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746 articles · page 3 of 16 · The Science front page
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
· 4 sourcesThe 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.
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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.
A major international study has found that nearly 3 million deaths between 2016 and 2023 were attributable to climate change, with researchers calling for it to be formally declared a global health emergency ahead of the COP31 summit in Turkiye.
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About 2.8 million basketwork eels, weighing around 3.5 tonnes, gather each year on a ridge beside a deep-sea mountain off Tasmania to spawn, in what researchers describe as the only known aggregation of any deep-sea eel anywhere in the world. The finding comes from a CSIRO-led study published in Royal Society Open Science.
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A lightning strike blasted holes in Brisbane Airport's western runway on Tuesday afternoon, forcing emergency repairs and closing the runway for more than eight hours. The strike hit about 3.11pm, leaving a scattering of holes, some roughly palm-sized, across a section of bitumen, and the runway was restored and reopened by 11.52pm.
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Washington state health officials have detailed how South Carolina's measles outbreak reached their state through five separate importation events over two weeks in January, causing 26 infections among residents before the spread was halted. The study, published this week in NEJM Evidence, says the episodes signal that domestic travel now poses a greater risk than international travel for bringing measles back into US communities.
The Defense Intelligence Agency has published the first clear image of China's Shenlong spaceplane in orbit, revealing a design that closely mirrors the US Space Force's X-37B. The photograph, taken by a Vantor (formerly Maxar) satellite in 2024, was included in the DIA's annual 'Challenges to Security in Space' report and first highlighted by space journalist Andrew Jones.
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The final patch of ice on Slovenia's Mount Triglav has melted completely, scientists have confirmed, ending the glacier's existence after decades of decline accelerated by Europe's record-breaking summer heat.
A large collaboration of researchers based in China has developed a tool that takes natural language prompts and produces proteins with a specified function, potentially making protein design accessible to a wider audience. In a separate development, Hugging Face has announced it is now hosting a tool that does similar work at the DNA level.
· 2 sourcesScientists have sequenced the genomes of three Late Stone Age people who lived in Europe 30,000 years ago and discovered genetic mixing between Eastern and Western populations, overturning the long-held assumption that the two groups remained separate. The finding, published Oct. 23 in Science Advances, suggests that southwestern France was a key cultural and biological crossroads during the last ice age.
A Florida surgeon has performed the first telerobotic surgery between two US hospitals, removing the prostate of a 66-year-old cancer patient from 35 miles away using a robotic system operated remotely. The procedure, conducted on Sunday under an FDA investigational device exemption, is part of a clinical study evaluating the safety and reliability of telesurgery.
Mathematicians report completing a machine-checked formalization of the classification of finite simple groups in the Lean proof assistant, and say the work uncovered a flaw in a published route to the Unbalanced Group Theorem.
NASA has committed to launch the Ultraviolet Explorer (UVEX) mission by 2031, a Caltech-led space observatory that will produce the first deep all-sky maps in ultraviolet light, providing unprecedented views of a dynamic universe of stellar flares, supernovae and neutron-star collisions.
A day of breakthroughs and controversy in science, as fusion researchers demonstrated a record plasma current, a spider study revealed REM-like sleep, and an audit uncovered widespread fabricated references.
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An experimental medical implant that removes excess sugar from the blood using a wireless, smartphone-controlled chemical reaction has shown promise in treating type 2 diabetes and obesity in lab mice, according to a study published Oct. 22 in the journal Science.
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered the most distant ring galaxy ever observed, a rare structure seen as it appeared just 2.1 billion years after the Big Bang. The galaxy, designated GS18660, may have been created by a head-on collision between two galaxies, astronomers report in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
A new genetic study has traced the origins of Native Hawaiians to the island of Mangareva, revealing that the closest genetic ties exist between the two most isolated islands in Polynesia: Hawaii and Rapa Nui. The research, published in Science, also identified three harmful mutations that arose from repeated population bottlenecks experienced by small groups voyaging across the Pacific.
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Researchers at the University of Oxford, Newcastle University and Cambridge University Hospitals have identified a previously unknown cause of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): antibodies that disable the immune system's natural inflammation control. The discovery, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, solves a 30-year genetic puzzle and could lead to more precise diagnoses and treatments for the chronic conditions Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
A striking satellite image from 2016 shows two hurricanes, Madeline and Lester, barreling toward Hawaii, their swirling clouds forming what appears to be a grinning face in space. Despite initial fears, the pair of storms missed the islands, highlighting Hawaii's long-standing luck in avoiding direct hurricane hits.
University of Sheffield scientists have produced a contemporary glass sculpture that recreates the famous colour-changing effect of the 4th-century Lycurgus Cup, using the same ancient Roman recipe that relies on gold and silver nanoparticles.
