Link between regular exercise and the gut microbiome may change the way debilitating gut diseases are treated

Researchers found that regular physical activity supported “cross-talk” between active skeletal muscles and gut microbiota to boost immunity.

Worms form living towers in nature to hitch rides to new habitats

Nematodes are the most abundant animal on Earth, but when times get tough, these tiny worms have a hard time moving up and out.

Archaeologists uncover massive 1,000-year-old Native American fields in Northern Michigan that defy limits of farming

With its cold climate, short growing season, and dense forests, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is known as a challenging place for farming.

Insect Populations Collapse in Protected Nature Reserves

A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

It turns out you can train AI models without copyrighted material

It’s just a pain in the ass.

Wild cockatoos in Western Sydney learn how to drink from water fountains

Sulphur-crested cockatoos are a notoriously intelligent type of parrot.

The atmosphere’s growing thirst is making droughts worse, even where it rains

Hot air holds more moisture. It’s also what dumps rain in the tropics and sucks water from desert soils.

Universal law of quantum vortex dynamics discovered in superfluid helium

An international research collaboration has discovered a fundamental universal principle that governs how microscopic whirlpools interact, collide and transform within quantum fluids, which also has implications for understanding fluids that behave according to classical physics.

How physicists used antimatter, supercomputers and giant magnets to solve a 20-year-old mystery

For 20 years, one of the most promising signs of new physics has been a tiny inconsistency in the magnetism of a particle called the muon. The muon is a lot like an electron but is much heavier.

Unlocking the timecode of the Dead Sea Scrolls

While the general date of the Dead Sea Scrolls is from the third century BCE until the second century CE, individual manuscripts thus far could not be securely dated.

Discovery of giant planet orbiting tiny star challenges theories on planet formation

Star TOI-6894 is just like many in our galaxy, a small red dwarf, and only ~20% of the mass of our sun. Like many small stars, it is not expected to provide suitable conditions for the formation and hosting of a large planet.

First bacteria we ever meet can keep us out of hospital

Researchers have shown, for the first time, that good bacteria seem to halve the risk of young children being admitted to hospital with lung infections.

Scientists in Japan develop plastic that dissolves in seawater within hours

While scientists have long experimented with biodegradable plastics, researchers say their new material breaks down much more quickly and leaves no residual trace.

== yjc
How a new planetarium show helped scientists unlock a cosmic secret

No matter how striking and beautiful the visuals of the show, the museum was committed to making it scientifically accurate. That’s what created the perfect conditions to stumble upon something new.

Algae can clean sewage without electricity or chemicals

The team inserted tiny microalgae into the ponds at the Motetema Wastewater Treatment Works in Limpopo. The microalgae removed pathogens without using any chemicals or mechanical equipment that runs on electricity.

Decades-long experiment finds muon still behaving unexpectedly

The mysterious particles called muons are considered heavier cousins to electrons. They wobble like a top when inside a magnetic field, and scientists are studying that motion to see if it lines up with the foundational rulebook of physics called the Standard Model.

New mRNA vaccine is more effective and less costly to develop, study finds

Though highly effective at inducing an immune response, current mRNA vaccines, such as those used to prevent COVID-19, present two significant challenges: the high amount of mRNA needed to produce them and the constantly evolving nature of the pathogen.

Greenland’s mega tsunamis: First direct observation of the trapped waves that shook the world

In September 2023, a bizarre global seismic signal was observed which appeared every 90 seconds over nine days—and was then repeated a month later.

== yjc
FBI Artifacts

Take a truly bonkers trip down memory lane, courtesy of these FBI artifacts.

== paywall?
AI will supercharge hackers

The easy access that scammers have to sophisticated AI tools means everything from emails to video calls can’t be trusted.

How Morgan Stanley Tackled One of Coding’s Toughest Problems

Morgan Stanley Says Its AI Tool Processed 9 Million Lines of Legacy Code This Year And Saved 280,000 Developer Hours

James Webb Space Telescope Discovers the Earliest Galaxy Ever Seen

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) excels at a lot of things, but there are two things it does better than any other scientific instrument in human history: spotting early galaxies and breaking its own records!

== yjc
Polish engineer creates postage stamp-sized 1980s Atari computer

Hobby project shrinks 1980s computer platform that pierced the Iron Curtain.

Prime numbers have fascinated mathematicians for centuries

A shard of smooth bone etched with irregular marks dating back 20,000 years puzzled archaeologists until they noticed something unique—the etchings, lines like tally marks, may have represented prime numbers.

Scientists identify immune molecule STING as key driver of Alzheimer’s brain damage

The causes of Alzheimer’s remain murky, but scientists are increasingly coming to appreciate the role of the immune system in the disease’s development.

Sugar-based sensors offer rapid, low-cost detection of snake venom

Every five minutes, 50 people are bitten by a snake worldwide; four will be permanently disabled and one will die.

California plan to ban plants within 5 feet of homes safety overlooks some important truths about flammability

One of the most striking patterns in the aftermath of many urban fires is how much unburned green vegetation remains amid the wreckage of burned neighborhoods.

Blind box toys are booming: Are they just child’s play or something more concerning?

The uncertainty is part of the thrill.

Your smartphone is a parasite, according to evolution

Evolutionary biologists define a parasite as a species that benefits from a close relationship with another species—its host—while the host bears a cost.

Have astronomers identified the lost star of 1408?

Chinese astronomers maintained meticulous records of celestial events for more than 2 millennia, documenting everything from “guest stars” to comets, eclipses, and planetary conjunctions with remarkable precision and consistency.

