Officially named Kohoutek 4-55, this little-known planetary nebula is located within our Milky Way galaxy.
This Hubble image shows Kohoutek 4-55, a nebula of planets 4,600 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. Image credits: NASA/ESA/Hubble/K. Noll.
“The Nebula of Planets is a spectacular final exhibition at the end of the life of a giant star,” Hubble Astherm said in a statement.
“When the giant red star runs out of available fuel and flows the final gas layer, its compact core shrinks further, allowing for a final burst of fusion.”
“The exposed core reaches very high temperatures and emits very energetic UV rays, activating a huge cloud of casting gas.”
“Molecules in the gas are ionized and brighten.”
“Here, red and orange represent nitrogen molecules, green represent hydrogen, and blue represent nebulae oxygen.”
Kohoutek 4-55 is located approximately 4,600 light years away from the Cygnus constellation.
Also known as UHA 15 or G084.2+01.0, this nebula has an unusual multilayered form.
“The bright inner ring of the Kohoutek 4-55 is surrounded by a loose layer of gas, all wrapped in a wide halo of ionized nitrogen,” the astronomer said.
“The view is bittersweet. The short phase of the fusion of the cores ends tens of thousands of years, leaving behind a white dwarf who will never illuminate the surrounding clouds again.”
This image of Kohoutek 4-55 was captured by Hubble’s Widefield and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).
“Installed in 1993 to replace the original Widefield and Planetary Camera (WFPC), WFPC2 was responsible for some of Hubble’s most persistent images and fascinating discoveries,” the researchers said.
“It was replaced in 2009 by Widefield Camera 3 (WFC3) during Hubble’s final service mission.”
“The data in this image was collected 10 days before the instrument was removed from the telescope, as a proper postponement for WFPC2,” he said.
“The latest and most advanced processing techniques are used to bring data to life once more, creating this breathtaking new view of Kohoutek 4-55.”
Using the 88-inch cyclotron from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, an international team of physicists successfully created two atoms Rivermorium (Atomic Symbol LV) A breakthrough in which the lab tries to create a new element 120, using titanium beams for the first time.
Rivermorium, make a gate et al. A fusion isotopes of titanium and plutonium. Image credits: Jennius, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Currently there are 118 known elements, 90 of which occur naturally on Earth.
Heavy elements than fermium (with 100 protons) must be created by combining the nuclei of two lighter elements, but not all combinations work.
The heaviest, currently known element was created by fusing a specific isotope of calcium, calcium-48 (containing 20 protons and 28 neutrons), with a heavier element, but this method works only up to element 118 (Oganesson).
The number of special (so-called magic) protons and neutrons makes it more possible to fusion of calcium and the survival of the nucleus of the resulting compounds.
But to go further, scientists need new techniques.
In the new experiment, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and her colleague Dr. Jacklyn Gates made a major breakthrough by accelerating a beam of titanium-50 (containing 22 protons and 28 neutrons) with an 88-inch cyclotron, dissolving it with the nucleus of plutonium-244 (containing 94 protons and 150 diseases) and titanium nucleus.
Over 22 days, physicists successfully produced two atoms of rivermorium, the chemical element with symbol LV and atomic number 116.
This experiment shows that new elements other than Oganesson can be created in the Berkeley Lab.
However, creating element 120 is expected to be 10-20 times more difficult than Livermorium.
If successful, element 120 is the heaviest known element, offering a new opportunity to explore the outermost limits of atomic structures and further test theories of nuclear physics.
“This response has never been demonstrated before, and it was essential to prove that it was possible before embarking on an attempt to make a 120,” Dr. Gates said.
“Creating new elements is a very rare feat. It’s part of the process and it’s exciting to have a promising path forward.”
“This was an important first step in trying to make something a little easier than the new ones to see how the movement from the calcium beam to the titanium beam changes the rate at which these elements are produced,” said Dr. Jennifer Pore of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
“When we are trying to create these incredibly rare elements, we are at the absolute edge of human knowledge and understanding. There is no guarantee that physics will work as expected.”
“Using titanium to create element 116, we now have the ability to verify that this production method works and plan the hunt for element 120.”
Team’s paper Published in the journal Physical Review Letter.
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JM Gate et al. 2025. Towards discovering new elements: production of rivermorium (z = 116) 50Ti. Phys. Pastor Rett 133, 172502; doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.133.172502
Although diverse animal sequences have evolved the ability to use tools (primates, parrots, octopus, crabs, hornets, etc.), the factors leading to evolutionary use that lead to tools are less understood. Fish can provide insight into these factors by comparing differences between tool-used and non-used species. The use of anvils is an example of the use of tools by fish. The fish holds the densely packed prey in its mouth, attacking it on an anvil to open it. Through the community science programmes we call Using fish toolsMarine biologists have collected 16 new observations of five anvil use in a group of WRASSES (colorful coral reef fish) called the New World Harikoeles. These new observations provide the first evidence of the use of ANVIL Halichoeres brasiliensis, Halichoeres poeyi and Halicoeres radiatusand first video evidence of anvil use Halichoeres Garnotti and Halichoeres bivittatus.
Tool-used genus within the family Labridae. Image credit: Taliel Adam et al. , doi: 10.1007/s00338-025-02633-w.
The use of tools was once considered human characteristics and a fundamental role in human evolution.
Evidence suggests that the use of tools is widespread among animals.
Animals use tools when using external objects to accomplish a particular task.
The tool allows animals to accomplish tasks and do them easier. The use of tools appears to be extremely beneficial for animals, and raises the question of why all animals do not use the tools.
Previous research into the evolution of tool use has been limited by morphology and ecology, which contrasts with the difficulty of finding closely related populations or species of varying degrees of use of tools.
Although it has not been well studied, the use of tools in fish may be an exception. Fish are the most distinctive vertebrate groups with high ecological and morphological diversity, even among closely related species.
The use of anvils is an example of tool use in fish. With anvil, the fish (i) grabs hard shell prey, such as sea urchins and bivalves, in their mouths, (ii) swims on hard surfaces such as rocks and coral heads, and (iii) opens the fierce surface quickly and repeatedly.
The use of anvils is described in 26 fish species, and all WRASSEs belonging to the family Labridae.
“The use of tools is usually related to humans, but this behavior proves that fish are far more clever than trust,” says Dr. Juliet Taliel Adam, a researcher at Macquarie University.
Through the use of fish tools in the Citizen Science Initiative, Dr. Taliel Adam and her colleagues gathered 16 new observations in five species. Harikoeles WRASSES.
The findings present the first evidence of three anvil use and two other two video evidence, extending the known anvil use range into the Western Atlantic.
“With these newly discovered tool-used species, it becomes clear that many species of Huaras use tools they didn’t know before,” Dr. Taliel Adam said.
“This study adds to the study of fish intelligence,” added Callum Brown, a senior author at Macquarie University.
“They demonstrate the use of flexible and dexterous tools and are expanding their understanding of the evolution of tool use in the animal kingdom.”
Team’s result It will be displayed in the journal Coral reef.
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J. Taliel Adam et al. Using tools by the New World Harikoeles WRASSES. Coral reefPublished online on March 26th, 2025. doi:10.1007/s00338-025-02633-w
Using advanced statistical modeling, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich, Seti Institute, and University ‘Tor Vergata’ Yonversity investigated how many exoplanets should be observed and understood before declaring that life beyond Earth is common or rare.
Future telescopes will investigate mild terrestrial exoplanets to estimate the frequency of habitable or inhabited worlds. Angerhausen et al. It aims to determine the minimum number of exoplanets required to draw statistically significant conclusions. Particularly for null results (i.e., no detection). Image credit: Sci.News.
In science, not being able to find anything can bring important insights.
When scientists look for life on exoplanets, they often focus on certain characteristics, such as water, gases like oxygen and methane, which may exhibit biological activity.
But what if scientists can’t find these features? Can we learn meaningful things about how ordinary life exists in the universe?
“Even one positive detection changes everything, but up until then we need to make sure we are learning as much as possible from what we can’t find,” said Dr. Daniel Angerhausen, researcher at ETH Zurich and SETI Institute.
New research shows that if scientists look at 40-80 planets and can’t find any signs of life, they can confidently conclude that less than 10-20% of similar planets have life.
However, this depends heavily on how certain we are for each observation.
These discoveries allow scientists to set meaningful caps on the prevalence of living in the universe.
Furthermore, if there is only 10% of planets in the Milky Way alone that have some form of life, it could still be more than 10 billion planets.
“This kind of outcome would be a turning point,” Dr. Angerhausen said.
“Even if life is not found, ultimately we can quantify planets that are truly rare or common with planets with detectable biosignatures.”
The findings will have a direct impact on future missions such as NASA’s Habitable World Observatory (HWO) and European-led large-scale interferometers on exoplanets searching for life.
These missions will study dozens of Earth-like planets by analyzing the planet’s atmosphere for water, oxygen, and even more complex biosignature signs.
Research shows that the number of observed planets is large enough to draw critical conclusions about the likelihood and prevalence of life in the galaxy.
However, this study points out that even with advanced equipment, these studies should carefully account for uncertainty and bias, and develop frameworks to ensure statistically meaningful results.
One important insight from this study is that uncertainty in individual observations, such as false negatives, can significantly impact conclusions.
“It’s not just the number of planets we observe. It’s about how confident we are to see what we’re looking for or not,” Dr. Angerhausen said.
“If we are not careful and confident in our ability to identify life, even large-scale research can lead to misleading consequences.”
The study will be published in today’s Astronomy Journal.
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Daniel Engerhausen et al. 2025. What if nothing is found? Bayesian analysis of null statistics in future exoplanet habitability and biosignature investigations. AJ 169, 238; doi:10.3847/1538-3881/adb96d
Chinese paleontologists have excavated relatively complete skulls and vertebrae that belonged to the previously unknown Metriacansosaurus theropod dinosaurs from the mid-Jurassic period.
skull of Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis. Image credit: Zou et al. , doi: 10.7717/peerj. 19218.
Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis roamed our planet about 170 million years ago (Central Jurassic).
This dinosaur was a medium-sized member Metriaacansosauridaceaeclade, a carnivorous dinosaur who lived in the masses of the ancient continent between the mid-Jurassic and mid-Cretaceous periods.
“The Metriacansosaurid family is a family of carnivorous dinosaurs and represents the basal branch clades within allosauroidosis,” says Dr. Yi Zou, a paleontologist at the Academy of Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Spine and Paleontology at the Academy of Sciences.
“Some studies argue that Metricanthosaurus has a closer relationship with Carcharodontosaurus, making the Metricanthosaurus a more derived group of allosauroidosis.”
“Regardless of where the Metricantosauraceae are within the Allosaurian family, members of this clade came from the late period, mainly from the central Jurassic region of western China, such as Sichuan, Chili peppers, Xinjiang and Yunnan.”
“Apart from species found in China, the Noashihara of Metriantosauld was reported during the late Jurassic in England, the late Jurassic in Kyrgyzstan, the late Jurassic in Thailand and the late Cretaceous period.”
“Recently, scientists have reported the possible distribution of this clade in the Tibetan Plateau.”
Fossilized ruins Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis were collected from the Zhanghe Formation in Yunnan Province, China.
“The specimen contains a relatively complete skull and the first 11 vertebrae, including 10 cervical vertebrae and the front dorsal vertebrae,” the researchers said.
“The preserved skull is measured at an anterior and posterior length of 53.9 cm, and the skull reconstruction is 60.1 cm in anterior and posterior length.”
Team phylogenetic analysis shows that the new species is located at the basal branching location within the Metriancanthaurid family.
“Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis Presents the most complete skull of the basal branch Tetanuran It has been reported in central China and provides valuable anatomical information on the unusual combination of skull and cervical spine paintings and cinnapomorphy in the Metriacansosauridae,” the scientist said.
“In addition, our phylogenetic analysis restored the phylogenetic position of the Piatonitzxauridae as a sister group of Avezapoda, not within megalosauroidosis.”
“In place of the monophyletic carnosauria (megalosauroidic acid + allosauroidosis), the phylogenetic analysis recovers three major branches within the tesarium in favor of the monophyletic avetheropoda (allosauroidea + coelurosauria).”
“The lack of consensus on the phylogenetic relationships of basal branch adiabatic over the past decades, as well as many relatively fragmentary materials within tetanus, more accurate character coding, and new discoveries of early members of this clade are necessary to unravel the interactions between the basal members of future groups.”
Discovery of Yuanmouraptor jinshajiangensis was reported in a paper Published online in the journal Peerj.
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Y. Zou et al. 2025. A new Metriantosauld wild-wrench dinosaur from the central Jurassic region of Yunnan Province, China. Peerj 13:E19218; doi:10.7717/peerj.19218
At 3 months’ age (born October 1, 2024), the miserable wolves of giant biological sciences, Romulus and Remus. Image credit: Colossal Biosciences.
The miserable wolves were like big cans, and were among the most common extinct carnivorous animals of the late Late Pleistocene megafauna in America.
These animals first appeared in the late Pliocene period 3.5 million to 2.5 million years ago, as a result of the mixing between two ancient Canid strains.
The miserable wolf was 25% heavier than the grey wolf, with a slightly wider head, with light thick fur and strong jaws.
As hypercarnivores, their diet consisted mainly of at least 70% meat from horses and bison.
They were extinct at the end of the recent ice age about 13,000 years ago.
The main hypothesis explaining their extinction is that their body size is larger than gray wolves and coyotes, making them more specialized in hunting large prey and unable to survive the extinction of giant prey.
“Our team collected DNA from 13,000-year-old teeth and 72,000-year-old skulls to create healthy, miserable puppies,” said Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences.
“It was once said that “a sufficiently advanced technology cannot be distinguished from magic.” “
“Today, our team will be unveiling some of the magic they are working on, revealing the broader impact on conservation.”
Three liters of the wicked wolves of giant biological science include two adolescent men (Romulus and Remus) and one female puppy (Khaleesi).
They thrive in more than 2,000 acres of safe ecological reserves, including specialized engagement zones and habit types.
They are continuously monitored through live cameras, security personnel and drone tracking on-site to ensure safety and welfare.
“The disastrous wolves’ disappearance is more than a biological revival,” said Mark Fox, chairman of MHA Nation Tribal.
“Its birth symbolizes awakening. The ancient spirit has returned to the world.”
“The miserable wolves have the echoes of our ancestors, their wisdom, and connections to the wild.”
“Its existence reminds us of our responsibility as custodians of the Earth to protect the delicate balance of not only wolves but life itself.”
“The work of our team…Red wolf (Canis Rufus) From three different genetic founder lines.
These liters include the adolescent female Red Wolf (hope) and three male Red Wolf puppies (flame, cinders, ashes).
“We’ve seen a lot of trouble with the stakes,” said Dr. George Church, a geneticist at Harvard University and co-founder of Colossal Biosciences.