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The mounted skeleton of a Nanotyrannus, a dinosaur recently confirmed to be a distinct genus from Tyrannosaurus rex, will be auctioned by Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday with an estimate of at least $6m (£4.5m) and expected to fetch up to $9m.
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NASA has provided new details on its Artemis III mission, which will no longer aim for a lunar landing but instead serve as a complex orbital docking rehearsal in low Earth orbit. The mission, now scheduled for summer 2027, will see four astronauts dock with prototype landers built by Blue Origin and SpaceX, testing procedures critical for future Moon landings.
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Scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have found that a widely used class of anti-inflammatory drugs, Janus kinase inhibitors, may make it easier for certain viruses to infect cells and spread through the body.
An international research team has dated the prehistoric site of 'Ubeidiya in the Jordan Valley to at least 1.9 million years old, establishing it as one of the earliest known locations of human activity outside Africa and reshaping the timeline of early human expansion.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has deployed a team of experts to Nigeria to assist with Ebola containment, as the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo became the country's deadliest on record, surpassing 10,000 confirmed cases.
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Perth doctors are warning Australians against a growing Bali trend of getting full-body tattoos while under general anaesthesia, saying the procedure adds serious and unnecessary health risks to what should be a simple, safe process.
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Kenya has released 20 people from Ebola quarantine after they completed the mandatory 21-day monitoring period without symptoms, the UN World Health Organization has confirmed. The contacts were part of the group linked to Kenya's first case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease, and a further 98 contacts remain in quarantine.
The Met Office has said the UK is set for a shift to high pressure after two named storms left three people dead, but warned that the calmer conditions will bring a new hazard, with dense fog threatening to disrupt travel. Forecaster Craig Snell said the country would see a 'big flip in the weather' over the next 48 hours.
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Concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases rose to record highs in 2025, locking in climate impacts that will persist for decades and centuries, the UN's weather and climate agency said. The World Meteorological Organization's 22nd annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin found carbon dioxide at 426.8 parts per million, methane at 1,948 parts per billion and nitrous oxide at 339.1 parts per billion.
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A series of "very dangerous" thunderstorms brought hail up to seven centimetres to parts of south-east Queensland on Tuesday, prompting severe thunderstorm warnings, closing a Brisbane Airport runway and triggering three floodwater rescues.
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A cache of unexploded first world war bombs has emerged from rapidly retreating glaciers in the Dolomites this summer, the Italian army has said. The devices, including Italian artillery shells and French mortar bombs, were recovered and defused by the army's Julia Alpine brigade after hikers reported sightings.
Proteins in men's blood could signal a higher risk of prostate cancer more than 15 years before diagnosis, according to Oxford University researchers, in findings that may eventually improve how the disease is assessed and prevented.
Dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, accounted for more than 10 per cent of all deaths in Australia for the first time, new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows. The figures, released on Tuesday, also show overall mortality rates have returned to their pre-COVID trend, asthma deaths hit a decade high and drug-induced deaths rose.
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Eleven-year-old Archie Patten was elected school captain on a promise to remove cost as a barrier to swimming lessons after he learned nearly half of his peers could not meet national water safety benchmarks. Through a school Colour Run he raised $13,500, funding professional swimming instruction for every student at St Joseph's Primary School in Maclean into 2028, and has now challenged young leaders nationwide to spread the 'Ripple Effect' to their own communities.
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Australia's medicines regulator has proposed sweeping changes to sunscreen testing and labelling rules, a year after consumer tests found that most sunscreens on sale failed to meet their SPF claims. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) said the reforms aim to 'strengthen consumer confidence in sunscreen performance'.
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Fossils of an ancient amphibian discovered in China suggest the species lived its whole life in the ocean, a first for any known amphibian. The specimens, found in marine sediments from the Late Triassic era, challenge the long-held understanding that amphibians cannot survive in saltwater.
Typhoon In-fa could intensify into a super typhoon by Thursday before passing through the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) near Pagan Island on Friday, according to the US National Weather Service (NWS) in Guam.
NASA's Perseverance rover has measured Martian dust particles clinging to spacesuit material samples it carries, including grains small enough to penetrate the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The findings, collected over 1,645 Martian days and published Tuesday, Oct. 27, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could inform spacesuit and habitat design, dust-removal procedures and crew health standards for future NASA missions to Mars.
A Cardiff University report has questioned whether Welsh government support for people leaving prison is "fit for purpose", after figures showed drug-related deaths among probation-supervised prison leavers running well above the England and Wales average and rough sleeping on release rising for a fourth consecutive year.
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A magnitude 4.9 earthquake with an epicentre in waters south of Adelaide rattled residents across the region this morning, Geoscience Australia has reported. Callers to ABC Adelaide described shaking, windows rattling and a brief rumble lasting several seconds from the metropolitan area to the south coast.
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