NYT > Science

1. An Elephant Is Blind Without Its Whiskers
   There are about 1,000 tiny hairs on an elephant’s rugged trunk, all designed to help the animal feel, a new study found.
2. TV, It’s Not Just for Humans Anymore
   Videos aimed at pets are drawing millions of views. But who’s actually watching?
3. This Comet Stopped Spinning. Then It Started Rotating Backward.
   The unusual event, never seen before, might be a way small comets are “blown to bits” in the solar system.
4. Baboon Sibling Rivalry Suggests Monkeys Feel Jealousy Like People
   Young primates in a southern African nature park were observed to constantly interfere when their mother was giving attention to a younger brother or sister.
5. Satellite Pictures Show Snow And Ice Across North America
   For much of North America, the last month has been an icy, frozen trudge. But from the right vantage point, it had a certain beauty.
6. Lost Soviet Luna 9 Moon Lander May Have Been Found
   Two research teams have identified possible landing sites for Luna 9, the first human-made object to safely reach the lunar surface. “One of them is wrong,” an expert said.
7. These Birds Are of Different Feathers, but They Flock Together
   Researchers and volunteers in Texas documented birds of different species preening one another. Experts say the behavior may be more common than documented.
8. War Came to Ukraine and Its Dogs Are Not the Same
   Researchers discovered surprising changes to former pets along the front line of combat with Russia.
9. These Mathematicians Are Putting A.I. to the Test
   Large language models struggle to solve research-level math questions. It takes a human to assess just how poorly they perform.
10. Elephant Bone in Spain May Be Proof of Hannibal’s Tanks With Trunks
    Archaeologists say a 2,200-year-old specimen is the first direct evidence of how the Carthaginian war machine used the giant mammals in the Punic Wars.
11. RFK Jr. Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schools
    Proponents of vaccines warn that the efforts will further dismantle the immunization infrastructure and lead to more outbreaks of disease.
12. El Niño May Be Back This Summer, Bringing Drought and Floods
    The powerful weather pattern is expected to shift into gear again around June, NOAA said, though its strength this time remains a question.
13. What to Know About the E.P.A.’s Big Attack on Climate Regulation
    The Trump administration has repealed the scientific determination that underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change.
14. Trump Repeals Key Greenhouse Gas Finding, Erasing EPA’s Power to Fight Climate Change
    The Environmental Protection Agency rejected the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.
15. ‘Kramer/Fauci’ Revisits a Sparring Match During the AIDS Crisis
    At the heart of Daniel Fish’s verbatim staging of a C-SPAN segment is a complex relationship, between Larry Kramer and Anthony Fauci, that “goes from ‘I hate you’ to ‘I love you’ and back.”
16. 4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease
    Health workers in developing countries know that isolating tuberculosis patients is an outdated and potentially harmful practice, but lack the resources to move away from it.
17. Senate Questions Health Care Firm for Profiting Off Program Meant for Poor
    The program was meant to help hospitals provide for poor patients by offering drug savings. But critics say a Texas company has turned it into a big business, driving up costs for patients and insurers.
18. New Method Can Find Hidden Eggs to Aid in Fertility Treatment
    A study reported that the conventional method of searching follicular fluid didn’t find all the eggs. The new technology found extra eggs more than half the time.
19. Bans on Many CBD Products Loom This Year
    A federal law taking effect in November severely limits the amount of THC, the euphoric cannabis compound, allowed in over-the-counter items. Many groups are fighting back.
20. Four States Sue Administration Over Loss of Public Health Funds
    The states, all led by Democrats, claim the cuts were intended as retribution and will harm efforts to control H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted infections.
21. Mexico May Be on Brink of Losing Its Measles-Free Status
    The country’s confirmed cases have topped 9,000 since last year, raising fears that a high-stakes evaluation in April could lead to its status being revoked.
22. Trump Orders Dept. of Defense to Buy Electricity From Coal Sources
    Mr. Trump is trying to revive coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel. At the White House, coal executives awarded him a trophy as the “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal.”
23. U.S. Health Officials Defend Rejection of Moderna’s Flu Vaccine
    The F.D.A.’s refusal to examine the company’s mRNA shot drew widespread criticism from doctors and was divisive within the agency.
