NYT > Science

1. Where Do Autoimmune Diseases Come From?
   Our genes evolved to fight ancient threats, but in the modern world, some of those changes may be turning against us.
2. Start-Up Claims to Use A.I.-Created Viruses to Treat a Patient
   Certain viruses attack bacteria and can sometimes clear antibiotic-resistant infections. Researchers said they had tailored a virus to attack one patient’s illness.
3. Russian Satellite Makes a Menacing Approach to Another Craft in Orbit
   Although Kosmos 2612 is now backing away, the maneuver raised alarm bells for analysts who see it as part of a pattern of Russian aggression.
4. How Did Life Arise? Three Turning Points in Early Evolution
   Where did it start? How did it grow complex? Why did it get big? Three moments in Earth’s early history when evolution suddenly, inexplicably turned up the dial.
5. The New Science of Stuttering
   Experts are reaching consensus on what the condition is. Now they’re debating how best to treat it.
6. A Japanese Spacecraft Aims to Bring Back a Bit of a Martian Moon
   The mission, which launched on Monday, is headed to Phobos, the larger of the two moons of Mars. It could carry back the first samples from the Martian system.
7. The Overlapping Plagues Quietly Devastating American Forests
   Trees are suffering one devastating epidemic after another, unleashed by insects and bacteria that enter the country because of global trade.
8. For a Mere $2 Million, You Could Own Three Books That Unlocked the Universe
   At Sotheby’s, a feast of rare science books includes volumes from Copernicus, Galileo and Newton that together revolutionized human understanding of the cosmos.
9. The Leap Second Has Been Canceled
   Earth’s rotation subtly changes the length of the day. Now our clocks won’t change with it — at least not for a very long time.
10. SpaceX Swings to a Profit, Even as A.I. Spending Soars
    Elon Musk’s rocket company also said its revenue had more than doubled, driven by its Starlink internet satellite service and artificial intelligence products.
11. Why Drug Companies Are Rushing to Market Ketamine Medicines
    Spurred on by the Trump administration’s embrace of psychedelic medicine, researchers are experimenting with new — and not so new — forms of the anesthetic.
12. Latest Climate Report Warns of Major Upheaval to California Way of Life
    The dire projections come from the state’s Climate Change Assessment, which analyzes the impacts of changing weather patterns on the nation’s most-populous state.
13. What to Know About the Search for Amelia Earhart’s Plane
    A satellite image sent researchers to a remote Pacific atoll, but their findings brought no resolution to the decades-old search. Here’s what to know.
14. A Reporter Who Saw Covid Coming Has Died
    Helen Branswell recognized the threat of the pandemic ahead of the vast majority of journalists and even medical experts. She was 69.
15. RFK Jr. Pledged to Advance Anti-Vaccine Group’s Goals. Here’s What He’s Doing.
    The health secretary is quietly taking steps that public health experts fear will reduce immunization rates further.
16. Citizen Science Groups Grapple With the Rise of A.I. Slop
    Facing a flood of A.I. slop, groups bent on democratizing science create new checks and balances.
17. Terry Tao Is on the Front Lines of the Debate Over AI and the Future of Math
    The Fields Medalist Terence Tao is on the front lines of a debate about artificial intelligence and the future of his field.
18. Inside the Plague Research Labs at the Heart of a Russian Mystery
    A Russian researcher, who died from an unknown illness, worked at a remote anti-plague facility. Few foreigners have visited these labs, which dot the former Soviet states, and are shrouded in secrecy.
19. Bleached Coral Rebounded After Touching Healthy Coral, Study Finds
    After sick corals were placed in direct contact with healthy ones of the same genetic makeup, they recovered at “incredible” speed, scientists found.
20. A New World of Lung Cancer Therapy Awaits Pope Leo
    Lung cancer is still a leading cause of cancer death, but that rate is half what it was in the 1990s, partly because newly developed treatments are working.
21. They Created a Cell That’s Almost Alive. What to Do With It Now?
    SpudCells may one day produce new medicines and materials. But first scientists have to improve them — and make sure they aren’t misused.
22. How Top Trump Officials Stoked Fears of a Nuke That Could Fry the Power Grid
    For more than a decade, conservative activists held that a single atomic bomb could, without killing Americans directly, lay waste to the country — a claim that built fervor for war with Iran.
23. Amit Forlit, the Israeli Private Eye at the Heart of a Climate Hacking Scandal
    He’s been linked to someone called “The Hawk.” He named his company “This Isn’t a Dentist’s Office.” The feds say he hacked American environmentalists.