Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. Could a giant dam save the Atlantic currents that keep Europe warm?

Geoengineering scheme that would block the Bering Strait could kill the ocean circulation it’s meant to protect, researchers warn

 5 Sep 2025  By Paul Voosen 

2. How do giant sperm avoid getting tangled up?

Study in fruit flies sheds light on quirk of insect fertility

 5 Sep 2025  By Rohini Subrahmanyam 

3. The last gift: How bodies donated for research may help find a cure for HIV

Pioneering project uses “rapid autopsies” to find virus hideouts in infected people

 4 Sep 2025  By Jon Cohen 

4. New ‘hyperlocal’ forecasts aim to give Indian cities early warning of monsoon floods

In Mumbai, new tools provided up to 3 days notice of dangerous downpours

 4 Sep 2025  By Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar 

5. Studies deliver new blow to cancer microbiome literature—and offer a way forward

Two analyses of microbial DNA in tumor samples aim to put controversy-riddled field back on track

 3 Sep 2025  By Catherine Offord 

6. Mosquito-borne viruses surge in a warming Europe

Chikungunya cases break records in France; West Nile virus appears near Rome

 3 Sep 2025  By Meredith Wadman 

7. Ancient skeletons’ genes reveal origin of the Slavic people

DNA connects modern Slavs to a wave of migration following the fall of the Roman Empire

 3 Sep 2025  By Andrew Curry 

8. Data from defunct NASA lander paint a radical new picture of Mars’s interior

Studies identify a solid inner core and buried remnants of giant impacts

 3 Sep 2025  By Paul Voosen 

9. Ant queen lays eggs that hatch into two species

Bizarre discovery of interspecies cloning “almost impossible to believe,” biologists say

 3 Sep 2025  By Erik Stokstad 

10. Human ancestors braved England’s ice-covered northlands 440,000 years ago

How exactly ancient toolmakers survived the harsh conditions remains a mystery

1 Sep 2025  By Colin Barras 

11. 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