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January 22, 2026

Top Headlines

The Genetic Advantage That Helps Some People Stay Sharp for Life

Jan. 22, 2026 A new study reveals that super agers over 80 have a distinct genetic edge. They are much less likely to carry the gene most associated with Alzheimer’s risk, even when compared with other healthy seniors. Researchers also found higher levels of a ...

Why Some People Get Bad Colds and Others Don’t

Jan. 22, 2026 Scientists found that nasal cells act as a first line of defense against the common cold, working together to block rhinovirus soon after infection. A fast antiviral response can stop the virus before symptoms appear. If that response is weakened or ...

NASA Astronaut Suni Williams Retires After 608 Days in Space and Nine Spacewalks

Jan. 22, 2026 NASA astronaut Suni Williams has retired after 27 years of service and a career defined by endurance, leadership, and firsts in space. She spent 608 days in orbit, completed nine spacewalks, and ...

Physicists Challenge a 200-year-old Law of Thermodynamics at the Atomic Scale

Jan. 22, 2026 A long-standing law of thermodynamics turns out to have a loophole at the smallest scales. Researchers have shown that quantum engines made of correlated particles can exceed the traditional ...

After 11 Years of Research, Scientists Unlock a New Weakness in Deadly Fungi

Jan. 22, 2026 Fungal infections are becoming deadlier as drug resistance spreads and treatment options stall. Researchers at McMaster University discovered that a molecule called butyrolactol A can dramatically ...

Researchers Unlocked a New Shortcut to Quantum Materials

Jan. 22, 2026 Scientists are learning how to temporarily reshape materials by nudging their internal quantum rhythms instead of blasting them with extreme lasers. By harnessing excitons, short-lived energy pairs that naturally form inside semiconductors, ...

A Tiny Spin Change Just Flipped a Famous Quantum Effect

Jan. 21, 2026 When quantum spins interact, they can produce collective behaviors that defy long-standing expectations. Researchers have now shown that the Kondo effect behaves very differently depending on spin size. In systems with small spins, it suppresses ...

The Hidden Microbes That Decide How Sourdough Tastes

Jan. 21, 2026 The microbes living in sourdough starters don’t just appear by chance—they’re shaped by what bakers feed them. New research shows that while the same hardy yeast tends to dominate sourdough starters regardless of flour type, the bacteria tell ...

Life’s Chemistry May Begin in the Cold Darkness of Space

Jan. 21, 2026 New experiments reveal that protein precursors can form naturally in deep space under extreme cold and radiation. Scientists found that simple amino acids bond into peptides on interstellar dust, long before stars and planets exist. This challenges ...

Walking Sharks Break the Rules of Reproduction

Jan. 21, 2026 Epaulette sharks can reproduce without any measurable increase in energy use, stunning researchers who expected egg-laying to be costly. Scientists tracked metabolism, blood, and hormone levels through the entire reproductive cycle and found ...

Spacecraft Captures the "Magnetic Avalanche" That Triggers Giant Solar Explosions

Jan. 21, 2026 Solar Orbiter has captured the clearest evidence yet that a solar flare grows through a cascading “magnetic avalanche.” Small, weak magnetic disturbances rapidly multiplied, triggering stronger ...

The Human Brain May Work More Like AI Than Anyone Expected

Jan. 21, 2026 Scientists have discovered that the human brain understands spoken language in a way that closely resembles how advanced AI language models work. By tracking brain activity as people listened to a long podcast, researchers found that meaning unfolds ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:06am EST

Scientists Are Building Viruses from Scratch to Fight Superbugs

Jan. 21, 2026 Researchers from New England Biolabs (NEB®) and Yale University describe the first fully synthetic bacteriophage engineering system for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an antibiotic-resistant bacterium ...

Stanford Scientists Found a Way to Regrow Cartilage and Stop Arthritis

Jan. 20, 2026 Scientists at Stanford Medicine have discovered a treatment that can reverse cartilage loss in aging joints and even prevent arthritis after knee injuries. By blocking a protein linked to aging, the ...

Patients Tried Everything for Depression Then This Implant Changed Their Lives

Jan. 20, 2026 Researchers report that vagus nerve stimulation helped many people with long-standing, treatment-resistant depression feel better—and stay ...

A Faint Signal from the Universe’s Dark Ages Could Reveal Dark Matter

Jan. 20, 2026 After the Big Bang, the Universe entered a long, dark period before the first stars formed. During this era, hydrogen emitted a faint radio signal that still echoes today. New simulations show this ...

James Webb Catches an Exoplanet Losing Its Atmosphere in Real Time

Jan. 20, 2026 Astronomers have captured the most dramatic view yet of a planet losing its atmosphere, watching the ultra-hot gas giant WASP-121b for an entire orbit with the James Webb Space Telescope. Instead of ...

Your Brain Does Something Surprising When You Don’t Sleep

Jan. 20, 2026 When you’re short on sleep and your focus suddenly drifts, your brain may be briefly slipping into cleanup mode. Scientists discovered that these attention lapses coincide with waves of fluid ...

Scientists Solve a Major Roadblock Holding Back Cancer Cell Therapy

Jan. 20, 2026 Researchers have found a reliable way to grow helper T cells from stem cells, solving a major challenge in immune-based cancer therapy. Helper T cells act as the immune system’s coordinators, ...

A Wobbling Black Hole Jet Is Stripping a Galaxy of Star-Forming Gas

Jan. 19, 2026 A nearby active galaxy called VV 340a offers a dramatic look at how a supermassive black hole can reshape its entire host. Astronomers observed a relatively weak but restless jet blasting outward ...

