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Science
What the world is talking about, with sources. Every piece is prepared with artificial intelligence, and every claim links to where it came from.
Photosynthesis Explained: How Plants Turn Sunlight Into Chemical Energy
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae and some bacteria use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make sugar and oxygen. It happens in two linked stages inside chloroplasts: light-dependent reactions that capture solar energy, and the Calvin cycle that uses that energy to build carbohydrates.
How Vaccines Work: From Lab Development to Immune Protection
Vaccines work by showing the immune system a harmless piece of a pathogen — called an antigen — so the body builds antibodies and memory cells without suffering the actual disease. Getting a vaccine to that point takes years of preclinical testing and three phases of human trials before regulators such as the FDA license it. Full protection after vaccination typically takes a few weeks, as the immune system needs time to produce lasting defenses.
Warhound: Startup Raises $200M to Genetically Engineer Dogs for the US Military
Warhound, co-founded by Colossal Biosciences' Ben Lamm and Anduril's Palmer Luckey, raised $200 million on October 22, 2026 to genetically edit and clone dogs for the US military, aiming to remove inherited diseases from breeds such as the Belgian Malinois. Independent scientists call the genetic goals technically achievable, but bioethicists warn that cloning remains inefficient and raises unresolved animal-welfare and regulatory questions.
Why the World Is Abolishing the Leap Second, and What Changes in 2027
Leap seconds, the one-second adjustments used since 1972 to keep clocks aligned with Earth's rotation, will stop entirely. The world's timekeeping authority, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), confirmed on 15 October 2026 that continuous UTC takes effect on 20 May 2027. The move, first agreed in principle in 2022, was accelerated after experts flagged a growing risk of a disruptive "negative" leap second.
Leap Seconds Explained: How World Time Works and Why They're Being Scrapped
A leap second is a one-second correction added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to keep it within 0.9 seconds of Earth's actual rotation. On 15 October 2026 the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted to stop inserting leap seconds from 20 May 2027, letting UTC drift from Earth's rotation by up to one hour instead of one second.
Marathon Fusion Says It Turned Mercury Into Gold With Fusion Neutrons
San Francisco startup Marathon Fusion says it transmuted mercury into stable gold using neutrons from a fusion reaction, at a rate it describes as ten times CERN's 2025 record. The company has not published the quantity, purity or any independent verification of the result, according to multiple reviews of its announcement.
Finland Grants World's First Operating Licence for Permanent Nuclear Waste Site
Finland's government granted Posiva Oy an operating licence on October 22, 2026, making the Onkalo facility the first permanent deep-geological repository for spent nuclear fuel anywhere in the world to receive such approval. The site near Eurajoki can hold up to 6,500 tonnes of uranium fuel, but Posiva still needs final commissioning checks from regulator STUK before disposal can actually begin.
Needle-Free mRNA Vaccine Shields Mice From COVID-19 and Flu, Study Finds
Researchers at Rutgers and institutions in Japan used a high-pressure liquid jet to deliver "naked" mRNA into the skin instead of an injection needle, then added two adjuvants to boost the immune response. In mice, the combination protected against SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A with less inflammation than standard lipid-particle mRNA vaccines, according to a study published October 22, 2026, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Dinosaurs: How Fossil Evidence Explains Their Evolution and Extinction
Dinosaurs evolved from small reptile-like ancestors around 223–230 million years ago, according to rock-dating studies, and dominated the planet until an asteroid struck the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago. Isotope analysis of the impact site shows the object was a carbonaceous asteroid from beyond Jupiter, and fossil records show the strike wiped out the vast majority of species on Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs.
Leap Seconds Explained — Why the World Is Scrapping Them From May 2027
A leap second is a one-second adjustment occasionally added to global clocks to keep atomic time in step with Earth's slightly irregular rotation. On October 15, 2026, the General Conference on Weights and Measures voted to stop adding or subtracting leap seconds from May 20, 2027, letting Coordinated Universal Time run continuously instead.
Arizona Tornado Warnings: How Tornadoes Form and How to Stay Safe
Tornado watches and warnings covered northern Arizona on October 21, 2026, including the Flagstaff and Prescott areas, as severe storms moved through the state. Tornadoes form inside rotating "supercell" thunderstorms when wind shear and strong updrafts combine, and officials say knowing the difference between a watch and a warning — and having a shelter plan — is the main way to reduce risk.
Photosynthesis Explained: How Plants Turn Sunlight Into Chemical Energy
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae and some bacteria use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to build sugar and release oxygen. It happens inside chloroplasts in two linked stages: light-dependent reactions that make ATP and NADPH, and the Calvin cycle that uses those molecules to assemble glucose from CO2.
Fingerprint Study Suggests Women and Children Helped Build China's Terracotta Army
A new analysis of 2,200-year-old fingerprints pressed into the clay of China's Terracotta Army indicates the figures were not shaped by adult men alone. Researchers estimate that women made up about a third of the print-makers studied and children under 15 close to a quarter, alongside roughly 45% adult men.
Mitosis vs. Meiosis: How Human Cells Divide to Grow and Reproduce
Mitosis is the cell division that makes two identical copies of a cell for growth and repair, while meiosis is the specialized division that produces egg and sperm cells with half the usual chromosome number. Both processes copy a cell's DNA once, but mitosis divides once and meiosis divides twice, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Leap Seconds to End in 2027 as World Adopts Continuous Global Time
On 15 October 2026, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted to stop inserting leap seconds into Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), effective 20 May 2027. The change means UTC will run continuously and be allowed to drift up to one hour from Earth's actual rotation before any future correction, instead of the one-second adjustments used since 1972.
