Science

Science•Oct 8, 2026

Chemistry Nobel Honors Reactions That Choose One Molecular Hand

Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Chemistry Nobel for showing how reactions can favour and amplify one molecular mirror image. Their work reshaped asymmetric synthesis and drug-making, but the prize honours decades-old foundational discoveries rather than a newly released medicine.

Science•Oct 7, 2026

Antarctic Ice Became a Telescope for Nobel-Winning Neutrino Astronomy

Francis Halzen won the 2026 Physics Nobel for turning a cubic kilometre of Antarctic ice into the IceCube neutrino detector. The observatory established a cosmic high-energy neutrino population, while most individual events still lack a securely identified source.

Science•Oct 5, 2026

Skull Fractures Strengthen the Case for Sacrifice in Early Egypt

A forensic review found potentially lethal trauma in 18 of 46 skulls from subsidiary graves beside First Dynasty royal burials at Abydos. The result strengthens the case for retainer sacrifice, but the small, incomplete sample cannot establish how every person in the cemetery died.

Science•Sep 26, 2026

Laser-Driven Muons Produced an Object Image in a 42-Metre Test

A laser wakefield experiment used a directed, few-GeV muon beam to form an object image across a 42-metre test line, advancing active muography while remaining an unreviewed laboratory proof of concept.

Science•Sep 25, 2026

Bats May Have Taken Flight in Europe 65 Million Years Ago

A study combining 103 bat genomes with 44 fossils places the probable origin of bats in Europe about 65 million years ago. It also suggests powered flight and laryngeal echolocation arose before modern bat families diversified, although the earliest transitional fossils remain missing.

Science•Sep 20, 2026

CXMT Put 24-Gigabit Phone Memory Into Mass Production

CXMT says its fifth-generation DRAM platform and two 24-gigabit LPDDR5X products are now in mass production. The chips store 50% more data than their predecessors, but tested yield, shipments and independent benchmarks remain undisclosed.

Science•Sep 17, 2026

Human Brain Organoids Filled 92% of the Cortex in Engineered Mice

Human cortical organoids occupied 91.9% of measured cortical tissue in engineered mice and connected across the host nervous system. The model may expose human-specific development and injury responses, but the graft remained immature and did not create a human brain or demonstrate human-like cognition.

Science•Sep 13, 2026

Neurons Making Up 0.2% of the Cortex Helped Put Mice to Sleep

Rare Sst-Chodl neurons became active as mice entered deep sleep. Selectively activating the cells synchronized distant cortical regions and increased sleep, revealing an active cortical circuit without establishing the same function in humans or a treatment for sleep disorders.

Science•Sep 8, 2026

Silicon Nanospheres Gave 3D Objects Glossy Colour Without Pigment

A one-particle-thick coating wrapped curved objects in bright structural colour while optimized samples reflected more than 75% of visible light. The laboratory method adds controllable gloss and a protective layer, but scale, cost and long-term durability have not been demonstrated.

Science•Sep 5, 2026

A Deep-Brain Signal Told Human Stem Cells to Make More Neurons

Researchers found that early physical contact from thalamic nerve fibers pushed human cortical stem cells to produce more excitatory neurons in laboratory assembloids. The effect depended partly on the gene NRXN1, offering a new view of brain development without showing how the process behaves in a living fetus.

Science•Sep 2, 2026

One Unexplained Event Is LZ's Best Dark Matter Hint Yet

LUX-ZEPLIN found one high-energy nuclear recoil that does not fit its known background model and resembles an interaction predicted for certain heavy dark-matter particles. The 2.6-sigma result is intriguing, but it is one event in a preprint and falls far short of a discovery.

Science•Sep 1, 2026

A Tunnelling Transistor Switched Across Just 160 Millivolts

A bismuth and indium-selenide tunnelling transistor switched across a 160-millivolt gate range at room temperature while maintaining useful current. The Science result addresses a longstanding device trade-off, but no complete circuit, manufacturing yield, lifetime or chip-level energy saving has been demonstrated.

