Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. Could blocking ‘jumping genes’ help fight disease and aging?

The first clinical trials are testing inhibitors of transposons, DNA sequences that hop around the genome on their own

 17 APR 2025  BY MITCH LESLIE

2. Toxic metals abound in soils worldwide, new global map reveals

An analysis combining nearly 800,000 soil measurements charts threats to agriculture and human health

 17 APR 2025  BY ERIK STOKSTAD 

3. News at a glance: Gene-edited pig kidney fails in patient, a new German tech ministry, and Harvard’s federal funds frozen

The latest in science and policy

 17 APR 2025  BY SCIENCE NEWS STAFF 

4. Alien planet’s atmosphere bears chemical hints of life, astronomers claim

A study suggests a distant world has gases linked on Earth to algae, but others urge caution before invoking alien slime

 17 APR 2025  BY DANIEL CLERY 

5. Bizarre ‘Tatooine’ exoplanet orbits two failed stars at once

About 120 light-years from Earth, two brown dwarfs host a planet with a surprisingly sideways orbit

 16 APR 2025  BY JENNA AHART 

6. Companies seek a second obesity treatment revolution—in pill form

Smaller, more easily made drugs that target GLP-1 could treat obesity and diabetes with fewer side effects

 15 APR 2025  BY RACHEL BRAZIL 

7. Colossal squid filmed in its natural habitat for the first time

The enigmatic predator, the heaviest known invertebrate, had never been seen alive in deep water

 15 APR 2025  BY ERIK STOKSTAD

8. What’s the deal with dire wolves? Iconic predators may have been ‘the Neanderthals of the wolf world’

New analysis of ancient DNA has been overshadowed by the controversy over de-extinction and genetically edited gray wolf pups

 18 APR 2025  BY PHIE JACOBS 

9. Chinese star catalog is the world’s oldest, astronomers claim

Novel computer analysis of records ascribed to legendary Chinese astrologer dates them to nearly 2400 years ago

 18 APR 2025  BY JOSHUA SOKOL