Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. Why do some moms have more boys than girls—or vice versa? New study provides clues

Researchers find that certain genetic variants and mother’s age may have an impact on the sex of her children

 18 JUL 2025  BY NAZEEFA AHMED 

2. A new kind of telescope is set to search for mysterious fast radio bursts

Radio telescopes usually have giant dishes, but not these all-sky antenna arrays

 18 JUL 2025  BY DENNIS NORMILE 

3. How a string of deadly shark attacks made a remote island a hub of lifesaving research

After 11 deaths, Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean became a center for shark attack science

 17 JUL 2025  BY ALEXA ROBLES-GIL 

4. Google alerts offer quick, cheap earthquake warnings

In 3 years, system embedded in Android phones sent warnings to millions of users in 98 countries

 17 JUL 2025  BY NAZEEFA AHMED 

5. New transplant techniques keep organ donors’ hearts healthy—even after they stop beating

Strategies for preserving the heart after circulation stops could avoid ethical concerns and enable more transplants

 16 JUL 2025  BY PHIE JACOBS 

6. A mushroom that escaped from kitchens could be harming North American wildlife

The golden oyster mushroom has gone rogue, displacing n

ative fungi that live in dead trees

 16 JUL 2025  BY ERIK STOKSTAD 

7. Meet the diabetes researcher behind Barbie’s new pink (insulin) pumps

New line of dolls aims to help children with type 1 diabetes feel more included

 16 JUL 2025  BY JON COHEN 

8. Molecular fossils offer first glimpse of how life survived Snowball Earth

Overlooked rock samples from 640 million years ago record microbes hanging on beneath frozen oceans

 15 JUL 2025  BY ELISE CUTTS 

9. Majority of fruit fly immunity studies can be replicated, huge analysis finds

Verification of 50 years of data bolsters immunology research, but identifies “suspicious” papers that don’t hold up

 15 JUL 2025  BY CATHLEEN O’GRADY 

10. Ancient human ancestor emerges from sunken Southeast Asian landmass

Submerged fossils are revealing long-held secrets from a region known as Sundaland

 15 JUL 2025  BY TAYLOR MITCHELL BROWN 

11. New study blames diet, not physical inactivity, for obesity crisis

But some scientists warn the research, which compared energy burned across populations, can’t reveal the epidemic’s causes

 14 JUL 2025  BY CATHERINE OFFORD