NYT > Science

1. Microscopic Videos That Show the Invisible Wonders Around Us
   The winners of this year’s Nikon Small World in Motion competition showcase the wiggly, feathery, undulating beauty of invisible life.
2. T. Rex, King of the Dinosaurs, Had a Body Temperature of 97 Degrees
   Hotter than a crocodile, cooler than a chicken, T. Rex was definitely warm-blooded, according to a new study.
3. Massive Black Holes May Have Started as Little Red Dots
   A new simulation suggests little red dots, unusually compact objects seen in photos from space, might be one stage in the evolution of black holes.
4. The Liftoff Scenario That Terrifies A.I. Doomsayers
   “Recursive self-improvement” is the idea that artificial intelligence could learn to build and train itself, creating exponential new progress — and risk.
5. Mothers’ Intrusive Thoughts Are Mostly Benign. Lindsay Clancy’s Case Is an Exception.
   Experts say that after childbirth, intrusive thoughts are common and mostly benign. Lindsay Clancy’s story provides a disturbing exception.
6. These Mice Have Partly Human Brains
   The animals may help reveal the causes of brain disease in people and point the way to treatments. But researchers already are calling for new ethical guidelines.
7. Exoplanets Offer Clues to What Lies Beyond Our Solar System
   Thousands of planets have been discovered beyond our solar system, offering clues to where life might thrive and whether Earth is truly unique.
8. Do You Have Questions About A.I.? We Want to Answer Them.
   The New York Times is soliciting readers’ questions about the dangers — and benefits — posed by artificial intelligence.
9. A.I. Queries From Abroad Raise Fears of a Biological Weapons Race
   Today’s chatbots aren’t likely to help lone actors invent a deadly pathogen, experts say. But newer models, trained in biology, may need stronger safeguards.
10. Human-Caused Warming Played ‘Very Strong’ Role in Himalayan Floods, Report Finds
    Rising temperatures contributed to the disaster by destabilizing the permafrost and ice around the collapsed rock, scientists concluded.
11. Trump Administration Moves to Gut a Core Endangered Species Protection
    An internal memo reinterprets the law so that only the intentional killing of animals, not collateral harm, is illegal.
12. Fiji Declares a National Emergency as H.I.V. Cases Skyrocket
    Surging drug use has contributed to an epidemic in the Pacific island nation, where one in 60 adults is estimated to be living with the virus.
13. Rising Seas Are Gobbling Up Beaches Around the World. A.I. Might Restore Them.
    An experiment with roots at M.I.T. used A.I. and satellite images to grow a coastline in the Maldives. More projects are planned for Boston and Miami.
14. Does the Stork’s Return to Britain Restore History or Rewrite It?
    Conservationists set up a colony of white storks in southern England, touching off a debate over whether they truly belong there.
15. Is There Anything Google’s Fruit Fly Brain Can’t Do?
    Models of the insect’s nervous system have been trained to solve a Rubik’s Cube, play video games and even parallel park a car.
16. A T. Rex Walked Here: Teacher Finds Rare Footprints in North Dakota
    Kent Hups, a high school science teacher in Colorado, discovered a 23-foot trackway of fossilized dinosaur footprints, which offer a glimpse of how the apex predator moved 66 million years ago.
17. Disaster Survivors Sticking Together
    We found grace, humanity and friendship in the stories of disparate Americans hit by climate chaos.
18. Harold Freeman, Who Helped Remove Barriers to Cancer Treatment, Dies at 93
    He developed a program that became a model for hospitals around the world, making it easier for poor Black patients to navigate an onerous bureaucratic system.
19. FEMA Could Still Lose More Jobs Despite Court Ruling
    A plan to halve the agency’s sprawling work force was illegal, a judge ruled. But the court is not blocking other FEMA cuts.
20. U.S. Has Deployed Weapons in Space, Air Force Secretary Says
    Troy E. Meink’s comments were the first public acknowledgment of American weapons in orbit. The Pentagon has been preparing for potential conflict in space with Russia or China.
21. Whether Chemistry or the Cosmos, Always Looking at the Bigger Picture
    The Times’s Science section is introducing new columns, projects and more as part of its online relaunch.
22. An Armadillo Arrives in … Ohio?
    Traditionally found in warm climates, like the American Southwest, armadillos have been migrating farther and farther north, researchers say.
23. Trump Administration Moves to Integrate A.I. Into Medical Care Despite Concerns
    Federal projects are rolling out A.I. agents that offer therapy and prescribe medicine, raising concerns about safety and the influence of venture capital investors.
24. Global Warming Will Breach the 1.5 Degree Celsius Limit. Now What?
    As global temperature increase shoots past 1.5 degrees Celsius, the vulnerable countries that fought for that Paris Agreement target face a brutal new reality.
25. A Teen Autopsy Marks the Arrival of a Deadly Drug in San Francisco
    City officials — and one determined mother — are working to stop the spread of cychlorphine, which is far more potent than fentanyl.
26. Most People Don’t Think About Culverts. Their Failure Can Be Deadly.
    Scientists simulated what happens when the pipes and tunnels that divert rainwater fail. In one scenario, 30 percent of local residents couldn’t reach an E.R.
27. A Mastodon Tooth Is Discovered in a California Creek
    A researcher surveying a San Mateo County creek stumbled upon a preserved Pacific mastodon molar estimated to be at least 10,000 years old.
28. As Millions of Birds Migrate, Residents Are Asked to Turn Off the Lights
    Birds are drawn to lights, and more than a billion die each year after crashing into buildings, experts said.
29. Court Strikes Down Trump Order to Keep an Aging Coal-Burning Plant Running
    The 64-year-old Michigan power plant was set to retire. Then the Trump administration intervened in a way that overstepped its authority, a court ruled.
30. Mercury Is Shrinking, and Faster Than We Thought
    New estimates using the planet’s surface wrinkles show that our smallest planet is growing even smaller, at a faster clip than expected.
31. How Did a Heart Drug With So Much Promise Fall So Flat?
    Cardiologists are struggling to figure out why a drug that should have prevented heart attacks didn’t work at all.
32. Racing to Contain Invasive Green Crabs in Puget Sound
    Tribes and scientists are mounting an urgent trapping effort to keep European green crabs from devastating a corner of Puget Sound.
33. A.I. Could Possibly End Humanity. How Are Humans Supposed to Process That?
    The technology is far from the only existential risk our species faces. But weighing such cosmic fears can become a mind-bending exercise.
34. Choking Global Trade
    Low rainfall and shrinking rivers are causing shipping bottlenecks, and higher prices, around the world.
35. How the New iPhone Duo’s Glass Screen Bends Without Breaking
    The screens of foldable phones are a triumph of materials science and microengineering.
36. The Iran War Is Pushing Global Coal Use to Record Highs
    Five years after virtually every world leader agreed to “phase down” the burning of coal for climate reasons, the fuel is more widely used than ever.
37. The Mathematician Crushed Between OpenAI and Anthropic Over a Math Problem
    Tristan Buckmaster was on the path toward an important proof when one of the A.I. giants used its staggering resources to get there first.
38. Could Your Chatbot Be Stealing Ideas From You? It’s a Thorny Question.
    A controversy around OpenAI’s latest math proof raises a fear that might become increasingly common: that A.I. tools could take valuable insights from one user and hand them to another.