NYT > Science

1. A Toxic Pit Could Be a Gold Mine for Rare-Earth Elements
   Mining continues at the Continental Pit. Nearby is the Berkeley Pit, a site for acid mine drainage that poses an opportunity for extracting valuable metals.
2. Interior Department Weighs Less Conservation, More Extraction
   A leaked version of the department’s five-year strategic planning document favors privatization and economic returns from the nation’s public lands.
3. Videos: Flamingos Make Vortexes With Their Beaks to Suck Up Prey
   Three cooperative birds and a model bird head helped scientists figure out what flamingos are actually doing when they stick their heads upside down underwater.
4. NASA’s Don Pettit Shot 220 Days of Amazing Photos From the I.S.S.
   Don Pettit brought a photographer’s eye to orbit, capturing the artistry of the cosmos and our planet.
5. In Their Final Moments, a Pompeii Family Fought to Survive
   Archaeologists unearthed skeletal remains of four people in a well-appointed Roman home, along with signs of their efforts to outlast the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
6. Soviet Spacecraft Crash Lands on Earth After a Journey of Half a Century
   Kosmos-482, a spacecraft bound for Venus in 1972, was a time capsule from the Cold War when superpowers had broad ambitions for exploring the solar system.
7. The Best Way to Drop an Egg
   How the shell cracks in an exercise known as the egg drop challenge turned out to be more complicated than science teachers have been telling students for many years.
8. These Beautiful Birds Form Something Like Lasting Friendships
   Superb starlings help care for the offspring of birds they are not related to. “To me, that sounds like friendship,” one scientist said.
9. Genetic Study Retraces Covid’s Origins in Bats
   As China and the United States trade charges of a lab leak, researchers contend in a new paper that the Covid pandemic got its start, like a previous one, in the wildlife trade.
10. Republican Budget Bill Aims to End I.R.A. Clean Energy Boom
    The party’s signature tax plan would kill most Biden-era incentives, but there’s a sticking point: G.O.P. districts have the most to lose.
11. An L.A. Doctor’s House Burned. Now He Treats the Fires’ Effects in Neighbors.
    A new clinic, opened by a pulmonologist who lost his home in the Palisades blaze, is addressing the health issues developing among people exposed to the fires.
12. Farmers Sued Over Deleted Climate Data. So the Government Will Put It Back.
    The Agriculture Department pledged to restore online climate information that farmers said helped them do business, but which officials had deleted.
13. Energy Department to Repeal Efficiency Rules for Appliances
    Experts say the moves, which would apply to household appliances, will raise energy costs for consumers.
14. Trump Signs Executive Order Asking Companies to Lower Drug Prices
    The president has long complained that the United States pays more for medicines than other wealthy countries. But he offered no clear legal authority to mandate lower prices.
15. Face to Face With an Alligator? Here’s What to Do
    On May 6, an alligator thrashed and tipped over a couple’s canoe in Central Florida where it attacked a woman and killed her.
16. Trump Plan Would Tie Some Drug Prices to What Peer Nations Pay
    The president announced an executive order aimed at lowering U.S. drug costs, revisiting an idea that was blocked in court during his first term.
17. Why Patients Are Being Forced to Switch to a 2nd-Choice Obesity Drug
    CVS Caremark decided to stop offering Zepbound in favor of Wegovy for weight loss. It’s the latest example of limits imposed by insurance that disrupt treatments for patients.
18. What to Know About the Hepatitis A Outbreak in L.A. County
    A highly contagious liver infection is surging among groups who are not typically at risk. At least seven people have died.
19. There Is No ‘Energy Emergency,’ a New Lawsuit Claims
    In the suit, 15 Democratic states called Trump’s declaration illegal and said federal agencies were rushing permits for fossil fuel projects under false pretenses.
20. Local Officials Brace for Loss of Disaster Preparedness Funding
    The C.D.C. delivered $750 million annually to state and local health departments for emergency work. The program was eliminated in the Trump administration’s budget blueprint.
21. At the Biennale in Venice, A Fantasy Island Imported from Mexico
    The floating farms known as “chinampas” may have something to teach Venetians and the world.
22. U.S. Government to Stop Tracking the Costs of Extreme Weather
    It would be harder for insurers and scientists to study wildfires, storms and other “billion dollar disasters,” which are growing more frequent as the planet warms.
23. Sewage Sludge Fertilizer From Maryland? Virginians Say No Thanks.
    Maryland has restricted use of the toxic fertilizer. A plan to send more to Virginia has sparked fears of contaminated farms and fisheries.
24. Trump Officials Ask Texas Court to End Protections for Lesser Prairie Chicken
    The lesser prairie chicken, known for the males’ quirky courtship dance, inhabits grasslands sought-after by farming and energy developers.
25. Efforts Grow to Thwart mRNA Therapies as RFK Jr. Pushes Vaccine Wariness
    Therapies involving mRNA, a key to Covid vaccines, hold great potential in treating several diseases, but some lawmakers want to ban them and the government is cutting funding.
26. What to Know About mRNA Vaccines
    We asked experts about how the technology works, its safety and its potential in medicine.
27. Migrants Are Skipping Medical Care, Fearing ICE, Doctors Say
    They are finding that people who have been assaulted, or who have serious conditions like diabetes or a high-risk pregnancy, are skipping or delaying care.
28. Who Is Casey Means, Trump’s Pick for Surgeon General?
    Dr. Means, President Trump’s new pick for surgeon general, has focused on the prevalence of chronic diseases and called on the government to scale back on childhood vaccines.
29. States Sue Trump Administration Over Funding Freeze for EV Charging
    A lawsuit led by Washington, Colorado and California accuses the Trump administration of unlawfully withholding funds for new charging stations.
30. Trump Has Called for More Babies but Dismissed Fertility Experts
    The research team studying how to improve I.V.F. was a casualty of cutbacks at federal health agencies.
31. Want to Be a Deep Sea Explorer? Don’t Worry, There’s Lots Left.
    Researchers collected more than 43,000 records of dives and assessed the photos and videos to determine how much of the bottom has been seen by humans.
32. What to Know About Kosmos-482, a Soviet Spacecraft Returning to Earth After 53 Years
    Kosmos-482, which was headed to Venus, is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere by the end of this weekend. Experts don’t yet know where it may come down.
33. There’s No ‘Undo’ Button for Extinct Species
    When one company proclaimed it had brought back the dire wolf, the response was joyous. But de-extinction remains a dangerous fantasy.
34. Philip Sunshine, 94, Dies; Physician Who Pioneered Treatment of Premature Babies
    A founder of neonatology, he helped revolutionize the care of preterm and critically ill newborns. “We were able to keep babies alive that would not have survived,” he said.