“Another source of ecosystems comes from genes lost after being deelectrically removed from new technologies, such as deep ancient DNA sequencing, polyphyllatic characterization, multiplexed germ cell editing, and cloning.”
“The disastrous wolves are an early example of this, so far, including the maximum number of accurate genome editing in healthy vertebrates: their exponentially growing ability.”
Astronomers using the Muse Instrument with ESO’s extremely large telescope (VLT) detected ultra-large black hole-driven winds with the Burred Spiral Galaxy NGC 4945.
This image shows NGC 4945, a spiral galaxy that exceeds 12 million light-years in the constellation of Centaurus. The super-large black hole-driven wind of the NGC 4945 is shown in red in the inset. Image credits: ESO/Marconcini et al.
NGC 4945 It is more than 12 million light years away from Earth, the constellation of Centaurus.
Otherwise known as the Caldwell 83. That’s what this galaxy was like I discovered it by James Dunlop, the Sottsch astronomer in 1826.
NGC 4945 hosts one of the closest active, ultra-large black holes to Earth.
“At the heart of almost every galaxy, they are very large black holes,” the ESO astronomer explained in a statement.
“Some people are not particularly hungry, as they are in the heart of our own Milky Way.”
“However, the super-large black hole in NGC 4945 is greedy and consumes a huge amount of problems.”
Astronomers have studied the ultra-high Massive black holes of the NGC 4945 using the Muse Instrument, an ESO’s extremely large telescope (VLT).
“Contrary to the all-consuming reputation typical of black holes, this messy eater is blowing away the powerful winds of ingredients,” they said.
“This cone-shaped wind is shown in red in the inset and is covered in a wider image taken with La Silla’s MPG/ESO telescope.”
“In fact, this wind moves so fast that it completely escapes the galaxy, giving in to space in intergalactic space.”
“This is part of a new study measuring how the wind moves in several nearby galaxies,” they added.
“Muse’s observations show that these incredibly fast winds show strange behavior. They actually speed up far from the central black hole, and accelerate even further on their journey to the outskirts of the galaxy.”
“This process suggests that black holes control the fate of the host galaxy by ejecting potential star-forming material from the galaxy and attenuating the star’s fertility.”
“It also shows that more powerful black holes can hamper their own growth by removing the gas and dust they feed, bringing the entire system closer to a kind of galactic equilibrium.”
“Now, these new results bring us one step closer to understanding the mechanisms of wind acceleration that are responsible for galaxy evolution and the history of the universe.”
Survey results It will be displayed in the journal Natural Astronomy.
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C. Marconcini et al. Evidence of rapid acceleration of AGN-driven winds at the Kiloparsec scale. Nut Athlonreleased on March 31, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02518-6
The discovery of stone tools, hearths and cooked food waste at a cave site in Latniya on the Mediterranean island of Malta indicates that hunter-gatherers had crossed at least 100 km of open water to arrive on the island 8,500 years ago.
Hunters and Gatherers had crossed at least 100 km of open water to arrive in Malta 8,500 years ago. Image credits: Daniel Clark/MPI GEA.
Maltese archipelago is a chain of smallest islands in the Mediterranean.
Humans were not thought to have reached and lived such a small, isolated island, about 7,500 years ago, until the Neolithic regional shift to life.
In the standard view, the limited resources and ecological vulnerability of the small island, combined with the technical challenges of long-distance sailors, meant that hunter-gatherers were unable or unfulfilled to take these journeys.
“Relying on the use of sea-level currents and wind breezes, as well as the practice of exploring landmarks, stars and other paths, there is a crossing of about 100 km per hour at a speed of about 4 km per hour.
“Even on the longest day of the year, these sailors would have been open water in the darkness of hours.”
At the site of a cave in Latniya in the northern Merry area of Malta, researchers discovered human traces in the form of stone tools, hearths and cooked food waste.
“At this location, we recovered a variety of animals, including hundreds of bodies of deer, birds, turtles and foxes,” said Dr. Matthew Stewart, a researcher at Griffith University.
“Some of these wildlife were long thought to have been extinct by this point,” added Professor Eleanor Scerri, a geographer at the Max Planck Institute and a researcher at the University of Malta.
“They were hunting and cooking red deer with turtles and birds.
In addition to this, scientists have found clear evidence regarding the exploitation of marine resources.
“We found that seals, groupers, thousands of edible marine gastropods, crabs and sea urchin debris all cooked undoubtedly,” said Dr. James Brinkhorn, a geography researcher at the University of Liverpool and the Max Planck Institute.
“The diverse range of terrestrial areas, particularly the incorporation of the ocean fauna into their diet, have enabled these hunter-gatherers to maintain themselves on an island as small as Malta,” Dr. Stewart said.
These findings raised questions about the extinction of endemic animals in Malta and other small Mediterranean islands, and whether distant Messium Age communities are linked through seafarers.
“The results add a millennium to Maltese prehistoric times and enforce a reassessment of the capabilities of Europe’s last hunter-gatherer sailors, and its connections and ecological impacts,” Professor Scerri said.
Team’s paper It was published in the journal today Nature.
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EML Scerri et al. The marine voyage of hunter-gatherers has been extended to remote Mediterranean islands. NaturePublished online on April 9, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08780-y
Paleontologists looked at the teeth Teleoce’s major – Found in an extinct species of nasal bacteria that lived in North America from 17.5 million to 5 million years ago. Ash falling fossil bed Nebraska, USA. Here, over 100 Teleoce’s major The individual in a single hole died and was buried in ashes from the eruption of Yellowstone’s superintendent.
The flock of Teleotheras Sister. Image credit: Jay Matternes/Smithsonian Museum.
Since discovering the rhinoceros at Nebraska’s Ashwood Fossil Bed State Park in 1971, researchers have wondered what attracted so many animals in the same location.
Did they converge from afar? Perhaps they sought shelter from natural disasters that unfolded volcanic eruptions with those asphyxiation ash?
“We found out they weren’t moving much,” said Clark Ward, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.
“We found no evidence of seasonal migration or disaster response.”
Ward and colleagues looked at the ratio of strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes Teleoce’s major Teeth tracking long, operating animal movements across the landscape.
“By studying the carbon of animals, we can reconstruct the carbon of our environment and understand what kind of vegetation lived there,” Ward said.
“You can use it to reconstruct how wet and dry the environment is.”
“And strontium tells us where the animals are forged because isotopic ratios are associated with soil and supporting bedrock.”
Teleoce’s major It was a one-horned rhino with a barrel-shaped body and sturdy hippo-like legs. Like hippos, they ate grass.
And, like hippos, researchers believe that these rhinoceros have spent a lot of time in and around the water.
Due to their vast size, they had few predators during the Miocene era.
However, their calves would have been vulnerable to predators like hyenas, known as bone-breaking dogs.
In fact, some of the specimens found on the Nebraska site have evidence that the scavenger removed some of the bodies after its death. And ancient trucks from a 45 kg (100 pound) dog are found there.
The giant Yellowstone volcano has erupted many times over the past 12 million years.
“The ashes from the eruption traveled 1,127 km (700 miles) in what is now Nebraska, where they piled up in snow, like snow,” Ward said.
“But the ashes that were blown by the wind continued to fall into Nebraska, long after the first eruption.”
“The ashes would have covered everything: grass, leaves, water.”
“Reconstructing how we equip the ancient landscapes that have disappeared provides an important context for understanding their paleoecology and sociality, and the environment in which they lived,” the scientists concluded.
Their paper Published in the journal Scientific Report.
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CT Word et al. 2025. Enamel carbon, oxygen and strontium isotopes reveal limited mobility in extinct rhinoceros in Ashford Fossil Bed, Nebraska, USA. Sci Rep 15, 11651; doi:10.1038/s41598-025-94263-z
The rotation period for Uranus was estimated at 17.24 hours from radio auroral measurements by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986. Using long-term tracking of Uranus’ poles between 2011 and 2022 from Hubble images of UV light, astronomers now have an updated independent, highly accurate rotation period of 17.247864 hours, or 28 seconds longer than the estimated Voyager 2.
This image of the Uranus aurora was photographed by Hubble on October 10th, 2022. Image credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble/L. Ramie/L. Slomovsky.
“Our measurements not only provide essential references to the planetary science community, they solve long-standing problems. Previous coordinate systems based on outdated rotation periods quickly become inaccurate, making it impossible to track Uranus’ magnetic poles.
“With this new longitude system, we can compare nearly 40 years of observations of the Aurora and even plan future Uranus missions.”
This breakthrough was possible thanks to long-term surveillance of Hubble’s Uranus.
For over a decade, telescopes have regularly observed their ultraviolet emissions, allowing astronomers to generate magnetic field models that match changes in the position of magnetic poles with time.
“The continuous observation from Hubble was extremely important,” Dr. Lammy said.
“Without this rich data, it would not have been possible to detect periodic signals at the level of accuracy achieved.”
Unlike Earth, Jupiter, or Saturn’s aurora, Uranus’ aurora behaves in a unique and unpredictable way.
This is due to the highly tilted magnetic field of the planet, which is significantly offset from the axis of rotation.
The findings not only help astronomers understand Uranus’ magnetosphere, but also help to provide important information for future missions.
“These discoveries set a stage for further research that will deepen our understanding of one of the most mystical planets in the solar system,” the author said in a statement.
“The ability to monitor objects for decades has allowed Hubble to remain an essential tool for planetary science, paving the way for the next era of exploration on Uranus.”
result It was published in the journal this week Natural Astronomy.
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L. Ramie et al. A new rotation period and longitude system for Uranus. Nut AthlonPublished online on April 7th, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41550-025-02492-z
Jonathan McDowell is the go-to expert for all spaceflight. Thousands of subscribers read his monthly Space Reportand we’ve seen him explain unexpected events on orbit on cable news and other media platforms.
But it was always his side gig. For 37 years, Dr. McDowell was an X-ray astronomy expert at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Earlier this year, he announced that he would retire from the role and also leave the US for the UK.
The decision, he said, was complicated by policy changes that have been the first since President Trump took office due to continued pressure on the federal science budget.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s any more opportunity to be an effective scientist and an effective person building the scientific community,” Dr. McDowell said. “I’m just proud to be as American as I used to be.”
Born in the US and the UK to gain dual citizenship, Dr. McDowell joined the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1988 and leads the Science Data Systems Group at NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the 26th space telescope.
He’s preparing to move abroad, and with the accent he jokes, he’s clearly becoming British. This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What is your interest in space?
There were really two routes. The satellites and space side really came from the Apollo program. I remember walking home from a school in the northern UK. I saw the moon in the sky and said, “Next week there will be humans there for the first time. They will be in another world.” It blew my 9-year-old mind.
The astronomical side was wondering what the real story was about where we came from and how the universe turned out to be. It pushed me towards an interest in cosmology at a very early age. My dad was a physicist and my babysitter was everything. I didn’t realize there were other options.
Another major influence was “Doctor Who.” I started watching it at the age of three. It infuses me with the wonders about the universe and the idea that one crazy person can help how humanity interacts with it.
All of them came together and I was just fascinated by what was there.
The UK school system specializes early. I’ve been doing orbital calculations since I was 14, and since I learned Russian, I was able to read what the Soyuz astronauts were doing. I have completed my PhD. At Cambridge University, I was able to spend time with people like current astronomer royals Stephen Hawking and Martin Reese. It wouldn’t have been a better training.
On the side, I used my technical skills to get deeper into spaceflight. At the time, the media didn’t actually cover the space, so I forced my own research.
Did that lead to the creation of Jonathan’s Space Report in 1989?
I just moved to Smithsonian Astrophysical ObservatoryIt was once the center of space information for the public in the 1950s. The civil servants began attacking me with questions they still get from the public, so in Self-Defense, they started preparing their briefings about what’s happening in space every week.
Someone has recommended that I put a briefing in Usenet, a kind of precursor to the web, but it doesn’t exist yet. To my surprise, it was popular. And I never looked back.
In the US, in particular, we saw it more internationally than most news sources. I gave it the same weight as what Russians, Chinese and Europeans did. It helped me gain a reputation and people in the space industry started sending me information.
Why did you keep your space report free?
Honestly, most of the work I do for myself anyway. I am the No. 1 reader. But I now have this role of being someone who trusts to say what’s going on. If I don’t receive direct money for it, I can maintain its reputation for independence and objectivity.
How have space flight and space exploration changed in your life?
I grew up in the 1960s during a superpower. It was the US, the Soviet Union and the Cold War. In the 1970s, space became more international. China, Japan, France and others have begun selling their own rockets and satellites. Then, in the 1990s, there was a shift towards commercialization in both communications and imaging. And then there was another change in the 2000s and 2010s that I call democratization. There, cheap satellites created space within the budgets of university sectors, developing countries, or start-up companies.
The most important thing in space in 2025 is not that there are more satellites, but more players. This has implications for governance and regulations.
Another way to think about how things have changed is where the frontier is. When I was a child, it was a low-earth orbit. The frontier is now close to the asteroid belt, with the moon and Mars becoming part of the accumulation of humanity. On the other hand, low-Earth orbits are so normalized that they are not necessary to deal with space agencies. Just call SpaceX.
How do you plan to spend your retirement?
The UK has been actively and actively working recently in promoting what we call space sustainability. They are committed to using the space, but they are responsible. I hope to be involved in those efforts.
Compile Large catalogue of Space Junk Around the sun that the US Space Force does not pursue. It’s not anyone’s job to track it right now. We will return years later, so we need to put together our actions for things that are farther, farther, what we send out between the planets. We think that when it’s really a rocket stage, it’s an asteroid that hits Earth.
Obviously, it all needs to be scanned and it will take me years. Somewhere, a reasonable commute from London, you will need to find a new home in the library. My plan is to make it available by appointing it when it is unpacked.
What motivates me to closely record human activity in space?
As an astronomer, I think it’s a measure for a long time. I imagine someone who wants to know that, a thousand years from now, perhaps more extraterrestrial times, has stepped into space for the first time at this important moment in history.
I would like to save this information so that they can reconstruct what we did. That’s who I write about. Not today’s audience, but a thousand years from now.
Physicists of the Karlsrue Tritium Neutrino (Catlin) experiment have reported so far the most accurate measurement of the upper mass limit of neutrinos, establishing it as 0.45 electron volts (EV), less than a millionth of the electron mass.
Interior view of the main spectrometer of catrin. Image credit: M. Zacher/Katrin Collaboration.
Neutrinos are the most abundant particles in the universe and exist as three different types or flavors: Electron Neutrino, Muon Neutrino, and Tau Neutrino.
These flavors vibrate. In other words, a single neutron can be converted to each type when it moves, providing compelling evidence that neutrinos have masses that contradict the original assumptions of massless neutrinos in the standard model.
