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January 14, 2026

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Massive Brain Study Reveals Why Memory Loss Can Suddenly Speed Up with Age

Jan. 14, 2026 A massive international brain study has revealed that memory decline with age isn’t driven by a single brain region or gene, but by widespread structural changes across the brain that build up over time. Analyzing thousands of MRI scans and memory ...

“Marine Darkwaves”: Hidden Ocean Blackouts Are Putting Sealife at Risk

Jan. 14, 2026 Scientists have identified a newly recognized threat lurking beneath the ocean’s surface: sudden episodes of underwater darkness that can last days or even months. Caused by storms, sediment runoff, algae blooms, and murky water, these “marine ...

Scientists Found the Brain Rhythm That Makes Your Body Feel Like Yours

Jan. 14, 2026 A new study reveals that alpha brain waves help the brain decide what belongs to your body. Faster rhythms allow the brain to match sight and touch more precisely, strengthening the feeling that a body part is truly yours. Slower rhythms blur that ...

Doctors Discover the Source of Mysterious Intoxication

Jan. 13, 2026 Some people get drunk without drinking because their gut bacteria produce alcohol from food. Researchers have now identified the microbes and biological pathways behind this rare condition, auto-brewery syndrome. Tests showed patients’ gut samples ...

Millions with Dementia Still Prescribed Drugs Linked to Falls and Confusion

Jan. 13, 2026 Despite longstanding guidelines, many dementia patients are still prescribed brain-altering medications that can raise the risk of falls and confusion. A new study shows that while prescribing has decreased overall, people with cognitive impairment ...

A Devastating Cotton Virus Lurked Undetected in U.S. Fields for Nearly 20 Years

Jan. 13, 2026 A damaging cotton virus thought to be a recent invader has actually been hiding in U.S. fields for nearly two decades. New research shows cotton leafroll dwarf virus was present as early as 2006, ...

Scientists Find a Natural Sunscreen Hidden in Hot Springs Bacteria

Jan. 13, 2026 Researchers studying cyanobacteria from hot springs in Thailand have discovered a new natural UV-blocking compound with impressive antioxidant power. Unlike conventional sunscreens, it’s biocompatible and potentially safer for both people and the ...

This AI Spots Dangerous Blood Cells Doctors Often Miss

Jan. 13, 2026 A generative AI system can now analyze blood cells with greater accuracy and confidence than human experts, detecting subtle signs of diseases like leukemia. It not only spots rare abnormalities but also recognizes its own uncertainty, making it a ...

Scientists Discover How the Uterus Knows When to Push During Childbirth

Jan. 13, 2026 Childbirth depends not just on hormones, but on the uterus’s ability to sense physical force. Scientists found that pressure and stretch sensors in uterine muscles and surrounding nerves work together to trigger coordinated contractions. When ...

Spacecraft Capture the Sun Building a Massive Superstorm

Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists have pulled back the curtain on one of the most extreme solar regions seen in decades, tracking it almost nonstop for three months as it unleashed powerful space weather. By combining views from two spacecraft—one near Earth and one ...

This Strange Form of Water May Power Giant Planets’ Magnetic Fields

Jan. 13, 2026 At extreme pressures and temperatures, water becomes superionic — a solid that behaves partly like a liquid and conducts electricity. This unusual form is believed to shape the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune and may be the most common type ...

Extreme Heat Is Breaking Honey Bees’ Natural Cooling System

Jan. 13, 2026 Honey bees can normally keep their hives perfectly climate-controlled, but extreme heat can overwhelm their defenses. During a scorching Arizona summer, researchers found that high temperatures caused damaging temperature fluctuations inside hives, ...

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Scientists Discover What’s Linking Floods and Droughts Across the Planet

Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists tracking Earth’s water from space discovered that El Niño and La Niña are synchronizing floods and droughts across continents. When these climate cycles intensify, far-apart regions ...

This New Sugar Tastes Like the Real Thing Without the Usual Downsides

Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists at Tufts have found a way to turn common glucose into a rare sugar that tastes almost exactly like table sugar—but with far fewer downsides. Using engineered bacteria as microscopic ...

A New Test Reveals Which Antibiotics Truly Kill Bacteria

Jan. 12, 2026 Some antibiotics stop bacteria from growing without actually killing them, allowing infections to return later. Scientists at the University of Basel created a new test that tracks individual ...

This Common Dinner Rule Makes Meals More Awkward

Jan. 12, 2026 Waiting to eat when your food arrives first feels polite—but it may be mostly for your own peace of mind. Researchers found people feel far more uncomfortable breaking the “wait until everyone is ...

A Hidden Brain Signal May Reveal Alzheimer’s Long Before Diagnosis

Jan. 12, 2026 Researchers have discovered a brain activity pattern that can predict which people with mild cognitive impairment are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Using a noninvasive brain scanning ...

The Oxygen You Breathe Depends on a Tiny Ocean Ingredient

Jan. 12, 2026 Microscopic ocean algae produce a huge share of Earth’s oxygen—but they need iron to do it. New field research shows that when iron is scarce, phytoplankton waste energy and photosynthesis ...

A New Crystal Makes Magnetism Twist in Surprising Ways

Jan. 12, 2026 Florida State University scientists have engineered a new crystal that forces atomic magnets to swirl into complex, repeating patterns. The effect comes from mixing two nearly identical compounds ...

Physicists Thought This Mystery Particle Could Explain Everything. See What Happened

Jan. 12, 2026 Scientists at Fermilab’s MicroBooNE experiment have ruled out the existence of the elusive sterile neutrino, a particle proposed for decades to ...

