Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. Stalagmites reveal devastating droughts that helped spur Maya breakdown

Series of droughts chronicled in cave rocks likely pushed civilization to breaking point

29 Aug 2025  By Taylor Mitchell Brown 

2. Has a huge blob of dark matter been found in our galactic neighborhood?

If confirmed, vast cloud could test predictions about the Milky Way’s hidden architecture

29 Aug 2025  By Daniel Clery 

3. AI enters the grant game, picking winners

Funders test algorithms to spot promising science, raising hopes of faster reviews—and fears of bias

29 Aug 2025  By Siddhant Pusdekar 

4. Mammoths in Mexico? Huge bone trove reveals giant beasts thrived in warmth, too

Fossils found while building airport contain first mammoth DNA from tropical location

28 Aug 2025  By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega 

5. Erin Brockovich toxic metal detected in air after LA fires

The unusually tiny particles of hexavalent chromium could pose a health hazard despite low levels, researchers say

28 Aug 2025  By Warren Cornwall 

6. College sports policy prevents athletes’ deaths with sickle cell testing—but it could do more, study finds

New report recommends improved education and genetic counseling alongside NCAA’s mandated screening

27 Aug 2025  By Rodrigo Pérez Ortega 

7. Remembering Rainer Weiss, inventor of the gravitational wave detector

Beloved physicist sketched out the concept that would lead to one of the biggest discoveries in physics and astronomy

27 Aug 2025  By Adrian Cho 

8. Glow-in-the-dark particles let succulents shine in the dark

New technique lets popular houseplants glow for a little while—without genetic engineering

27 Aug 2025  By Erik Stokstad 

9. Study shows how the human pelvis was reshaped for upright walking

Comparisons of pelvic development in human and primate embryos reveals key steps in human evolution

27 Aug 2025  By Colin Barras 

10. Here’s how the first proteins might have assembled, sparking life

RNA could have helped amino acids join up without preexisting protein machinery, lab study suggests

27 Aug 2025  By Robert F. Service 

11. New look at 1755 quake, Europe’s largest ever, may foretell Atlantic ‘ring of fire’

Analysis suggests Earth’s mantle is peeling from the crust in the eastern Atlantic, a possible sign of the ocean’s eventual closure

27 Aug 2025  By Evan Howell 

12. Deep-sea worms fight poison with poison to survive in hydrothermal vents

Combining arsenic and sulfide in skin cells forms a less toxic mineral—and turns the animals bright yellow

26 Aug 2025  By Phie Jacobs 

13. Bats may mistake wind turbines for open sky, causing deadly collisions

Study may help explain why giant blades kill millions of the animals every year

26 Aug 2025  By Sachin Rawat 

14. AI-generated scientific hypotheses lag human ones when put to the test

Machines still face hurdles in identifying fresh research paths, study suggests

Got a tip for Science’s news department?

25 Aug 2025  By Jeffrey Brainard 

15. In a first, pig lung survives and functions—briefly—in a person

Organ transplanted to brain-dead man lasts for more than a week before succumbing to an immune assault

25 Aug 2025  By Jon Cohen