Latest Science News
Einstein’s speed-of-light limit passes its toughest cosmic test yet
Physicists combined measurements of ultra–high-energy gamma rays from distant cosmic sources to probe whether light’s speed varies with photon energy, as predicted by some quantum gravity models. Their new statistical analysis found no violation of Lorentz invariance and tightened previous bounds by about an order of magnitude, further constraining where new physics beyond Einstein’s relativity could hide.
Physicists build a ‘perfect conductor’ from ultracold atoms
Researchers at TU Wien engineered a one-dimensional gas of ultracold atoms in which energy and mass flow without slowing down, defying the usual diffusive behavior seen in many-body systems. Despite countless collisions, the system transports quantities with perfect efficiency, offering a clean quantum simulator for exotic transport phenomena and potentially informing future quantum technologies.
Quantum system resists heating under repeated laser ‘kicks’
When scientists repeatedly drove a strongly interacting quantum system with intense laser pulses, they expected chaotic heating but instead saw the atoms abruptly stop absorbing energy. The system locked into a stable pattern of motion, revealing a new form of dynamical stabilization that could help protect delicate quantum states for future quantum devices.
Record-breaking hot, ancient galaxy cluster challenges formation models
Astronomers detected a surprisingly hot galaxy cluster from the universe’s early history that appears to have formed and heated up far earlier than standard models predict. Its extreme temperature and mass so soon after the Big Bang force revisions to theories of how quickly structure and hot intracluster gas can assemble in the young cosmos.
Hubble finds ‘Cloud‑9,’ a dark and rare failed galaxy
Hubble Space Telescope observations revealed an object dubbed **Cloud‑9**, a dark, diffuse galaxy-like structure with very few stars, unlike typical galaxies. Researchers describe it as a rare ‘failed galaxy’ whose unusual properties could shed light on how dark matter–dominated systems form and why some galaxies never fully ignite star formation.
James Webb spots the largest known stream of super-heated galactic gas
UC Irvine astronomers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories to find an unexpectedly large, coherent stream of super-heated coronal gas in a nearby disk galaxy. Driven by a precessing kiloparsec-scale radio jet from the central supermassive black hole, it is the most extended structure of its kind seen so far and offers new insight into how jets reshape galaxies.
China’s ‘artificial Sun’ breaks a key fusion density limit
Experiments on China’s advanced fusion reactor have surpassed a long-standing plasma density barrier, showing that fusion plasmas can remain stable at higher densities than previously thought. The result improves prospects for achieving net energy gain in magnetic-confinement fusion and will guide designs for future power-plant-scale reactors.
Rogue planet discovered roaming the Milky Way
Scientists combined ground-based observations with data from a space telescope to identify a free-floating ‘rogue’ planet not bound to any star. The rare dual-perspective measurements allowed them to weigh the object and determine its distance with unusual precision, improving estimates of how many such orphan planets populate our galaxy.
Google DeepMind and U.S. DOE launch Genesis AI mission for scientific discovery
Google DeepMind and the U.S. Department of Energy announced **Genesis**, a national mission to deploy AI ‘co-scientists’ across U.S. National Laboratories to accelerate discovery. Early systems have already proposed lab-validated drug repurposing candidates, predicted antimicrobial resistance mechanisms, and will expand to models like AlphaGenome and WeatherNext for genomics and advanced weather forecasting.
Global scientific leaders meet in Davos to hard‑wire science into policy
Around 100 scientific leaders convened in Davos under the Frontiers Forum to design mechanisms for embedding peer‑reviewed science directly into global decision-making. New initiatives include platforms for genomic data exchange, large-scale omics mapping, and the Frontiers Planet Prize to reward research that advances planetary sustainability.
Researchers close in on dark matter with ultra‑sensitive cryogenic detectors
Physicists at Texas A&M are developing advanced semiconductor detectors with cryogenic quantum sensors to hunt for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a leading dark matter candidate. Building on decades of work in experiments like SuperCDMS and new efforts such as TESSERACT, their innovations aim to capture interactions that might occur only once a year or decade in a detector.
Wildfires emit far more harmful air pollutants than previously estimated
New analyses show that wildfires release significantly more gas-phase precursors to fine particulate pollution than older inventories suggested. Many of these previously undercounted emissions transform into PM2.5, worsening health risks and indicating that climate-driven increases in wildfire activity may have been substantially underappreciated in air‑quality models.
Scientists directly image plant ‘breathing’ in real time
Researchers have created an imaging platform that tracks, at high resolution, how much carbon dioxide and water plants exchange with the atmosphere in real time. By visualizing gas flows through leaves and tissues, the technique could improve models of crop productivity and ecosystem carbon cycling under climate change.
Ancient skeletons reveal herpesviruses long embedded in human DNA
Geneticists reconstructed ancient human herpesvirus 6 genomes from Iron Age and medieval European remains, showing the virus has infected humans for at least 2,500 years. They found that in some individuals the viral DNA became integrated into the human genome and was inherited, highlighting a long co-evolutionary history between humans and latent viruses.
Researchers pursue multivalent vaccines against multiple deadly filoviruses
A CEPI-backed consortium announced up to $26.7 million in funding to develop multivalent vaccines that protect against several filoviruses, including Ebola, Sudan, and Bundibugyo viruses. By targeting multiple related pathogens in a single platform, the program aims to provide broader, faster-deployable protection against future hemorrhagic fever outbreaks.