News
- Health & Medicine
An unproven autism drug got a boost after a White House briefing
In fall of 2025, the Trump administration touted the drug leucovorin for autism therapy without new evidence. Dispensing of the drug to kids rose.
- Astronomy
A record-breaking star could reveal how the Milky Way’s giant black hole spins
The star passes very close to the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole and could reveal the black hole’s spin by tracking how it warps the star’s orbit.
- Health & Medicine
No refrigerator, no problem. This experimental vaccine doesn’t need it.
In early trials, a new vaccine that didn’t require refrigeration still protected against tetanus and diphtheria.
- Animals
Shrews’ noses grow in winter as their brains shrink
Long-clawed shrews’ snouts temporarily grow larger in the winter. This skull reshaping may be an extreme survival strategy in cold conditions.
- Animals
Snail slime does many jobs thanks to calcium
Snails have five distinct types of mucus, each with its own job. The mollusks tweak calcium secretions to get the chemical mixture just right.
- Health & Medicine
The COVID-19 vaccine may offer brain cancer patients a surprise benefit
A recent shot of the COVID-19 vaccine doubled survival time in glioblastoma patients who had undergone tumor biopsy or surgery.
- Health & Medicine
How a brutal drought may have helped unleash yellow fever in Brazil
Animals searching for water brought the forest to the city, perhaps sparking Brazil’s first yellow fever outbreak in decades.
- Health & Medicine
A light-based scan could detect deadly bowel disease in preterm babies
Necrotizing enterocolitis strikes premature babies with almost no warning. A new approach aims to detect it early with a quick, low-risk scan.
- Physics
The glue that binds a proton may be key to its identity
Gluons do more than hold protons together. They may also help define the proton’s identity through a quantum property called baryon number.
- Space
Stars’ plasma spurts may be blocked by magnetic fields
The sun frequently flings plasma into space, but sightings of such eruptions on other stars are rare. Magnetic fields could explain why.
- Paleontology
These mammal ancestors birthed live young far earlier than thought
Growth rings on a fossil bone suggest at least one mammal ancestor gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs 236 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Estrogen therapy is linked to fewer signs of Alzheimer’s in the brain
Estrogen-only menopause therapy in older women was linked to less Alzheimer’s brain pathology at autopsy but may not prevent the disease.