Science•Sep 1, 2026

An Eight-Qubit Quantum Computer Is Moving Into a Commercial Data Centre

Diraq and Equinix plan to install an eight-qubit silicon quantum computer in a Sydney commercial data centre in October. The trial will test remote operation and infrastructure integration, but the tiny processor cannot perform useful fault-tolerant computing and has not been installed yet.

Science•Aug 31, 2026

Coral Bleaching Now Returns Before Many Reefs Can Recover

The largest global coral assessment yet finds mass bleaching now returns every five to six years, leaving many reefs too little time to rebuild. Hard coral cover in 2020 to 2024 was about 9.5% below its historical reference average, although regional outcomes vary sharply.

Science•Aug 28, 2026

Coral Records Suggest El Niño Has Strengthened 36%

A 900-year Galápagos coral reconstruction suggests eastern Pacific El Niño variability is about 36% stronger than before industrial warming, including a 16% increase during the past 40 years. The evidence extends beyond short instrument records, although outside scientists dispute whether the corals isolate El Niño from background ocean warming.

Science•Aug 27, 2026

A Mile-Deep Dark Matter Experiment Has Started Taking Data

SuperCDMS SNOLAB has begun collecting its first scientific data from ultra-cold silicon and germanium detectors more than a mile underground in Canada. The early run may constrain light dark matter, but it is also a commissioning phase before the experiment’s optimized year-long search begins in 2027.

Science•Aug 22, 2026

Entangled Photons Crossed 21 Kilometers of Open Air

Researchers transmitted entangled photons through open air across 21 kilometres between Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory. The demonstration adds a wireless segment to an existing fibre quantum network, but it remains an experimental link tested mainly at night, not a complete quantum internet or deployed communications service.

Science•Aug 21, 2026

A Test of 119 People Found Mosquitoes Have Different Favorites

Researchers tested the scents of 119 people against three disease-carrying mosquito species. No participant ranked among the most attractive to all three, and each species responded to different odor and skin-bacteria patterns. The laboratory study measured attraction, not actual bites, and produced no new repellent.

Science•Aug 20, 2026

A Room-Temperature Device Sent a Message Through Paired Microwave Signals

MIT researchers built a room-temperature magnetic device that generates strongly correlated microwave signals and used the pair to recover an image sent through noisy channels. The experiment could simplify future sensing and communications hardware, but it operated in the classical regime and did not demonstrate entanglement or a deployable secure network.

Science•Aug 17, 2026

Scientists May Have Found Why Protons Never Fall Apart

New RHIC data suggest a proton's baryon number, the quantum property that keeps it from decaying, is carried mainly by a Y-shaped junction of gluons rather than by its three quarks alone. The find could reshape how physicists explain proton stability and the universe's matter surplus, though it needs independent confirmation.

Science•Aug 14, 2026

A Diamond-Melting Experiment Could Improve Fusion Capsules and Planet Models

Laser-driven shocks melted diamond near one trillion pascals while X-rays tracked its atomic structure. The measurements resolve a long dispute and may improve models of fusion capsules and ice-giant interiors, but the suggested threefold fusion gain remains a prediction, not an achieved result.

Science•Aug 12, 2026

A DNA Nanosyringe Opened a Synthetic Cell, Delivered Cargo, Then Let It Reseal

A programmable DNA structure crossed synthetic lipid membranes, moved selected molecular cargo and retracted so the membrane could reseal. The laboratory device also switched on three biochemical reactions, but it has not been tested in living cells, animals or people.

Science•Aug 11, 2026

Weather May Have a 129-Day Ultimate Limit, but Useful Forecasts Are Far Shorter

A new peer-reviewed calculation places the atmosphere's ultimate internal predictability limit at 129 ± 7 days. The estimate suggests room for better long-range guidance, but it assumes perfect observations and models and does not demonstrate detailed four-month forecasts.

Science•Aug 10, 2026

Nine of 26 Tested Devices Took Commands From Their SIM Cards

Researchers found that nine of 26 tested phones and cellular IoT modules accepted modem commands from a hostile SIM, enabling effects from lost connectivity to code execution. The attack requires control of a SIM or eSIM, and vendors have already patched or hardened several affected systems.