But their exact mass remains one of the great mysteries of particle physics.
in New paper In the journal Sciencethe physicists from the Catlin collaboration present the results of the first five measurement campaigns of the Catlin experiment.
“The catrin experiment determines the mass of neutrinos by analyzing the beta decay of tritium,” they explained.
“During this decay, the neutrons are converted into protons, releasing both electron and electron antioxidant, the latter being neutrino antiparticles.”
“We can infer the mass of neutrinos by analyzing the distribution of total disintegration energy between the emitted electrons and the electron antioxidants.”
For 259 days between 2019 and 2021, Catlin physicists measured approximately 36 million electrons of energy. This is a dataset of 6 times the previous run.
The findings establish the strictest laboratory base upper limit for effective electron neutrino masses and place them below 0.45 eV at a 90% confidence level.
This result shows a third improvement in the mass limit of neutrinos, and doubles the previous limit.
“For this result, we analyzed five measurement campaigns. The total data collection from 2019 to 2021 is about a quarter of the total data expected from Catlin,” said Dr. Catlin Valerius, one of the two co-spokemens for the Catlin experiment and a physicist at the Karl-Thru Institute.
“In each campaign, we gained new insights and further optimized the experimental conditions,” said Dr. Suzanne Mertens, a physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics and the Institute of Technology Munich.
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Max Aker et al. (Catlin collaboration). 2025. Direct neutrino mass measurements based on 259 days of catrin data. Science 388 (6743): 180-185; doi: 10.1126/science.adq9592
Paleontologists excavated the fossilized remains of a new and rare Terazinosaurus dinosaur with atypical hands in Mongolia.
Reconstructing the life of Duonychus tsogtbaatari. Image credit: Masato Hattori.
Duonychus tsogtbaatari He lived in what is now Mongolia during the late Cretaceous period, between 1995 and 90 million years ago.
The new species belongs to Teresino Sauriaa group of herbivorous or omnivorous theropod dinosaurs that lived in Asia and North America during the Cretaceous period.
“Therizinosauria is a clade of a rare herbivorous or omnivorous theropod dinosaur known from Cretaceous sediments in Asia and North America,” wrote paleontologist Yoshitsugu Kobayashi Yosh and his colleagues at the Hokkaido University Spine Museum on paper.
“This clade is most recognizable in the triductyl (three fingers) hand with three large clawless non-guals, as illustrated by its large body. Tericinosaurus From the latest Cretaceous period in Mongolia. ”
“Like a more primitive member of the clade Falkarius, Beipiaosaurusand JianChangosaurus There were relatively small Unguals compared to the more derived forms Ellianaurus, Nothronychusand in particular Tericinosaurus. ”
“As herbivorous or omnivorous theropods with long necks and small leaf-shaped teeth, their unusual evolution of hands may have played an important role in the feeding ecology of this clade.”
According to paleontologists, Duonychus tsogtbaatari is a medium sized terazinosaurus and estimates weight is about 260 kg.
This dinosaur fossil is Bien Series Formation Gobi Desert, Ömnögovi Province in southeastern Mongolia.
“The specimen was a six posterior joint vertebrae, six distinct sacral vertebrae with sacrum ribs, frontline coccyx, several dorsal ribs, partial left shoulder blade and coracoid, coracoid, umeri, ulnae, radi, rightan, right, right, pubest, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, the proximal end of left ischemia,” the researchers wrote.
Reconstructed skeletons and selected elements Duonychus tsogtbaatari. Image credits: Kobayashi et al. , doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.112141.
Duonychus tsogtbaatari Unlike other Tericinosaurus in that their hands only have two fingers, rather than three fingers.
“As for other Therizinosaurus, this new species is unique in having a definitive didigital hand,” the scientist wrote.
“The specimen also preserves the complete three-dimensional sheath, representing the keratinous claws, among non-Pallavian theropods.”
Well-preserved specimens Duonychus tsogtbaatari It provides insight into the functional aspects of that kind.
“Saved keratin nails based on abdominal curvature and nail attack angle Duonychus tsogtbaatari “The author writes, reveals features within the scope of scansorial (climbing), tenasorial (grappling).”
“Of these functions, herbivorous or omnivorous diet and body size Duonychus tsogtbaatariLike other terazinosaurus, it suggests the use of amps that helps grasp branches, such as chameleons and some mammals (e.g., Southern Tamandua, Alitant), or to grip, raise, or manipulate bait (e.g., bird birds).
“Even though there are only two functional numbers, Duonychus tsogtbaatari Given the extreme flexion at Ungual joints and the strong curvature of the keratin nails, it may have been an effective Glasper, a feature unknown in other terazinosaurus. ”
“Based on the shape and dimensions of the keratin nail dimensions, Duonychus tsogtbaatari They could have grabbed branches or herds of vegetation up to about 10 cm in diameter. TericinosaurusI’ll suggest that Duonychus tsogtbaatari Foraging behaviors may have been more selective. ”
“Manus Duonychus tsogtbaatariits powerful flexion and claw curvature further supports that the derived Therizinosaurus manus is likely to be provided in a rake or hook-and-pull function to bring vegetation into the mouth during feeding, as previously suggested. ”
“The claws usually have a dominant function for hook-and-pull foraging in the most derived Theresinosaurus, but these structures may also be used for other purposes such as territory, defense, courtship, and play.”
“In addition to the unexpected morphological diversity of the Manus of Telesinosaurus (i.e., director), Duonychus tsogtbaatari It reveals greater species richness of Tericinosaurus in the ecosystem of the Baiancily Formation than previously recognized,” they concluded.
Team’s paper It was published in the journal on March 25th Iscience.
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Yoshitug Kobayashi et al. Didictilteresinosaurus with keratinous nails preserved since the late Cretaceous period in the late Mongolia. IsciencePublished online on March 25th, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2025.112141
National Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed on Thursday to assemble experts from around the world to investigate the reasons behind the increasing rate of autism in the United States.
“We have initiated an extensive testing and research initiative involving hundreds of scientists globally,” Kennedy declared during a cabinet meeting hosted by President Trump. “By September, we will have identified the causes of the autism epidemic and will be able to eliminate those exposures.”
“This will be a significant press conference,” Trump responded.
However, scientists who have dedicated years to uncovering the cause of autism expressed doubts about Kennedy’s proposed timeline.
They noted the complexities involved in identifying a singular cause in potential contributors like pesticides, air pollution, and maternal diabetes.
Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician and expert in environmental toxins, cited the current extensive layoffs and reductions in Kennedy’s research at the Department of Health and Human Services as a reason to question such swift progress.
“It is hard to envision a significant scientific breakthrough by September, especially with the current pause of various other pediatric illness research at hospitals and medical schools due to funding cuts from HHS,” Landrigan remarked.
Kennedy’s office did not provide many specifics about the plan initially. Later that day, Kennedy offered more insights, indicating that the National Institutes of Health would lead the initiative.
He mentioned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be central to the effort. I’ll release the data soon, showing an increase in autism diagnoses in one in every 31 children. Many experts believe the rise in autism rates is due to heightened awareness of the spectrum of disorders and expanded diagnostics.
“We are receiving inquiries from scientists nationwide and globally,” Kennedy stated. In an interview with Fox News. “All factors are being considered—from our food system to water, air quality, child-rearing practices, and other changes that may have contributed to this epidemic.”
In an interview, Kennedy also mentioned the intention to compare autism rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Many scientists dismiss this approach, pointing out that parents who vaccinate their children are more likely to seek diagnoses due to increased interactions with healthcare providers.
Numerous researchers and scientists have long worked to find the cause of autism. They have started to identify factors like pesticide exposure, solvents in the workplace, maternal infections during pregnancy, maternal diabetes, and exposure to chemicals like phthalates and PFA, known for their persistent nature in the environment.
Studies have indicated that environmental exposures may interact with human genes in varying ways, underscoring the complexity of autism. Dr. Hertz-Picciotto added that obtaining funding for clinical studies into autism causes is challenging, but new research could propel the field forward, although it may take years.
Describing all the research to be completed by September as “silly,” Dr. Alice Kuo, chief of pediatric medicine for autism at the University of California, Los Angeles, mentioned her involvement in a longstanding NIH project that investigated children’s health nationwide.
The study, which followed thousands of children and parents to uncover potential autism causes, was costly and prematurely terminated, according to Dr. Kuo.
She emphasized that planning and designing a study would take months, and unraveling the answers would require years of research.
In a social media post, Kennedy thanked the president and the Make America Healthy Commission for their support. The commission was established by executive order in February to assess threats to children from various exposures and propose a strategy to address the findings.
The Trump administration announced Friday that it would delay the implementation of Biden-era rules intended to limit coverage of unproven, costly bandages known as skin substitutes.
The policy will be It’s late until 2026 allowing businesses to take advantage of the loopholes in Medicare rules to continue to set higher prices for new products. The New York Times reported Thursday that businesses are selling these bandages to doctors at discounted prices, while doctors are charging Medicare for the price of full stickers and pocketing the differences.
According to an analysis conducted by Earty Read, an actuarial company that assesses the costs of large healthcare companies, Medicare spending has skyrocketed above $10 billion from $1.6 billion in 2024. Some experts said bandage spending is one of the biggest examples of waste in the history of Medicare, an insurance program for the elderly.
The Super PAC for President Trump’s election campaign received a $2 million donation from Extreme Care, a leading seller of skin alternatives. Trump has criticised his social media policy twice, saying it hurts patients who use the product with diabetic pain.
“‘Crooked Joe’ has broken through policies that will lead to more suffering and death for Medicare diabetics,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in March.
Extremity care also criticized the plan, claiming it would disrupt the supply chain, eliminate innovation and increase costs for both doctors and patients. The company says it complies with high ethical standards, but did not respond immediately to requests for comment regarding the new delay in the policy.
Over 120 skin alternatives are on the market. They average an average of $5,089 per square inch, with the most expensive time exceeding $23,000.
Biden-era rules would have limited Medicare coverage for a small subset of products that have been shown to be effective in randomized clinical trials. The new policy will be applied to patients using ulcer and leg pain bandages known as ulcers. This can be caused by diabetes or poor circulation.
Medicare said in a Friday’s Statement It will consider policies as part of the transition to a new administration. During that time, he said, “We believe it is important to maintain patient access to skin replacement products with quality evidence of effectiveness.”
Mass Coalition, a group supporting the skin substitute industry, said it was “satisfied” with the delay. Public relations officer Preya Nonona Pinto said the group is looking forward to working with Medicare on “coverage policies and payment reforms that guarantee access to skin replacements.”
This week, President Trump oversaw 10 federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Agency and the Nuclear Regulation Authority. Implement a new procedure Discarding a wide array of years of energy and environmental regulations.
He told the agency that oversees everything from gas pipelines to power plants and oversees everything that inserts “sunset” provisions, which automatically expire by October 2026. If an agency wanted to maintain the rules, it could only extend it for up to five years at a time.
Experts say the directive faces major legal hurdles. But it was one of three executive orders from Trump on Wednesday, and he declared that he was pursuing new shortcuts to weaken or eliminate restrictions.
in Another orderhe directed a rollback of federal regulations that restrict the water flow of shower heads with a very unusual legal justification.
“No notices and comments are required as I’m ordering it to be abolished,” Trump’s order said.
Legal experts called the sentence a surprising, violating decades of federal law. 1946 Management Procedures Federal agencies require that they go through a lengthy “notice and comment” process when issuing, amending or repealing key rules, and in general, agencies that do not follow these procedures often find actions blocked by the court.
“In that respect, this is all completely illegal,” said Jody Freeman, director of the Harvard Law School Environment and Energy Law Program.A former White House official under President Barack Obama. “They don’t care if the real lawyers have left the building, they want to hug all of these cases and see if the court bites or not.”
The regulatory process has often been criticized as troubling and time-consuming, and the idea of periodically expiring all government regulations has been promoted in conservative circles for many years. It is known as Zero-based regulatory budgets, A twist on a zero-based financial budget. This is a system in which budgets are built from scratch each year, instead of taking over historic spending amounts.
The idea may have received recent boost from Elon Musk, the billionaire adviser to Trump. “Essentially, regulations should have no default,” Musk said. Public Call His social media site X in February. “The default is gone, not the default. And if it turns out that the restrictions have missed the mark, you can always add it again.”
“We have to clean up the wholesale prostitution of regulations and we have to keep government away from the backs of everyday Americans so that people can get things done,” Musk added.
It is unclear how much the order of the sunset will affect it. Legal experts said the executive order “does not apply to a regulatory permit system that allows regulations approved by the law.”
“We’re excited to see the importance of our efforts to help people change,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Climate Change Law Center at Columbia University. “Most environmental laws appear to fall into that category.”
“The president is right to assure that he doesn’t see Americans mentioning that they are unconstitutional or that they are restraining American energy and competitiveness that is inconsistent with federal law,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
In another order called “title”Instructing the abolition of illegal regulationsTrump gave 60 days to ministers 60 days to identify federal rules they deemed illegal and to plan to abolish them. The order said that agency managers can bypass the notification and comment process by taking advantage of the exceptions that experts say are usually booked for emergencies.
However, legal experts said the laws written by Congress, which govern the way federal agencies remove regulations, are extremely strict.
Typically, if a federal agency, such as the EPA, issues or changes regulations, it will first publish the proposed rules and make the time to comment. Agency officials then read and respond to the comments, providing detailed evidence in support of the changes they want to make, indicating that they have addressed public concerns. The agency then publishes the final rules.
“The Management Procedure Act is a boring, sounding law that no one cares about, but we treat it as a basis in our legal profession,” Freeman said. “It tells the federal government that it needs to purposefully do things, take public opinions and rationally adhere to their actions. It’s a promise that the government is not arbitrary.”
There is Specific conditions If the agent can bypass certain steps. For example, if emergency regulations regarding plane safety need to be issued.
However, the Trump administration appears to be using this so-called legitimate cause exception to push for revoking much broader federal rules.
In the past, courts have had little patience when federal agencies tried to circumvent the regulatory process. During Trump’s first term, officials sometimes announced that they had taken important measures and that they had wiped the restrictions out just to be reversed by the court. According to a database held by New York University, the administration lost 76% of cases where environmental policy was challenged, losing a much higher loss rate than previous administrations. Research Institute for Policy Integrity.
This time, Trump administration officials may want the court to be more sympathetic. With three Supreme Court judges appointed by Trump, the court now has a conservative vast majority who have expressed deep skepticism about environmental regulations.
In some cases, administration actions may be legally defensible. For example, when moving to abolish shower water flow restrictions, Trump called for a redefine “shower heads.” In that case, the White House can try to argue that it is abolishing what is called interpretive rules rather than a major regulation, and does not need to go through the same legal process. But experts said that just because Trump said that, the agency couldn’t argue that it was allowed to skip those steps.
