters Earth’s Atmosphere?
“The clock is ticking” on the Hubble Space Telescope,
writes the space news site Daily Galaxy, citing estimates from the unofficial “Hubble Reentry Tracker” site (which uses orbital data from the site space-track.org, created by tech integrator SAIC):

While Hubble was initially launched into low Earth orbit at … ⌘ Read more

Nature-Inspired Computers Are Shockingly Good At Math
An R&D lab under America’s Energy Department annnounced this week that “Neuromorphic computers, inspired by the architecture of the human brain, are proving surprisingly adept at solving complex mathematical problems that underpin scientific and engineering challenges.”

Phys.org publishes the announcement from Sandia National Lab:

In a paper published in Nature M … ⌘ Read more

China’s ‘Artificial Sun’ Breaks Nuclear Fusion Limit Thought to Be Impossible
“Scientists in China have made a breakthrough with fusion energy that could finally overcome one of the most stubborn barriers to realising the next-generation energy source,” reports the Independent:

A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said its experimental nuclear reactor, dubbed the ‘artificial Sun’, a … ⌘ Read more

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Why Wrong Answers Matter #science href=”https://we.loveprivacy.club/search?q=%23experiment”>#experiment** ⌘ Read more

Medical Evacuation from Space Station Next Week for Astronaut in Stable Condition
It will be the first medical evacuation from the International space station in its 25-year history. The Guardian reports:

An astronaut in the orbital laboratory reportedly fell ill with a “serious” but undisclosed issue. Nasa also had to cancel its first spacewalk of the year… The agency did not identify th … ⌘ Read more

Scientists Tried To Break Einstein’s Speed of Light Rule
Scientists are putting Einstein’s claim that the speed of light is constant to the test. While researchers found no evidence that light’s speed changes with energy, this null result dramatically tightens the constraints on quantum-gravity theories that predict even the tiniest violations. ScienceDaily reports: Special relativity rests on the principle that the … ⌘ Read more

The Golden Age of Vaccine Development
Microbiology had its golden age in the late nineteenth century, when researchers identified the bacterial causes of tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, and a dozen other diseases in rapid succession. Antibiotics had theirs in the mid-twentieth century. Both booms eventually slowed. Vaccine development, by contrast, appears to be speeding up – and the most productive era may still lie ahead, Works in … ⌘ Read more

Fusion Physicists Found a Way Around a Long-Standing Density Limit
alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: At the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), physicists successfully exceeded what is known as the Greenwald limit, a practical density boundary beyond which plasmas tend to violently destabilize, often damaging reactor components. For a long time, the Greenwald limit wa … ⌘ Read more

Ultimate Camouflage Tech Mimics Octopus In Scientific First
Researchers at Stanford University have created a programmable synthetic “skin” that can independently change color and texture, “a feat previously only available within the animal kingdom,” reports the Register. From the report: The technique employs electron beams to write patterns and add optical layers that create color effects. When exposed to wate … ⌘ Read more

Some Super-Smart Dogs Can Learn New Words Just By Eavesdropping
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: [I]t turns out that some genius dogs can learn a brand new word, like the name of an unfamiliar toy, by just overhearing brief interactions between two people. What’s more, these “gifted” dogs can learn the name of a new toy even if they first hear this word when the toy is out of sight – as long … ⌘ Read more

Science hot take: being wrong is actually the most exciting outcome 🤯 ⌘ Read more

Former Google CEO Plans To Singlehandedly Fund a Hubble Telescope Replacement
An anonymous reader shares a report: Prior to World War II the vast majority of telescopes built around the world were funded by wealthy people with an interest in the heavens above.

However, after the war, two significant developments in the mid-20th century caused the burden of funding large astronomical instrument … ⌘ Read more

Rubin Observatory Spots an Asteroid That Spins Fast Enough To Set a Record
Astronomers using the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have discovered a record-setting asteroid, known as 2025 MN45, nearly half a mile wide and spinning once every 1.88 minutes – the fastest known rotation for an object of its size. “This is now the fastest-spinning asteroid that we know of, larger than 500 meters,” said Sarah … ⌘ Read more

OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health, Encouraging Users To Connect Their Medical Records
OpenAI has unveiled ChatGPT Health, a sandboxed health-focused mode that lets users connect medical records and wellness apps for more personalized guidance. The company makes sure to note that ChatGPT Health is “not intended for diagnosis or treatment.” The Verge reports: The company is encouraging users to … ⌘ Read more

Utah Allows AI To Renew Medical Prescriptions
sinij shares a news release from the Utah Department of Commerce: The state of Utah, through the Utah Department of Commerce’s Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy, today announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with Doctronic, the AI-native health platform, to give patients with chronic conditions a faster, automated way to renew medications. This agreement marks the first s … ⌘ Read more

Study Casts Doubt on Potential For Life on Jupiter’s Moon Europa
Jupiter’s moon Europa is on the short list of places in our solar system seen as promising in the search for life beyond Earth, with a large subsurface ocean thought to be hidden under an outer shell of ice. But new research is raising questions about whether Europa in fact has what it takes for habitability. Reuters: The study assessed the pot … ⌘ Read more

Flu Is Relentless. Crispr Might Be Able to Shut It Down
Scientists at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity are working on a Crispr-based treatment – delivered as a nasal spray or injection – that could stop influenza infections by targeting the virus’s RNA and disrupting its ability to replicate inside human cells.

The approach uses the Cas13 enzyme, a lesser-known cousin of the DNA-cuttin … ⌘ Read more

A Drug-Resistant ‘Superbug’ Fungus Infected 7,000 Americans in 2025
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Independent:

Candida auris, a type of invasive yeast that can cause deadly infections in people with weakened immune systems, has infected at least 7,000 people [in 2025] across 27 U.S. states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fungus, which can spr … ⌘ Read more

What Happened When Alaska’s Court System Tried Answering Questions with an AI Chatbot?
An AI chatbot to answer probate questions from Alaska residents “was supposed to be a three-month project,” said Aubrie Souza, a consultant with the National Center for State Courts told NBC News. “We are now at well over a year and three months, but that’s all because of the due diligence that was req … ⌘ Read more