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Neuroscience columnist Helen Thomson on how she discovered a host of evidence-based ways to keep her brain healthier in 2026

Feedback has spent some time sifting through 2025's key scientific achievements to come up with a range of weird and wonderful (and less wonderful) winners for our inaugural Backsies awards

Our gut microbiome has a huge influence on our overall health, but we haven't been clear on the specific bacteria with good versus bad effects. Now, a study of more than 34,000 people is shedding light on what a healthy gut microbiome actually consists of

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has confirmed the source of a super-bright flash of light known as a gamma-ray burst, generated by an exploding massive star when the Universe was only 730 million years old. For the first time for such a remote event, the telescope provided a detection of the supernova’s host galaxy. Webb’s quick-turnaround observations verified data taken by telescopes around the world that had been following the gamma-ray burst since its onset, which occurred in mid-March.

From a particle smasher encircling the moon to an “impossible” laser, five scientists reveal the experiments they would run in a world powered purely by imagination

The rollout of a type of genetic technology called a gene drive for tackling malaria could be edging closer after a lab study supports its success

An excavation in Suffolk, UK, has uncovered pyrite and flint that appear to have been used by ancient humans to light fires some 400,000 years ago

Uranus and Neptune may not be the icy worlds we’ve long imagined. A new Swiss-led study uses innovative hybrid modeling to reveal that these planets could just as easily be dominated by rock as by water-rich ices. The findings also help explain their bizarre, multi-poled magnetic fields and open the door to a wider range of possible interior structures. But major uncertainties remain, and only future space missions will be able to uncover what truly lies beneath their blue atmospheres.

Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called “tree2,” is actually described as “A resurrection from 2006.” The barmaid, ever critical, points out that God is not a helicopter parent.

There is an entire industry catering to people who, as Webb once famously said on the hilarious Homeopathic A&E skit, have “more money than sense.” This is the so-called “wellness” industry, now supercharged by an online army of “wellness influencers”. At first approximation, this entire industry is basically a scam. That may sound unfair, but it is built into its very essence. […]

The post Extracorporeal Blood Oxygenation and Ozonation first appeared on Science-Based Medicine.

New research reveals that Earth’s solid inner core is actually in a superionic state, where carbon atoms flow freely through a solid iron lattice. This unusual behavior makes the core soft, matching seismic observations that have puzzled scientists for decades. The mobility of these light elements may also contribute energy to Earth’s magnetic field. The findings reshape models of Earth’s interior and could apply to other rocky planets.

From bonobos and rats to tickling robots, research is finally cracking the secrets of why we’re ticklish, and what that reveals about our brains

As Australian teenagers lose access to social media, observers say there are still many unknown questions about the ban, which came into force on 10 December

The early universe was a pretty intense place to be. And not just “early” as in a few billion years ago. I mean early early, just a few seconds after the Big Bang. The universe is small, less than a meter across. It’s hot, with temperatures so high it doesn’t even make sense to say them – they’re just stupidly high numbers with no connection to our everyday existence.

The UK is actively trying to support the infrastructure to make it a significant player in the coming age of the space economy. It recently received 560 proposals to it’s National Space Innovation Program, and handed out £17M in grants to 17 different organizations following five main themes. One of those is an effort by the University of Leicester and The Welding Institute (TWI) to develop a robotic welder for use in repairing and manufacturing in space, as described by a new press release from the university.

Astronomers have discovered a filament 50 million light years long containing hundreds of galaxies, all spinning together. This immense structure, located 140 million light years away, challenges current models of galaxy formation by showing that large scale rotation can persist far longer and more coherently than theories predicted. The discovery offers a rare glimpse into how galaxies acquire their spin and reveals the Cosmic Web as a more dynamically active place than previously imagined.

For centuries, Europeans thought that eternal daylight saturated the cosmos. The shift to a dark universe has had a profound psychological impact upon us

New evidence suggests that alcohol was a surprisingly big motivator in our monumental transition from hunting and gathering to farming – but was beer really more important to us than bread?

A new study reveals that Mars plays a surprisingly crucial role in Earth's climate cycles, with new simulations showing that the mass of our planetary neighbours directly controls the timing and intensity of Milankovitch cycles that drive ice ages. By varying Mars's mass from zero to ten times its current value in computer models, researchers discovered that a more massive Mars strengthens the ~100,000 year climate cycles and creates the 2.4 million year "grand cycle" that influences Earth's long term climate. This finding demonstrates that Earth's climate rhythms are connected to the gravitational structure of the inner Solar System, not just the Sun and Moon.

The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope has delivered an unprecedented set of observations of one million galaxies that shows that galaxy collisions play a dominant role in awakening supermassive black holes from their sleep. Using revolutionary AI-powered analysis methods, astronomers discovered that merging galaxies contain up to six times more active black holes than isolated galaxies, with the most luminous black holes found almost exclusively in collision zones.