“No notifications and comments may be necessary,” said Jonathan Adler, a conservative legal scholar at Case Western Reserve University. “Not because Trump orders it to be abolished, but because there’s a question of whether the only thing that’s been abolished is a definition, then whether it’s an interpretive rule.”
Some say Trump’s plan, which allows regulations to expire every five years, could make it difficult for businesses to plan for the future.
For example, the Federal Energy Regulation Commission has everything from power lines to utility accounting, said Aripescoe, director of Harvard Law School’s Electrical Law Initiative. In theory, new orders should expire regularly.
“The first section of that order talks about how businesses are sure they need,” says Lisa Heinzerling, a law professor at Georgetown University. “But the whole order is a recipe for eternal uncertainty.”
Amidst the chaos over global trade, countries around the world have reached a modest, yet surprising, modest agreement to reduce the climate pollution that arises from shipping goods from around the world.
It reached in London under the auspices of the United Nations Agency, the United Nations maritime organisation, so all ships passing goods across the ocean must either reduce greenhouse gas emissions or pay a fee.
The target is not what many people wanted. Still, it is the first time that global industries have faced the prices of climate pollution, no matter where they operate. Revenues are primarily used to help the industry clean up the fuel. Some of them can also go to developing countries, which are most vulnerable to climate risks. The agreement comes into effect in 2028 and approval by the country’s representative will be withheld at the next agency meeting in October.
Given the widespread support for Friday’s term, the organisation head has expressed his desire to be hired in October.
This contract was even more remarkable in international cooperation, as it reached even after the US. I was drawn from the lecture At the beginning of the week. No other countries followed.
“The United States is one country, and one country cannot derail the entire process,” said Faig Abbasov, Maritime Director of Transport and Environment, a European advocacy group that promoted the cleaning of the maritime industry. The contract is “the first binding decision that forces transport companies to be decarbonized and switched to alternative fuels.”
The contract applies to all ships, regardless of who’s flag, including ships registered in the United States. It remained unclear how Washington would respond to the fee agreement or how it would respond.
State Department officials only said the United States had not participated in the negotiations.
Ships run primarily on heavy fuel oil, sometimes called bunker fuel, and more than 80% of the world’s goods travel by ship. The industry accounts for around 3% of global greenhouse emissions, comparable to aviation emissions.
The agreement reached on Friday is far less ambitious than originally proposed by a group of island nations who proposed a universal assessment of emissions.
After two years of negotiation, the proposal sets up a complex two-tier fee system. Sets the carbon strength target. This is like a clean fuel standard for cars and trucks. Ships using traditional transport oil will have to pay a higher fee (producing $380 equivalent to metric tons of carbon dioxide), while vessels using less carbon-intensive fuel mix will have to pay a lower fee ($100 for all metric tons above the fuel standard threshold).
The organization estimates it will raise between $11 billion and $13 billion a year.
“That’s a positive outcome,” said Arsenio Dominguez, executive director of the organization. “This is a long journey. This doesn’t happen overnight. There’s a lot of concern, especially from developing countries.”
Thresholds become more severe over time. The industry can switch to biofuels to meet the standards. That is a controversial approach because biofuels are made from crops and growing more crops to make fuel can contribute to deforestation.
The new transport fuel standards aim to promote the development of alternative fuels that include hydrogen.
There have been objections from many quarters. Developing countries with maritime fleets said they would be unfairly punished because they have an old fleet. Countries like Saudi Arabia, which ships large quantities of oil, and China, which exports everything from plastic to electric cars around the world, have balked suggestions to set higher prices, according to people familiar with negotiations.
“They have given up on the proposal of a reliable source of income for us who are desperately needing finances to help with the impact on the climate,” said Ralf Lebenbanu, Minister of Climate in Vanuatu in a statement after the vote.
Eventually, countries that voted in favor of the compromise agreement included China and the European Union. Saudi Arabia and Russia voted against it.
The United States has withdrawn from consultations entirely.
The global shipping industry agreed in 2023 to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by around 2050. Last year, we tracked that commitment with a more concrete plan and took the first step towards establishing carbon prices across the industry.
The forecasts from the International Shipping Office, an industry group, found that prices have negligible effects. “We recognize that this may not be the agreement every section of the industry wanted, and we are concerned that this may not be far enough ahead of itself in providing the certainty that is needed.” “But that’s a framework we can build.”
The mayor of Miami-Dade County announced on Friday that she opposes the removal of fluoride from drinking water in Florida’s largest county. This decision goes against a growing movement that aims to eliminate minerals used for preventing tooth decay.
This veto by Mayor Daniela Levine Cava, a Democrat, comes as critics advocate for the addition of fluoride to water supplies. Recently, Utah became the first state to prohibit the addition of fluoride to public water, and other states, including Florida, are contemplating similar actions.
“The science is crystal clear,” Levine Kava stated during a press conference on Friday. She emphasized, “Ending fluoridation could cause real and lasting harm, especially to children and families who cannot afford regular dental care.”
On April 1, the Miami-Dade Commission, a nonpartisan body of county commissioners, passed a measure to ban fluoride, with some commissioners absent. A total of nine votes are needed to override the mayor’s veto if all 13 commissioners are present, and it remains uncertain whether there is enough support for this. The next scheduled board meeting is on May 6th.
The majority of commissioners in Miami-Dade are Republicans, and Kevin Marino Cabrera, a Trump ally, is set to become the ambassador of Panama. Levine Cava is currently the highest elected Democrat in the state, with Republicans having claimed victory in all other county elected offices in Miami-Dade last year, including sheriffs and election supervisors.
During a press conference last Friday, Levine Caba referenced a study to support her decision, standing alongside dentists and doctors wearing white coats.
“I do what I believe is best for the health of my community. I stand with dental and medical professionals,” she affirmed.
Commissioner Roberto J. Gonzalez, the sponsor of the law, criticized Levine Hippo for “behaving like a typical politician, relying on tired partisan narratives to jeopardize public health.” In a statement on Friday, he called on his fellow committee members to override the veto.
Many experts caution against the removal of fluoride from drinking water, especially for oral health and cavity prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deem Fluoridation as one of the “10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century.”
However, concerns about fluoride have gained momentum in recent years, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic undermined trust in public health interventions. Opponents argue that they aim to safeguard bodily autonomy and raise worries about potential cognitive effects in children.
They reference a Recent Review Papers which analyzed 74 studies and suggested a link between decreased IQ scores in children with high fluoride exposure during childhood or prenatal periods. (The levels studied were double the CDC’s recommended level. One study found no association.)
Levine Cava’s veto contrasts with the stance of fluoride skeptics like the Trump administration’s Kennedy and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with his appointed surgeon general, Dr. Joseph A. Radapop, who advocates for fluoridated water.
Recently, DeSantis expressed, “Do we want forced medication or do we want people to have a choice? When you’re adding it to water, you’re not really giving people a choice.”
Before the mayor’s announcement, Dr. Radapop called for a halt to Covid vaccine use and urged Miami-Dade residents to petition the mayor to support the fluoride ban. “It’s difficult to comprehend how someone feels entitled to add drugs to the water people drink,” he remarked.
Fluoride was first introduced in city water supplies in 1945 and became a common practice across the country in the ensuing decades. Studies have shown a direct correlation between fluoridation and improved oral hygiene.
“There’s a growing distrust in reliable, evidence-based science,” remarked Dr. Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Association, in a statement this week. “When government officials, like Secretary Kennedy, perpetuate misinformation and mistrust in research, it harms public health.”
The debate over fluoridated water has raged for years as experts warn against excessive long-term fluoride exposure due to potential health issues. The federally mandated level has decreased over the years, including after a recent court order.
On Monday, Environmental Protection Agency director Lee Zeldin announced the decision to “expeditiously review new scientific information on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water.”
“If this evaluation is conducted without bias, it will provide a modern and comprehensive scientific assessment,” stated Zeldin. He lauded Kennedy’s longstanding involvement in this issue. Most individuals who spoke during the public comments section at the April Miami-Dade Committee meeting opposed fluoridation. A few days post-meeting, Levine Hippo hosted a Roundtable Discussion, focusing on the benefits with community healthcare professionals.
Since the November election, Florida’s 20 other cities and county governments have voted to eliminate fluoride from their water supplies. Miami-Dade County, with a population of around 2.7 million, is significantly larger. There are ongoing discussions in the Florida Legislature regarding a bill that would prevent local municipalities from adding fluoride to water.
Miami-Dade politics have shifted markedly to the right in recent years, mirroring Florida’s political landscape from a battleground state to one that is increasingly leaning Republican. In November, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the county since 1988.
In a speech aired on the Food and Drug Administration’s Maryland campus Friday morning, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. introduced himself as the country’s health secretary in a mean speech that touched on everything from the raptors of Lake Erie to the CIA.
Kennedy told agency staff in an effort to boldly avoid the impulse to protect the companies they regulate amid the pain of losing 20% of the workforce under an overhaul of the health and human services sector.
Layoffs, voluntary departures and cuts in funding have already stopped the sectors controlling tobacco surveillance, drug approval processes, testing bird milk and bird flu cheeses, and food safety, which monitors and protects consumers from foodborne diseases.
In his remarks Friday, Kennedy suggested that the agency did not approve “alternative drugs” because of its subordination to wealthy businesses. Agent veterans argue that alternative products often fail to pass safety and efficacy standards.
He previously accused the FDA of suppressing raw milk, ivermectin and stem cell therapy.
He urged staff to resist the temptation to serve small groups of wealthy businesses at the expense of public health.
“We want to break away from it so that we can make our children healthy,” he said, according to a transcript of the speech shared with the New York Times. At another point, he said, “The deep nation is the real thing.” This is a light-journal reference to the vast federal bureaucracy that President Trump accused of as an obstacle to achieving his goals in his first term.
Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Kennedy’s remarks.
Kennedy also calls the FDA “sock dolls.” He used it in the past. Dynamics rewards “a very powerful incumbent in the industry,” he said at another time.
Drugmakers have benefited from a series of efforts by the FDA to speed up specific drug approvals and encourage businesses to develop drugs for serious illnesses that lack treatment. An FDA official said the program is intended to help patients.
The FDA has faced criticism over the past few years for several well-known drug approvals. For example, when granting approval for Alzheimer’s and Duchenne muscular dystrophy products, the top officials rejected the agency’s scientist or advisor.
Kennedy urged FDA employees to speak up if their boss greenlights products with insufficient evidence. “If your boss is making a mistake, if they approve something that shouldn’t be approved, we want to hear,” he said.
New FDA committee member Dr. Marty McCurry introduced Kennedy at a meeting Friday, supporting the goal of shaping healthier food supplies. He admitted that for some staff, cutting at the agency is “struggling with the ground.” He said the change was “to be integrated, more efficient and create more teamwork.”
Kennedy and Dr. McCurry were broadcast on video that aired on the agency White Oak campus outside Maryland.
Kennedy visited her father, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, at Washington’s Department of Justice, and recalls her child watching the Peregrine Falcons nest in the cupola of an old post office building. He also discussed his experiences at the Special Olympics, where he played the role of “Hugger” and coaching, playing the battles he played as an environmental lawyer.
Kennedy also complained about the rules governing the agency’s food department, which allow businesses to recognize that they can generally be recognized as being safe. This scale initially covered ingredients such as salt and vinegar to be acceptable in food without review. However, since then, thousands of ingredients have been added to the food supply without notice or testing by agents.
Food companies must provide a review of the materials to the FDA inspector on the premises, but such inspections can be performed once every five years. Kennedy is calling for an end to allow food companies to self-certify that the ingredients are safe.
“We literally don’t test chemicals before they’re added to food,” he said, according to the transcript. “Everything is engraved by the industry, as is generally perceived as safe.”
He went on to attribute the country’s diabetes rate to a loophole, adding that sugar also plays a role.
The speech was reminiscent of a social media message Kennedy posted in October, accusing the FDA of “a war with public health.” He said he is engaged in a “active suppression” of a series of unproven or unsafe products, including raw milk, chelate compounds, ivermectin, and “others that advance human health and cannot be patented by pharma.”
Here’s the post: “If you’re working for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, you have two messages.
The agency is still shaking from thousands of job openings and voluntary deviations in the weeks since Kennedy was appointed health secretary. FDA employees who left in recent weeks include staff looking for drugs for byproducts that could cause cancer, and others working with international food safety staff to stop contaminated products from entering the United States.
The cuts in some regions are so deep that former FDA officials have suggested that the pharmaceutical industry could endanger billions of dollars to pay agents to ensure that the drug approval process is properly staffed.
Drugmakers are worried about what Kennedy’s leadership means for their benefit. They are worried that agency cuts will slow down drug reviews, including starting clinical trials, and will add a delay to final approval.
Public letter Dozens of biotech investors and executives have signed the signing, and industry leaders say they are “deeply concerned about the current state of the agency and its future.”
“Some of us have already encountered regulatory challenges that the FDA considers to be the result of the loss of experienced staff,” the letter states.
Petrova’s return flight from Paris landed in Boston on the evening of February 16th. As the plane sat on the tarmac, she exchanged messages with Dr. Peshkin regarding the handling of a package at customs. However, the passengers had already disembarked the plane, so Petrova cut the conversation short.
Initially, Petrova felt her re-entry was normal. At Passport Control, officials verified her J-1 visa sponsored by Harvard and recognized her as a biomedical researcher. Her passport was stamped, and she was acknowledged by the state.
As she made her way to retrieve her package, Border Patrol officers approached her and requested to search her suitcase. Her biggest concern was that the embryo sample inside would be compromised, as RNA is easily damaged. She admitted her lack of knowledge about the rules. The officer, in a polite manner, informed her that she was allowed to proceed.
Subsequently, another officer entered the room, and the tone of the conversation shifted, according to Petrova. This officer asked detailed questions about Petrova’s work and travel history in Europe. Petrova was then informed that her visa had been revoked and was questioned about her fear of being deported to Russia.
“Yes, I’m afraid to return to Russia,” she expressed, as per a Homeland Security Department transcript provided by her attorney. “I fear that the Russian Federation will harm me for protesting against them.”
Petrova’s lawyer, Greg Romanovsky, acknowledged her violation of customs regulations but argued that it was a minor offense punishable by forfeiture and fines.
Romanovsky emphasized the need for agents to establish a valid basis for revoking her visa and contended that violation of customs regulations was not sufficient justification. Lucas Gattentag, a professor at Stanford Law School, concurred and criticized the government for creating an improper immigration status that led to Petrova’s detention.
In February, customs officials detained Petrova at Logan International Airport in Boston for not declaring a sample of frog embryos. credit…M. Scott Brauer of the New York Times
A DHS spokesperson questioned the cancellation of Petrova’s visa and cited the discovery of Petri dishes and vials of embryonic stem cells in the package without proper authorization during a dog inspection.
