Scientific Discoveries

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Supercooled clouds over the highest mountains respond differently to climate change
Science News

Supercooled clouds over the highest mountains respond differently to climate change

Most studies of how clouds are responding to climate change focus on clouds over the oceans, rather than over mountains. Those that do focus on mountain clouds tend to explore cloud microphysics rather than long-term trends in cloud phase. But understanding cloud behavior over regions such as the Tibetan Plateau, which supplies water to hundreds of millions of people, is critical—especially as diminishing snowpack and altered precipitation patterns threaten this critical water source.

📅 2026-10-16 18:10:01    •    Phys.org
A distant supercluster of galaxies points to self-interacting dark matter
Science News

A distant supercluster of galaxies points to self-interacting dark matter

Seven billion light-years from Earth, there is an unexpected cluster of galaxies. It has two regions in the process of colliding with each other with a combined mass of more than two quadrillion solar masses. Given its mass, the distant cluster has been nicknamed El Gordo, the Fat One. What makes it unusual is that it's extraordinarily large for that period of the universe. How did such a large supercluster form so early?

📅 2026-10-16 18:00:08    •    Phys.org
NASA's Hubble spies spiral's edge
Science News

NASA's Hubble spies spiral's edge

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features the edge-on, intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 1827, located roughly 37 million light-years away in the constellation Columba, the Dove. Hubble captured the image as part of a survey looking at 260 satellite galaxies around 22 Milky Way–like host galaxies within a radius of about 32 million light-years from Earth. Hubble has already observed 111 of these satellite galaxies. The remaining galaxies will take an additional 149 Hubble orbits, one orbit for each galaxy, to observe.

📅 2026-10-16 17:40:08    •    Phys.org
Forecasting 'tipping points' with AI climate simulation
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Forecasting 'tipping points' with AI climate simulation

The writer Malcolm Gladwell popularized the term "tipping points" to refer to the moment when a trend or social behavior crosses a threshold and rapidly spreads everywhere. In physics, tipping points occur when systems—say, Earth's climate—reach an unstable point and topple over into a sea of change that is sometimes irreversible. Examples include global warming or the melting of polar ice caps.

📅 2026-10-16 17:40:01    •    Phys.org
Machine learning analysis of gene regulation reveals new dimension of biological variability
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Machine learning analysis of gene regulation reveals new dimension of biological variability

Changes in our genes affect health risks from heart disease to cancer, but how those genes are turned on and off is just as crucial to health. What's more, almost all genes occur as two copies—one from each parent—that aren't necessarily turned on and off in sync. When that differential gene regulation goes awry, it can cause serious health problems.

📅 2026-10-16 17:20:06    •    Phys.org
Wetland reclamation brings limited agricultural gains but high flood exposure
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Wetland reclamation brings limited agricultural gains but high flood exposure

Wetland reclamation has long been regarded as a strategy to meet growing food demand, given the favorable soil and water conditions of wetlands. However, the trade-off between potentially greater crop production and the ecological cost of lost wetlands—especially involving flood regulation—has not been well understood.

📅 2026-10-16 17:20:01    •    Phys.org
Ancient fungus unlocks secret support system in major food crops that could transform farming practices
Science News

Ancient fungus unlocks secret support system in major food crops that could transform farming practices

Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering mustard plant used worldwide as the primary genetic model in plant biology, was long believed incapable of forming relationships with underground fungal networks. New research published in Current Biology led by professor Katie Field demonstrates for the first time that it can establish a fully functional, resource-sharing partnership with an ancient soil fungus known as a Mucoromycotina fine root endophyte (MFRE).

📅 2026-10-16 17:00:01    •    Phys.org
Japan is launching a mission to Mars’s largest moon Phobos
Science News

Japan is launching a mission to Mars’s largest moon Phobos

Artist’s representation of the MMX SpacecraftJAXA We may be on the verge of solving the mystery of the Martian moons. On 20 October, the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft launches towards the larger of the two moons, Phobos, with the goal of bringing back a sample that may finally explain how Phobos and its sibling, Deimos, formed. MMX will launch from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. If all goes to plan, it should arrive at Mars in August 2027, entering an orbit that keeps it alongside Phobos so it can build a detailed map of the surface. Along the way, it will also observe the surface of Deimos. Once the map is complete enough, the spacecraft’s operators at the Japan Aerospace E...

📅 2026-10-16 17:00:00    •    New Scientist
Wind emerges as overlooked factor in ecosystems' carbon uptake and water loss
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Wind emerges as overlooked factor in ecosystems' carbon uptake and water loss

Wind does more than sway trees. It also plays an important role in determining an ecosystem's water-use efficiency—defined as the amount of carbon an ecosystem absorbs per unit of water lost. Water-use efficiency is an important measure of how ecosystems balance growth and water availability.

📅 2026-10-16 16:56:51    •    Phys.org
NASA satellites observe historic 2026 El NiĂąo
Science News

NASA satellites observe historic 2026 El NiĂąo

A phenomenon rarer than a solar eclipse and more powerful than any single storm system is unfolding this fall, and NASA is tracking it closely.

📅 2026-10-16 16:44:08    •    Phys.org