Science

GP surgery websites go dark as tech firm Silicon Practice enters administration

Hundreds of NHS GP practice websites in England and Wales have become unavailable after Silicon Practice, the tech company that ran their digital services, entered administration. The firm's parent company, Schappit Ltd, filed a notice of administration earlier this month following financial difficulties.

29 Oct·2 min·2 sources

Magnetic muscle tracking could improve prosthetic limb control, MIT study suggests

MIT researchers report that pairs of tiny magnets implanted in muscles can offer more accurate and stable control signals than standard electrode-based measurements. In a study published today in Nature Sensors, three people with below-knee amputations used the technique, known as magnetomicrometry, to move a cursor on a screen.

Colon cancer tumors differ in younger patients, study finds

A new study published in Nature Medicine found that colon cancer tumors in younger patients have distinct cellular characteristics; its co-senior author said younger patients generally have more aggressive disease and are more resistant to standard therapies, mostly chemotherapy.

29 Oct·2 min

DNA tests to help identify dogs in livestock attacks

Police in Wales will use DNA testing to help identify dogs that have attacked livestock, following a change in the law in March that gives officers the power to take DNA samples. Owners can receive an unlimited fine if their pets have been involved in attacks. Farmers have also been given testing kits as part of a research project to improve evidence gathering.

29 Oct·2 min·3 sources

Belfast needle exchange to close on 2 November as street service replaces city centre site

The Extern-run needle exchange on Royal Avenue in Belfast city centre will close on 2 November, with a “significantly reduced street-based service” replacing it. The service allows people who inject heroin or cocaine to safely dispose of used needles, receive clean needles and access health services; it also provided a wound-dressing service. Extern described it as a “life-saving service” and warned its closure meant vulnerable people would have nowhere to go to access support.

29 Oct·3 min·2 sources

RAF Upper Heyford contamination worst in UK, report says

Chemical contamination at the former RAF Upper Heyford, a site earmarked for 9,000 homes, is the worst found in the UK, a report has said, with testing recording “unacceptable” levels of PFAS “forever chemicals”.

Australia to review water fluoridation guidelines amid debate over prenatal fluoride and IQ

Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) will review the nation’s water fluoridation guidelines, as new studies linking prenatal fluoride exposure to lower intelligence in children reignite debate, its acting chief executive told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

29 Oct·3 min·3 sources

Magma can store far more oxygen than scientists thought, study finds

Scientists have found that molten rock deep inside Earth can absorb far more oxygen than previously believed, a discovery that challenges a long-standing assumption about magma and raises the possibility that oxygen from the planet's interior helped transform its atmosphere billions of years ago.

Stanbacks’ $27.5 million in gifts expands aerospace research at Caltech and JPL

Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which Caltech manages for NASA, will expand aerospace research, hands-on training and innovation with $27.5 million in gifts from philanthropists Foster and Coco Stanback.

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman named JPL deputy director

Reid Wiseman, commander of the Artemis II lunar flyby mission and a former NASA chief astronaut, has been appointed associate vice president at Caltech and deputy director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He begins his new role on Nov. 30, 2026.

29 Oct·3 min·2 sources

Scottish alcohol deaths fall overall but rise among women, figures show

The number of women who died in Scotland last year from alcohol-related illnesses rose by 3% on the year before, according to official figures, even as the overall number of alcohol-specific deaths fell to its lowest rate since the pandemic. In total, 1,152 alcohol-specific deaths were registered in Scotland, a decrease of 3% compared with 2024.

29 Oct·4 min·2 sources

Oregon's days with extreme heat and smoke quadruple over two decades, study says

Oregon is experiencing four times as many days with both extreme heat and wildfire smoke as it did two decades ago, according to a study released by the Oregon Health Authority, with the state recording nine heat-related deaths in 2025 alone.

Study suggests 300,000 could be in path of potential Himalayan disasters as Nepal plans riverbank ban

At least 300,000 people in parts of the Himalayan region could be living in the path of potential disasters, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. The research found that built-up land in high-risk zones in northern Nepal, parts of south-eastern Tibet and a corner of India's Uttarakhand grew about 45% between 2016 and 2023, and almost 78% in areas particularly threatened by glacial lake floods. The study was carried out before August's devastating floods, which left more than 1,400 dead and thousands missing in Nepal. More recently, flooding along the Budhi Gandaki river on 11 October damaged 200 houses and swept away five bridges. Settlements within 15 metres of the riverbank along the Rasuwa-Bhotekoshi corridor will soon be banned, according to Nepal's national disaster agency, while Uttarakhand's government approved new floodplain zoning rules on 12 October.

