NYT > Science

1. Do Reptiles Have Moods, Too?
   Long dismissed as unintelligent, reptiles are emerging as cognitively and emotionally complex animals. A new study involving tortoises suggests that they also possess mood states.
2. Oldest Dome-Headed Dinosaur Revealed by ‘Shockingly Beautiful’ Fossil
   A specimen discovered in Mongolia is the most complete fossil yet found of a pachycephalosaur, a dinosaur believed to be built for head-butting.
3. How Did Hands Evolve? Look to Your Anus, a New Study Suggests.
   The evolutionary blueprint for hands was borrowed in part from a much older genetic plan for our nether regions, a new study suggests.
4. A Forgotten Cosmic Impact Was Hidden in a Museum’s Glass Shards
   Scientists thought that an Australian museum’s collection of tektites came from an 800,000-year-old asteroid strike on Earth. Some of them turned out to be much older.
5. These Ants Found a Loophole for a Fundamental Rule of Life
   Researchers discovered that Mediterranean ants are having babies that belong to a different species.
6. Building an Octopus Dictionary, One Arm Movement at a Time
   Scientists set out to understand all the ways the animals use their eight appendages. It wasn’t easy.
7. NASA Rover Findings ‘Could Be the Clearest Sign of Life’ on Mars
   The agency’s scientists are still not saying they found fossils of Martian microbes, but analysis of the specimen collected by the Perseverance rover raises that possibility.
8. California’s $23 Billion Plan to Restore Federal Cuts to Scientific Research
   Democrats are calling for the creation of a state equivalent of the National Institutes of Health, but first state lawmakers and then voters would need to approve it.
9. Happy 10th Birthday to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Now Drop Dead.
   Ten years ago, astronomers made an epic discovery with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Cosmology hasn’t been the same since, and it might not stay that way much longer.
10. Kennedy to Announce Firing of Organ Transplant Group After Safety Problems
    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to announce that the U.S. is firing a Miami-based organ donation coordinator, effectively closing it down — a warning to other transplant groups.
11. RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Committee to Vote on Hepatitis B and Covid Shots
    The advisory committee, which will meet on Thursday and Friday, is expected to recommend limiting use of some vaccines, including the hepatitis B shot for newborns.
12. Trump Administration Stopping Efforts to Collect Scientific Data
    A pattern of getting rid of statistics has emerged that echoes the president’s first term, when he suggested if the nation stopped testing for Covid, it would have few cases.
13. Questions Are Raised About Vaccine Panel’s Reliability as Policy Review Gets Underway
    Senator Bill Cassidy warned against any new restrictions, and insurers suggested they would still cover routine vaccinations even if a C.D.C. panel tried to limit them.
14. Western States Issue Their Own Vaccine Recommendations to Counter Kennedy
    The guidelines, from California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii, mirror those of major medical organizations. They were issued a day before an advisory panel was set to meet to review potential changes to federal recommendations.
15. Top Scientists Find Growing Evidence That Greenhouse Gases Are, in Fact, a Danger
    The assessment contradicts the Trump administration’s legal arguments for relaxing pollution rules.
16. Corals Won’t Survive a Warmer Planet, a New Study Finds
    Most corals in the Atlantic Ocean will soon stop growing. Many are already dying, leaving shorelines and marine ecosystems vulnerable.
17. Trump Wants States to Force More Drug Users Into Rehab: What to Know
    The president wants to enforce involuntary commitment laws for severe drug use. But rehab is expensive, without enough beds for those who seek it.
18. Fired C.D.C. Director Describes Clashes With Kennedy and Turmoil at Agency
    At a Senate health committee hearing, Dr. Susan Monarez painted a picture of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a man wedded to his own ideology and uninterested in government scientists.
19. Climate Change’s Toll in Europe This Summer: Thousands of Extra Deaths
    Three times as many people in cities and towns died from severe heat as would have done in a world without human-caused warming, scientists said.