The spokesperson asserted that individuals were detained legally after lying to federal officers about bringing biological materials into the country. Petrova’s cell phone messages indicated intentions to smuggle materials through customs without declaration, demonstrating a deliberate violation of the law.
Following the cancellation of Petrova’s visa by Border Patrol agents, she became an undocumented immigrant amidst the immigration policies of the Trump administration. She was held at the Richwood Detention Center, awaiting a hearing to present her asylum case before an immigration judge.
Romanovsky filed a petition for her release in federal court, urging ICE to grant her parole. He pleaded for compassion, suggesting that under different circumstances, Petrova would have been released much earlier.
Petrova spent last month in a dormitory with bunk beds, coping with the cold and receiving limited outdoor time. She shared her observations on the diverse group of women around her, highlighting the harsh conditions they all experienced.
She challenged her preconceived notions of the US compared to her experiences in Russia, expressing disbelief at the treatment she and others received. Petrova emphasized the need for basic rights for all individuals, even immigrants under detention.
Internal documents obtained by the New York Times and several people with knowledge of the situation show Trump administration officials recommend elimination of the scientific research department in the National Maritime and Atmospheric Administration.
The proposal from the Office of Management and Budget would abolish NOAA’s Marine and Atmospheric Research Institute, one of the world’s premiere geoscience research centres.
The budget allocations of more than $170 million to about $485 million in 2024 have increased nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet over the past 40 years, as science is as diverse as the early warning systems for natural disasters, science education for kindergarten students, science education in high schools, and research in the Arctic.
“At this funding level, OARs will be eliminated as line offices,” the proposal states.
The funded program, which includes tornado warnings and marine acidification research, will be relocated to the National Weather Service and the National Marine Services Office.
An overview of the 2026 budget passback that needs to be approved by Congress suggests “significant reductions in education, grants, research and climate-related programs within NOAA,” following the removal of the demolition of other institutions, such as the Institute of International Health and the US Agency for International Development, and the removal of climate change from federal government websites.
Under the proposal, the Department of Commerce’s total budget will be nearly $7.7 billion, down more than $2.5 billion from the 2025 level. The budget will focus on activities that are in line with the Trump administration’s agenda, including implementing trade laws and collecting scientific observations such as ocean and weather data to support forecasts.
“This administration’s hostility to climate science research and rejection will result in contenting the weather forecasting capabilities that the plan claims to preserve,” Zoe Lofgren, a senior Democrat with the House Science Committee, said in an emailed statement.
NOAA, which accounts for more than half of the Department of Commerce budget, will receive a small $4.4 billion cut from 2025, cutting $1.6 billion.
“It’s not surprising, but it’s very disturbing,” said Rick Spinrad, who led NOAA under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
This includes reducing the National Marine Fisheries Services budget by a third. The office will be split from NOAA and will be moved to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior. Funding for species recovery and habitat conservation is eliminated.
Funds for NOAA’s branch of National Ocean Service will be cut in half. Programs like the Coastal Marine Science Center, offices within marine services that study the effects of climate change and sea level rise on coral, pollution, and coastal communities will not be funded.
Environmental Information Centres, which archive climate data, will lose a quarter of their funds.
The proposal also changes NOAA’s satellite and space programs.
It will destroy the Department of Space and Commerce office and relocate the Space Weather Prediction Center to the Department of Homeland Security. A program called the Space Traffic Coordination System, set up to take over satellite traffic surveillance from the Department of Defense, a type of traffic police for space, will also lose funds. Passback suggests that such work will be carried out by the private sector.
The satellite programme that provides weather and modeling data will also be reduced. The long-standing relationship that will help NOAA acquire satellites through NASA will also end.
Dr. Spinlad said the budget proposed by the White House is unlikely to pass Congress. “I don’t think I’ll endure the scrutiny of Congress.”
According to the document, passbacks are part of balancing federal budgets, including “eliminating support for the federal awakening ideology.”
Project 2025 is a document that has been used as a blueprint for federal overhauls under the Trump administration, and included the goal of disbanding NOAA and reducing its research division.
“That raises doubts. Is the Trump administration intentionally breaking our weather capabilities as an excuse to implement the dangerous project 2025 proposal to privatize weather services?” Lofglen said in a statement.
Published by the conservative policy research institute, The Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, called NOAA research “many sources of NOAA climate warnings,” and said “the dominance of climate change research needs to be dissolved.”
“This will bring the United States back to the 1950s with technical and scientific skills,” said Craig McLean, NOAA’s chief scientist under both the first President Trump and Biden in the budget proposal.
Agents must appeal the proposal until noon on April 15th. And until April 24th, many plans for the overhaul suggested by Passback will need to be submitted, even before the proposal is addressed by Congress.
On Thursday, probation officials who were fired in February and later resurrected by judges received an email from the Department of Commerce, who fired them again after the decision was overturned by a superior court. The so-called Force Plan cuts could further reduce 20% of the workforce in the coming weeks.
Health officials at Nyu Langone said on Friday that the surgeon had removed genetically modified pig kidneys from an Alabama woman after experiencing acute organ rejection.
Towana Rooney, 53, lived with her kidneys for 130 days. This tolerate organs from genetically modified animals for longer than anyone else. She has resumed dialysis, hospital officials said.
Rooney’s surgeon and director of the NYU Langon Transplantation Institute, Dr. Robert Montgomery, said so-called explantation is not a setback in the field of xenografting.
“This was the longest of these organs,” he said in an interview, adding that Rooney had other medical conditions that could have complicated her prognosis.
“This all takes time,” he said. “This game is won by progressive improvements, singles and doubles rather than swinging for the fence and trying to score a home run.”
Rooney’s further treatment could have saved the organ, but she and her medical team opposed it, Dr. Montgomery said.
“No. 1 is safe. I had to be sure she was fine,” he said.
Another patient, Tim Andrews of Concord, New Hampshire, has been living with the kidneys of a genetically modified pig since January 25th, according to a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has been hospitalized twice for a biopsy.
Just as two patients fed genetically modified pig hearts, two other patients who received similar kidneys in recent years have died.
Rooney, who returned to her Alabama home after coming to New York for treatment, said in a statement that she was grateful for the opportunity to take part in the groundbreaking procedure.
“For the first time since 2016, I enjoyed my time with friends and family without planning dialysis treatments,” Rooney said in a statement provided by Nyu Langone.
“The outcome is not something nobody wanted, but I know I learned a lot from 130 days with pig kidneys. I know this can help and stimulate many others on my journey to overcome kidney disease,” she said.
Hospital officials said Rooney’s kidney function had decreased after experiencing organ rejection. The cause was being investigated, Dr. Montgomery said.
However, the response follows a decrease in immunosuppressive drugs that have been put into treatment of unrelated infections, he added.
The first indication of the trouble was a blood test done in Alabama, showing that Rooney had increased levels of creatinine, a waste product that is removed from the blood through her kidneys. Level elevation signal may be a problem with kidney function.
Rooney was admitted to the hospital, but when creatinine levels continued to rise, she flew to New York. There, the doctor biopsied the kidneys and found clear signs of rejection, Dr. Montgomery said.
Hospital officials said the kidneys were removed last Friday.
“The decision was made by Rooney and her doctors that the safest intervention would be to remove the kidneys and return to dialysis, rather than adding them,” Dr. Montgomery said in a statement.
United Therapeutics Corporation, a biotechnology company that produced the pigs that donated Rooney’s kidneys, thanked her for her courage and said the organs appear to work well to their rejection.
The company plans to start clinical trials for a Butakidney transplant this year, starting with six patients and eventually growing to 50 patients.
Pig organs are considered a potential solution to a lack of donated organs, particularly kidneys. Over 550,000 Americans suffer from kidney failure and need dialysis, of which around 100,000 are on the waiting list to receive their kidneys.
However, there is a sharp need for human organs, with fewer than 25,000 transplants being performed in 2023. Many patients die while waiting.
I’ve read all sorts of things from classic slices of Dystopian Fiction by Octavia E. Butler at the New Scientist Book Club. The Memories of SowingAdrian Tchaikovsky’s Space Exploration Alien clay. Michel Nieva Dengue fever boy (And if you haven’t read it yet, this is not an article for you: spoilers first!) was something completely different.
There was part of this novel I loved, especially the wild originality of Nieva, who dreams of his future world. This is where Antarctic ice thawed in 2197, and sea level rise means that Patagonia, once famous for its forests, lakes and glaciers, has transformed into a scattered path on a small, burnt hot island.
It is the place where “hundred thousands of unrecorded viruses emerge each year thanks to the complete deforestation of all forests in the Amazon and China and Africa.” And when the infinite and terrible ingenuity of humanity means that people are currently trading on the Financial Virus Index. Powered by quantum computers, this is “not only determined at 99.99% effectiveness, but it is likely that these new viruses will not only unleash a new pandemic, but will collect stocks from companies that are likely to benefit from its effectiveness and offer them to the market in packages sold like pancakes.” Great idea!
I also think Nieva’s writing (translated by Rahul Bery) will occasionally leap to elevated levels. At some point, our hero is early in school (because she can fly there, unlike she’s narrated in traffic). She needs to “wait completely still for a few minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes, minutes, no idea what her excessive cor should do.” Excessive corporateity! It would be a glorious and appropriate explanation of this miserable mosquito.
It has an unbearable emotional feeling. This was with me after finishing and stayed with the vision of Niwa’s great iceberg gallery. “I couldn’t walk through the Great Iceberg Gallery and in the early stages I couldn’t feel the sudden weight of the world. The relic box of true planetary gemstones, its total age was greater than that of all humankind.”
And I can only admire Neeva’s virtuosity in thinking of myself in the mind of a murderous mosquito. I think he can do this a lot. My sympathy enjoys what half of us wanted with our “stubbornly murderous” hero, half of which was violently postponed by her actions.
Some of you have seen a lot of positive things in the novel. “If I solved that this is not science fiction, but a realism of the magic of South Americans, I enjoy it (a huge fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Italo Calvino, and Umberto Eco. It’s a completely different genre.” Facebook Groupwhere do all these comments come from? “It’s weird, surreal and all-talented, and I think it works very well in these terms.”
For Terry James, the book began hard. We need to deal with “rough language” as we needed a lot of disbelief halts to embrace the protagonist of Nieva’s mosquito (and its incredible size). However, Terry was happy he kept going. “The more I read, the more I enjoyed it. I found literary techniques to reveal the inner struggle of the wealth, privilege and the gorgeousness of the poor, as very effective,” he wrote. “This book is creative.”
I think David Jones nailed it when he said “reading isn’t comfortable,” but he “actually enjoyed it a lot.” “It’s a very dystopian satirical, very bloody view of the future. It’s the day you read and digest how I felt about it,” he writes.
But perhaps this is because I am not a steampunk enthusiast, as the novel is mentioned on its cover. The “excessive corporation” I enjoyed with mosquitoes comes in a variety of scenes of violence and sexual depravity that I found difficult to read. I’m a Stephen King fan – I don’t mind a bit of fear and gore. But I really didn’t understand what brought richness to the story here other than making me totally terrible. I hated the sheep! I really hate it! (As some may say, that was the point, but for me it was a point that I wasn’t keen on being made.)
And when our mosquitoes were on a bloody adventure, I found it later on when we were on a bloody adventure that was far more convincing than the Borges-esque “Computer Games in Computer Games” section we had reached. It was on the wrong side of Surreal for me, or I wasn’t getting it. Terry James also had problems with the “Mighty Anarchy” component of the story and was unable to grasp its meaning. “I call this kind of ideology pseudointelligence, because it sounds very clever, but doesn’t make sense in a holistic, integrated system,” he wrote.
Overall, for me, this is not the book I’m coming back to, and I think the majority of our members were also more negative about this than positive. Judith Lazelle felt that was “unfortunate.” “Free sexual fantasy and undeveloped characters, violence is explicit and rebellious. Perhaps that was the point,” she wrote. [was] It’s effective in bringing back memories of terrible places to live.”
For Eliza Rose and Andy Feest, it was their least favorite book club ever read. Like me, Eliza wasn’t a fan of body horror, but she liked some of the corrupt companies in the storyline. “I think he’s finished it well enough because he feels like he told the story, but I didn’t need all the gore,” she wrote.
Andy described the story as “plain and weird,” and Nieva came up with an interesting concept, but he felt he could have used more backstory and details. “The end was a shame (I can’t say I’m confused),” Andy writes. “Overall, I was grateful that this was a short book because I wasn’t sure if it was a bigger novel (and I hate that I haven’t finished the book I started paying for).
Perhaps Andy doesn’t have to pay for the next book: We’re reading: Larry Nivens Ring WorldAn old classic that many of you may have on your shelf. Come and tell us what you think about us Book Club Member Facebook Pagetry this excerpt and get insight into how Larry came up with the work he wrote here to come up with the epic creation mechanisms.
Sea dolphins around the UK are almost dying from a combination of water temperature and toxic chemicals that the UK banned in the 1980s.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are long-lasting chemical contaminants that were once widely used in industrial manufacturing. They interfere with the breeding and immune response of animals and cause them cancer With humanity.
In a new study, researchers showed that higher levels of PCBs in the body and increased sea surface temperatures are at a higher risk of death from a common shunting dolphin infection (Delphines Delphis), the first of marine mammals.
The ocean is facing a “triple planetary crisis” – the “climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss,” but we often see the threat alone, says, Rosie Williams At the Zoological Society in London.
Williams and her colleagues analyzed postmortem data from 836 common dolphins marginalized in the UK between 1990 and 2020 and assessed the impact of these interlinked threats.
They found that a rise in PCB of 1 milligram per kilogram of fat has become fatal, with a 1.6% increase in the likelihood of infections such as gastritis, enteritis, bacterial infections, encephalitis, and pneumonia. Every 1°C increase in sea surface temperature corresponded to a 14% increase in the risk of death.
According to this study, the threshold for PCB fat concentrations to significantly affect the risk of dolphin disease was 22 mg/kg, while the average sample concentration was high at 32.15 mg/kg.
Dolphins have a long lifespan, are widely distributed around the UK and are widely distributed in the food chain, making them a good indicator species that shows how threats affect other animals.
“The location at the top of the food web means that toxins from prey accumulate in the enlargement, providing an intensive snapshot of chemical contaminants at the expense of health,” says Thea Taylor. Sussex Dolphin Project.
It was banned in the UK in 1981 and internationally in 2001, but the PCB is still washed down into the ocean. “They are probably still entering the environment through stockpiling, and often are side products or by-products of other manufacturing processes,” Williams says.
Cleaning up your PCB is extremely difficult. “They are nightmares to get rid of because they are so permanent,” she says. “There’s definitely no easy fix.”
While some researchers have explored edging as a cleanup technique, others have focused on improving the effectiveness of water treatment plants in the removal of sustainable chemicals.
