AI Led To an Increase In Radiologists, Not a Decrease
Despite predictions that AI would replace radiologists, healthcare systems worldwide are hiring more of them because AI tools enhance their work, create new oversight tasks, and increase imaging volumes rather than reducing workloads. “Put all that together with the context of an aging population and growing demand for imaging of all kinds, and you can see why Offia … ⌘ Read more

What is SPF, and how is sunscreen tested in the laboratory?
With sunscreen testing in the spotlight this year, how do laboratories test how effectively products protect our skin from the Sun’s rays? ⌘ Read more

Sugars, ‘Gum,’ Stardust Found In NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Samples
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx samples from asteroid Bennu have revealed bio-essential sugars, a never-before-seen “space gum” polymer, and unusually high levels of supernova-origin dust. The findings bolster the RNA-world hypothesis, suggest complex organics formed early on Bennu’s parent body, and show preserved presolar grains that escaped alteration for billion … ⌘ Read more

30% of Doctors In UK Use AI Tools In Patient Consultations, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Almost three in 10 GPs in the UK are using AI tools such as ChatGPT in consultations with patients, even though it could lead to them making mistakes and being sued, a study reveals. The rapid adoption of AI to ease workloads is happening alongside a “wild west” lack of regulat … ⌘ Read more

What’s in pregnancy supplements? Sorting science from marketing spin
Health experts say tighter regulations around pregnancy supplements are needed as newer brands replace folic acid — a key nutrient shown to prevent birth defects — with a lesser-studied alternative. ⌘ Read more

Incredible close-up of spider silk wins science photo prize
Duelling prairie chickens, a snake-mimicking moth and a once-a-year sunrise at the South Pole feature in the best images from the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2025 ⌘ Read more

Chinese Reusable Booster Explodes During First Orbital Test
schwit1 shares a report from CNN: A private Chinese space firm successfully sent its Zhuque-3 rocket to orbit but failed in its historic attempt to re-land the rocket booster Wednesday – the first such trial by a Chinese firm as the country’s growing commercial space sector races to catch up with American rivals like SpaceX. The rocket entered orbit as … ⌘ Read more

LandSpace Could Become China’s First Company To Land a Reusable Rocket
China’s private launch firm LandSpace is preparing the debut flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket, aiming to become the country’s first to land a reusable orbital-class booster using a Falcon-9-style return profile. Ars Technica reports: Liftoff could happen around 11 pm EST tonight (04:00 UTC Wednesday), or noon local time at the Jiuquan … ⌘ Read more

Study Finds Tattoo Ink Moves Through the Body, Killing Immune Cells
Bruce66423 shares a report from the Los Angeles Times: Tattoo ink doesn’t just sit inertly in the skin. New research shows it moves rapidly into the lymphatic system, where it can persist for months, kill immune cells, and even disrupt how the body responds to vaccines. Scientists in Switzerland used a mouse model to trace what happens af … ⌘ Read more

San Francisco Will Sue Ultraprocessed Food Companies
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: The San Francisco city attorney filed on Tuesday the nation’s first government lawsuit against food manufacturers over ultraprocessed fare (source may be paywalled; alternative source), arguing that cities and counties have been burdened with the costs of treating diseases that stem from the companies’ prod … ⌘ Read more

Russia Still Using Black Market Starlink Terminals On Its Drones
schwit1 shares a report from Behind The Black: In its war with the Ukraine, it appears Russia is still managing to obtain black market Starlink mini-terminals for use on its drones, despite an effort since 2024 to block access. [Imagery from eastern Ukraine shows a Russian Molniya-type drone outfitted with a mini-Starlink terminal, reinforcin … ⌘ Read more

Russian Launch Site Mishap Shows Perilous State of Storied Space Program
A Soyuz launch at Baikonur damaged Russia’s only launchpad capable of sending astronauts and crucial propellant to the ISS. “The rocket itself headed to space without incident, taking three astronauts – Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev of Russia and Chris Williams of NASA – to the space station,” reports the New York Ti … ⌘ Read more

Put the fun back into fungi. Test your mushroom facts in our quiz
Mushrooms hit the headlines this year, but not for the best reasons. It’s time to change that — take our quiz to see how many fun fungi facts you know. ⌘ Read more

The best new science fiction books of December 2025
From a new collection of shorter fiction by Brandon Sanderson to Simon Stålenhag’s new work, via a Stranger Things novel, December’s new sci-fi features some compelling and intriguing offerings ⌘ Read more

Russia Left Without Access to ISS Following Structure Collapse During Thursday’s Launch
After a successful November 27th launch to the International Space Station, Russia discovered an accident had occurred on their launch site’s mobile maintenance cabin — when a drone spotted it lying upside down in a flame trench.