20. Surgeon General Nominee Pledges to Divest From Wellness Interests
    In financial filings, Casey Means stated that she would liquidate holdings in companies that sell personal devices, supplements, tobacco and tech.
21. Pig Organ Transplants May Pose a Dilemma for Some Jews and Muslims
    The taboo against pork is deeply entrenched in both religious traditions. But the prohibition is not absolute.
22. ‘People Are Losing Hope’: Suicide Risk Is Rife in ICE Detention Centers
    Immigrant detainees are not receiving proper mental health care, lawyers and advocacy groups say, and reports of suicide attempts are persistent.
23. New Research Helps Explain Gas Craters in Siberia
    Spontaneous gas explosions appear to be increasing in northern Russia because of climate change and some specific local conditions.
24. RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Committee Likely to Target Hepatitis B Shot for Newborns
    Committee members, some of whom are vaccine skeptics, are likely to recommend restricting the use of the shots at birth or delaying them until later in childhood.
25. Young People Suing Trump Over Climate Have Their Day in Federal Court
    They claim Trump’s executive orders are unconstitutional. The government says their lawsuit should be thrown out. The two sides are set to clash this week in Montana.
26. G.O.P. Plan on Pesticides Faces Revolt From MAHA Moms
    The provision in the government funding bill could shield pesticide companies from billions of dollars in lawsuits.
27. When a Simple Swim Carries a Risk of Dangerous Illness
    The parasitic infection schistosomiasis affects an estimated 200 million people globally, many of them children. But campaigns to identify and treat it face formidable hurdles.
28. Patrick McGovern, the ‘Indiana Jones of Ancient Alcohol,’ Dies at 80
    An archaeologist, he discovered and analyzed the residue of beverages imbibed by long-vanished civilizations and then figured out how to recreate them.
29. Mark Norell, 68, Discoverer of Links Between Dinosaurs and Birds, Dies
    His expeditions, including many to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, yielded rare findings and led to exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History.
30. Extreme Heat Spurs New Laws Aimed at Protecting Workers Worldwide
    Governments around the world are enacting measures to try to protect workers from the dangers of heat stress. They’re barely keeping up with the risks.
31. Targeting Hims & Hers, F.D.A. Takes on a New Type of Drug Advertiser
    Regulators sent about 100 warning letters this week to drug advertisers, including to Hims & Hers, a major online provider of weight-loss drugs.
32. Unusual Climate Case Accusing Oil Giants of Racketeering Is Dismissed
    Citing laws more commonly used against organized crime, the lawsuit argued that fossil fuel companies were responsible for devastating hurricane damage in Puerto Rico.
33. F.D.A. Reviews Reports of Covid Vaccine Deaths
    The agency plans to highlight possible links between the shots and accounts of deaths involving children and birth defects to an influential C.D.C. panel meeting next week.
34. John Mew, Orthodontist Who Created Mewing, Dies at 96
    He gained a following for techniques, notably one known as mewing, that he said could help fix crooked teeth without surgery. The medical establishment disagreed.
35. California Wants to Ban ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Pans. These Chefs Say Don’t Do It.
    Rachael Ray and other food celebrities are speaking up in defense of nonstick pans. The actor Mark Ruffalo, who starred in a movie about the risky chemicals, is criticizing them.
36. A Defender of Darkness in the Darkest Place on Earth
    A Chilean astronomer has become dedicated to battling light pollution in the Atacama Desert and preserve what is considered the best place on Earth to study space.
37. $10 Million in Contraceptives Have Been Destroyed on Orders From Trump Officials
    The birth control pills, IUDs and hormonal implants were purchased by U.S.A.I.D. for women in low-income countries. They had been in limbo in a Belgian warehouse after the U.S. cut much of its foreign aid.
38. California Passes Bill Allowing Omission of Patients’ Names From Abortion Pill Bottles
    The intent is to protect health care providers who send the pills to patients in states with abortion bans, and to reassure patients who fear they could be identified.