These findings show what happens if not taken to ban Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), another broad group of so-called eternal chemicals.
“We cannot reverse any already-occurring pollution, but it’s important to prevent further chemical input into the environment,” Taylor says.
Feather foil print. The barb on the right represents the population of British bird species from 40 years ago. The left shows the current population size.
Rebecca Kay
Rebecca Kay is also known as her alias ploterre With the help of hard data and clever design, turn the idle thoughts that occur while cycling into beautiful prints.
Edinburgh, UK, studied mathematics, worked as a data researcher, and developed her art as a side job. Covid-19 was then a hit, and she jumped into art full-time.
Her work inevitably begins outside in nature and arrives as an ever-inquisitive thought. How do tide ages change around the coast, where do oxai daisies grow across the UK, or how do the unique flashing patterns of lighthouses differ?
“Usually, I’d be wondering why the leaf pattern looks like it is, and most people would just keep walking and forget about it,” Kay said. “I turned it into a bit of a job.”
Ash Rise Weathering Letter Press Print. Using data from the UK Meteorological Service, each growth ring represents a year, with thin lines representing daily rainfall and gaps between lines representing daily temperatures.
Rebecca Kay
Once she gets an idea, the data hunt begins. The most recent question that came to mind was whether it was always raining somewhere in the UK. That led to her review of 130 years of records, leading to a perhaps surprising, pessimistic discovery.
Once the visual design is sketched on paper, Kay relies on computers to distort data into design, consolidating information and forms into a single piece that tells the story. This ultimately leads to a finished design that is screen printed by hand.
Scientists extracted and analyzed 34 new mammoths (Mamutus spp. ) mitochondrial genomes containing two early Pleistocene and nine mid Pleistocene giant specimens in Siberia and North America. They identified the oldest known mammoth DNA in North America from 200,000-year-old specimens found on the Old Crow River in the Yukon Territory of Canada. The results support previous research and show that mammoths from around 1 million years ago do not resemble the later mammoths.
Reconstruction of the life of the grassland mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii). Image credit: Beth Zaiken/Center for Palaeogenetics.
Ancient DNA was recovered from specimens dated in the early Pleistocene (2.6 million to 780,000 years ago), and the stages in the Middle Pleistocene (780,000 to 126,000 years ago) could allow for the direct study of deep temporal evolutionary events that are key to understanding species formation.
Unfortunately, access to such deep-time DNA is limited, and so far only a handful of studies have been able to obtain either genome-wide data or the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) from deep specimens.
“Our analysis offers an unprecedented glimpse into how major deep-time demographic events have shaped mammoth genetic diversity over time.”
By analyzing 34 new mammothmite genomes along with more than 200 previously published mammothmite genomes, the researchers found that diversification events across the mammoth lineage appeared to be consistent with well-explained demographic changes during the early and mid-Pleistocene.
Their findings support the ancient Siberian origins of the major mammoth lineage and reveal how changes in individual dynamics contributed to the expansion and contraction of different genetic clades.
“The constant cost of sequencing technology has left mitogenomes somewhat forgotten. However, our study shows that they are more abundant than nuclear DNA and are therefore important for evolutionary biology.
The current research not only advances understanding of mammoth evolution, but also contributes to a wider field of ancient DNA research.
Scientists have developed and applied an improved molecular clock dating framework and improved methods of estimating sample age beyond radiocarbon dating limits using genetic data.
This methodological advancement provides a powerful tool for future research into extinct and endangered species.
Professor Love Darren, a researcher at Stockholm University, said:
“We are extremely excited to see genetic data from more mammoth specimens sampled over the past million years.
Team’s result Published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
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J. Camilo Chacón-Duque et al. 2025. The evolution of the mammoth genome for a million years. Molecular Biology and Evolution 42(4): MSAF065; doi: 10.1093/molbev/msaf065
According to an analysis of ancient proteins, the 190,000-10,000 fossil mandibles found in the Taiwanese Pengu Channel in the 2000s belonged to male Denisovan. The findings provide direct evidence that Denisovan occupied a diverse climate, from the cold Siberian mountains to the warm, humid subtropical latitudes of Taiwan.
The concept of artist Peng Denisovan walking under the bright sun during the Pleistocene of Taiwan. Image credit: Cheng-Han Sun.
“Recent discoveries and reanalysis of fossil specimens, along with the application of molecular technology and new dating methods, revealed unexpected diversity among the archaic Hymonin of mid- to late Pleistocene East Asia before the arrival of modern humans.”
“Identifying Denisovan is an important example of such advances.”
“Denisovan was recognized as a group of humankinds that differ from Neanderthals and modern humans by analyzing fragmentary bone and teeth DNA excavated from Denisova Caves in the Altai Mountains of Siberia.”
“Their nuclear genome shows that Denisovan formed its own clade as a sister group of Neanderthals, forming a calculated genome difference between the two clades that occurred more than 400,000 years ago.”
“Genetic evidence also shows the flow of genes between Denisovans, modern people, and Neanderthals.”
“Studies of incorporated denisova DNA in modern human populations suggest the existence of multiple genomically distinct denisova populations, once distributed across Asia in the eastern part of the continent and perhaps part of the islands Southeast Asia.”
“However, outside the Denisova caves, direct molecular evidence of Denisovan has been found only from a single site on the Tibetan Plateau.”
“In Baishiya Karst Cave in Xiahe, the mandible and rib bone are identified as denisovan based on protein sequence.”
With label Penguo 1New Denisovan fossils were collected in the 2000s through drage activities related to commercial fishing from the seabed (60-120 m) about 25 km from Taiwan’s west coast.
The area is located 4,000 km southeast of Denisova’s Caves and 2,000 km southeast of Baishayakarst Caves.
It was part of the Asian mainland during the low sea level episodes of Pleistocene.
“Penghu 1 is under 450,000 years old, with the most likely age range from 10,000 to 70,000 or 130,000 to 190,000 years old, depending on the content of trace elements, biostratigraphic evidence, and past changes in sea level,” the researchers said.
“Direct uranium dating of Penghu 1 failed due to the effects of uranium from seawater.”
Using ancient proteomic analysis, Dr. Tsutaya and his colleagues extracted proteins from bone and dental enamel from the fossils, recovering 4,241 amino acid residues.
These variants are rare in modern human populations, but are more common in areas associated with the genetic temptation of Denisovan.
Furthermore, morphological analysis of Penghu 1 reveals a robust jaw structure with large molars and distinctive root structures. This is a feature consistent with the properties found in Tibetan Denisovan specimens, suggesting that these properties are lineage and possibly gender characteristics.
“It is clear that two contrasting groups of Hymonin – the small-tooth Neanderthal with tall but flexible mandibles and the low but robust mandible (as a population or as a male character) coexist during the late mid- and early Pleistocene Eurasia,” the scientists said.
“The latter form is rare or absent in neonatal fossils from Africa and Eurasia, and is therefore not a primitive retention that is likely developed or enhanced, as it was probably developed or enhanced in Deniso Banklade, after genetic separation from Neanderthals more than 400,000 years ago.”
“Recent discoveries of the island from Southeast Asia (Homo Flores Ensis and Homo Lusonensis) and South AfricaHomona Lady) highlights the diverse evolution of the genus Homoin contrast to the strain Homo sapiens. ”
“The Dentgrat morphology of Dennisovan can be interpreted as another such distinct evolution that took place in our genus.”
result It was published in the journal today Science.
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Takumi Tsutaya et al. 2025. Mandible Denisovan from Pleistocene Taiwan. Science 388 (6743): 176-180; doi: 10.1126/science.ads3888
The emergency department waiting room was packed as always, with patients crammed closely into hard metal chairs, as if they had been sitting for hours. Only those needing immediate care, like a heart attack, were seen right away.
One man had enough and slammed the glass window in front of the receptionist before storming out. He took a smoking break and verbally attacked the nurse, questioning her hard work as he left.
Although not a real event, this scene was portrayed in the Max series “The Pitt,” which airs its season finale on Thursday, set in a fictional Pittsburgh Hospital emergency room. The underlying theme of overwhelming overcrowding is a universal issue in this country, and not an easy one to solve.
“This system is at its breaking point,” stated Dr. Benjamin S. Abela, chairman of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.
“The Pitt” depicts the daily struggle of emergency room doctors, nurses, medical students, custodians, and staff dealing with a variety of medical issues, from heart attacks and strokes to overdoses and severe burns. The show neatly resolves many of the complex issues in its 15 episodes, but reflects the real-life problems faced by medical systems operating beyond capacity.
The jammed waiting room and patients waiting for days in emergency rooms highlight a critical issue – overcrowding – labeled a “National Public Health Crisis” by the American University of Emergency Medicine.I’ll call boarding
Medical supplies in hallways and patients seen in hallways due to lack of available space further emphasize the strain on the system.
Instances of violence between patients with mental health issues and nurses are depicted in “The Pitt,” echoing the reality of the situation seen in emergency rooms nationwide.
Dr. Abela emphasizes that the show portrays a system on the brink of collapse, reflecting what is happening in emergency rooms across the country.
The complex nature of the issue, as explained by Dr. Ezekiel J. Emmanuel from the Health Transformation Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, points to the lack of a simple solution and the challenges posed by limited resources.
Financial constraints, patient flow issues, and capacity limitations in nursing homes contribute to the ongoing crisis in emergency departments.
Dr. Jeremy S. Faust from Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Emergency Medical Office highlights scheduling challenges for patient discharges and the role of primary care in alleviating overcrowding in emergency rooms.
In the real world and on screen in the “pits,” patients often end up in emergency rooms for issues that could be addressed by primary care physicians, emphasizing the need for better access to primary care services.
Dr. Emmanuel underlines the difficulties in finding and accessing primary care, leading many to seek immediate help in emergency rooms rather than wait for appointments.
The trend of seeking immediate solutions contributes to the ongoing problem of overcrowding in emergency rooms despite efforts to expand facilities.
Dr. Faust recalls how opening a new emergency room with more beds led to an influx of patients, demonstrating that expanding facilities alone does not solve the issue of overcrowding.
For decades, fishermen sailing off the coast of Taiwan have occasionally discovered bones from other large mammals that lived tens of thousands of years ago, such as elephants, buffaloes, and other large mammals.
However, in 2010, Taiwanese paleontologists were presented with a particularly strange discovery. This fossil looks like half the jaw of a gorilla. Scientists have been baffled by it ever since.
The mystery of the underwater jaw has now been solved. Wednesday, the researchers team made an announcement that it was part of Denisovan, a member of the mystical human lineage associated with the Neanderthals. This finding greatly expands the range of well-identified denisovan fossils previously known from Siberia and Tibet.
“Indeed, Denisovan was east all the way to the coast,” says Frido Welker, a molecular anthropologist and author of the new study.
Chun-hsiang Chang, a paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences of Taiwan, first learned about the jaws from a private collector in 2010. After examining it, he quickly determined that it did not belong to a gorilla, as gorillas and other apes have U-shaped jaws. Instead, the fossil jaws were angled outward from the jaw, just like ours.
However, the jaws were missing the prominent jaws seen in modern-day humans. “At the time, I thought it looked human, but not like modern-day human,” Dr. Chang said. “I thought it was very important, so I pushed the private collector to lend it to my museum.”
Over the next five years, Dr. Chang studied the jaw anatomy, working with an international group of scientists. Its shape resembles the jaws of extinct relatives of humans known to have lived in Asia for over a million years. However, Penghu 1 also had distinctive features, including large teeth.
Determining the age of Penghu 1 was also a challenge, as they were not sure exactly where Dr. Chang discovered it on the seabed. He and his colleagues analyzed the chemistry of the jaw and discovered that it resembles that of fossils of hyena species that evolved in East Asia about 400,000 years ago.
At that time, Taiwan was separated from the mainland by water. However, 190,000 years ago, sea levels fell sufficiently to create a land bridge that lasted until 130,000 years ago. The ocean then rose again until 70,000 years ago. This pattern continued until 10,000 years ago when another land bridge formed. Dr. Chang and his colleagues believe that Penghu 1 lived in one of these periods when sea levels were lower.
One possibility was that Penghu 1 belonged to a mysterious group of humans called Denisovans. Researchers discovered Denisovan in 2010 while examining fossils from the Siberian Denisova Cave. The bones of teeth and fingers contain ancient DNA with unusual mutations, revealing previously unknown human strains.
Subsequent research shows that Denisovans, Neanderthals, and modern humans share common ancestors who lived in Africa about 600,000 years ago. The Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestors migrated from Africa, and then these two lineages split about 400,000 years ago, with the Neanderthals spreading to Europe in the west.
Denisovan’s spread was difficult to chart. For years, the only known Denisovan fossils have been teeth and bone fragments found in Denisova caves. However, a valuable clue comes from living humans. Many people in East Asia and the Pacific today have small amounts of Denisovan DNA, suggesting that Denisovans must have interbred with East Asian Homo sapiens before their extinction and lived far beyond Siberia.
Dr. Chang and his colleagues noticed that the teeth in the Penghu 1 jaw resemble the teeth found in the Denisova Cave. But those clues were not enough to link them. They attempted to search for DNA in their jaws but found nothing. This was not surprising given that the Penghu 1 fossils had been sitting on the seabed for thousands of years.
After Dr. Chan’s team revealed their analysis in 2015, Penghu 1 became an even more enigmatic, human-like fossil at the museum. “Our research was stagnant,” Dr. Chan said.
Over the next few years, Dr. Welker and other researchers pioneered ways to recover ancient proteins from fossils. They discovered that even if a fossil loses all its DNA, it could still retain protein fragments.
Using such methods, Dr. Welker studied the 160,000-year-old jaws found in a high-altitude cave in Tibet. In 2019, the team reported that Tibetan fossils contained fragments of ancient collagen and other proteins.
These proteins resemble modern human proteins but also exhibit differences indicating that the jaw belonged to a Denisovan.
With that discovery, Dr. Welker searched other Asian fossil scientific literature for jaws resembling the Tibetan jaws that could be tested for proteins.
“That’s when the lower jaw of Penghu came on my radar,” he said.
Both the Tibetan and Taiwanese jaws had very large teeth. Dr. Welker and his colleagues reached out to Dr. Chang. In 2023, Dr. Chang and his team flew to Copenhagen with their jaws. Analysis of the results revealed protein fragments that were only present in Denisovans.
“Since the first publication of Penghu’s lower jaw, many of us thought it might be Denisovan, mainly based on being in the right place at the right time,” said Bens Viola, a paleontologist at the University of Toronto, who was not involved in the study. “But of course, assumptions are assumptions, and we need actual data to validate them.”
Another clue came from fragments of enamel protein in the teeth. Modern humans carry enamel genes on the X chromosome, while men carry slightly different enamel genes on the Y chromosome. Denisovan was carrying the Y-chromosome version, indicating that it belonged to a male adult.
