Weekly Headlines (Excerpts)

1. Journal retracts weed killer study backed by Monsanto, citing ‘serious ethical concerns’

Highly cited paper was used as evidence that the widely used herbicide Roundup is safe

 5 DEC 2025  BY WARREN CORNWALL 

2. What’s the fuss about aluminum in vaccines?

Despite extensive safety record, U.S. health advisers are set to discuss claimed link to asthma

 4 DEC 2025  BY PHIE JACOBS 

3. 100 years on, quantum mechanics is redefining reality—with us at the center

Increasingly popular theories hold that experimental outcomes really do depend on the observer

 4 DEC 2025  BY ZACK SAVITSKY

4. ‘Incredible’ carved canoe dates back to first settlement of islands near New Zealand

Fibers found on waka in Chatham Islands roughly align in age with earliest known human arrival

 4 DEC 2025  BY VERONIKA MEDUNA 

5. Medieval volcano may have indirectly sparked Europe’s Black Death

Crop failures caused by eruptions possibly forced grain imports from plague-ridden regions

 4 DEC 2025  BY ANDREW CURRY 

6. Watch this tiny robot somersault through the air like an insect

Device weighing less than a paperclip is faster and more agile than its predecessors

 3 DEC 2025  BY PHIE JACOBS 

7. To boost research, states are building their own AI-ready supercomputers

New York aims to democratize access to hardware often limited to federal labs and Big Tech

 3 DEC 2025  BY CELINA ZHAO 

8. Satellite fleets pose problems for space telescopes, too

Proposed “megaconstellations” would contaminate images from telescopes in low-Earth orbit, including Hubble

 3 DEC 2025  BY DANIEL CLERY 

9. As Energy Department prioritizes AI and fusion, basic research faces squeeze

Reorganization could shift mission of the United States’s largest funder of the physical sciences

 2 DEC 2025  BY ADRIAN CHO 

10. Brain’s ‘plumbing’ inspires new Alzheimer’s strategies—and controversial surgeries

Animal studies support idea that boosting fluid clearance could blunt neurological disorders

 2 DEC 2025  BY JENNIE ERIN SMITH 

11. Seeking greater independence, Europe boosts space agency budget

X-ray observatory and mission to Saturn’s moon Enceladus win as ESA’s science program sees growth

 1 DEC 2025  BY DANIEL CLERY 

12. How some treatments can lead to a ‘functional cure’ for HIV

Specific class of immune cells help keep virus at bay for months or years—even in the absence of drugs

 1 DEC 2025  BY JON COHEN