World Timekeepers Vote to End the Leap Second From May 2027
The General Conference on Weights and Measures voted on 15 October 2026 to stop adding leap seconds to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), making the time standard continuous from 20 May 2027. The decision, adopted as Resolution 5 at the BIPM's 28th meeting in Versailles, France, replaces the one-second correction used since 1972 with a tolerance of up to one hour.
Japan Retracts False Magnitude-9.9 Earthquake Alert After System Error
Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued and then withdrew, within about eight to twelve minutes, an emergency warning for a magnitude-9.9 earthquake on October 16, 2026. The actual quake, centred off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, was later confirmed by seismologists at magnitude 6.9, with JMA blaming a data-processing error rather than a cyberattack.
How Earthquakes Form: Plate Tectonics, Stress and Seismic Waves Explained
Earthquakes happen when stress that has built up for years, decades or centuries along a locked fault finally overcomes friction and the rock suddenly slips. That slip releases stored energy as seismic waves, which radiate outward and shake the ground. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Caltech describe this as a continuous cycle driven by the slow motion of Earth's tectonic plates.
Weather vs. Climate: The Key Difference, Defined
Weather is the atmospheric condition at a specific place and moment — rain, wind, or temperature right now. Climate is the average of those weather patterns over a long period, usually 30 years or more, according to NASA and NOAA. The difference is essentially one of timescale, not of the phenomena themselves.
Why the World Is Scrapping Leap Seconds From 2027
On 15 October 2026, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted in Versailles to stop adding "leap seconds" to world clocks from 20 May 2027. The 53-year-old practice of occasionally inserting an extra second into Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is being replaced by a system that lets clock time drift from Earth's actual rotation for up to an hour before any correction is needed.
Margaret Hamilton, Apollo 11 software pioneer, dies at 90
Margaret Hamilton, who directed the team that wrote the onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo missions, died on September 30, 2026, at age 90, MIT News reported. She died at a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to phys.org; her daughter confirmed the death to news outlets.
Flash Floods: How They Form, Warning Signs, and Safety Steps
A flash flood is a sudden, extreme rise of water in a normally dry area or a stream, beginning within six hours of the trigger — usually intense rainfall, but also dam failure or ice jams, according to the US National Weather Service (NWS). Worldwide, flash floods cause more than 5,000 deaths a year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says, making preparation and quick reaction the main defenses.
Why the world is scrapping the leap second for a once-in-a-millennium "leap hour"
On 15 October 2026, delegates at the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in Versailles voted to end the practice of inserting leap seconds into Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). From 20 May 2027, UTC will run continuously, and the gap with Earth's actual rotation will be allowed to grow to up to one hour instead of one second, removing the need for corrections for centuries.
CRISPR gene editing explained: how scientists cut and repair DNA to treat disease
CRISPR-Cas9 is a molecular tool that lets scientists cut DNA at a precise location and let the cell's own repair process disable, correct or rewrite a gene. The approach moved from a lab technique into an approved medicine in December 2023, when U.S. regulators cleared the first CRISPR-based therapy for sickle cell disease.
Why Humans Sleep and What Happens Inside the Brain and Body at Night
Sleep is not idle downtime: during a typical night the brain cycles through distinct stages that consolidate memories, restore tissue, and flush out cellular waste, while two separate biological clocks decide when sleepiness hits. Research summarized by U.S. health agencies and university labs shows sleep affects nearly every organ system, and chronic shortfalls raise the risk of conditions from high blood pressure to type 2 diabetes.
How Renewable Energy Works and Is Reshaping Power Grids Worldwide
Renewable energy converts natural flows — sunlight, wind, water and heat — directly into electricity using turbines, photovoltaic cells and generators, without burning fuel. In 2025, renewables supplied 34% of the world's electricity, up from 23% a decade earlier, and are on track to overtake coal as the single largest power source, according to the International Energy Agency.
Isle of Wight skull fossil named as new European megaraptoran dinosaur
A partial skull found on the Isle of Wight and kept in a Natural History Museum drawer for about a century has been identified as a new dinosaur species, Invictibellatrix amberina. Researchers say it is the first confirmed megaraptoran — a group of long-clawed predatory theropods — found in Europe, according to the Natural History Museum and a study in Royal Society Open Science.
How Viruses Spread, Mutate and Turn Into New Variants
Viruses spread between people mainly through close contact, respiratory droplets or airborne particles, and copying errors during replication create mutations. Most mutations are harmless, but a few help a virus spread more easily or evade immunity, and natural selection then favors those versions — producing what health agencies call a "variant."
How DNA, Genes and Heredity Work: The Basics of Inheritance Explained
Heredity is the passing of traits from parents to children through genes, which are segments of DNA carried on chromosomes. Each person inherits one chromosome of every pair from each parent, which is why genetic conditions and physical traits follow predictable patterns such as dominant, recessive and X-linked inheritance.
Swedish-Led Team Identifies Unknown Extinct Yak Species in Siberia's Denisova Cave
Researchers led by Stockholm University's Centre for Palaeogenetics have identified a previously unknown extinct bovine species related to modern yaks, nicknamed "yak X," from ancient DNA found in Siberia's Denisova Cave and nearby sites. The animal split from the yak lineage roughly 400,000 years ago and was still alive as recently as 27,000 years ago, according to a study published in Current Biology on October 5, 2026.
Margaret Hamilton, Apollo software pioneer who coined the term, dies at 90
Margaret Hamilton, who led the MIT team that wrote the onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo missions and is credited with coining the term "software engineering," died on September 30, 2026, at a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was 90.