“The main issue with the structure collapse is that it puts Site 31/6 … ⌘ Read more

Can AI Transform Space Propulsion?
An anonymous reader shared this report from The Conversation:

To make interplanetary travel faster, safer, and more efficient, scientists need breakthroughs in propulsion technology. Artificial intelligence is one type of technology that has begun to provide some of these necessary breakthroughs. We’re a team of engineers and graduate students who are studying how AI in general, and a subset of AI call … ⌘ Read more

How much does your car really pollute? New data exposes popular models
New rules around NOx, the most deadly form of vehicle pollution, come into force today, as testing reveals which popular models are pumping out more than others. ⌘ Read more

Scientists Discover People Act More Altruistic When Batman Is Present
Psychology Today reports:

In a study conducted in Milan, Italy, and published in November 2025, the sight of a person dressed as Batman led to a nearly doubled rate of people giving up their seat to a pregnant woman. Over the course of 138 subway rides, researchers found that people who saw “Batman” standing near the pregnant woman … ⌘ Read more

Scientists Think They’ve Solved Why One of History’s Most Advanced Civilizations Vanished
A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment has reconstructed the climate conditions of the ancient Indus River Valley civilization between 3000 and 1000 B.C., finding that four intense droughts – each lasting more than 85 years – likely drove the gradual decline of one of the w … ⌘ Read more

DNA study backs archaeological evidence of Indigenous Australians’ arrival
A new genetic study has found Indigenous Australians travelled over two distinct routes, and 100 kilometres of open water, to reach the ancient landmass that would become Australia 60,000 to 65,000 years ago. ⌘ Read more

Why sci-fi novelist Iain M. Banks was an ‘astounding’ world-builder
The New Scientist Book Club is currently reading the late Iain M. Banks’s Culture novel The Player of Games. Fellow science fiction author Bethany Jacobs reveals how his work inspired her ⌘ Read more

Dairy ‘disrupter’ who invented spreadable butter in 70s wins science award
An 86-year-old dairy farmer claims this year’s Dairy Science Award for his spreadable butter invention in the early 70s. ⌘ Read more

Face Transplants Promised Hope. Patients Were Put Through the Unthinkable
Twenty years after surgeons in France performed the world’s first face transplant, the experimental field that procedure launched is now confronting a troubling record of patient deaths, buried negative data and a healthcare system that leaves recipients financially devastated and medically vulnerable.

About 50 face transplant … ⌘ Read more

NASA Reduces Flights on Boeing’s Starliner After Botched Astronaut Mission
An anonymous reader shares a report: NASA has slashed the number of astronaut missions on Boeing’s Starliner contract and said the spacecraft’s next mission to the International Space Station will fly without a crew, reducing the scope of a program hobbled by engineering woes and outpaced by SpaceX. The most recent mishap oc … ⌘ Read more

China’s Giant Underground Neutrino Observatory Releases Its First Results
China’s new JUNO neutrino observatory has delivered world-leading measurements after just 59 days, offering the most precise readings yet of two key neutrino oscillation parameters. “The physics result is already world-leading in the areas that it touches,” says particle physicist Juan Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux of the University of C … ⌘ Read more

First permanent psychiatrist appointed in south-west Queensland
Farzin Rezaei has made the move from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences to the vast plains of south-west Queensland. ⌘ Read more

Chinese Pharma is On the Cusp of Going Global
China’s pharmaceutical industry has quietly evolved from a hub for generics and clinical trials into something more ambitious – a genuine competitor in drug discovery that Western giants are now courting to fill gaps left by looming patent expirations worth over $300 billion by 2030. In the first half of 2025, nearly a third of global licensing agreements signed by big pharma inv … ⌘ Read more

@prologic@twtxt.net AI is slot machines for coders:

