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Scientists have tapped signals from the zeptoverse, a realm 100 billion times smaller than an atom, using data from the LHC. Cambridge-led work suggests new physics avenues and underpins upgrades to detectors, though funding questions in the UK loom over participation in future work.
The Supreme Court is considering the fate of Brazil’s soy moratorium, a voluntary pact that has curbed Amazon deforestation but faced state-law challenges. The court is also reviewing a new environmental licensing regime as lawmakers push back against environmental protections while Lula’s government seeks to sustain gains in forest conservation.
Scientists reconstruct ancient forests using fossil leaf cuticles to show canopy loss during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, revealing how forests thin, then recover slowly—an event linked to today’s rapid CO2 rise and warming.
A fossil from 324 million years ago suggests insects had more legs than today and may reshape understanding of early arthropods during the hexapod gap.
Scientists have used tooth enamel chemistry to estimate Tyrannosaurus rex’s body temperature at about 36°C, placing it among warm‑blooded animals. The research, based on clumped isotope thermometry, is published in Science Advances and relies on enamel from three teeth from Hell Creek Formation fossils.
Frontier AI labs have published machine-generated proofs that they say resolve major problems across mathematics, computer science and physics. OpenAI and Anthropic have each released claims — including a refutation of the Exponential Time Hypothesis and solutions to long-standing conjectures — and researchers are racing to verify the results and debate how AI should be used in research.
Across multiple regions, glacial ice is shrinking rapidly due to record heat and minimal snowfall in 2026, threatening water supplies, habitats and mountain hazards. Studies from Colorado to the Swiss Alps show continuing retreat, with some glaciers melting completely in places like St. Mary’s, while others persist in shaded pockets.
New science shows Manx shearwaters’ internal clocks drift when they cross longitudes, shifting their sun-based navigation and causing minor course errors. Adults correct in flight; first-time migrants may drift hundreds of kilometres, especially when returning east across the Atlantic. The finding uses two decades of GPS data to reveal how timing affects wild navigation.
Archaeologists have found cannabis seeds in a 2,800-year-old Scythian tomb in Siberia and have tested hair samples that indicate psychoactive cannabis use. Published in Science, the study suggests cannabis consumption dates to at least 3,000 years ago, though experts remain cautious about interpreting hair data itself.