Science

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Spiral and Sink Waves Reveal a Hidden Layer of Brain Organization

New intracranial recordings show the cortex carries spiral, concentric and converging waves — not just simple planar ripples — and that different memory tasks recruit different shapes. Researchers argue the patterns may reorganize brain activity in real time.

The Higgs Under the Harshest Test Yet: CMS Finds No Deviation From the Standard Model

Science

11 hr. ago1

The Higgs Under the Harshest Test Yet: CMS Finds No Deviation From the Standard Model

The largest combined Higgs study to date, using 138 fb^-1 of CMS data from 2016 to 2018, finds no significant deviations from the Standard Model: the signal strength is 1.01 ± 0.05, which constrains many models of new physics.

Graviton Modes Survive on the Lattice, Pointing to a Signature for Exotic Quantum Matter

Science

11 hr. ago1

Graviton Modes Survive on the Lattice, Pointing to a Signature for Exotic Quantum Matter

New mathematical tools and large-scale simulations show that the graviton mode of a Fractional Quantum Hall state persists all the way into a Fractional Chern Insulator, where the lattice breaks the symmetries thought to protect it — suggesting a practical experimental marker for these topological phases.

How a 300 TeV Photon Crossed a Universe That Should Have Blocked It

Science

11 hr. ago1

How a 300 TeV Photon Crossed a Universe That Should Have Blocked It

Two Italian theorists propose a single framework combining axion-like particles and a possible violation of Lorentz invariance to explain the 300 TeV photon-like event recorded by the Carpet detector after the record-breaking burst GRB 221009A — while stressing that one candidate photon is not a discovery.

Retatrutide Delivers the Strongest Obesity Results Yet: Up to 30% Weight Loss

Science

20 hr. ago3

Retatrutide Delivers the Strongest Obesity Results Yet: Up to 30% Weight Loss

Full Phase 3 results for Eli Lilly's three-hormone obesity drug, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show average weight loss of 25% at 80 weeks and 30% at 104 weeks at the top dose, with more than a third of participants losing at least 30%. Knee-arthritis pain, sleep apnea and prediabetes all improved sharply — but the trial did not test the drug head-to-head against tirzepatide.

MED-EL Launches Tici Unico, the First Fully Invisible Cochlear Implant

Science

23 hr. ago2

MED-EL Launches Tici Unico, the First Fully Invisible Cochlear Implant

The Austrian firm MED-EL says its Tici Unico is the first and only commercially available cochlear implant implanted entirely beneath the skin — microphone included. Five Austrians have worn one in a Vienna clinical study and about 40 people use it worldwide; the first two commercial implantations outside the trial took place on Tuesday. The only external part is the charger, and because the device is invisible patients must tell clinicians before an MRI.

Fruit Flies Remember Their Larval Diet — and It Decides How Long They Live

Science

Sep 29, 20262

Fruit Flies Remember Their Larval Diet — and It Decides How Long They Live

A RIKEN-led Nature study traces how a storage protein stocked up in the larval stage, Lsp2, carries a 'nutritional memory' into adulthood, slows protein production and extends lifespan.

Saturn's 29,000-Kilometre Hexagon Gets a Sibling: a Ten-Sided Wave at the South Pole

Science

Sep 29, 20262

Saturn's 29,000-Kilometre Hexagon Gets a Sibling: a Ten-Sided Wave at the South Pole

A heise retrospective summarises what four decades of observation have taught astronomers about the giant polar vortex, and where the mystery still stands. The northern hexagon measures 29,000 kilometres across with ~320 km/h jet-stream winds; a second, smaller hexagonal vortex formed hundreds of kilometres above it from 2014, and Hubble has now captured a new ten-sided wave at the south pole that only began forming in 2023.

Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells Hit 34.7% Efficiency 10 Metres Underwater

Science▶

Sep 29, 20261

Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells Hit 34.7% Efficiency 10 Metres Underwater

Using a polymer additive called PHMG, a Yunnan University team tuned a wide-bandgap perovskite to the blue-green light that survives deep water. The cell hit 34.71% efficiency at a simulated 10 m depth and, in a South China Sea field test, charged batteries on a small underwater robot.

Starship Reaches Orbit for the First Time and Deploys 26 Starlink V3 Satellites

Science▶

Sep 29, 20264

Starship Reaches Orbit for the First Time and Deploys 26 Starlink V3 Satellites

SpaceX's Starship-Super Heavy reached orbit for the first time on Sept. 28, 2026, deploying 26 next-generation Starlink satellites before splashing down in the Pacific about three hours after liftoff — a milestone for NASA's Artemis Moon plans and for SpaceX's commercial ambitions.

A Battery That Pumps CO2: Direct Air Capture at 0.8 MWh per Ton

Science▶

Sep 29, 20262

A Battery That Pumps CO2: Direct Air Capture at 0.8 MWh per Ton

A University of Delaware team built a nickel-hydroxide electrochemical cell that captures CO2 while shuttling hydroxide across a membrane, using roughly half the energy of today's best direct-air-capture plants — and its founders project $92 per ton at scale.

Study: Pharma's Add-On Patents Stretch Drug Monopolies From 2 Years to 6

Science▶

Sep 28, 20261

Study: Pharma's Add-On Patents Stretch Drug Monopolies From 2 Years to 6

A JAMA study of small-molecule drugs approved between 1990 and 2019 finds patents per drug tripled, from 2.1 to 6.9, and time under patent protection rose from about two years to 6.1 — mostly through 'nonprimary' claims on formulations, uses and devices.