Weekly headlines (Excerpts)

1. Researchers customize AI tools at global ‘hackathon’

More than 1200 scientists and developers explore how large language models can be applied to materials science and chemistry

19 Sep 2025  By Zack Savitsky 

2. How the yellow fever mosquito conquered the world

Aedes aegypti further adapted to life around humans when it arrived in the Americas, study of hundreds of mosquito genomes reveals

18 Sep 2025  By Gretchen Vogel 

3. Vaccine given during pregnancy could protect babies from an invisible killer

Shots target group B streptococcus, a little-known microbe that can cause stillbirths and life-threatening disease in infants

18 Sep 2025  By Leslie Roberts 

4. First insect-bearing amber found in South America gives clues to forest life 112 million years ago

Flies, beetles, wasps, and other creatures from the Cretaceous reveal ecosystems details of the Gondwanan supercontinent

18 Sep 2025  By Celina Zhao 

5. Smart dogs have a humanlike knack for naming new objects

In games with toys, “gifted” dogs can extend names to new objects with the same purpose as known ones

18 Sep 2025  By Cathleen O’Grady 

6. Amid war, a Ukrainian genomics research program blooms

Inaugural project for new center searches for genes involved in diabetes

17 Sep 2025  By Richard Stone 

7. Have half of wildebeests in the Serengeti disappeared?

New satellite method does not align with past estimates from aerial surveys, but some biologists are skeptical

17 Sep 2025  By Gennaro Tomma 

8. Neurodegeneration may emerge in football players earlier than previously thought

Even in athletes without chronic traumatic encephalopathy, brain tissue showed neuron loss and other changes, though their significance isn’t clear

17 Sep 2025  By Catherine Offord 

9. Scientists make most authentic kidney replicas so far

Lab-grown organoids reproduce some of a kidney’s internal structure and function

17 Sep 2025  By Mitch Leslie