Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. Gold-covered hairballs may reveal why cats eat grass

Spiky projections on plant matter may act like “drain snakes,” helping felines dislodge wads of fur

12 Sep 2025  By Christa Lesté-Lasserre 

2. Far more authors use AI to write science papers than admit it, publisher reports

Finding highlights promise, questions about detectors of AI-generated text

12 Sep 2025  By Jeffrey Brainard 

3. Weird rings of DNA fuel cancers. This scientist leads the effort to target them

Paul Mischel and others are testing therapies for rogue genetic loops that drive tumor evolution and growth

11 Sep 2025  By Elie Dolgin 

4. Scientists directly date dino eggshells for the first time

The new findings narrow age estimates for the clutch of eggs—and may help identify which species laid them

11 Sep 2025  By Rita Aksenfeld 

5. Great Britain’s economy didn’t completely tank after Romans left, countering conventional wisdom

“Completely surprising” discovery based on ancient pollutants suggests mining and smelting continued apace for centuries

11 Sep 2025  By Ann Gibbons 

6. ‘Incredible’ fossil reveals earliest relative of lizards and their kin

Paleontologists use x-rays to reconstruct ancient reptile bones too fragile to remove from rock

10 Sep 2025  By Jake Buehler 

7. Strongest black hole collision yet confirms theories of Einstein, Hawking

Observation confirms that a black hole’s area can only grow and never shrink

10 Sep 2025  By Adrian Cho

8. The trick to blowing the perfect dandelion

The umbrellalike tufts resist downward tugs but slip free when lifted up into the wind

9 Sep 2025  By Celina Zhao 

9. Tiger hologram created with technique from early cinema experiment

“Holostereosynthesis” can make holograms out of anything with layers

9 Sep 2025  By Celina Zhao 

10. Remembering David Baltimore, a titan who transformed biology and spoke bluntly

The influential Nobel laureate ran institutions, trained future scientific leaders, survived a scandal, and shaped policy

9 Sep 2025  By Jon Cohen 

11. Microscopic robots navigate ‘artificial spacetimes’

Light-guided bots are steered through mazes like spacecraft tugged by gravity

9 Sep 2025  By Rachel Berkowitz 

12. Thawing permafrost is turning Arctic rivers orange—spelling trouble for fish

In Alaska’s Salmon River, leached metals reach levels that are toxic for aquatic life

8 Sep 2025  By Warren Cornwall