Thursday, May 7, 2026

Ted Turner, the media mogul who founded CNN and launched the first 24-hour cable news network in 1980, died Wednesday at age 87 after a period in hospice care following a 2018 diagnosis of Lewy body dementia.^[1]

A new AI system called Synthegy allows chemists to design and plan the synthesis of complex molecules by simply describing them in plain language, with the AI generating, scoring, and explaining possible reaction pathways.^[2]

Russia successfully launched its new Soyuz-5 medium-lift rocket for the first time on April 30 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, marking the country's first brand-new rocket design in over a decade.^[3]

A ten-year clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that arthroscopic partial meniscectomy, one of the most commonly performed knee surgeries worldwide, provides no meaningful benefit over non-surgical treatment and may accelerate joint degeneration.^[4]

Paleontologists at UNSW Sydney have identified a 240-million-year-old giant reptile fossil that had been hidden in a residential retaining wall, representing one of Australia's most significant prehistoric discoveries.^[5]

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have decoded 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablets revealing ancient anti-witchcraft rituals, records of kings, and even a beer receipt from early Mesopotamian civilizations.^[6]

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be ensured after President Trump announced the US is pausing its naval escort operation, with both sides continuing diplomatic exchanges through mediator Pakistan.^[7]

Physicists supported by the Foundational Questions Institute have published research suggesting that quantum collapse models hint at tiny fluctuations in time itself, potentially revealing new physics at the intersection of quantum mechanics and gravity.^[8]

New research from the Max Planck Institute shows that malaria actively shaped human evolution by pushing early human populations away from high-risk regions across Africa over tens of thousands of years, influencing genetic diversity patterns seen today.^[9]

A study by the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project is using genetic material from living descendants of the Renaissance artist to unlock secrets about his biological traits, health conditions, and family lineage spanning over 500 years.^[10]