The two Denisovan jaw anatomy may turn out to be a hallmark of male Denisovan. Women’s Denisovan may have a thinner anatomy, but scientists will need more evidence to know for sure.
The discovery of other Denisovan fossils could expand the scope of humanity. In 2022, researchers found teeth from 160,000 years ago in a cave in Laos. They resemble the teeth of the jaw in Tibetan Denisovan. Anyone who lived there would have had to survive in the tropical forests far from Siberia.
However, Laos’ teeth do not contain DNA, and the protein fragments did not clarify the type of human it belonged to. However, the cave and its neighbors still retain many teeth that have not been fully analyzed. Other traces of Denisovan may not have been found in the museum yet.
But so far, evidence reveals that Denisovans were able to thrive for thousands of miles and in a variety of environments. Janet Kelso, a paleontologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, was impressed by the differences between the Penghu 1 protein and the protein found in Tibet. As Denisovans expanded throughout different environments, they adapted and became genetically distinct populations.
“There’s still a lot to learn about Denisovan,” she said.
According to industry experts, companies can set high prices for their products due to the intricacies of Medicare pricing rules. During the first six months of a new bandage product’s lifespan, Medicare sets a refund rate based on the company’s chosen price. The agent will then adjust the refund to reflect the actual price that your doctor will pay after any discounts.
To avoid decreases in refunds, some companies opt to introduce new products regularly.
For example, in April 2023, Medicare started reimbursing $6,497 per square inch for bandages called Zenith sold by Legacy Medical Consultants, a company based in Fort Worth, Texas. However, six months later, the refunds for Zenith dropped to $2,746.
In October 2023, Medicare began reimbursing $6,490 for a “double layer” bandage for a new product called Impax from Legacy.
Both products use the same images and similar descriptions in their marketing materials, touting them as offering optimal wound care and protection.
Analysis by Earty Read shows that spending on Zenith and Impax has surpassed $2.6 billion since 2022.
When asked about the marketing and pricing strategies for these products, Legacy Medical Consultants did not provide a response. Company spokesman Dan Childs stated, “Legacy abides by laws that govern the system.”
Doctor discounts
In the field of wound care, doctors and nurses visit patients’ homes for treatment. Some companies that specialize in skin alternatives target doctors to help mitigate the rise in bandage prices.
Dr. Caroline Fife, a Texas-based wound care physician, highlighted the industry’s excesses in her blog last year. She shared an email she received from an undisclosed skin replacement company, which claimed that doctors could generate significant revenue from their bandages.
Some companies offer doctors bulk discounts of up to 45%, as reported by interviews with doctors and contracts reviewed by The Times. However, doctors could still receive Medicare rebates for the full price of the product.
The anti-kickback law prohibits physicians from receiving financial incentives from pharmaceutical or medical supply companies. While Medicare allows for discounts, experts suggest that rebates on bandages may have violated federal law by not requiring actual bulk purchases. In some cases, doctors only needed to buy three products to qualify for a 40 or 45% discount.
Lawyer Reuben Guttman from Washington, D.C., who represents Medicare whistleblowers, commented, “That’s not a volume discount,” indicating that such practices could be a way to disguise kickbacks.
In 2024, at least nine healthcare practices claimed over $50 million in Medicare reimbursements for skin replacements, according to an analysis conducted by The Times and the National Association of Associations representing healthcare organizations incentivized to reduce Medicare spending.
Pre-Lamp Disease is a potentially serious complication of pregnancy
Half Point Image/Getty Image
Pre-lamp syndrome can lead to many pregnancy complications, including death, but can be difficult to detect in the early stages of pregnancy. New blood tests can help doctors identify people at risk of developing a condition before symptoms begin.
“We can narrow it down to four really high-risk pregnancies. That’s a big step.” Maneesh Jain at Mirvie, a California-based health startup.
Pre-salping syndrome is a type of hypertensive disorder (HDP) during pregnancy, which occurs when scientists are not sure exactly – occurs during placenta development. This can lead to high blood pressure and lead to cardiovascular disease, organ damage, seizures and even death. It can also cause harm to the developing fetus.
However, catching pre-lammosis and other HDP is difficult. This is because symptoms usually do not appear for at least 20 weeks after pregnancy. Sometimes, no signs are detected until work. It is difficult to monitor placenta development. This is because taking tissue samples from organs is very invasive.
New blood tests are relatively non-invasive and use RNA markers to predict whether someone may develop HDP. Specifically, this test focuses on specific genes PAPPA2 and CD163its overexpression was previously linked to HDP. The researchers wanted to see if they could detect this overexpression of blood samples.
Their validation studies of over 9,000 pregnant people suggest that they can: Jain says that tests can be determined with accuracy of over 99% and above with accuracy of over 99%, whether people without existing risk factors overexpress the gene and therefore are at higher risk of pre-ec syndrome or another HDP. Almost a quarter of participants without existing HDP risk factors overexpressed the gene.
People with a certain demographic (for example, those with a family history of preexisting hypertension or pre-sexual pre-lampsia) are known to be at a moderate risk of developing the condition, he says. Morten Rasmussen At Mirvie. But for many, it comes from the blue at first glance.
Once someone knows that they are at high risk of pre-lamps, they can take action to prevent this. Common interventions include taking medications like aspirin, switching to a Mediterranean diet, and monitoring your daily blood pressure.
However, the new test only looked at people between 17.5 and 22 weeks after pregnancy. “Ideally, you should start aspirin 16 weeks in advance.” Kathryn Gray At Washington University in Seattle. “So by the time most people get the results of this test, they’ve already missed that window.”
Mirvie plans to sell blood tests on the market soon. Once it’s on the market, the team hopes other scientists will use it to develop drugs that specifically target the expression of genes such as PAPPA2. Such molecular pinpoints “give a much better opportunity for treatment to be effective,” says Rasmussen.
Gray also hopes researchers will use Mirvie’s RNA bank data to further identify the genes behind the risk of prelammosis in certain people. She says narrowing down your search profile could reduce the cost of testing and make it affordable for more people.
The article was revised on April 8, 2025
This article has been revised to reflect the risks posed by pre-lammosis during pregnancy
The article was revised on April 10, 2025
We have revealed that the test has identified people at risk of developing pre-lammosis.
Feedback is the latest science and technology news of new scientists, the sidelines of the latest science and technology news. You can email Feedback@newscientist.com to send items you believe readers can be fascinated by feedback.
Whales are not Wales
Feedback is a science journalist of more years than we remember, and as a result we have come across a significant share of the odd units of measurement. The human mind wrestles with very large and very small things, so as a writer, it’s fascinating to get you to say that the huge iceberg has an area x times the size of Wales, the mountains are at the height of Burj Khalifa, or the bad books contain Z plot holes. Fourth Wing.
In this spirit, Christopher Dionne CNN Article About Blue Ghost Lunar Lander sending the final message from the moon. He points out that the writer is trying to convey the amount of data on the probe, saying that he “returned around 120 gigabytes of data, which amounted to over 24,000 songs, to Earth.”
“This made me think,” says Dionne. With so much music streaming today, the size of the song file is “generally not important.” The size of the file also depends on how you compress it and the length of the song. We can certainly agree with it Too well (10 minutes) It’ll be a slightly larger file Please love me – Therefore, songs cannot be used as standardized units of dataset size.
Luckily, Dionne came up with a solution. “Why don’t we use internationally agreed metrics: blue whales?” Blue whale genome It is a base of 2.4 billion. “So it appears that the Blue Ghost sent back data from the moon about 50 Blue Whale.”
Feedback is because we enjoy it Douglas Adams style images A rapid of whales that flow from the moon to the Earth. But we quiesce Dionne’s mathematics. The genome’s base is not equivalent to bytes in the dataset. Each byte is 8 bits, similar to the base. DNA is not binary either. For each position in the genome, there are four options (a, c, g, or t). This means that you can encode the byte using bits on the base half. So, multiplying 8 and dividing 2, I think Blue Ghost sent back around 200 blue whales.
As Dionne suggests, we recommend submitting to our readers that “other comparison units of digital measurement… might be even better to convey the scale of the information.” I look forward to “a thoughtful discourse on this most pressing issue.”
Goodbye, Alice and Bob
Few are likely to kill jokes. So the feedback is a bit nervous about this. This is because it involves both local events and encryption jokes.
We think this might require readers to review, so let’s start with encryption. When describing how a secure messaging system works, it has become traditional to call the two main agents “Alice” and “Bob.” For example, “How can Alice send secure messages to the BOB using a signal messaging app?”
The name has been in use since 1978 and is very popular. Wikipedia Page. In addition to explaining the device history, this page also depicts a very extended list of additional characters that may be involved in these thought experiments. From Chad to “the third participant, usually malicious intent,” Wendy and “whistleblower.”
Basically, if you’re a regular New Scientist Readers, you’ve probably read stories that use Alice and Bob (and their friends/enemies/acquaints/lovers) to explain complex ideas of encryption and physics. You’re familiar with this. So the parody is interesting.
We will not name any related news events. It was widely covered and discussed. But who knows: We’re writing this on March 27th, so by the time you read this you might have forgotten it. The United States may have tentatively invaded Svalbarbad, as he had forgotten which Arctic land Donald Trump wanted.
Anyway, I’ll go here. Bluesky posts to software developer John Vanenk I shared a screenshot Wikipedia page page. “Hegseth and Waltz are fictional characters commonly used as placeholders in discussions about cryptographic systems and protocols, and thought experiments created by Jeffrey Goldberg, who was created by Jeffrey Goldberg in a 2025 article. This was accompanied by a diagram described as an example of a scenario where communication between Hegseth and Waltz is intercepted by Goldberg.”
After all, if you didn’t find it interesting, feedback encourages you to send your comments to our signal account, but we don’t have one.
How awful
Readers Patrick Fenron and Peter Thressenger both wrote to emphasize the same thing. article in Guardianon how migratory birds use quantum mechanics to navigate. According to the biologist cited in the article, it appears that most “we travel at night and ourselves, so no one should follow.” Her name is Miriam Reedvogel, which of course means “songbird.”
As Fenlong said: “Wonderbar.”
Have you talked about feedback?
You can send stories to feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Include your home address. This week and past feedback can be found on our website.
Whale watching and marine ecosystems in the Azores: Portugal
Discover the hidden paradise of the Azores, a group of islands filled with rich biodiversity, lush landscapes, volcanic craters, peaceful lagoons and charming towns.
Pelvic width can affect the risk of birth complications and back pain
Cavan Images/Getty Images
According to the largest research of this kind, a person’s waist width appears to be the result of a complex trade-off between larger brain evolution and upright walking.
“If the brain is growing bigger and bigger over the same evolutionary time as the pelvis is narrowing, this of course leads to conflict.” Vagheesh Narasimhan At the University of Texas at Austin.
This idea, first proposed in the 1960s, is known as the obstetric dilemma. Recently, it has been suggested that the risk of pelvic floor conditions is also considered. The pelvic floor is the layer of muscle that keeps organs in place. If it becomes weak or tear, it can lead to incontinence and problems during childbirth.
“The obstetrics dilemma has been very heated and debated,” says Narasinghan. For example, there have been many previous studies that attempt to relate pelvic structures to walking speed and efficiency, but these studies usually involve a small number of people and produce conflicting results.
Now, Narasinghan and his colleagues are looking at 31,000 men and women using data from the UK biobank. The team measured various aspects of the pelvis based on the type of scan called dual energy x-ray absorption measurements and looked for correlations with genetic variation and aspects of people’s health, including the need for emergency Caisalians.
Results show that wider pelvis reduces the risk of birth complications, but slower walking and higher risk of pelvic floor-related conditions, leading to hip osteoarthritis. On the other hand, narrower pelvis can speed up walking, but increases the risk of birth complications, lower back pain and knee osteoarthritis.
Previously, it has been suggested that there is a link between narrow-back births and reducing the risk of prenatal births, but the team found no association between pelvic width and pregnancy length. “This is consistent with other studies showing that no human children are born. [relatively] Faser than other apes,” says Narasinghan.
The team observed a link between pelvic width at birth and baby’s head size. “Individuals who may give birth to a wider head child often have a wider pelvis,” says Narasinghan. “It happens because of natural selection, which is a continuous selection of this correlated individual.” According to a 2016 survey, this selection may have ended for the C section.
Another finding is that most people have slightly asymmetric pelvises that correlate with their dominant hand. Being left or right-handed usually determines which legs dominate. This affects walking and pelvic development, which can lead to slight asymmetry as we grow, says Narasinghan.
“This is an extraordinary contribution to fundamental aspects of human evolutionary biology.” Scott Simpson Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. “By integrating anatomical, genetic, clinical and behavioral data, the authors provided important insights into this unique human adaptation.”
“It’s good to be able to take advantage of large datasets.” Nicole Webb At the University of Zurich in Switzerland, the chimpanzee birth canal was far larger than the people’s birth canal. Webb points out that all people in the dataset are older than 40 years old and are from the UK. “If this work is done in a young, diverse group, the results can be even more impressive,” she says.
Congressional speeches have shifted to not based on evidence
volodymyr tverdokhlib/alamy
The language used by US Congress members in the debate has increasingly included words like “fake,” and “suspectful” for words like “proof,” and “reason.”
This linguistic trend, away from evidence in support of intuition, was revealed in an artificial intelligence analysis of millions of Congress speech transcripts. It also says it coincides with both the larger political polarization in Congress and the decline in the number of laws enacted through Congress. Stephen Lewandowski At the University of Bristol, UK.
“We can think of the truth as something that can be achieved based on an analysis of evidence, or we can think of it as the result of intuition or “gut sensation,” says Lewandowsky. “The concepts of integrity and truth are expressed in how we use everyday language.”
Adapting the ready-made AI language model, Lewandowsky and his colleagues analyzed the words used in the transcripts of eight million council speeches given between 1879 and 2022. They then calculated scores indicating whether a particular parliamentary speech was leaning towards evidence or intuition.
They found that since the 1970s, Congress has increasingly supported languages based on intuition rather than evidence-based languages. Before that, in the golden age of 1899-1901, and in the Great Repression of 1933-1935, intuitive language also skyrocketed.
“The findings fit the other impressions of anti-intellectualism, populism and rejection of science experts over the last decades.” John Jost At New York University.
The specific strength of the research is not only tracking frequency, but also assessing the context in which the words are displayed, he says Renata Nemet At the University of Eötvös Loránd, Hungary. “These models can capture deeper and often subtle connections between words, even reflecting cultural meanings and social relationships,” she says.
Second, Lewandowsky and his colleagues will look for similar language shifts for individual lawmakers in both Congress speeches and social media posts. They also seek to compare similar trends among other parliaments throughout history, including speeches from lawmakers from Italy and Germany.