Astronomers Discover Stars Don’t Spread Life’s Ingredients the Way We Thought

Jan. 12, 2026 Scientists observing the red giant star R Doradus have found that starlight isn’t strong enough to drive its stellar winds, overturning a ...

Why Music Brings No Joy to Some People

Jan. 12, 2026 A small group of people experience no pleasure from music despite normal hearing and intact emotions. Brain imaging reveals that their auditory and reward systems fail to properly communicate, ...

The Ocean Absorbed a Stunning Amount of Heat in 2025

Jan. 14, 2026 Earth’s oceans reached their highest heat levels on record in 2025, absorbing vast amounts of excess energy from the atmosphere. This steady buildup has accelerated since the 1990s and is now ...

When the Oceans Died and Life Changed Forever

Jan. 11, 2026 A rapid climate collapse during the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction devastated ocean life and reshuffled Earth’s ecosystems. In the aftermath, jawed vertebrates gained an unexpected edge by ...

MIT’s Smart Pill Confirms You Took Your Medicine

Jan. 13, 2026 MIT engineers have developed a pill that can wirelessly report when it’s been swallowed. Inside the capsule is a biodegradable antenna that sends a signal within minutes of ingestion, then safely ...

A Room Full of Flu Patients and No One Got Sick

Jan. 11, 2026 In a striking real-world experiment, flu patients spent days indoors with healthy volunteers, but the virus never spread. Researchers found that limited coughing and well-mixed indoor air kept virus ...

10 Quintillion Hydrogen Bombs Every Second: Webb Detects Massive Galactic Eruption

Jan. 10, 2026 Scientists have discovered an enormous stream of super-hot gas erupting from a nearby galaxy, driven by a powerful black hole at its center. The jets stretch farther than the galaxy itself and spiral ...

A Hidden Loop Is Powering Deadly Pancreatic Cancer

Jan. 10, 2026 Pancreatic cancer is notoriously hard to treat, often resisting therapies that target its most common mutations. Researchers have now uncovered a hidden three-part loop that fuels tumor growth, ...

This Natural Amino Acid Could Help Stop Cavities Before They Start

Jan. 9, 2026 Sugar-loving mouth bacteria create acids that damage teeth, but arginine can help fight back. In a clinical trial, arginine-treated dental plaque stayed less acidic, became structurally less harmful, ...

Scientists Found a Way to Supercharge the Immune System Against Cancer

Jan. 9, 2026 Researchers have developed a new class of antibodies that amplify the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. By clustering immune receptors that normally receive weak signals from tumors, these ...

This Simple Design Change Could Finally Fix Solid-State Batteries

Jan. 9, 2026 Scientists in South Korea have discovered a way to make all-solid-state batteries safer and more powerful using inexpensive materials. Instead of adding costly metals, they redesigned the battery’s ...

A Shocking Amount of Plastic Is Floating in City Air

Jan. 12, 2026 Plastic pollution is not just in oceans and soil. Scientists have now found enormous amounts of microscopic plastic floating through urban air, far exceeding earlier estimates. Road dust and rainfall ...

The 4x Rule: Why Some People’s DNA Is More Unstable Than Others

Jan. 9, 2026 A large genetic study shows that many people carry DNA sequences that slowly expand as they get older. Common genetic variants can dramatically alter how fast this expansion happens, sometimes ...

Common Food Preservatives Linked to Higher Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Jan. 9, 2026 Foods that rely heavily on preservatives may be doing more than extending shelf life. In a large study spanning more than a decade, people with the highest intake of preservative additives were far ...

Scientists Find Exercise Rivals Therapy for Depression

Jan. 8, 2026 A large review of studies suggests that exercise can ease depression about as effectively as psychological therapy. Compared with antidepressants, exercise showed similar benefits, though the ...

Stanford’s AI Spots Hidden Disease Warnings That Show Up While You Sleep

Jan. 9, 2026 Stanford researchers have developed an AI that can predict future disease risk using data from just one night of sleep. The system analyzes detailed physiological signals, looking for hidden patterns ...

A White Dwarf’s Cosmic Feeding Frenzy Revealed by NASA

Jan. 8, 2026 Using NASA’s IXPE, astronomers captured an unprecedented view of a white dwarf star actively feeding on material from a companion. The data revealed giant columns of ultra-hot gas shaped by the ...

Scientists Are Closing in on the Universe’s Biggest Mystery

Jan. 8, 2026 Nearly everything in the universe is made of mysterious dark matter and dark energy, yet we can’t see either of them directly. Scientists are developing detectors so sensitive they can spot ...

People in Brazil Are Living Past 110 and Scientists Want to Know Why

Jan. 8, 2026 Scientists are uncovering why Brazil may be one of the most important yet underused resources for studying extreme longevity. Its highly diverse population harbors millions of genetic variants ...

A New Study Casts Doubt on Life Beneath Europa’s Ice

Jan. 7, 2026 Europa’s buried ocean has made it one of the most exciting places to search for life beyond Earth. However, new calculations suggest its seafloor may be calm, cold, and largely inactive, with ...

The Simplest Way Teens Can Protect Their Mental Health

Jan. 7, 2026 Teens who sleep in on weekends may be giving their mental health a boost. A new study found that young people who made up for lost weekday sleep had a significantly lower risk of depression. While ...

The Invisible Energy Cost That Keeps Life from Falling Apart

Jan. 6, 2026 Living cells pay a hidden energy price not just to run chemical reactions, but to keep them on track and block all the alternatives. A new thermodynamic framework makes it possible to calculate these ...