Geological time capsule highlights Great Barrier Reef’s resilience

The findings suggest the reef can withstand rising sea levels in isolation but is vulnerable to associated environmental stressors arising from global climate change.

Redefining physics to roll a ball vertically

Researchers from the University of Waterloo have achieved a feat previously thought to be impossible—getting a sphere to roll down a totally vertical surface without applying any external force.

Information entropy untangles vortices and flows in turbulent plasmas

Turbulence in nature refers to the complex, time-dependent, and spatially varying fluctuations that develop in fluids such as water, air, and plasma. It is a universal phenomenon that appears across a vast range of scales and systems,

New laser smaller than a penny can measure objects at ultrafast rates

Researchers engineered a laser device smaller than a penny that they say could power everything from the LiDAR systems used in self-driving vehicles to gravitational wave detection

== more on blood tests to identify the presence of cancer, been a couple of these of late (repeat?)
Blood test detects multiple cancer types through cell-free DNA

Researchers have validated a blood test that can detect a broad range of cancers with high accuracy using cell-free DNA.

Ancient DNA unravels ancestral secrets of classic Maya period

Beneath the surface of present-day western Honduras lie the ruins of Copán—an archaeological site that once stood as a vital city in the classic Maya world, situated at the crossroads between Central and South America.

== interesting to me, don’t know about anyone else
Solar architecture choreographs light and shadow across an ancient Macedonian tomb

A new type of X-point radiator that prevents tokamaks from overheating

One of the most reliable and promising fusion reactor designs is the so-called tokamak.

The wild hunt for clean energy minerals

?Can we invent our way out of a critical mineral shortage?

AI pioneer announces non-profit to develop ‘honest’ artificial intelligence

Yoshua Bengio’s organisation plans to create system to act as guardrail against AI agents trying to deceive humans.

Wild-Animal Markets Pose Rising Pandemic Threat

Live-animal markets are a natural laboratory for viruses to evolve and spark deadly outbreaks, yet scientists lack support to study the risks they pose.

The Milky Way Might Not Crash Into the Andromeda Galaxy After All

There is just as much of a chance of collision as there is of the galaxies sailing right past each other, like ships in the eternal cosmic night.

Huge Sahara dust cloud smothers the Caribbean en route to the U.S.

Plume expected to hit Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi late this week and into weekend.

The ancient Persian way to keep cool

From ancient Egypt to the Persian Empire, an ingenious method of catching the breeze kept people cool for millennia. In the search for emissions-free cooling, the “wind catcher” could once again come to our aid.

== rather difficult for me to fathom
Going To an Office and Pretending To Work: A Business That’s Booming in China

Many citizens who don’t want to explain their employment status pay to rent a position in a fake office, with some even assigning fictitious tasks and organizing supervisory rounds.

AI’s Adoption and Growth Truly is ‘Unprecedented’

Venture capitalist Mary Meeker just dropped a 340-page slideshow report — which used the word “unprecedented” on 51 of those pages — to describe the speed at which AI is being developed, adopted, spent on, and used, backed up with chart after chart.

== yjc, have had a few articles on this of late, but figured another one wouldn’t hurt
== though a fair bit of repetition
The Nobel Prize Winner Who Thinks We Have the Universe All Wrong

Riess’s genius lies in making precise observations, but the task of explaining the accelerating expansion that he discovered fell to theorists.

== yjc, in case anyone interested
Ukraine’s audacious drone attack sends critical message to Russia - and the West

It’s hard to exaggerate the sheer audacity - or ingenuity - that went into Ukraine’s countrywide assault on Russia’s air force.

Does Anthropic’s Success Prove Businesses are Ready to Adopt AI?

Growth shows rising business demand for AI. Code generation is a major driver for Anthropic’s business.

When LLMs In a Long-Running Vending Business Simulation Went Berserk

A pair of researchers investigating the ability of LLMs to coherently operate a simulated vending machine business have recorded hilariously unhinged behavior in many of the current “advanced” LLMs.

== I don’t believe how bad business and government document/information/web security really is.
Russian Nuclear Site Blueprints Exposed In Public Procurement Database

Russia is modernizing its nuclear weapon sites, including underground missile silos and support infrastructure. Data, including building plans, diagrams, equipment, and other schematics, is accessible to anyone in the public procurement database.

Judge Rejects Claim AI Chatbots Protected By First Amendment in Teen Suicide Lawsuit

The court is not prepared to hold that Character.AI’s output is speech.

Origami structures unfold into seamless surfaces for deployable applications

Conventional thick-panel origami designs suffer from a critical flaw.

Simulation tracks complete journey of gravitational wave through black hole spacetime

== yjc
‘28 Years Later’ used 20 iPhones in tandem for some wild shots

The filmmakers used three iPhone rigs for the film, one of which can be fitted with 20 cameras.

== yjc
How much does your gut health impact your overall health?

Bringing back healthy bacteria benefits the body - but there can be hitches.

New treatments could turn advanced prostate cancer into a chronic disease instead of a death sentence

Aggressive form of the disease, which former U.S. president Joe Biden has, is much more rare, specialists say.

Breakthrough cancer drug doubles survival in trial

Cancers in the head and neck are notoriously difficult to treat and there’s been little change in the way patients are treated in two decades.

== wounldn’t call the article “impartial reporting”, but…
German Court Confirms Civil Liability for Corporate Climate Harms

A landmark ruling advancing efforts to hold major polluters accountable for transnational climate-related harms.