• “Before starting tasks, developers forecast that allowing AI will reduce completion time by 24%. After completing the study, developers estimate that allowing AI reduced completion time by 20%. Surprisingly, we find that allowing AI actually increases completion time by 19%–AI tooling slowed developers down.” https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/
  
• “Stack Overflow data reveals the hidden productivity tax of ‘almost right’ AI code”: https://venturebeat.com/ai/stack-overflow-data-reveals-the-hidden-productivity-tax-of-almost-right-ai-code
  

The same intermittent reward operant conditioning that gets people addicted to gambling and thinking that if they follow certain rituals they’ll win “next time” drives people’s beliefs that AI tools are making them more productive when they’re making them less productive. I’m going to guess that a side effect of this is that people think they’re typing less when in the longer term they’re typing the same amount or more when you factor in the productivity loss (as far as I’ve read the studies don’t measure this so I’m only guessing).

People are also being rapidly de-skilled by this technology: the more they use it, the more their actual skills atrophy. “Continuous exposure to AI might reduce the ADR (adesoma detection rate) of standard non-AI assisted colonoscopy, suggesting a negative effect on endoscopist behaviour.” (science speak for saying that radiologists get worse at seeing tumors in scans once they’ve used AI): https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langas/article/PIIS2468-1253(25)00133-5/abstract

Nobody who cares about the future should be using this stuff for anything.

The science of swimming trunks – including tightness analysis
Feedback dives into a new piece of research on the merits of swimming briefs or looser swimming shorts – and raises an eyebrow at its conclusion ⌘ Read more

NASA Rover Makes a Shocking Discovery: Lightning on Mars
An anonymous reader shares a report: It is shocking but not surprising. Lightning crackles on Mars, scientists reported on Wednesday. What they observed, however, were not jagged, high-voltage bolts like those on Earth, arcing thousands of feet from cloud to ground. Rather, the phenomenon was more like the shock you feel when you scuff your feet on the carpet … ⌘ Read more

Sound of lightning recorded on Mars for the first time
Microphone recordings from NASA’s Perseverance rover have turned up more than 50 instances of lightning on the red planet over the past four years, a new study finds. ⌘ Read more

Study Claims To Provide First Direct Evidence of Dark Matter
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Nearly a century ago, scientists proposed that a mysterious invisible substance they named dark matter clumped around galaxies and formed a cosmic web across the universe. What dark matter is made from, and whether it is even real, are still open questions, but according to a study, the first dire … ⌘ Read more

China Launches An Emergency Lifeboat To Bring Three Astronauts Back To Earth
China launched an uncrewed Shenzhou 22 spacecraft to serve as an emergency lifeboat for three astronauts aboard the Tiangong space station after a docked return craft was found to have a cracked window likely caused by space debris. “A Long March 2F rocket fired its engines and lifted off with the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft, … ⌘ Read more

Adolescence Lasts Into 30s - New Study Shows Four Pivotal Ages For Your Brain
The brain goes through five distinct phases in life, with key turning points at ages nine, 32, 66 and 83, scientists have revealed. From a report: Around 4,000 people up to the age of 90 had scans to reveal the connections between their brain cells. Researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that the brain stays … ⌘ Read more

Mind-Altering ‘Brain Weapons’ No Longer Only Science Fiction, Say Researchers
Researchers warn that rapid advances in neuroscience, pharmacology, and AI are bringing “brain weapons” out of science fiction and into real-world plausibility. They argue current arms treaties don’t adequately cover these emerging tools and call for a new, proactive framework to prevent the weaponization of the human mi … ⌘ Read more

Obesity Jab Drug Fails To Slow Alzheimer’s
Drug maker Novo Nordisk says semaglutide, the active ingredient for the weight loss jab Wegovy, does not slow Alzheimer’s – despite initial hopes that it might help against dementia. From a report: Researchers began two large trials involving more than 3,800 people after reports the medicine was having an impact in the real world. But the studies showed the GLP-1 drug, which is already … ⌘ Read more

Science-Centric Streaming Service Curiosity Stream is an AI-licensing Firm Now
Curiosity Stream, the decade-old science documentary streaming service founded by Discovery Channel’s John Hendricks, expects its AI licensing business to generate more revenue than its 23 million subscribers by 2027 – possibly earlier. The company’s Q3 2025 earnings revealed a 41% year-over-year revenue increase, dri … ⌘ Read more

New Mars Orbiter Manuever Challenges Theory: That May Not Be an Underground Lake on Mars
In 2018 researchers claimed evidence of a lake beneath the surface of Mars, detected by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding instrument (or Marsis for short).

