Insect larvae can colonize dead bodies and offer clues about time of death. A new technique can identify species based on chemical fingerprints of insects’ puparial casings. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-violent-crime-forensics-blowflies

Eastern European Neandertal groups journeyed some 3,000 kilometers east into Asia, where they left a genetic and cultural legacy, new research suggests. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-neandertals-traveled-asia

Southeast Asians mummified their ancestors long before the Egyptians. https://www.snexplores.org/article/oldest-mummies-smoke-dried-asia?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=bluesky&utm_campaign=snesnsocial

Yeast and bacteria give fine chocolate notes of fruit, flowers, citrus, berry and caramel. https://www.snexplores.org/article/chocolate-flavor-bacteria-yeast #NationalChocolateDay

As Earth continues to warm, coral reef die-off is the first domino to fall. But other climate tipping points may not be far behind. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coral-collapse-climate-tipping-point

Artificial intelligence can dash off more than routine emails. It has now written tiny working genomes. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-genome-bacteria-phage

A 90° flip. A delayed hardening. Two tiny tweaks in hip growth millions of years ago helped our ancestors stand tall. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/genetic-shifts-helped-humans-walk-two-legs

Vampire bats have become such specialized bloodsuckers that they metabolize their food more like some blood-feeding flies than like other known mammals, a new experiment shows. (From 2024) https://www.sciencenews.org/article/vampire-bats-treadmills-metabolism

In tumor-bearing mice receiving immunotherapy, the mRNA COVID vaccine switches on a powerful molecular siren. It’s like a 911 call that alerts the immune system to start fighting cancer. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cancer-immunotherapy-mrna-covid-vaccines

A Japanese flower smells like injured ants — a morbid perfume that lures hungry, pollinating flies straight to its blooms. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/flower-emits-smell-ant-wounded-flies

Polar bears play a crucial role in feeding a vast array of species and hints at the way that food web might be shaken as climate change warms the Arctic, endangering polar bear populations. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/polar-bears-feed-other-arctic-species

Scientists were able to squeeze water out of rocks in laboratory experiments, suggesting that some exoplanets can produce their own water. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/planets-make-own-water

An open-source AI model called OpenFold3 is a recreation of AlphaFold3. It predicts how proteins interact with drugs and other molecules, perhaps speeding drug discovery. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-model-openfold3-protein-predictions

A tendril-thin halo of light called a photon ring could reveal secrets from a black hole’s edge — if physicist Alex Lupsasca gets his way. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/alex-lupsasca-black-hole-photon-ring

A woolly rhino horn recently unearthed from thawing Siberian permafrost measures some five and a half feet long, a new record for the species. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/longest-woolly-rhino-horn

Physicist Alex Lupsasca’s work has illuminated the potential properties of black holes’ photon rings, thin haloes of light that surround the mysterious objects. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/alex-lupsasca-black-hole-photon-ring

The answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the universe may come down to one of the smallest, and spookiest, particles. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/neutrino-particle-universe-matter-antimatter-mystery

A new study says that Australia’s tropical forests are now a net source of carbon to the atmosphere. Other forests — including the Amazon — are not far behind. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/australia-tropical-forests-co2-cop30

President Trump ordered the U.S. to resume nuclear weapons testing early Thursday. But many scientists suggest that full-scale tests are unnecessary to assess and modernize the weapons. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nuclear-weapons-tests-comeback-threats

Millions of people rely on tropical forests for food, water and protection against natural hazards. The fate of these forests will be at the heart of the COP30 climate summit. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/australia-tropical-forests-co2-cop30

Fall is approaching and respiratory virus season is on its way, but many people may not be able to roll up their sleeves for a COVID-19 shot this year. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/vaccine-guidelines-covid-fall

As Earth continues to warm, coral reef die-off is the first domino to fall. But other climate tipping points may not be far behind. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coral-collapse-climate-tipping-point

Vipers come out on top, but other snakes can strike at speeds similar to slower vipers. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/venomous-snakes-strike-fast-vipers

Coffee beans eaten — and then excreted — by the Asian palm civet become enriched in fats and aromatics. So yes, civet coffee does have a little something extra. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coffee-beans-civet-poop-tastier