29 Oct·4 min·4 sources

ULA targets Vulcan return to flight for November 13 after SRB anomaly

United Launch Alliance announced Wednesday it plans to return its Vulcan rocket to flight on November 13, nine months after a solid rocket booster anomaly led to a stand-down, with a mission to carry 40 satellites for Amazon's Leo broadband constellation from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The launch date is pending range approval.

29 Oct·2 min·4 sources

Archaeology & Origins

3,300-Year-Old Bronze sword found in Italian lake still sharp

Archaeologists have recovered a well-preserved bronze sword from Lake Mezzano, a volcanic lake northwest of Rome, that has maintained its sharp edge after 3,300 years. Dating to the Late Bronze Age (14th–13th centuries BC), the sword is the third such find in the lake over the past 50 years.

Researchers create ultrasonic 'tube' that guides liquids and gases through the air

Scientists at the University of Helsinki, in collaboration with the Public University of Navarre and the University of Michigan, have demonstrated a prototype ultrasonic tube that can confine and guide liquids, gases, powders and even electrical discharges through the air using nothing but sound waves. The device, described as the closest thing to magic by the project leader, could eventually enable contactless handling of corrosive or sticky materials that damage conventional pipes.

Nearly three-quarters of NFL players in CTE study had brain disease, researchers find

A Boston University study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open estimates that nearly three-quarters of NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head.

28 Oct·3 min·2 sources

MIT study identifies key pathway by which Alzheimer's risk gene APOE4 disrupts neuron insulation

A new study from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT has uncovered one of the main mechanisms by which the APOE4 gene variant, the biggest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease, impairs brain circuit function. The research, published Oct. 15 in Cell Stem Cell, shows that APOE4 suppresses Wnt signaling in oligodendrocytes, the cells that insulate neurons with a fatty sheath called myelin. This disrupts myelination and causes lipid droplets to accumulate in the cells. By restoring Wnt signaling, the team was able to reverse the damage in both human cell cultures and in mice.

MIT-led study maps how a mouse embryo builds itself, cell by cell

Researchers in the lab of MIT professor Jonathan Weissman have followed the family history of more than a million cells as a mouse embryo developed, producing one of the most detailed views yet of how a mammal is built, cell by cell. The open-access study, published Oct. 8 in the journal Cell, offers a timeline of how a single fertilized egg gives rise to the many cell types that form an animal's tissues and organs.

28 Oct·4 min

Artemis III SLS core stage integrated with boosters at Kennedy Space Center

NASA has completed integration of the Space Launch System core stage with the twin solid rocket boosters for the Artemis III mission, moving the rocket one step closer to launch. The 212-foot core stage was lifted into place inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center on October 28.

NASA selects 19 citizen science proposals, from rogue planets to lunar iron

NASA has selected 19 new citizen science proposals that will put volunteers to work on tasks ranging from hunting free-floating planets to listening to plasma waves and mapping iron on the Moon. Twelve of the projects were chosen through the agency's Citizen Science Seed Funding Program, which supports scientists who want to build volunteer participation into their investigations.

28 Oct·4 min

Comet seeding of life on Earth may be a one-off fluke, simulations suggest

A long-standing hypothesis for the origin of life on Earth has been challenged by a new study finding that successful cometary delivery of prebiotic chemicals was highly unlikely.

28 Oct·2 min·2 sources

Eaton Fire smoke exposed 7 million residents to lead 80 times above normal, study finds

A study published in Science Advances finds that smoke from the Eaton Fire, which tore through Altadena on 7 January 2025, carried airborne lead roughly 80 times above normal atmospheric levels, exposing about 7 million Los Angeles residents to concentrations above 50 nanograms per cubic meter on 9 January. Led by atmospheric chemists Haroula Baliaka and Nga Ng at the California Institute of Technology, the research attributes the toxic load to the urban fuel burned: homes, vehicles and infrastructure rather than vegetation.

