Sunday, June 7, 2026

An AI-designed universal coronavirus vaccine passed its first human clinical trial, generating immune responses against multiple coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, SARS, and related bat viruses with pandemic potential.^[1]

Researchers at Dartmouth found that octopuses can learn to use mirrors to locate food hidden from direct view, correctly identifying the food's location about 73% of the time—a cognitive skill previously observed only in vertebrates.^[2]

A new drug called daraxonrasib nearly doubled overall survival for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer from 6.7 months to 13.2 months by targeting the KRAS mutation, which scientists once thought undruggable.^[3]

A large study of more than 111,000 women found that those taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy were about 30% less likely to develop breast cancer, though researchers say clinical trials are needed to confirm a causal link.^[4]

Venus and Jupiter will appear close together in the evening sky around June 9 in a planetary conjunction, with Mercury joining from June 11–15 to create a three-planet lineup visible after sunset without a telescope.^[5]

NASA astronauts briefly sheltered aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule on June 5 while cosmonauts attempted to repair a persistent air leak in the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station.^[6]

SpaceX launched more than 50 Starlink satellites in back-to-back Falcon 9 missions from California and Florida on June 3 and June 4, marking the company's 63rd and 64th launches of 2026.^[7]

Paris held its 25th annual Nuit Blanche all-night contemporary art festival on June 6, with artistic director Barbara Butch centering the event on the theme of love, featuring installations across the city from the Grand Palais to the Marais.^[8]

Colombia's first-round presidential vote on June 1 produced a surprise result, with political outsider Abelardo de la Espriella advancing to face leftist Senator Ivan Cepeda in a June 21 runoff after upending pollster predictions.^[9]