Science & Earth

Suni Williams retired effective Dec. 27 after 27 years with NASA, and she returned from an extended 286‑day stay aboard the International Space Station following technical problems with a test Starliner capsule.

Rescuers removed part of the fishing gear from an entangled North Atlantic right whale off Cape Cod Bay; the whale left with rope still wrapped around its tail and follow-up sightings will guide further assessment.

A Current Biology study reports that Veronika, a 13-year-old cow, selected and adjusted sticks and brushes to scratch herself and met three scientific criteria for tool use.

Johns Hopkins researcher Mikala Egeblad received the 2025 Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Award for her work on how tumor microenvironments influence cancer progression. She joined Johns Hopkins in 2023 as Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Tumor Microenvironment.

A study published in Nature proposes that the Great Pyramid could have been built using internal pulley-like systems driven by sliding counterweights, and the authors say this model can account for a rapid construction pace and several interior features.

Researchers report a hand stencil in a Sulawesi cave has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago, making it the oldest directly dated rock art; the find is presented as early evidence of modern humans on islands between Asia and Australia.

The Ice Memory Sanctuary at Concordia Station has received its first ice cores and will store glacier samples from around the world to preserve climate records as glaciers decline.

The article says the U.S. spent about $250 billion on Alzheimer’s care in 2025 while research funding was roughly $4 billion, and it notes recent FDA approvals of three amyloid-targeting drugs with modest trial benefits. It proposes an Operation Warp Speed–style Alzheimer's acceleration fund, roughly $5–10 billion, to hasten preventive and disease‑modifying therapies.

A pet Braunvieh cow in Austria was observed selecting and using a broom to scratch different body parts; researchers tested the behavior and found she chose which end to use according to the area and reported the findings in Current Biology.

NASA will observe its annual Day of Remembrance on Jan. 22 to commemorate the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, with an observance at Arlington National Cemetery led by Administrator Jared Isaacman.

Researchers at McGill tested aldehyde-assisted electrolysis using a biomass-derived model compound to generate hydrogen; next steps include long-duration durability tests under realistic feed conditions.

After 27 years at NASA, astronaut Suni Williams retired effective Dec. 27, 2025; she completed three International Space Station missions and logged 608 days in space.

A UN flagship report says many regions have moved beyond temporary water crises into a state of 'global water bankruptcy', where systems are depleted beyond historical baselines; the report notes about four billion people face severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.

Park staff identified new dinosaur fossils near the Quarry Exhibit Hall on Sept. 16, and excavations completed between September and October removed nearly 3,000 pounds of rock and fossil material.

Harvard researchers developed TimeVault, a technique that stores messenger RNA inside natural vault particles to preserve past gene-expression snapshots, and they used it to record cellular responses to stress and to examine how some cancer cells developed drug resistance.

NASA says it completed two human spaceflight missions and launched 15 science missions in the first year of President Donald J. Trump's second term.

The UN report describes a 'post-crisis' era of global water bankruptcy and reports that about 75 percent of people live in water-insecure countries while 3.5 billion lack safely managed clean water.

UN University scientists say the world has entered 'water bankruptcy,' with about 4 billion people facing severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.

Archaeologists found a 600-year-old cog called Svælget 2 in the Øresund near Copenhagen; researchers report it measures about 28 meters by 9 meters and is well preserved, offering new evidence about medieval northern European trade.

A powerful solar storm tied to a fast coronal mass ejection triggered an S4-level solar radiation alert — the highest in over 20 years — and prompted warnings about potential effects on satellites, aviation and power systems.

Jaclyn Kagey is the Artemis III extravehicular activity lead at NASA, helping plan lunar surface spacewalks and real-time operations. She has more than 25 years of experience and recently tested Axiom Space's AxEMU lunar spacesuit.

A fast coronal mass ejection triggered a G4 geomagnetic storm that produced auroras visible far from the poles, with reports from Germany to New Mexico.

A recent major solar radiation storm produced vivid northern lights across North America and Northern Europe, and the aurora borealis has appeared in ancient records and inspired myths, art, poetry, music and architecture for millennia.

The fully stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft rolled four miles to the launch pad; teams will prepare for a wet dress rehearsal targeted no later than Feb. 2.

Thousands gathered near the California Academy of Sciences to mourn Claude, an albino alligator who died Dec. 2 of liver cancer at age 30; the museum will preserve parts of him and the city plans to rename the road in front of the museum.

NOAA issued a G4 'Severe' geomagnetic storm watch after a coronal mass ejection; the aurora may be visible as far south as Alabama Monday night.

A Nature Medicine study reports that neurofeedback training helped some people increase activity in deep reward regions of the brain, and those with higher ventral tegmental area activity showed higher antibody levels after a hepatitis B vaccine; researchers say the finding may relate to mechanisms behind the placebo effect.

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian to travel beyond low Earth orbit as mission specialist on NASA's Artemis II, with a launch window identified as early as Feb. 6; the Canadian Space Agency will accept public questions for Hansen until Jan. 23.

Martin Luther King Jr. advocated a guaranteed annual income as a means of addressing economic inequality, and recent research finds strong support for universal basic income among lower-income white Americans while opposition is higher among wealthier whites with elevated racial resentment.

The High Seas Treaty entered into force on January 17, 2026, creating a legally binding framework to protect biodiversity in international waters; more than 80 countries have ratified it.