Thursday, March 19, 2026

Venezuela won its first World Baseball Classic title, defeating the United States 3-2 in Tuesday's final in Miami with Eugenio Suárez's go-ahead double in the ninth inning; Kansas City Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia was named tournament MVP.^[1]

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at its March meeting, keeping the benchmark federal funds rate in the 3.5%-3.75% range while projecting one rate cut in 2026 amid uncertainty from higher inflation readings and the Middle East conflict.^[2]

NASA's Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft may roll out to Launch Pad 39B today, ahead of a planned April 1 launch that will send four astronauts around the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.^[3]

Astronomers have discovered the brightest fast radio burst ever detected and traced it to a nearby galaxy 130 million light-years away using the CHIME Outrigger telescope network; the flash nicknamed RBFLOAT was also observed by the James Webb Space Telescope.^[4]

A redesigned cancer immunotherapy called 2141-V11 showed striking early results in a phase 1 clinical trial, with tumors shrinking in six of 12 patients and two experiencing complete remission after researchers injected the CD40 agonist antibody directly into tumors.^[5]

Scientists have discovered a rare "mirror-image" amino acid called D-cysteine that can slow cancer growth while leaving healthy cells largely unharmed; in mouse studies, the compound significantly slowed aggressive breast tumors by disrupting cancer cells' energy production.^[6]

NASA launched its twin ESCAPADE spacecraft to study how Mars lost its atmosphere, with the probes currently orbiting a point a million miles from Earth before swinging toward Mars in November 2026 to arrive in September 2027.^[7]

Scientists at SETI Institute have identified what may be a new mineral on Mars—ferric hydroxysulfate—forming in layered deposits near the Valles Marineris canyon system, suggesting Mars has remained chemically and thermally active more recently than previously thought.^[8]

Researchers have discovered a new chemical reaction involving sulfur-sulfur bonds that could advance fields from drug development to plastic recycling; the reaction allows plastics to be converted back to original building blocks, supporting a circular plastics economy.^[9]