Recent reporting, background, and summaries from the science desk.
Scientists have uncovered a "death switch" in the brain, a toxic protein complex driving Alzheimer's disease by destroying brain cells and causing memory loss. This groundbreaking discovery, successfully deactivated in mice to slow disease progression and reduce amyloid buildup, offers a significant new target for developing effective human treatments.
Microplastics are infiltrating forests, primarily arriving through the air and settling onto treetops before being washed or dropped to the forest floor, as scientists reported in ScienceDaily. Natural processes, such as leaf decay, then help bury and store these plastic particles deep in the soil, revealing forests as hidden reservoirs of airborne plastic pollution.
Scientists have uncovered the oldest direct evidence of Earth's tectonic plates moving 3.5 billion years ago, significantly pushing back the timeline for planetary dynamism. This groundbreaking discovery challenges previous beliefs about a rigid early Earth and suggests such early plate movement may have been crucial for the emergence of life.
Scientists have unveiled that entangled light can harbor astonishingly complex topological structures, reaching an unprecedented 48 dimensions. This groundbreaking discovery, observed through standard quantum optics, promises to revolutionize quantum information encoding by offering a vast new "alphabet" for data.
New research reveals that a mysterious platinum spike in Greenland's ice, once thought to be from a catastrophic cosmic impact 12,800 years ago, actually originated from prolonged volcanic eruptions in Iceland. This discovery fundamentally re-evaluates the initial trigger for the Younger Dryas cooling period, as the platinum signal appeared decades *after* the cold snap began, disproving an extraterrestrial cause.
Scientists have discovered that the Small Magellanic Cloud's chaotic stellar movements are the direct result of an ancient collision with a larger neighboring galaxy, which significantly disrupted its structure. This groundbreaking finding not only redefines our understanding of the galaxy's evolutionary history but also challenges its previous classification as a textbook example for galaxy formation studies.
During Canada Water Week, the Honourable Julie Dabrusin unveiled the National Freshwater Science Agenda, a new plan set to guide Canada's freshwater science and research for the next decade to improve management and strengthen long-term competitiveness. This comprehensive initiative integrates Indigenous knowledge, addresses critical themes like water availability and land-use stressors, and considers ecosystem resilience and socio-economic factors.
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered that the "super-puff" exoplanet Kepler-51d is enveloped in the thickest haze ever detected, rendering its atmospheric composition an impenetrable mystery. This Saturn-sized, cotton-candy-like world, with a density challenging existing formation models, remains an enigma even for JWST, prompting further investigation into its origins.
The Hubble Space Telescope unexpectedly captured the dramatic breakup of comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) into at least four distinct pieces after its closest approach to the sun, an event NASA described as a "happy twist of fate." This rare observation, likely caused by intense solar heat and gravity, offers scientists an unprecedented opportunity to study pristine material from the early solar system.
Scientists at the SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment have achieved an incredible feat, cooling their detectors to near absolute zero—a temperature 100 times colder than outer space. This groundbreaking step is crucial for their upcoming science run, which aims to detect elusive light dark matter, a substance believed to constitute 85% of the universe's matter.
Melting ice, leading to rising sea levels, is subtly slowing Earth's rotation and making days fractionally longer, much like a figure skater extending their arms. This unprecedented slowdown, occurring at a rate of 1.33 milliseconds per century, hasn't been observed in 3.6 million years and could eventually impact critical technologies like GPS.
New research reveals Mars may have sustained habitable conditions for a significantly longer period, with ancient sand dunes in Gale Crater showing evidence of being saturated by underground water billions of years ago. This discovery of hidden, mineral-rich habitats expands the potential for finding past extraterrestrial life and offers prime targets for future Martian exploration.