SCIENCE
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Is Dark Energy Born inside Black Holes?
Black holes are eaters of all things, even radiation. But what if their rapacious appetites had an unexpected side effect? A new study published in Physical Review Letters suggests that black holes might spew dark energy—and that they could help explain an intriguing conflict between different measurements of the universe. Dark energy is the force driving the accelerated expansion of…
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U.S. Military Continues mRNA Vaccine Research after RFK, Jr., Cuts Funding
The abrupt termination last month of nearly half a billion dollars in US government contracts for mRNA vaccine research rattled scientists working inside and outside industry. The cuts raised alarm about the country’s commitment to the Nobel-prizewinning technology, which is credited with saving millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic and is regarded as essential for fighting viruses in the…
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People Are More Likely to Cheat When They Use AI
September 28, 2025 4 min read People Are More Likely to Cheat When They Use AI Participants in a new study were more likely to cheat when delegating to AI—especially if they could encourage machines to break rules without explicitly asking for it By Rachel Nuwer edited by Allison Parshall Despite what watching the news might suggest, most people are…
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Bird Flu and Human Flu Viruses Could Mix in Cow Udders and Spark a Pandemic
September 25, 2025 4 min read Cow Udders Could Brew Up Dangerous New Bird Flu Strains Cells in cow udders could act as a site for human flu and bird flu viruses to swap genes and generate dangerous novel strains By Chris Simms edited by Tanya Lewis Cow udders may provide a hotspot for bird flu and human flu viruses…
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Magnitude 4.3 Earthquake Strikes San Francisco Bay Area
September 22, 2025 2 min read San Francisco Rattled by Predawn Earthquake The San Francisco Bay Area was rattled early this morning by a magnitude 4.3 earthquake along the Hayward fault line By Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea Thompson USGS/CISN: Northern California Seismic System (UC Berkeley, USGS Menlo Park, and Partners) Sleeping residents of California’s San Francisco Bay Area were…
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Go Ahead, Write in the Margins—It’s Good for Your Brain
September 19, 2025 3 min read Writing in Your Books Is Good for Your Brain—Here’s Why Annotating the margins of books is an important part of deep reading and has a long legacy of merit in both science and literature By Brianne Kane edited by Jeanna Bryner Readers on TikTok and Instagram are making the aesthetics of reading more visible than…
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Weird ‘Time Crystals’ Are Made Visible at Last
September 16, 2025 3 min read Weird ‘Time Crystals’ Are Made Visible at Last Time crystals, a state of matter once thought physically impossible, could soon be on a banknote By Elizabeth Gibney & Nature magazine A time crystal as seen under a microscope. A time crystal is a form of matter that shows continuous, repeating patterns over time, much…
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Scientists Map Nightlife and Communication of NYC Rats to Help Urban Planning and Pest Control
Here in New York City, we humans crown ourselves rulers of the five boroughs—but the kingdom is split. We cohabit with a parallel society that commutes along subway rails, picnics in parks and patronizes trash cans like they’re Restaurant Row. A new field study watched them the way New Yorkers often watch each other: from a respectful distance and with…
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Atlantic Hurricane Season Has Gone Quiet. Here’s Why
September 10, 2025 3 min read At the Peak of Hurricane Season, the Atlantic Is Quiet. Here’s Why Hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin is historically at its peak on September 10—but not this year By Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea Thompson In May, as Atlantic hurricane season loomed, meteorologists worried that above-average tropical activity, combined with cuts to the…
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Survey Results Show People Prefer More Human Involvement in AI-driven Art
Think of your favorite piece of art—a painting, a song, a novel, a movie or even a video game—and try to remember why it made such a strong impression on you. Was it the color, the cadence of notes, the way the writer made you feel understood, the deep emotion of the actors? Now imagine that artificial intelligence created it.…
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