Portuguese paleontologists have discovered several specimens of the large Ankiroprolexian Iguanodon (late Jurassic epoch) that lived 150 million years ago.
A massive reconstruction of the Iguanodon dinosaur of Ankiropolo Lexia interacting with a late Jurassic boy in the late European period. Image credit: Vitor Carvalho.
New dinosaur fossils have been found in various regions of the Lusitania Basin in western Portugal.
One of the specimens labeled shn.jjs.015 is Ankiroporo Lexia, a mysterious group of herbivores Iguanodontian dinosaur. It lived from the Late Jurassic to the Late Cretaceous period in North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
“That was a surprise,” said Dr. Filippo Maria Rotetri, a Geobiotech paleontologist, at the University of Nova de Lisboa and the Museum’s Da Rourinha.
“We believed that the diversity of this dinosaur group was already well documented in the late Jurassic of Portugal, but this discovery shows that there is still much to learn and that exciting discoveries could continue to emerge in the near future.”
“Unfortunately, due to the limited amount of recovered materials, it is not yet possible to assign a formal scientific name to this species.”
“It was heavyweight,” added Dissancia, professor Fernando Escaso, a paleontologist at Exaicon University.
“When we estimated its size and weight, we found that this new dinosaur is much bulkier than other Iguanodon species. Draconyx or eousdryosaurus, it is likely that they share ecosystems.”
Paleontologists also excavated a series of small, isolated bones in the same Lucitane basin.
These fossils may represent the same species of Ankiroprolexia Iguanodon dinosaur, just like shn.jjs.015.
“The explanation of shn.jjs.015 adds new members of Ankiroporolexia to the inadequately known Jurassic Iguanodonn fauna of Iberian land, and at least at the bottom of the Titonian (149-143 million years ago), three medium-sized European countries (143 million years ago), from Europe, three medium-sized ankiropound Europe. The researchers said.
Furthermore, it supports the interpretation of Iguanodon diversification early discovered by Europe in the late Jurassic, and demonstrates the fundamental role of Iberian land in achieving a better understanding of biogeographic patterns. ”
Survey results It will be displayed in Journal of Systematic Palaeontology.
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Filippo Maria Rotatori et al. 2025. Evidence of a large Ankiropolar Lexian dinosaur (Ornithischia: Iguanodontia) in the Upper Jurassic of Portugal. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 23(1): 2470789; doi: 10.1080/14772019.2025.2470789
Over the past five years, a significant portion (almost a third) of maternal deaths in the United States were reported within six weeks after birth, according to a study published on Jama Network Open. This study was one of the first to track maternal health complications during pregnancy and the postpartum years.
Pregnancy-related mortality rates in the US increased by almost 28% between 2018 and 2022, but researchers noted a slight decline since 2021, which was at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Rose L. Morina, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors of the study, emphasized the importance of maintaining focus on maternal health due to these findings.
Women need access to high-quality care from conception through the first year after giving birth, according to Dr. Rose L. Morina. The study, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Reproductive Health Department, highlighted the risk of maternal deaths occurring within six weeks to one year postpartum.
The study also revealed significant disparities in maternal mortality rates among different racial and ethnic groups, with Native American and Alaska Native women having higher mortality rates compared to white women.
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends that all women receive postnatal care within the first three weeks after giving birth and continue to receive ongoing care as needed.
Dr. Tamika Auguste, chair of Women and Infant Services at Medstar Washington Hospital Center, stressed the importance of timely postnatal care, especially for women with hypertension.
Mortality rates related to pregnancy have more than tripled across different states, with the southeastern states having higher mortality rates compared to states like California and Minnesota.
Cardiovascular disease was identified as the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths, particularly among women aged 25-39, highlighting the importance of monitoring and managing cardiovascular health during and after pregnancy.
The Trump administration has slashed funding and staff for a program overseeing the primary federal report on the impacts of global warming on the country, leading to concerns among scientists about the future of assessments.
Congress mandates the National Climate Assessment every four years, examining the effects of rising temperatures on various sectors of the US economy. The most recent report was published in 2023 and is being utilized by state and city governments and private companies to prepare for climate change.
The Global Change Research Program, established by Congress in 1990 and supported by NASA, coordinates efforts among 14 federal agencies, the Smithsonian agency, and external scientists to produce these reports.
NASA recently issued stopwork orders for consulting firms ICF International, which provided crucial technical support and staff for the Global Change Research Program. The cancellation of this support has raised uncertainty about the future of the assessment.
Scientists are unsure how the assessment can proceed without ICF’s support, as they have played a significant role in previous assessments.
In response, NASA is working to rationalize contracts and improve efficiency in supporting Congress-mandated programs. The cancellation of the ICF contract was first reported by Politico.
The next national climate assessment, scheduled for 2027 or 2028, may face challenges following these developments, with many climate scientists already expressing concerns about its future.
During Trump’s first term, the administration attempted to undermine the nation’s climate assessment, releasing the 2018 report on the day after Thanksgiving to minimize its impact.
Climate assessments involve scientists nationwide who volunteer to write reports, which then undergo reviews by federal agencies. The delay in the review process for the upcoming assessment has raised concerns among scientists.
Federal involvement in the assessment adds significant value, according to experts, as it ensures a comprehensive review by all federal agencies and the public.
The National Climate Assessment is crucial for understanding how climate change impacts everyday life in the United States, bringing the global issue closer to home.
Climate scientists emphasize the importance of the assessment in highlighting the effects of climate change on various aspects of daily life.
During a rare sit-in interview with CBS News, National Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recommended getting a measles vaccine and stated that he was “unfamiliar” with reducing state and local public health programs.
The conversation took place after a visit to West Texas, where he attended the funeral of an eight-year-old girl who succumbed to measles. An intense outbreak in the area has resulted in over 500 illnesses and the deaths of two young children.
In a clip from the interview released on Wednesday, Kennedy emphasized the importance of the measles vaccine. He stated, “People should receive the measles vaccine, but the government shouldn’t mandate it.”
However, he also expressed concerns about the safety of the vaccine, as he has done previously.
Kennedy has been heavily criticized for his handling of the West Texas outbreak by health professionals who believe that lack of full support for vaccinations is hindering efforts to control the virus.
Additionally, he has promoted unproven treatments for measles like cod liver oil. Physicians in Texas have linked its use to signs of liver toxicity in some children admitted to local hospitals.
Throughout the outbreak, Kennedy has often combined his support for vaccines with discussions about safety concerns and an alternative “miraculous” treatment.
Recently, he took to social media to declare that measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines are the “most effective way” to prevent the spread of measles. This statement has relieved infectious disease experts but angered vaccine opponents.
That evening, he posted again, this time praising “two extraordinary healers” who claim to have successfully treated around 300 children with measles using antibiotics.
Scientists argue that there is no cure for measles and promoting alternative treatments undermines the importance of vaccination.
In a CBS interview, Kennedy was questioned about the recent suspension of over $12 billion in federal grants to state programs addressing infectious diseases, mental health, and childhood vaccinations.
(The cuts were temporarily blocked after a lawsuit was filed by a state coalition against the Trump administration.)
Kennedy claimed to be unaware of the suspension and suggested it was primarily aimed at cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs targeted by the administration.
Dr. Jonathan Lapook, a medical correspondent for CBS, inquired about specific research cuts at universities, including a $750,000 grant for diabetes research in adolescents at the University of Michigan.
Kennedy responded, “I was not aware of that, and that’s what we’re seeing. There were many research projects that caught our attention and did not deserve to be cut, and we are reinstating them.”
The sun smashed through the sandstone arches of window rocks in northeastern Arizona, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of Blue Jeans finally became his element: Hiking.
It was his final day of his multi-state Make American Healthy Tour. It is designed to highlight various aspects of Kennedy’s plan to combat chronic illness, including healthy school lunches and clinics, which take a holistic approach to patient care.
Currently, the Health Secretary is on a walk with the Navajo president, representatives of the National Council and representative director of Indian Health Services, discussing the challenges of providing quality health care to tribal groups. Here, weaving in the desert brush, Mr. Kennedy seemed to be striking his journey.
Kennedy had left Washington on questions about the handling of measles outbreaks in western Texas and the firing of thousands of Department of Health and Human Services employees. On his way out west, he had to stop by Texas on Sunday to attend the funeral of an 8-year-old who had not been vaccinated.
And at the start of the tour the following day, Kennedy looked stoic as he was led by Salt Lake City Health Center, focusing on nutritious diets. He declined a bag of fresh groceries, citing upcoming flights. In “Training Kitchen,” he dropped ice cubes, dribbled mango lassi, and stood faceless as the medical students reached to activate the secretary’s food processor without a lid. (The administrator stopped her just in time.)
“That would have been a bad thing,” the student said. I glanced at the secretary’s white shirt and pressed my suit. Finally, Kennedy broke a smile.
By Tuesday, Kennedy had loosened, wearing a stegosaurus tie at a health center near Phoenix and shaking hands with a Navajo toddler. The Health Secretary thrusts his head into the food distribution centre’s refrigerator, looks up the food label and nods “very impressive.”
There was one minor fake PA at a tribal conference of 1,300 people who tried to show off their knowledge of dress for Wampanoag, who lives in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyards in Massachusetts. (“My home tribe,” he said.) When he spoke from the glittering casino stage, he pointed out the tribe’s chairman’s traditional Shellbead earrings and necklaces, and announced, “If you want to know what Wampum originally looked like, she’s a museum piece!” (She was breathless.)
At a press conference on the school lunch assembly at the Arizona State Capitol, Kennedy was adjacent to dozens of school children. There was a loud applause, “I’m off to Bobby!” a chant from behind. By then he was shining.
On the hiking trail Wednesday morning, Kennedy got a glimpse of the persona he once exhibited on the presidential trail. From heroin addiction By throwing yourself into a new extreme.
He first scrambled towards the top of the window rock formation, a balanced silhouette of 1,000 feet of the valley floor.
When it comes to his own battle with chronic illness, Kennedy relies on natural diet, intermittent fasting, and morning routines such as 12-step meetings, gym time, and meditation. However, since arriving in Washington, he had to give up his favorite daily ritual. It’s a 3-mile hike with your dog.
On the trek, authorities discussed initiatives like the Navajo long-standing 2% tax on junk food, which was adopted as part of a law passed in 2014. They also spoke about the Navajo Agricultural Industry, a tribal program that sells corn, beans and other products under the “Navajo Pride” brand to support the community.
To close the tour in the southwest, Kennedy visited the Hózhó Academy in Gallup, New Mexico, a K-12 school that hosts family-friendly gardening and cooking events and uses the curriculum to help students plan their own health goals.
Epidemiologists say there are factors that promote the rate of promotion of chronic disease, such as genetics, altered gut microbiota, and the fact that Americans generally live longer and therefore face new conditions with age.
Kennedy says there is a tendency to deemphasize these factors, and these experts say they have instead focused on childhood vaccine schedules, psychiatric medications and other variables. But here on the tour, Kennedy maintained most of his personal health attention as an important way to deal with the crisis.
The enthusiasm of the secretary taking on a large food company seems to match more with the traditional political left than the right. As he called it, the fight against artificial food dyes called “poison” is an echo of existing California law, and his school visits are reminiscent of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! A campaign to take on obesity in children.
For some, Kennedy’s advocacy of healthy food laws comes at a paradoxical moment. This is because last week the Food and Drug Administration’s extensive layoffs included lab scientists who tested contaminant foods. The administration also eliminated major food safety commissions and cut funding for state-based food inspectors.
And Kennedy promoted chronic disease prevention, which eliminated important efforts like the 29-year-old research initiative, the Diabetes Prevention Program. On his descent from the hike, a representative from the Navajo Council of States, struggling to get his diabetes medication, intercepted the secretary, unzipped his jacket and revealed the t-shirt with handwritten phrases. (IHS stands for Federal India Health Services.)
“A subtle message,” she said.
Kennedy promised her that he would talk to his team and see what he could do. She tied her arms to Kennedy, who was worried about maintaining Kennedy’s balance, and put it all the way down.
Lightweight based computer chip made by Pace, LightElligence
Light Ergens
Computers that use light rather than data to represent and manipulate data can reduce data center power requirements and at the same time speed up calculations. Two studies published today describe breakthroughs in performing real problems on light-based computers, creating techniques that are on the verge of commercial applications, the researchers say.
Electronic computers have historically followed Moore’s law, as we all use today. The power of the machine doubled every two years. However, in recent years, progress has slowed down as transistor miniaturization reaches its fundamental physical limits.
Researchers are working on many potential solutions, including quantum and photonic computing. However, Quantum Computing still struggles to achieve true utility, but Photonic Computing has reached the point where chip designs like those set in two new research are performing authentic calculations. In addition, these photonic chips can be manufactured using the same factory that manufactures silicon chips for electronic computers.
Photonic computers offer greater potential benefits than electronic computers. One is that photons travel faster than electrons do in the circuit, allowing for faster calculations and less pauses between each step of the calculation. Second, photons move without resistance and are rarely absorbed by the material on which the chip is made, allowing the same job to be performed using less energy than an electric computer that requires energy-intensive cooling.
In its research, Lightelligence, a Singapore-based company, shows that a device called a Photonic Arithmetic Computing Engine (PACE), which combines photonic and microelectronic chips, can successfully execute ISING problems that apply directly to the logistics industry and many other areas.
Meanwhile, US startup LightMatter claims that its own chip can run AI model BERT to create text in Shakespeare’s style. New Scientist Could not reach Lightmatter due to comments.
Bo Peng At LightElligence, the sector is increasingly busy with start-ups and technology is rapidly maturing. “We’re more or less pre-production,” says Peng. “It’s more like a real product than just a lab demonstration.”
Just as the world of quantum computers is trying to demonstrate the benefits of quantum, quantum machines are the point where classical computers can provide useful things. He won’t draw when this will happen, but says that this technology is closer to being ready for commercial applications – perhaps it works as a photonic chip that works with the electric chip, rather than completely replacing them to handle the specific tasks that it can provide boost.
Needless to say, hardware based on the research and Lightelligence PCI Express format. This is a standard motherboard add-on format for desktop computers that allow you to add graphics cards and other devices. Company devices can already be added to any commercial desktop, but require the appropriate software to communicate.
Robert Hadfield At the University of Glasgow in the UK, two studies show that “it’s a kind of boiling area.” “This is close to the point where the industry may consider photonic processors a viable alternative,” he says. “It’s really interesting to see how mature this architecture has become. These are photonic chips manufactured in one of the world’s leading foundries, so they can be expanded for mass production.”
Stephen SweeneyThe University of Glasgow also says that they have already seen optical data transmissions roll out around the world, with optical optical computing approaching too. “With Photonics, you can do things at a lower loss than electronics can,” says Sweeney. “And if you need to be able to do a huge amount of calculations, you need to start looking at it.”
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