Top science news headlines for the week 17

Monday, Apr 20
Mathematics
2049

World's largest collection of Olympiad-level math problems now available to everyone

General Physics
585

Could the mathematical 'shape' of the universe solve the cosmological constant problem?

Archaeology
1313

New genetic evidence from Stajnia Cave reveals the oldest Neanderthal group reconstructed in Central-Eastern Europe

General Physics
723

LHC decay anomaly reveals possible crack in the Standard Model

Optics & Photonics
40

Why ultrashort laser pulses could make low-power electron sources far more practical

Environment
5

Hot spring microbiomes could transform industrial carbon dioxide waste into valuable products

Space Exploration
73

NASA shuts off instrument on Voyager 1 to keep spacecraft operating

Tuesday, Apr 21
Veterinary medicine
17

A few extra minutes of daily play can strengthen your bond with your dog in four weeks

Political science
27

Half of America sits in democratic limbo—and that silent middle may decide what breaks next

Environment
26

Toxins from Great Salt Lake dust are absorbed by plants, soils and human bodies

Social Sciences
6

Sex bias against women skews government violence statistics

Plants & Animals
323

Uganda's Python Cave reveals how a Marburg virus outbreak could begin

Social Sciences
21

One daily habit is quietly shaping preschool language, and it is not just screen time

Environment
25

Research at Chernobyl and Fukushima shows how radioactive materials move in the environment

Wednesday, Apr 22
General Physics
942

Classical physics can explain quantum weirdness, study shows

Evolution
3425

For 74,000 years, one ancient killer quietly dictated where early humans could survive across Africa

General Physics
283

Do decoherence, gravity, dark matter and dark energy all originate from quantum corrections?

Evolution
303

Ancient amber reveals a true bug equipped with claws, a highly unusual feature

Plants & Animals
217

Plants can sense the sound of rain, new study finds

Environment
8

South Africa coal delay could cause 32,000 deaths, report says

Environment
45

Water to surge into drought-depleted Lake Powell but at costs elsewhere

Thursday, Apr 23
Social Sciences
121

Why groups slowly stop working well together, even when conditions are good

Evolution
227

Neanderthals may have shared key DNA for complex language, reshaping when human speech began

Archaeology
850

Scraped from ancient Roman toilets, these crusted remains expose a pathogen found far earlier than expected

Earth Sciences
317

Nuclear war at Ukraine-Russia border could trigger years of global climate disruption and radioactive fallout

Cell & Microbiology
71

What if humans could regrow tissue? New study moves science closer

Condensed Matter
87

Quantum chips could scale faster with new spin-qubit readout that reduces sensors and wiring

Optics & Photonics
477

Physicists revive 1990s laser concept to propose a next-generation atomic clock

Friday, Apr 24
Archaeology
996

42 lost pages of the new testament manuscript discovered

Plants & Animals
17

A third of animal habitats on land could experience multiple extreme events by 2085, new study suggests

Social Sciences
47

How deceptive content reached millions of voters during the 2020 US elections

Space Exploration
21

Q&A: Apollo astronaut Schmitt talks about getting back to the moon and life in the universe

Social Sciences
17

New study reveals how video games support children's well-being

Nanomaterials
116

Carbon nanotubes are closing the gap on copper conductivity

Environment
60

El Niño season predicted to start as early as next month

Saturday, Apr 25
Plants & Animals
3295

The platypus is even weirder than thought, scientists discover

Other
171

Studying the emergence of leaders in moving crowds of pedestrians

Earth Sciences
58

Venice is sinking. We analyzed every plan to save it, and none would preserve the city as we know it

Cell & Microbiology
48

This life‑threatening bacterium's hidden motor just gave medicine an unexpected opening to fight back

Ecology
43

Australian farmers are battling another potential mouse plague—what is causing it?

Evolution
224

Before dinosaurs vanished, a hamster-sized mammal was already shaping what survived next on the Pacific Coast

Ecology
18

Century of data shows global decline in fish growth

Sunday, Apr 26
Mathematics
1116

Universal patterns emerge across 22 languages, mapping how vocabularies evolve

Education
303

This new tool makes AI's role in student writing visible

Social Sciences
622

The fake disease that fooled the internet, and what it says about all of us

Social Sciences
35

Can warning videos blunt misinformation? What a 12-country test found

Environment
63

Microplastics have been found to interact with the gut microbiome. Here's what health effects they might have

Cell & Microbiology
97

AI-enhanced microscopy produces crisp, real-time video inside live cells

Environment
138

Ammonia as a clean fuel: 'Do not create a new nitrogen problem,' says researcher