Science bytes
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- For the first time ever, researchers have recorded rat hunting bats
- How baby whales drink milk underwater
- One of Africa’s last remaining “super tusker” elephants died at the age of 54 in January 2026 at Amboseli National Park, Kenya.
- Huge step forward’ for Huntington’s, the scientist behind the first gene therapy www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Scientists have found that soybean oil, the most common cooking oil in the U.S. and a staple in processed food, may act as a HIDDEN OBESITY TRIGGER in mice by rewiring how the body handles fat. Time to rethink what is in our food!! www.jlr.org/article/S002...
- Brazil just hosted #COP30 in the heart of the Amazon while approving new offshore oil drilling and weakening forest protections. A Science letter calls this out: “Brazil’s hypocrisy at COP30”. The message is clear, protect the Amazon or keep betting on oil. You cannot have both.
- Huge news! Yoshua Bengio the “Godfather of AI” just became the first scholar ever to hit 1 million citations on Google Scholar! His work in deep learning has shaped everything from ChatGPT to self-driving cars.
- James D. Watson, Nobel laureate and co-discoverer of DNA’s double helix, has died at 97. His scientific achievements are undeniable but his legacy is marred by repeated racist and sexist statements that perpetuated harmful stereotypes in science. A reminder that brilliance does not excuse bigotry.
- A new study by Wellcome Sanger & King’s College London shows that as men age, “selfish” mutations in sperm accumulate naturally, increasing the chance of passing on harmful genes linked to autism, developmental disorders & cancer.
- The world’s first known leucistic Iberian lynx, pure white and magnificent has been sighted in southern Spain.
- Tribute to Professor Jim Peacock We are saddened by the passing of Professor Jim Peacock, a visionary scientist and former Chief Scientist of Australia (2006–2008). His groundbreaking work on water-efficient cotton and his leadership in Australian science leave a lasting legacy.
- It’s official: the Slender-billed Curlew is extinct. Once a graceful migrant across continents, officially declared extinct by the IUCN. A haunting reminder that the extinction crisis isn’t distant-it’s happening now. credit:CMS
- Ever wondered why you can remember exactly where you were when you got shocking news but forget what you did yesterday? Scientists say emotional moments reach back in time to strengthen even the mundane memories around them and they’ve mapped out how the brain picks which memories to keep.
- After years of sniffing out tuberculosis in Africa, Caroline, an African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys ansorgei), officially retired in March. Her incredible nose helped detect thousands of TB cases missed by conventional methods and she did it much faster than lab technicians.
- The ultimate 'out-of-office' auto reply!
- Only one person in history has won both Physics & Chemistry Nobels. Her name was Marie Curie. Her discoveries of polonium and radium transformed science and medicine forever.
- NVIDIA reportedly spent over $900M to hire Indian-origin Enfabrica CEO Rochan Sankar & license his AI-chip tech linking 100K chips without slowdown. Big bet on talent and scalability.
- Jane Goodall, the renowned conservationist and pioneer of groundbreaking chimpanzee research, has died at the age of 91. Her discoveries revolutionised science. Her lifelong dedication to conservation and compassion leaves an enduring legacy of hope and inspiration.
- Perfectly Mummified Cheetahs Are The First Naturally Mummified Big Cats Ever Found. The oldest date back over 4,000 years. www.iflscience.com/perfectly-mu...
- Forget wrinkle cream. Scientists just tested stem cells that made old monkeys younger & healthier. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- 3 minutes to a healed bone? Chinese researchers say their new bone glue makes it possible! www.globaltimes.cn/page/202509/...
- Goodbye knee replacements? German scientists have created a gel that can regrow joint cartilage!
- Researchers have grown tiny human hearts in pig embryos for the first time and they started beating! The pig–human chimeras survived for 21 days, marking a milestone toward potentially generating human organs for transplant.
- Ants just broke the rules of life! Scientists found a queen that can clone males of ANOTHER species to raise her own workers. One mom, two species. Nature’s wildest plot twist yet! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Can genome engineering help save biodiversity? A new Nature Perspective explores how precision gene editing could restore lost genetic diversity and boost species resilience — while raising vital ethical questions. nature.com/articles/s44358-025-00065-6
- A collaborative team have published #BindCraft, an AI tool that designs powerful protein binders in one shot. Critical for faster drugs, smarter diagnostics, and biotech breakthroughs ahead. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Not to belabour this story, but the truth is Africa is bigger than most people realize.
- 99% luck, 1% skill!
- Just testing the waters… would you like us to start posting science jobs & fellowships here? Here’s one to start: @NuffieldCollege (Oxford) is offering 2 Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellowships in Sociology (£41.7k p.a., 3 yrs). Apply by 22 Sept 2025 www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/the-college/...
- African scholars and advocates are pushing to replace the 16th-century Mercator map, which distorts Africa’s true scale, with maps that show the continent’s vast size a step toward combating disinformation and decolonising the truth. Africa is bigger than the US, China, India and Europe combined.
- Want 1,000 more steps a day? Don’t buy a Fitbit. Move to a walkable city. A US-wide natural experiment shows people who moved to high-walkability areas added ~1,100 steps/day on average, regardless of age, gender, or BMI. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- It’s World Lizard Day! Shoutout to one of Australia’s desert legends The great desert skink (Liopholis kintorei).
- Imagine just spraying mRNA on plant leaves and having crops like wheat, corn & barley make new proteins, no gene editing needed! Scientists showed this works with simple mRNA, opening doors to GMO-free crop breakthroughs. More here biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- Results from an early-stage trial suggest mRNA HIV vaccine candidates triggered an immune response in 80% of participants #HIVVaccine #mRNA www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Big win for science: The US senate rejects 40% cuts to NIH funding and instead proposes $400M increase. A clear sign that Congresd is standing behind biomedical research www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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- Scientists have successfully used allele-specific CRISPR-Cas9 to remove the extra chromosome 21 in human trisomy 21 cells. This "trisomy rescue" reversed abnormal gene expression, even in non-dividing cells, offering new hope for future Down syndrome therapies pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39967679/
- White spotted lagoon jellyfish #SealifeMelbourne
- Grey crowned crane
- China has built a $50 million inflatable dome over a construction site not for show, but to outsmart the weather. The massive bubble keeps out snow, wind, and dust, allowing construction to continue uninterrupted year-round.