24. Portland Lawsuit Alleges Tear Gas Use by ICE Is a Health Threat
    A novel lawsuit in Portland argues the chemicals are a health threat that have soaked into apartment walls, furniture and even children’s toys.
25. F.D.A. Refuses to Review Moderna Flu Vaccine
    The vaccine maker’s shots involve the successful Covid vaccines’ RNA technology. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has broadly rejected it, canceling millions of dollars in research projects.
26. Climate Change Is Erased From Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence for Judges
    After Republican criticism, a group that offers professional resources to judges withdrew a climate science chapter from its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.
27. Behind the E.P.A.’s Rush to Repeal the Endangerment Finding
    The agency is racing to repeal a scientific finding that requires it to fight global warming. Experts say the goal is to get the matter before the justices while President Trump is still in office.
28. ‘Galileo’ Musical, Starring Raúl Esparza, Will Open on Broadway
    The musical, called “Galileo,” will star Raúl Esparza, and is scheduled to open in December at the Shubert Theater.
29. Dr. Oz Says Drinking Is a ‘Social Lubricant.’ Some Experts Worry About That.
    “Most of the harm that comes from alcohol,” said one researcher, is “due mostly or mainly to drinking with their buddies.”
30. Seals Are Recruited to Study the Ocean Under Antarctic Glaciers
    The environment is changing rapidly around the melting Thwaites Glacier. Seals can collect data in waters that ships could never reach.
31. A Gray Wolf’s Visit to Los Angeles County Is a First in Nearly a Century
    The wolf, known as BEY03F, roamed more than 500 miles from Northern California, signaling that the species continues to rebound after being wiped out in the state in the 1920s.
32. Newly Unbound, Trump Weighs More Nuclear Arms and Underground Tests
    It remains to be seen whether the three big nuclear powers are headed into a new arms race, or whether President Trump is trying to spur negotiations on a new accord now that a last Cold War treaty has expired.
33. How Are Health Care Costs Affecting You?
    We want to hear from readers who are trying to manage their medical bills and their health insurance costs.
34. A.I. Is Making Doctors Answer a Question: What Are They Really Good For?
    Many physicians find chatbots threatening, but that doesn’t mean they’re giving up on medicine.
35. 2 to 3 Cups of Coffee a Day May Reduce Dementia Risk. But Not if It’s Decaf.
    One to two cups of caffeinated tea per day helps too, researchers found after following nearly 132,000 people for 40 years.
36. Can Mountain Lions Survive as Humans Close In? California Is Trying to Find a Way.
    A giant freeway crossing for wildlife is due to open outside Los Angeles this year. Here’s the story of one young cat hemmed in near the city.
37. Hims & Hers Withdraws Knockoff Weight-Loss Pill After Regulatory Scrutiny
    Federal officials had warned that the new product from the online provider of weight loss drugs might be illegal.
38. 6 Fishermen Reel In a 244-Pound Atlantic Halibut, Setting a Local Record
    The fish, hooked as part of a study on the halibut population around the Ha! Ha! Bay in the Canadian province of Quebec, measured more than 6.5 feet long, researchers said.
39. Michael Pollan Says Humanity Is About to Undergo a Revolutionary Change
    The best-selling author grapples with big questions about A.I., consciousness and the distractions polluting our minds.
40. TrumpRx: What to Know About Insurance Benefits, Pricing and Savings
    People may be able to pay less for prescriptions with their insurance rather than via the new government website. The Trump drugstore is meant to help people buy medications using their own money.
41. Studying Antarctica’s Ice From the Side of a Helicopter
    The fastest way into the gaps between gigantic blocks of a broken-up glacier is by lowering instruments from above, through the door of a helicopter.
42. Climate ‘Superfund’ Bills Spread Nationwide, Despite Legal Battles
    The laws aim to force oil companies to help pay for damage from global warming. Industry is gearing up for state-by-state battles.
43. Federal Vaccine Advisers Take Aim at Covid Shots
    One panelist accused the F.D.A. of withholding data on potential harms. The advisers also are reviewing research on vaccines given to pregnant women.