researchers

Scientists are developing new methods to control mosquitoes as climate change lengthens mosquito season and expands the range of disease-carrying species. The mosquito kills more people than any other animal on earth, spreading diseases such as malaria and dengue, and longer warm seasons give the insects more time to transmit dangerous illnesses. Climate researchers warn the public health threat is growing.

The Trump administration is retreating from a proposed executive order that would have given the White House greater control over National Institutes of Health grants, according to Semafor. The plan, which drew criticism from researchers and science advocates, is now reported to be effectively dead after widespread pushback from the scientific and medical community.

A US Senate committee has voted to hold Anthony Fauci, the former top US infectious disease official, in contempt of Congress. The vote escalates a standoff with Republican lawmakers who have investigated his role in the federal response to Covid-19 and related research funding. Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades before retiring in 2022, has denied wrongdoing.

New reporting suggests India has warmed more slowly than many regions, but researchers caution this apparent slower warming may be deceptive. Pollution particles and cloud cover are believed to be masking the true extent of heat buildup across the country, meaning underlying warming could be far greater than surface temperature records indicate, with potentially serious implications for India's climate future.

Google has unveiled Project Suncatcher, a research initiative to place machine learning infrastructure in space, using solar-powered satellites to scale AI compute beyond Earth. Google published details and early findings on its research blog. The proposal is drawing attention for its ambition and for questions about cost, thermal challenges, and whether orbital data centers are realistic.

Debate is resurging over the probability that advanced artificial intelligence could pose an existential threat to humanity, with discussion centering on estimates that put the risk at around 10%. Experts remain divided: some researchers argue such scenarios are plausible enough to warrant serious regulation and safety work, while others dismiss them as speculation. The figure has become a talking point in ongoing arguments over how quickly AI should be developed.

AI researcher and Coursera co-founder Andrew Ng says fears that artificial intelligence could drive humanity extinct are 'science fiction'. He argues that speculation about existential AI risk distracts from concrete near-term issues such as bias, job displacement and concentration of power, and that regulators should focus on real harms of deployed systems rather than distant hypothetical scenarios.

New research indicates Mercury is contracting more quickly than previous estimates suggested. The smallest planet in the solar system has been cooling and shrinking for billions of years, causing its crust to wrinkle and fault. The updated findings are drawing attention from scientists and space enthusiasts, prompting discussion about what the faster contraction reveals about the planet's interior and its ongoing geological evolution.

A new study is examining whether artificial intelligence systems could experience something akin to pain, a question that touches on machine consciousness and welfare. The research is drawing attention among scientists and technologists, with debate focusing on how pain or suffering could even be measured in systems that lack biology, and what the answer would mean for how AI is developed and treated.

Artificial intelligence is making law firms significantly more efficient, but corporate clients are now questioning why their legal bills have not dropped accordingly. The New York Times reports that clients expect savings from faster document review and research to be passed on to them, putting pressure on firms' traditional billable-hour models and sparking debate over who benefits from A.I.-driven productivity gains.

New research from the University of Arizona analysing decades of satellite imagery finds that the world's drylands, though greening as vegetation responds to rising carbon dioxide, are increasingly locked into extreme 'boom-and-bust' cycles — rapid plant growth followed by sudden collapses. Scientists warn the pattern could destabilise ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

The Wall Street Journal profiles the AI 'doomers' — researchers and commentators who warn that advanced artificial intelligence could pose existential risks to humanity. The piece traces how their arguments moved from fringe concerns to mainstream influence, shaping policy debates, corporate safety teams, and public anxiety about runaway AI. The title quote suggests their core message: once transformative AI arrives, the world will fundamentally change and calm reassurances will no longer apply.

Researchers have detected a direct radio signal from a planet outside the solar system for the first time. The detection, reported by media outlets, marks a milestone in the search for planets around other stars, as radio emissions from exoplanets had previously only been theorized. Scientists say such signals could offer a new way to study magnetic fields and habitability of distant worlds.

Researchers have used artificial intelligence to interpret the chemical signals that tell cells in a developing embryo what type of cell to become, according to a report by Earth.com. The work suggests AI can help biologists read the molecular instructions that guide early development. Details beyond the headline, including the research team and publication, were not provided.

Researchers have found that everyday plastic cleaning sponges shed trillions of microscopic fibers during normal use, adding a previously underestimated source of microplastics to household wastewater and the environment. The finding suggests routine cleaning chores may be contributing far more plastic pollution than assumed, prompting discussion about safer alternatives and possible regulatory scrutiny of common sponge materials.

Scientists may have misinterpreted a geological clue dating back roughly 2 billion years, according to a new report highlighted by ScienceDaily. The finding suggests that assumptions about Earth's ancient history could need revising, with potential implications for how researchers understand the planet's early environmental and climate conditions. Details of the specific evidence and the scientific debate remain limited.

Researchers report the discovery of a molecular switch activated by stress that appears to drive depression, offering a possible biological explanation for how chronic stress leads to depressive symptoms. The finding could point toward new drug targets and treatments that work on the underlying mechanism rather than symptoms alone. Details of the study, including the researchers involved and where it was published, were not immediately available.

A Norwegian ScienceTech News report cites a study finding that children and teenagers aged 9 to 18 are moving away from Google search and turning to AI chatbots for information instead. Researchers reportedly say the consequences of this shift are not yet known, raising questions about how young people evaluate answers from generative AI compared with traditional search results.

Physicists report new evidence that gravity behaves holographically, meaning it can collapse the dimensions of space, though the implications for reality remain unknown. The findings, reported by Quanta Magazine, touch on the idea that our three-dimensional universe may be encoded on a lower-dimensional surface. Researchers say they understand the math but not yet what it means for the nature of spacetime, and cosmologists are debating the consequences.

Researchers have compared anti-aging interventions to determine which ones genuinely alter biological age, the measure of how old the body functions rather than how long a person has lived. Reports highlight that only some treatments produced measurable reductions in biological age, while others showed no effect. The findings are drawing attention as interest grows in therapies that claim to slow or reverse aging.

Google researchers report that the hacking group ShinyHunters has broadened its cyberattacks targeting Oracle's PeopleSoft software. The finding points to an expanding campaign against enterprise systems widely used by large organisations for human resources and financial management. The report adds to growing concern over ShinyHunters, already linked to a string of high-profile data theft incidents affecting major technology companies.