But new Mars observations “are not consistent with the presence of liquid water in this location and an alternat … ⌘ Read more

Was the Moon-Forming Protoplanet ‘Theia’ a Neighbor of Earth?
Theia crashed into earth and formed the moon, the theory goes. But then where did Theia come from? The lead author on a new study says “The most convincing scenario is that most of the building blocks of Earth and Theia originated in the inner Solar System. Earth and Theia are likely to have been neighbors.”

Though Theia was completely destroyed in th … ⌘ Read more

Are Astronomers Wrong About Dark Energy?
An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:

The universe’s expansion might not be accelerating but slowing down, a new study suggests. If confirmed, the finding would upend decades of established astronomical assumptions and rewrite our understanding of dark energy, the elusive force that counters the inward pull of gravity in our universe…

Last year, a consortium of hundreds of res … ⌘ Read more

Physicists Reveal a New Quantum State Where Electrons Run Wild
ScienceDaily reports:

Electrons can freeze into strange geometric crystals and then melt back into liquid-like motion under the right quantum conditions. Researchers identified how to tune these transitions and even discovered a bizarre “pinball” state where some electrons stay locked in place while others dart around freely. Their simulations hel … ⌘ Read more

Superhero Science: StarTalk Live! with Charles Liu ⌘ Read more

Tiny ‘Micro-Robots’ in your Bloodstream Could Deliver Drugs with Greater Precision
The Washington Post reports:

Scientists in Switzerland have created a robot the size of a grain of sand that is controlled by magnets and can deliver drugs to a precise location in the human body, a breakthrough aimed at reducing the severe side effects that stop many medicines from advancing in clinical tria … ⌘ Read more

CERN Can Now Produce Antihydrogen Atoms Eight Times Faster Than Before
fahrbot-bot shares a report from Phys.org: Physicists from Swansea University have played the leading role in a scientific breakthrough at CERN, developing an innovative technique that increases the antihydrogen trapping rate by a factor of ten. The advancement, achieved as part of the international Antihydrogen Laser Physics Appara … ⌘ Read more

Moss Spores Survive 9 Months Outside ISS
alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Inspired by moss’s resilience, researchers sent moss sporophytes – reproductive structures that encase spores – to the most extreme environment yet: space. Their results, published in the journal iScience on November 20, show that more than 80% of the spores survived nine months outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and made it … ⌘ Read more

CDC Changes Webpage To Say Vaccines May Cause Autism, Revising Prior Language
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage that previously made the case that vaccines don’t cause autism now says they might. WSJ: The contents of the webpage came up during Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Senate confirmation process. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) in February said Kennedy had assured hi … ⌘ Read more

American Kids Can’t Do Math Anymore
An anonymous reader shares a report: For the past several years, America has been using its young people as lab rats in a sweeping, if not exactly thought-out, education experiment. Schools across the country have been lowering standards and removing penalties for failure. The results are coming into focus.

Five years ago, about 30 incoming freshmen at UC San Diego arrived with math skills below high- … ⌘ Read more

Quantum Teleportation Between Photons From Two Distant Light Sources Achieved
Researchers in Germany achieved a major milestone for the future quantum internet by successfully teleporting quantum information between photons generated by two different, physically separated quantum dots – something never accomplished before due to the difficulty of producing indistinguishable photons from remote … ⌘ Read more

New Antibiotic Could Be a Breakthrough in Treatment for Killer TB, Trial Suggests
A new treatment for tuberculosis could boost cure rates and shorten the time needed to treat the disease by months, trial results suggest. The Guardian: Globally, an estimated 10.7 million people fell ill with TB last year and 1.23 million died from it. In its annual report on tuberculosis, launched last week, … ⌘ Read more

Ultra-Processed Food is Global Health Threat, Researchers Warn
Action is needed now to reduce ultra-processed food (UPF) in diets worldwide because of their threat to health, say international experts in a global review of research. From a report: They say the way we eat is changing - with a move away from fresh, whole foods to cheap, highly-processed meals - which is increasing our risk of a range of chronic … ⌘ Read more