NYT > Science

1. Why the Venezuelan Earthquakes Happened, and What to Expect Next
   Twin earthquakes like those that ripped through the region are unusual but not unheard of. Scientists are already gathering data needed for a more detailed picture.
2. Tickled Apes Reveal the Rhythmic Roots of Laughter
   A study of chimps, gorillas and other great apes, including human children, sheds light on how laughter has evolved.
3. These Birds’ Backflips Are Fueled by Sugar
   An ancient dietary change made the manakin’s flashy courtship display possible, a new study suggests.
4. The Ebola Outbreak’s Central Mystery: Where Did This Virus Come From?
   Scientists believe that the Bundibugyo virus persists in an animal species, occasionally spilling over into humans. But they have yet to identify the species.
5. Fruit Fly Sperm Are Giant. How Do They Stay Untangled?
   A fruit fly’s sperm are exceptionally long, and thousands are crammed in together. The physics of this presents a packing nightmare.
6. California Needs Water and Clean Power. It Might Have a Fix for Both.
   A pilot program is building solar panels over irrigation canals to generate electricity. As a bonus, the shade prevents water from evaporating.
7. François Englert, Nobelist Who Helped Predict the ‘God Particle,’ Dies at 93
   His work paved the way for the discovery of the Higgs boson, which explained how particles acquire mass, solving one of the deepest mysteries in physics.
8. Is Climate Change Supercharging El Niño?
   As a new, potentially record-breaking El Niño begins, researchers are vigorously debating whether climate change is driving the phenomenon’s intensity.
9. Buildings May Soon Have ‘Immune Systems’ That Fight Airborne Disease
   Following the pandemic, the federal government is spending $150 million on new technology to ensure clean indoor air. Here’s what scientists are pursuing.
10. Richard Scolyer, Cancer Expert Who ‘Became His Own Subject,’ Dies at 59
    His lifesaving melanoma research in Australia illuminated the treatment he underwent for his own brain tumor, an ordeal he courageously shared with the public.
11. Gregg Phillips Leaving FEMA
    Gregg Phillips was in charge of the emergency response agency’s largest division and had come under scrutiny for a series of bizarre claims.
12. Oil Industry Lawyers Fight a $50 Billion Climate Case in Oregon
    The lawsuit aims to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for a heat wave in Portland five years ago. The industry says the case should be thrown out.
13. How a Bird’s Habitat Can Change Its Song
    For the Bachman’s sparrow, whether a song is passed to the next generation could depend, in part, on the wind and trees.
14. Climate Change Fueling Europe’s Ferocious Heat Wave, Scientists Find
    A scientific analysis concluded that such high temperatures, across so much of the continent, would “not have been possible” without global warming.
15. Trump Issues Order to Reduce Pesticides in Food as Kennedy Allies Fume
    The order, which calls for studying the health risks of pesticides in the food supply, does not involve new federal funding, and does not call for regulations or legislation.
16. Congo Ebola Crisis: Contact Tracing Is Dangerously Behind, Officials Warn
    Most of the people testing positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo are not on health workers’ radar, suggesting that contact tracing is lagging dangerously behind.
17. Medical Journal Retracts Study Claiming Cancer Therapy Is More Effective When Given in the Morning
    In a notice flagging a series of problems with a clinical trial, the journal Nature Medicine said its editors “no longer have confidence in the integrity of the results.”
18. Global Warming Upends London Climate Week
    The extreme heat smothering Europe has upended Climate Week in London.
19. Inside the C.D.C.’s Mad Scramble to Meet Kennedy’s Demands
    A cache of internal emails offers a look at the pressure the nation’s public health officials faced from the new health secretary in the early months of the Trump administration.
20. Chemours to Pay $450M in First Federal PFAS Settlement
    The settlement addresses the dumping of PFAS “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to cancer and other risks, by Chemours in several states.
21. Trump Administration Forms Partnership to Bank DNA From Imperiled Species
    The government is teaming up with Colossal Biosciences, a private company that claims to have revived extinct dire wolves, to store samples from at-risk animals and plants.
22. Shortage of Chemotherapy Drugs Brings Rationing Fears for Cancer Patients
    Doctors are contending with low supplies and unfilled orders of generic chemotherapy infusions that are central to the treatment of a long list of cancers.
23. Why Is Europe the Fastest-Warming Continent
    The burning of fossil fuels is raising temperatures worldwide, but local factors, on land and at sea, determine which regions warm most rapidly.
24. France Identifies Its First Case of Ebola
    A doctor who had traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo was infected, the French health ministry said. The authorities said the risk to the wider population was low.
25. An Influx of Climate Cash
    Many philanthropists are backing away from climate giving. But one is writing very big checks.
26. Europe’s Heat Has Scientists Asking: How Much Hotter Can It Get?
    Records are being broken for the second time in a month, leading scientists to probe the upper limits of what the warming climate can dish out.
27. Ebola Symptoms in Current Outbreak May Be Milder Than in Previous Ones
    That is good news for patients, but officials fear it will make controlling the spread of the disease harder.
28. Energy Dept. Promises $17.5 Billion in Loans for Nuclear Power
    The federal government wants to help utilities buy large components for up to 10 large nuclear reactors. It’s unclear which, if any, companies might participate.
29. Former NOAA Employees Revive Climate.gov Web Site
    The database of federal global warming research recreates a website that was closed amid the administration’s broad retreat from climate science.
30. Europe Created Heat-Wave Protections. Now Comes the ‘Crash Test.’
    Searing temperatures in Western Europe are drawing comparisons to 2003, when a deadly heat wave sparked a reckoning.
31. X-Ray Specs for the World’s Oldest, Sealed Letters
    A team of historians, scientists and engineers has developed a portable X-ray scanner to study 4,000-year-old letters encased in clay envelopes.
32. Justice Department Makes It Easier to Bypass Pollution Controls on Pickups
    It has stopped criminal prosecutions of people who install “defeat devices,” which make diesel trucks faster and more efficient but also dirtier.
33. A Loophole Brings Cystic Fibrosis Patients a ‘Miracle Drug’ in Generic Form
    A generic version of a breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug, manufactured in Bangladesh for a fraction of the American price, may give some families around the world an unlikely lifeline.
34. Cities and Schools Are Testing Wastewater for Illicit Drugs
    The White House recently endorsed monitoring sewage for evidence of drug use. Critics fear such efforts could violate privacy and stigmatize neighborhoods.