Artist impression of the planetary system around the star LHS 1903 ESA Astronomers have found a planetary system that seems to have formed inside-out. While most systems, like our own, have rocky planets closest to their star and gaseous ones further out, the LHS 1903 system has a rocky world at its edge, challenging established…
The idea that cancer treatment might work better at certain times of day has circulated for decades but has rarely faced rigorous clinical testing. Now, a randomized trial of 210 people with advanced lung cancer affirms that timing really matters, researchers report February 2 in Nature Medicine. The study is the first controlled trial to…
One idle evening last October, Mehtaab Sawhney took up an old pastime. He began perusing the website erdosproblems.com, an updated record of the 1,179 conjectures left behind by the eccentric and indefatigable 20th-century mathematician Paul Erdős. Sawhney, a mathematician at Columbia University, had always been interested in the Erdős problems, which range from minor curiosities…
Artist’s depiction of QT45 (based on AlphaFold3 prediction) overlayed on a microscopy image of the frozen environment that aids RNA replication Elfy Chiang, microscopy image by James Attwater According to the RNA world hypothesis, life began when RNA molecules evolved the ability to make more copies of themselves. Now we have discovered an RNA molecule…
Like a double-stuffed Oreo of planetary proportions, the star LHS 1903 boasts two rocky exoplanets sandwiching two gaseous ones. From the star outward, the lineup — rocky-gaseous-gaseous-rocky — defies models that predict rocky planets appearing close in and gaseous ones further out. The configuration hints at a history of violence in the system, potentially refining…
The only woman in a laboratory filled with men, Katharine Burr Blodgett soon becomes indispensable as an assistant to the General Electric Company’s most famous scientist, Irving Langmuir. Their working relationship is an elegant symbiosis. Her forte is experimentation; his is scientific theory. We follow their partnership as they successfully find ways to build a…
Illustration of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing complex (pink and purple) bound to DNA (helix) Science Photo Library/Alamy Imagine if, instead of delivering a leaflet individually to each home, a postal worker just had to give one to a volunteer on each block, who then photocopied it and handed out copies to neighbours. That postal worker would…
Daniel John slips his arms through the straps of his souped-up baby carrier, settles the harness against his chest and eases a newborn-sized doll behind the smoky blue–tinted window velcroed into the fabric. He checks the fit and smiles, confident that his medical sling will help turn a long-stalled idea into something tangible — and…
February 11, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm How do deep-sea fish see in dark water? This new study could hold the clue Three species of Red Sea fish appear to rely on special “hybrid” retina cells to see in dim environments By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron Maurolicus mucronatus,…
Oshen’s robotic sailboats are powered by the wind and the sun Oshen The UK’s Royal Navy may return to the age of sail, with a new demonstration involving a flotilla of small, wind-propelled robot boats. Made by Oshen in Plymouth, UK, the vessels, known as C-Stars, are just 1.2 metres long and weigh around 40…
