NYT > Science

1. Sonic Booms and Seismic Waves Can Reveal Where Space Junk Crash-Lands
   The sensors used to listen for earthquakes could help protect people from the hazards created by falling spacecraft.
2. How to Cut an Infinitely Large Pancake into as Many Pieces as Possible
   A team of mathematicians seeks to cut an infinitely large pancake into as many pieces as possible, in a new take on an old puzzle.
3. Thing-Like Robotic Hand Makes Life Resemble ‘The Addams Family’
   The very capable robotic picker-upper can grasp things on both sides and roam around freely.
4. Filoplumes Are Nature’s Super Feather
   Filoplumes may be tiny, but these hairlike feathers enable nonstop flights that span thousands of miles.
5. A Bite-Size Column About Delight and Wonder in Science
   In Trilobites, reporters aim to share new findings in the science world, be it interspecies friendships or discoveries of ancient fossils.
6. Cows Use Tools, Too, New Study Finds
   A pet cow named Veronika can scratch her own back with a broom — the first scientifically documented case of tool use in cows, researchers say.
7. Artemis II Moon Mission: NASA Completes Giant Rocket’s Slow Ride to Launchpad
   The Space Launch System and Orion capsule were transported to the launchpad before an astronaut mission that could launch as soon as Feb. 6.
8. If the Volcanic Eruption Doesn’t Scare You, the Mudflow Should
   Studying tree rings helped scientists pinpoint when Mount Rainier last sent a lahar down its steep slopes, which could help planners anticipate future mudflows.
9. Joel Primack, Physicist Who Helped Explain the Cosmos, Dies at 80
   A professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, he was a key contributor to a landmark paper that laid out how the universe came to look like it does today.
10. Vaccine Panel Chair Says Polio and Other Shots Should Be Optional, Rejecting Decades of Science
    Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who leads the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, said a person’s right to refuse a vaccine outweighed concerns about illness or death from infectious diseases.
11. Increased Scrutiny Leads to an Improved Organ Transplant System
    A crackdown on problems with fairness and safety is achieving results, including a big drop in the number of sick patients being passed over for transplants.
12. An Antarctic Mission to Recover a Robot’s Data
    In the unforgiving polar wilderness, scientists go to great lengths to safeguard the devices that gather precious data.
13. Big Insurers Try to Shift Blame for High Health Costs to Hospitals and Drug Makers
    At two congressional hearings, lawmakers slammed executives of major companies, saying they were failing to rein in the cost of medical care for consumers.
14. RFK Jr. Plan to Test a Vaccine in West African Babies Is Blocked
    A planned U.S.-funded study of a hepatitis B vaccine drew widespread condemnation from researchers. Now the host country says it cannot proceed.
15. Energy Dept. Says It Is Canceling $30 Billion in Clean Energy Loans
    Many of the cancellations had been known for months, but the announcement underscored the drastic change in the energy landscape under President Trump.
16. Trump Administration Cuts Off Funding for Fetal Tissue Research. Again.
    The prohibition halts support for projects both inside and outside the N.I.H. President Biden had restored funding after an earlier ban by President Trump during his first term.
17. A 67,800-Year-Old Handprint May Be the World’s Oldest Rock Art
    “It was hiding in plain sight all this time,” one researcher said.
18. Some Immune Systems Defeat Cancer. Could That Become a Drug?
    Researchers found an antibody that seems to play a role in people with better lung cancer prognoses, but turning it into a treatment could be difficult.
19. Rising Global Temperatures May Affect Choices for Winter Olympic Venues
    Future games will need to be held at higher altitudes, and spread over multiple venues in order to adapt to a changing climate, new research suggests.
20. What’s a Human Life Worth? The E.P.A. Says Zero Dollars.
    The Environmental Protection Agency has stopped estimating the dollar value of lives saved in the cost-benefit analyses for new pollution rules.
21. Scientists Set Up Camp on Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica
    Low clouds have lifted long enough for helicopters to ferry scientists and their gear to a fast-melting glacier on the edge of Antarctica.
22. Democrats Seek Investigation of $3.5 Million Deal by Interior Official’s Husband
    Records show that Karen Budd-Falen, a top Interior Department official, didn’t disclose a contract between her husband and the developers of a mine approved by the agency.
23. Will ‘Psychiatry’s Bible’ Add a Postpartum Psychosis Diagnosis?
    Leaders of the D.S.M., the world’s most influential psychiatric manual, have been split for more than five years over whether to recognize postpartum psychosis as a distinct disorder.
24. A Look Through a Century of Times Reporting From Antarctica
    Generations of Times journalists have journeyed there with scientists. Their coverage traces humankind’s changing relationship with the most mysterious continent.
25. 3 Policy Moves Likely to Change Health Care for Older People
    Two regulatory rollbacks, along with a new A.I. experiment in Medicare, raise some worrisome questions.
26. World’s First Treaty to Protect the High Seas Becomes Law
    Over two decades after negotiations began, the High Seas Treaty is designed to protect biodiversity in international waters by enabling conservation zones.
27. No Link Between Acetaminophen in Pregnancy and Autism, a Study Finds
    The review looked at more than three dozen studies and found no evidence that acetaminophen increased the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
28. Supreme Court to Decide if the Pesticide Roundup Is Shielded From Lawsuits
    The case could affect thousands of claims that the widely used weedkiller causes cancer.
29. Virginia Coastal Offshore Wind Project Can Continue, Judge Rules
    Construction can continue on an $11.2 billion project off the coast of Virginia, said to be 70 percent complete.