Thursday, March 26, 2026

A Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube liable for designing addictive social media platforms that harmed a young user's mental health, awarding $6 million in damages in the first U.S. trial verdict of its kind, which may influence approximately 2,000 pending lawsuits against tech companies.^[1]

NASA has announced that its Artemis II mission is targeting an April 1 launch for the first crewed flight around the Moon since the Apollo era, with four astronauts set to make the historic 10-day journey.^[2]

Scientists have discovered 24 new species of deep-sea amphipods in the Pacific Ocean's Clarion-Clipperton Zone, including a rare entirely new superfamily—one of the most significant taxonomic discoveries in deep-sea research.^[3]

Researchers have identified a distinct molecular state in immune cells that appears linked to Long COVID, offering a potential biological explanation for why symptoms persist long after infection in up to 10% of people who contract SARS-CoV-2.^[4]

Scientists have discovered that metformin, the world's most prescribed diabetes drug for over 60 years, works partly through the brain by switching off a protein in the hypothalamus, potentially opening new avenues for more targeted diabetes treatments.^[5]

Paleontologists have uncovered million-year-old fossils from a New Zealand cave containing 16 species, including a previously unknown ancestor of the kākāpō parrot that may have been capable of flight, providing a rare window into the region's prehistoric ecosystems.^[6]

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has completed acoustic vibration testing that simulated the intense conditions of launch, bringing the next-generation observatory closer to its targeted fall 2026 launch date.^[7]

NASA released its April 2026 skywatching guide, highlighting that Mercury will be at its brightest and most visible for the year on April 3, while the Lyrid meteor shower peaks April 21-22 and Comet C/2025 R3 makes its closest approach to Earth on April 27.^[8]

NASA named 24 outstanding postdoctoral researchers to its competitive 2026 Hubble Fellowship Program, selected from over 650 applicants to pursue independent research in astrophysics at U.S. institutions over three years.^[9]

A NASA-supported study has found that computer models used to forecast air quality may have significant gaps in agricultural regions, with irrigation playing a greater role than previously thought in how heat, moisture, and pollutants move between the surface and atmosphere.^[10]