Friday, June 12, 2026

The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed dramatic differences between the dawn and dusk regions of exoplanet WASP-121 b, finding that fierce winds carry heat from the planet's permanent dayside, making the evening side hotter and more expanded, while water molecules are broken apart by extreme temperatures.^[1]

ETH Zurich scientists have developed biodegradable protein beads made from dairy and tofu waste that can capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more efficiently than many current technologies, releasing captured CO2 using a simple room-temperature process rather than requiring large amounts of energy.^[2]

Researchers at the Leibniz Institute on Aging have discovered that declining phosphatidylcholine synthesis triggers natural mitochondrial aging, and found that this process can be reversed, offering potential new approaches to anti-aging therapies.^[3]

University of Birmingham researchers discovered that rice behaves in a highly unusual way, weakening under rapid compression but staying stronger when pressure is applied slowly, and used this effect to engineer a new smart material.^[4]

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have resolved a key problem in Erwin Schrödinger's 100-year-old theory of color, showing mathematically that the qualities humans perceive in colors are intrinsic to the geometry of color space itself.^[5]

A major study published in Nature Metabolism suggests that glucosamine, a popular supplement for joint pain, could be linked to faster progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease, with researchers finding a 25% higher likelihood of developing dementia among glucosamine users.^[6]

An international team of astronomers has traced repeating cosmic radio signals to a rare stellar duo in which a dense white dwarf is siphoning material from a nearby red dwarf companion, solving a long-standing mystery about these strange bursts.^[7]

Scientists have developed an experimental diabetes and obesity pill that activates metabolism in skeletal muscle, helping lower blood sugar and increase fat burning while preserving muscle mass, working through an entirely different mechanism than GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic.^[8]

University of Birmingham researchers have developed a perovskite-based catalyst that splits water into hydrogen at much lower temperatures than existing technologies, potentially allowing factories and renewable energy sites to turn waste heat into valuable hydrogen fuel.^[9]