NASA’s Artemis II Reaches the Launch Pad and the Countdown to the Moon Begins

Jan. 19, 2026 NASA’s Artemis II rocket has reached its launch pad after a painstaking overnight crawl across Kennedy Space Center. Engineers are now preparing ...

The Overlooked Survival Strategy That Made Us Human

Jan. 19, 2026 Long before humans became master hunters, our ancestors were already thriving by making the most of what nature left behind. New research suggests that scavenging animal carcasses wasn’t a ...

A Common Vitamin Could Influence Bathroom Frequency

Jan. 22, 2026 Scientists studying genetic data from over a quarter million people have uncovered new clues about what controls how fast the gut moves. They identified multiple DNA regions linked to bowel movement ...

Finally Explained: Why Kidney Disease Is So Deadly for the Heart

Jan. 20, 2026 Scientists have uncovered why people with chronic kidney disease so often die from heart problems: damaged kidneys release tiny particles into the bloodstream that actively poison the heart. These ...

Scientists Identify Hidden Protein Interaction Driving Parkinson’s Disease

Jan. 20, 2026 Researchers have identified a key molecular interaction that accelerates Parkinson’s disease by damaging the brain’s energy systems. They designed a new treatment that intercepts this harmful ...

New Research Shows Emotional Expressions Work Differently in Autism

Jan. 19, 2026 Researchers found that autistic and non-autistic people move their faces differently when expressing emotions like anger, happiness, and sadness. Autistic participants tended to rely on different ...

Cannabis Was Touted for Nerve Pain. The Evidence Falls Short

Jan. 19, 2026 Cannabis-based medicines have been widely promoted as a potential answer for people living with chronic nerve pain—but a major new review finds the evidence just isn’t there yet. After analyzing ...

Scientists Trace Fertilizer Microplastics from Fields to Beaches

Jan. 19, 2026 Plastic-coated fertilizers used on farms are emerging as a major but hidden source of ocean microplastics. A new study found that only a tiny fraction reaches beaches through rivers, while direct ...

Scientists Discover Why Some Wounds Refuse to Heal

Jan. 20, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a surprising reason why some chronic wounds refuse to heal, even when treated with antibiotics. A common bacterium found in long-lasting wounds does not just resist drugs. ...

How the Frog Meat Trade Helped Spread a Deadly Fungus Worldwide

Jan. 19, 2026 A deadly fungus that has wiped out hundreds of amphibian species worldwide may have started its global journey in Brazil. Genetic evidence and trade data suggest the fungus hitchhiked across the ...

Major Review Finds No Autism or ADHD Risk from Pregnancy Tylenol

Jan. 19, 2026 A major new scientific review brings reassuring news for expectant parents: using acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy does not increase a child’s risk of autism, ADHD, or ...

Silver Just Solved a Major Solid-State Battery Problem

Jan. 18, 2026 Solid-state batteries could store more energy and charge faster than today’s batteries, but they tend to crack and fail over time. Stanford researchers found that a nanoscale silver treatment can ...

The Ring Nebula Is Hiding a Giant Structure Made of Iron

Jan. 18, 2026 A huge bar of iron has been discovered lurking inside the iconic Ring Nebula. The structure is enormous, spanning hundreds of times the size of Pluto’s orbit and containing a Mars-sized amount of ...

Tiny Earthquakes Are Revealing a Dangerous Secret Beneath California

Jan. 17, 2026 Scientists are uncovering a hidden and surprisingly complex earthquake zone beneath Northern California by tracking swarms of tiny earthquakes that are far too weak to feel. These faint tremors are ...

NASA Brings Crew-11 Home Early in Rare Medical Evacuation

Jan. 16, 2026 SpaceX Crew-11 splashed down safely in the Pacific after more than five months in orbit aboard the International Space Station. The four astronauts completed over 140 experiments and traveled nearly ...

Forest Loss Is Driving Mosquitoes’ Thirst for Human Blood

Jan. 15, 2026 In the rapidly disappearing Atlantic Forest, mosquitoes are adapting to a human-dominated landscape. Scientists found that many species now prefer feeding on people rather than the forest’s diverse ...

Scientists Found Hidden Synapse Hotspots in the Teen Brain

Jan. 16, 2026 Scientists have discovered that the adolescent brain does more than prune old connections. During the teen years, it actively builds dense new clusters of synapses in specific parts of neurons. These ...

Engineers Just Created a “phonon Laser” That Could Shrink Your Next Smartphone

Jan. 17, 2026 Engineers have created a device that generates incredibly tiny, earthquake-like vibrations on a microchip—and it could transform future electronics. Using a new kind of “phonon laser,” the team ...

An Endocrinologist Tried a New Weight Loss Approach and It Worked

Jan. 17, 2026 A simple change in how primary care clinics approach weight management is delivering big public health wins. PATHWEIGH lets patients openly request help and gives doctors the tools to focus entire ...

Scientists Are Rethinking Bamboo as a Powerful New Superfood

Jan. 16, 2026 Bamboo shoots may be far more than a crunchy side dish. A comprehensive review found they can help control blood sugar, support heart and gut health, and reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. ...

Researchers Found a Tipping Point for Video Gaming and Health

Jan. 16, 2026 Moderate video gaming appears harmless, but heavy gaming may take a toll on young people’s health. Researchers found that students gaming more than 10 hours a week had worse diets, higher body ...

The Breakthrough That Makes Robot Faces Feel Less Creepy

Jan. 16, 2026 Humans pay enormous attention to lips during conversation, and robots have struggled badly to keep up. A new robot developed at Columbia Engineering learned realistic lip movements by watching its ...