Coroner links actor’s death to unapproved peptides

A Victorian coroner has recommended the Therapeutic Goods Administration review the benefits and safety risks of unapproved peptides after actor Richard Norton’s death.

WA whale migration at lowest in decades as carcasses wash up on Perth beaches

The number of whales migrating along Western Australia's coastline is at its lowest in decades, with researchers linking the decline to warming seas, shrinking krill numbers and a rise in whale carcasses washing up on Perth beaches over the past month, prompting shark warnings from authorities.

28 Oct·3 min·3 sources

Bush Heritage seeks to buy Queensland cattle station to anchor 429,000-hectare conservation corridor

Bush Heritage Australia is seeking to buy Wooroora, a 20,000-hectare cattle station on the edge of Far North Queensland's World Heritage-listed wet tropics, in a $24.7 million acquisition that would anchor a 429,000-hectare conservation corridor. The group is trying to raise $5.3 million to secure the property.

MIT engineers design snake-inspired soft robot to diagnose and treat small intestine disorders

Engineers at MIT have created a soft robotic enteroscope that can inch through the narrow, hard-to-reach small intestine, enabling imaging, drug delivery, and biopsies of polyps or tissue samples. The device, described in a study published in Science Robotics, takes inspiration from snake locomotion and the textured scales that help snakes grip slippery surfaces.

Rubin Observatory's first dwarf planet candidate traced across a decade of images

Astronomers have announced the first dwarf planet candidate discovered by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, an icy world designated 2026 ED138 that orbits the Sun at about 46 astronomical units, just beyond Pluto. The object was pieced together from 30 detections captured by the observatory's Simonyi Survey Telescope over 20 nights between March and July this year, combined with archival images from the Dark Energy Camera dating back to 2016, giving researchers roughly a decade of data to reconstruct its orbit.

Webb telescope captures turbulent star nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The James Webb Space Telescope has released a new image of N159, a turbulent star-forming region 161,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way.

28 Oct·1 min

Hidden 100-million-year-old volcanic system discovered in northwestern Iran

Scientists have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown volcanic system that formed roughly 100 million years ago in what is now northwestern Iran, a discovery that reveals a missing chapter in the region's geological history and offers new clues about the tectonic forces that shaped ancient oceans and continents.

KAIST team says semiconductor technique extends life of anode-free EV batteries

Scientists in South Korea say they have found a way to extend the life of anode-free electric vehicle batteries, one of the biggest barriers to their commercial use. By adapting precision manufacturing techniques from the semiconductor industry, the KAIST-led team says lithium can be made to accumulate more evenly during charging, potentially leading to smaller, lighter EV batteries with longer driving range.

Aging muscles sacrifice strength for protection, study finds

Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that age-related muscle weakness is partly driven by a hidden defence mechanism, where muscles trade strength for cellular protection. The study identifies a molecule called cardiolipin whose decline triggers this trade-off, and shows that partially restoring it in mice reverses muscle wasting and prevents premature death.

Fire salamanders glow green and cyan under ultraviolet light, scientists find

Fire salamanders, among Europe's most recognizable amphibians, possess an unexpected ability to fluoresce under ultraviolet light, glowing in vivid green and cyan, new research has found. The glow is most pronounced on the yellow underside and along the sides, and comes from glands in the skin whose secretions can remain fluorescent for more than 24 hours after leaving the animal's body.

Artemis I radiation data reveals surprising cosmic ray levels near the Moon

Radiation levels near the Moon are higher than in low Earth orbit but not as dramatically as previously assumed, according to preliminary measurements from NASA's Artemis I mission, published by Polish researchers in the journal Radiation Measurements.

New model doubles projected sea level rise from Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier

A new computer model from researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory predicts that Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier could raise global sea levels by as much as 30 millimeters by 2100, double earlier projections, even without additional warming of the climate. The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest previous models underestimated the glacier's retreat because they treated the boundary between grounded and floating ice too narrowly.

Hospital overcrowding hits highest level this year with 824 patients waiting, INMO says

Hospital overcrowding in Ireland has reached its highest level recorded this year, with 824 patients waiting for a bed on Tuesday, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO). The Health Service Executive (HSE) reported a lower figure of 599 patients waiting.

