Science

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Latest in Science

Venus’s pale yellow clouds may hide something surprisingly dark

A century-old mystery in Venus’s clouds just became more intriguing, as scientists calculated how strongly the unidentified material behind its dark ultraviolet patterns must absorb light. The results sharply narrow the possibilities and could help future spacecraft determine whether the mysterious substance is organic, inorganic, or something unexpected.

·3 min read

Scientists find water was fueling volcanoes 3 billion years ago

Ancient rocks from Western Australia suggest water was reaching deep inside Earth more than three billion years ago, long before modern plate tectonics may have fully developed. Researchers propose that water-rich pieces of crust periodically sank into the mantle through a process they call “dripduction.” The buried water then helped produce magma and volcanic eruptions.

·3 min read

A hidden compound in healthy foods may worsen IBD

A natural compound found in foods such as spinach, almonds, and sweet potatoes may aggravate gut inflammation in people with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis because their intestines appear to handle it differently. Researchers say the finding could open the door to lower-oxalate diets or microbiome treatments tailored specifically to people with IBD.

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Ozempic and Wegovy may raise hair loss risk in some men

GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound may increase hair-loss risk by 7% in men who are already genetically susceptible to male-pattern baldness. The findings suggest thinning hair may not be caused only by rapid weight loss and could also reflect a biological link between GLP-1 activity and hair follicles.

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Scientists discover a hidden switch that shuts down inflammation

Scientists have uncovered a natural braking system that helps the immune system switch off inflammation and prevent harmful immune cells from building up. Boosting this pathway in people reduced inflammation-related immune changes and sped up pain relief, pointing toward potential new treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases.

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CERN finds gluons behaving strangely deep inside atomic nuclei

Physicists at CERN have found a new way to peer deep inside atomic nuclei and distinguish between two competing explanations for how gluons behave. Using the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, researchers measured particle production at unprecedented spatial resolution, revealing structures as small as about one-quarter the size of a proton. At the smallest scales, they saw a surprising drop in J/ψ production that conventional “nuclear shadowing” struggles to explain.

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Who really needs a heart calcium scan?

A 10-year study of more than 6,000 adults found that popular coronary calcium scans may add little to standard heart disease risk estimates for many people. But for patients with borderline or intermediate risk, the scans could make a meaningful difference by revealing who is actually more likely to develop heart disease.

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Tiny sound waves could help solve a major quantum computing problem

Researchers at Harvard have demonstrated a way to protect quantum information using microscopic sound waves. By continuously surrounding a diamond-based qubit with mechanical vibrations, they extended its coherence time by roughly threefold. The same phonons could eventually both transmit and protect quantum information, opening the door to compact sound-based quantum networks on chips.

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Scientists find Ozempic may slow aging itself

Semaglutide helped older healthy mice live longer while improving memory, muscle function, blood sugar control, and several biological signs of aging. Its effects went beyond those seen with calorie restriction, raising the possibility that GLP-1 drugs could tap into a separate biological pathway linked to longevity.

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Researchers find a Wordle strategy that wins 99% of the time

Researchers at Binghamton University have developed a mathematical strategy that can solve Wordle with a 99% success rate. Instead of simply guessing words packed with common letters or choosing the most likely answer, the method uses Shannon entropy, a measure from information theory, to identify guesses that reveal the most useful information. Each guess is designed to rapidly shrink the pool of possible answers, even when the guessed word itself seems unlikely to be correct.

·3 min read