Maybe you can’t detect the scent of grass anymore. Or maybe coffee’s aroma now triggers disgust. After getting COVID-19, your sense of smell may seem persistently off. You’re not alone. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/long-covid-smell-loss-persistent-years

Artificial intelligence can dash off more than routine emails. It has now written tiny working genomes. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-genome-bacteria-phage

With an effective temperature close to that of the sun’s core, this is the hottest engine ever created. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hottest-engine-levitated-glass

For decades, the debate over whether the first humans to inhabit present-day Australia contributed to the extinction of the country’s ancient megafauna has raged and smoldered.  https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bone-indigenous-fossil-collectors

Changes in gene activity reshaped our ancestors’ hips, laying the foundation for bipedalism. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/genetic-shifts-helped-humans-walk-two-legs

Hurricane Melissa is a powerful example of how climate change has intensified tropical cyclones: Huge, slow-moving and bursting with deluging rains. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hurricane-melissa-monster-storm-jamaica

Erika Moore says her education has given her great scientific power. The biomedical engineer says she’ll use that power responsibly to study diseases, such as uterine fibroids that affect women. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/erika-moore-uterine-fibroids-research

Save your tissues. This cutting technique slashes tears when chopping onions. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/knife-tricks-stop-onion-cutting-crying

When manta and devil rays get accidentally caught in tuna fishing nets, fishers try to rescue them and return them to the sea. But common methods of handling them can cause injuries that make it hard for the rays to survive. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/scientists-fishers-save-manta-rays

As nations prepare to gather in the heart of the Amazon rainforest for the 30th annual U.N. climate summit, scientists warn that Earth’s tropical forests are nearing a tipping point. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/australia-tropical-forests-co2-cop30

Some other quantum advantage claims have had a level of verification, but that verification was inefficient, says computer scientist Scott Aaronson of the University of Texas at Austin, who was not involved with the research. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-echoes-google-computer

Even years after an infection, most people who say they have smell loss do indeed have a dulled sense of smell when formally tested, scientists report September 25 in JAMA Network Open.  https://www.sciencenews.org/article/long-covid-smell-loss-persistent-years

The old story that a drink a day is good for health is no more. What’s a moderate drinker to do? https://www.sciencenews.org/article/alcohol-fraught-ancient-customs

A tiny engine has an effective temperature of 13 million kelvins, but you wouldn’t singe your finger if you touched it. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hottest-engine-levitated-glass

This protein could be used to sense magnetic fields and temperatures inside individual cells. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/biological-quantum-bit-protein

Australia’s First Peoples were more early paleontologists than extinction-driving butchers, a group of scientists argue. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bone-indigenous-fossil-collectors

Sharper knives in slower hands may prevent crying when cutting onions. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/knife-tricks-stop-onion-cutting-crying

Australia’s tropical forests are the first known to have switched from a sink to a source for atmospheric carbon. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/australia-tropical-forests-co2-cop30

Vipers deliver venom with smooth, fast strikes. Elapids bite and squeeze their prey multiple times. A colubrid uses its fangs to slash large wounds in its victim. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/venomous-snakes-strike-fast-vipers

Erika Moore suffers from uterine fibroids, a condition that affects up to 80 percent of U.S. women. Little is known about the benign tumors, so Moore created a way to grow and study fibroids in her lab. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/erika-moore-uterine-fibroids-research

Google’s Willow quantum chip has achieved verifiable quantum advantage, a team of researchers claim. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-echoes-google-computer

Is coffee made from beans partially digested by civets really that much tastier? New chemical analyses suggest it actually is. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coffee-beans-civet-poop-tastier

An average of two years after an infection, 80 percent of people who reported having an altered sense of smell had trouble detecting scents on a test. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/long-covid-smell-loss-persistent-years

Uterine fibroids are still a scientific mystery. Biomedical engineer Erika Moore hopes to change that. She is learning how and why the benign tumors appear and how to stop them. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/erika-moore-uterine-fibroids-research

A new study links exposure to DEHP — a plastics ingredient and solvent found in food packaging, lotions and medical devices — to a surge in heart disease deaths. https://www.snexplores.org/article/plastic-chemical-heart-disease-dehp?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=snesnsocial

An engine made from a tiny glass ball is as unintuitive as quantum mechanics. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hottest-engine-levitated-glass