28 Oct·1 min

Antarctic sea-ice decline has turned deep ocean shielding layer saltier, study finds

A layer of water that shields the deep ocean from surface heat has been turning saltier, denser and sitting deeper since Antarctic sea ice began its sharp decline in 2016, according to research published Wednesday. The reversal of a decades-long freshening trend could allow more heat to reach deeper waters, with consequences for the world's climate that scientists say are unknown.

28 Oct·3 min·3 sources

Eli Lilly's retatrutide doubles weight loss versus Ozempic in first head-to-head trial

Eli Lilly says patients taking its experimental obesity drug retatrutide lost roughly twice as much weight as those on Novo Nordisk's Ozempic in the first head-to-head trial of the two drugs, results announced on Wednesday alongside plans to seek US approval in early 2027.

Free AI tool speeds up search for new antibiotics

Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have launched a free artificial intelligence model called ESKAPE that predicts which chemical compounds could kill dangerous bacteria, aiming to accelerate the discovery of new antibiotics amid rising drug-resistant infections.

28 Oct·1 min

Nurse killed as DRC Ebola outbreak passes 10,000 cases, Africa CDC schedules emergency summit

A nurse has been killed and a health worker severely injured in an attack while responding to an Ebola alert in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Tshopo province, as the country's largest ever outbreak passed 10,000 confirmed cases. African health ministers are due to hold a virtual summit on Wednesday aimed at strengthening the continent's collective response.

28 Oct·3 min·3 sources

T cells sense tissue stiffness to build long-term immunity, study finds

Scientists at McGill University have discovered that T cells can detect how stiff their surrounding tissues are and use that physical information to influence whether they develop into long-lasting memory cells, a finding published in Nature Immunology that challenges long-held assumptions about how the body builds lasting protection against infections.

Autistic children's brains show distinct, age-independent patterns in face processing, study finds

A major study published in Nature Mental Health has found that the brains of autistic children process faces in a fundamentally different way from neurotypical children, and that this difference does not diminish with age. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and machine learning, researchers analyzed brain activity across the entire scalp in approximately 400 autistic children and found that the neural signals associated with seeing a face were less distinct than in neurotypical peers and did not become more specialized as the children grew older, suggesting face-processing differences may be an intrinsic feature of autism rather than a consequence of experience.

Asteroid that ended the dinosaurs may have helped ants conquer the world, study finds

New research suggests the asteroid that struck Earth about 66 million years ago and ended the age of the dinosaurs may also have helped set the stage for ants to take over the planet. Scientists say bursts of activity from mobile genetic elements known as "jumping genes" coincided with the rise of major ant groups and may have sharpened their ability to communicate through smell.

Daily fibre supplement eases knee arthritis pain and improves grip strength, trial finds

A daily dose of inulin, a prebiotic fibre found in chicory root and other vegetables, significantly reduced knee pain and improved grip strength in adults with knee osteoarthritis, according to a six-week clinical trial led by University of Nottingham researchers and published in the journal Nutrients.

Gender divide in GP burnout and stress revealed by new survey

Female GPs are spending more time with patients, handling more complex cases, and experiencing higher rates of burnout than their male counterparts, according to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners' latest Health of the Nation report. The survey of more than 3,500 GPs has reignited calls for changes to Medicare's time-tiered payment system.

Biosecurity review launched after fire ant nest went undetected for years

The federal inspector-general of biosecurity has launched a nationwide review of biosecurity measures, beginning with the case of an established red imported fire ant nest found under concrete at Sydney's Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre, where the site was only required to be checked every three years. The discovery, made in September and disclosed to the public two weeks ago, has prompted urgent scrutiny of surveillance policies designed to stop one of the world's worst invasive species from spreading.

28 Oct·2 min·2 sources

NASA Systems Engineering team details architecture concepts for Habitable Worlds Observatory

A NASA systems engineering team has detailed three exploratory architecture concepts for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a flagship space telescope slated to launch in the 2040s that aims to directly image Earth-like exoplanets. The concepts, described in a June 2026 study published in the Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, balance science goals with engineering needs as the mission moves toward final design.