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Virgin Hyperloop First Human Ride On New High-Speed Train

Pizza Delivered to Space Station

How SpaceX became NASA's go-to ride into orbit

study finds extinction that wiped out 90% of species driven by volcanic eruptions that plunged Earth into a freezing winter

Why some people are superspreaders

More water on moon than expected

Timekeeping theory combines quantum clocks and Einstein's relativity

Vegans are more likely to suffer broken bones

From Stinky Cheese To Cat Pee, Author Takes A 'Nose Dive' Into The Science Of Smell


London to New York in 90 minutes

Robotic probe quickly measures key properties of new materials

Developed to analyze new semiconductors, the system could streamline the development of more powerful solar panels.

MIT and Mass General Hospital researchers find disparities in organ allocation

In an analysis of over 160,000 transplant candidates, researchers found that race is linked to how likely an organ offer is to be accepted on behalf of a patient.

A new platform for developing advanced metals at scale

Foundation Alloy, founded by a team from MIT, uses solid-state metallurgy technology to create a new class of high-performance metals.

Confronting the AI/energy conundrum

The MIT Energy Initiative’s annual research symposium explores artificial intelligence as both a problem and a solution for the clean energy transition.

Cough medicine turned brain protector? Ambroxol may slow Parkinson’s dementia

Ambroxol, long used for coughs in Europe, stabilized symptoms and brain-damage markers in Parkinson’s dementia patients over 12 months, whereas placebo patients worsened. Those with high-risk genes even saw cognitive gains, hinting at real disease-modifying power.

Multisensory VR forest reboots your brain and lifts mood—study confirms

Immersing stressed volunteers in a 360° virtual Douglas-fir forest complete with sights, sounds and scents boosted their mood, sharpened short-term memory and deepened their feeling of nature-connectedness—especially when all three senses were engaged. Researchers suggest such multisensory VR “forest baths” could brighten clinics, waiting rooms and dense city spaces, offering a potent mental refresh where real greenery is scarce.

Pregnancy’s 100-million-year secret: Inside the placenta’s evolutionary power play

A group of scientists studying pregnancy across six different mammals—from humans to marsupials—uncovered how certain cells at the mother-baby boundary have been working together for over 100 million years. By mapping gene activity in these cells, they found that pregnancy isn’t just a battle between mother and fetus, but often a carefully coordinated partnership. These ancient cell interactions, including hormone production and nutrient sharing, evolved to support longer, more complex pregnancies and may help explain why human pregnancy works the way it does today.

Defying physics: This rare crystal cools itself using pure magnetism

Deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert, scientists studied a green crystal called atacamite—and discovered it can cool itself dramatically when placed in a magnetic field. Unlike a regular fridge, this effect doesn’t rely on gases or compressors. Instead, it’s tied to the crystal’s unusual inner structure, where tiny magnetic forces get tangled in a kind of “frustration.” When those tangled forces are disrupted by magnetism, the crystal suddenly drops in temperature. It’s a strange, natural trick that could someday help us build greener, more efficient ways to cool things.

Frozen light switches: How Arctic microbes could revolutionize neuroscience

In the frozen reaches of the planet—glaciers, mountaintops, and icy groundwater—scientists have uncovered strange light-sensitive molecules in tiny microbes. These “cryorhodopsins” can respond to light in ways that might let researchers turn brain cells on and off like switches. Some even glow blue, a rare and useful trait for medical applications. These molecules may help the microbes sense dangerous UV light in extreme environments, and scientists believe they could one day power new brain tech, like light-based hearing aids or next-level neuroscience tools—all thanks to proteins that thrive in the cold and shimmer under light.

Scientists discovered how a scent can change your mind

Mice taught to link smells with tastes, and later fear, revealed how the amygdala teams up with cortical regions to let the brain draw powerful indirect connections. Disabling this circuit erased the links, hinting that similar pathways in humans could underlie disorders like PTSD and psychosis, and might be tuned with future brain-modulation therapies.

Avocado alert! DNA reveals how native plants keep brunch on the menu

Preserving strips of native vegetation beside avocado orchards gives insects a buffet of wild pollen when blossoms are scarce, doubling their plant menu and boosting their resilience. Using cutting-edge eDNA metabarcoding, Curtin scientists revealed how this botanical diversity underpins pollination, a service vital to 75% of crops and our brunch-worthy avocados. Their findings urge farmers to weave natural habitat back into farmland to secure food supplies for a swelling global population.

Why anger cools after 50: Surprising findings from a new menopause study

Anger isn’t just a fleeting emotion—it plays a deeper role in women’s mental and physical health during midlife. A groundbreaking study tracking over 500 women aged 35 to 55 reveals that anger traits like outbursts and hostility tend to diminish with age and menopause progression. This shift could signal enhanced emotional regulation during and after the reproductive transition. Surprisingly, the only form of anger that remained steady was suppressed anger.

Deafness reversed: Single injection brings hearing back within weeks

A cutting-edge gene therapy has significantly restored hearing in children and adults with congenital deafness, showing dramatic results just one month after a single injection. Researchers used a virus to deliver a healthy copy of the OTOF gene into the inner ear, improving auditory function across all ten participants in the study. The therapy worked best in young children but still benefited adults, with one 7-year-old girl regaining almost full hearing. Even more exciting: this is just the start, as scientists now aim to target other genes that cause more common forms of deafness.

This sun-powered sponge pulls drinking water straight from the ocean

In a leap toward sustainable desalination, researchers have created a solar-powered sponge-like aerogel that turns seawater into drinkable water using just sunlight and a plastic cover. Unlike previous materials, this new 3D-printed aerogel maintains its efficiency at larger sizes, solving a key scalability issue. In outdoor tests, it produced clean water directly from the ocean without any electricity, pointing to a future of low-cost, energy-free freshwater production.

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