Science

New ‘Spiny Dragon’ Fossil Preserves Dinosaur Skin Cells, Redrawing a Familiar Herbivore

A newly named iguanodontian from China preserves skin and hollow spikes in rare detail—down to cell-like structures—challenging views of dinosaur coverings.

#dinosaurs, #paleontology, #fossils, #china, #evolution

Engineered CRISPR plasmid spreads through bacteria to erase antibiotic resistance — with an added off switch

UC San Diego scientists report a self-propagating CRISPR plasmid that moves through bacterial communities, deletes a resistance gene and can be reversed.

#crispr, #antibioticresistance, #microbiology, #biofilms, #genedrive

Hubble pins down the size of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, bolstering natural-origin case

New Hubble analysis extracts the first solid measurement of an interstellar comet’s ядро: a ~2.6-km, elongated nucleus behaving like ordinary comets.

#astronomy, #hubble, #comets, #interstellar

Scientists Warn El Niño Could Return in 2026, Putting 2027 Heat Records at Risk

Forecasters see roughly even odds of an El Niño in late 2026. Scientists say that could make 2027 a contender to surpass 2024 as hottest year.

#elnino, #climatechange, #globalwarming, #oceanheat, #heatwaves

CERN study finds early-universe quark-gluon plasma leaves a liquidlike wake

Using 2018 LHC lead-ion data, CMS reports clearest evidence yet that quark-gluon plasma behaves like a liquid, complete with wakes.

#cern, #lhc, #particlephysics, #quarkgluonplasma, #cosmology

U.N. weather agency warns January 2026 was a ‘month of extremes’ as heat, floods and cold hit worldwide

WMO says January 2026 brought global weather extremes—from Mozambique floods to Chile fires and Australia heat—against record warmth.

#climatechange, #extremeweather, #wmo, #flooding, #heatwave

Study Warns Ultra-High-Frequency Gravitational Waves May Be Too Faint to Hear

A new arXiv analysis finds cosmological bounds leave few viable sources of megahertz–gigahertz gravitational waves, tightening targets for would-be detectors.

#gravitationalwaves, #cosmology, #earlyuniverse, #physics, #detectors

Kepler Data Reveal a One-Transit Candidate: An Earth-Size Planet on a Near-Earth-Year Orbit

A single dip in Kepler’s K2 data points to an Earth-size planet candidate with a ~355-day orbit around a bright nearby orange dwarf—if it transits again.

#exoplanets, #nasa, #kepler, #astronomy, #jameswebb

NASA’s TESS and Hubble Capture Best Look Yet at Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

A rare January alignment let TESS track 3I/ATLAS for days and Hubble image its backlit dust and jets, yielding the best profile yet of an alien comet.

#nasa, #hubble, #tess, #comet, #interstellar

James Webb Telescope Watches Baby Star Forge Crystals and Blow Them Toward Comet Zones

Webb tracked a young star’s outbursts as they turned dust into crystalline minerals and lofted them outward—explaining crystals found in icy comets.

#jwst, #astronomy, #protostars, #comets, #planetformation

NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Faces Crucial Wet Dress Rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center

NASA will fuel its SLS rocket in a high-stakes wet dress rehearsal that could set—or slip—the Artemis II crewed lunar flyby launch date.

#nasa, #artemis, #moonmission, #spacelaunchsystem, #orion

China team captures first direct images of the Migdal effect, opening a new path in dark-matter searches

Six rare events recorded in a Beijing-area lab provide the first direct observation of the Migdal effect, bolstering strategies to detect light dark matter.

#darkmatter, #particlephysics, #quantumphysics, #chinascience, #detectors

‘Cotton-candy’ planets around young star offer rare glimpse of how worlds shrink with age

Four ultra-puffy planets orbiting 20-million-year-old V1298 Tau reveal how newborn worlds lose atmospheres and contract into common super-Earths.

#exoplanets, #astronomy, #nasa, #planetformation, #jwst

Antarctic penguins are breeding earlier as the Peninsula rapidly warms, study finds

Time-lapse cameras show Adélie, chinstrap and gentoo penguins beginning breeding up to two weeks earlier per decade on the fast-warming Antarctic Peninsula.

#climatechange, #penguins, #antarctica, #ecology, #wildlife

Solar Orbiter Captures ‘Magnetic Avalanche’ Building a Major Solar Flare

ESA’s Solar Orbiter watched a big flare ignite through a cascade of tiny magnetic failures, supporting long-standing avalanche models and aiding space-weather forecasting.

#solarorbiter, #solarflare, #spaceweather, #esa, #astronomy