Monday, October 26, 2026

Astronomers have discovered three actively feeding supermassive black holes inside a single galaxy more than 12.5 billion light-years away, with two of them separated by just 620 light-years and expected to eventually merge.^[1]

Western Sydney International Airport welcomed its first commercial passengers on October 25, marking the opening of Australia's first major new airport in more than 50 years, with Jetstar operating the inaugural flight to the Gold Coast.^[2]

Serbia's longtime leader Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat to a student-led political movement in the country's snap parliamentary election, with the opposition Student List projected to win between 135 and 140 seats in the 250-member parliament.^[3]

Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela after more than 10 months in exile, announcing her arrival on social media and appearing at a church in Lara state where she was greeted by supporters.^[4]

Brazilians voted in a tense presidential runoff election between incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, with a Supreme Court order extending polling station hours and vote counting ongoing into the evening.^[5]

Researchers have identified three human proteins that work together to keep HIV dormant and hidden from treatment, a discovery that could lead to new strategies for eliminating persistent HIV reservoirs in the body.^[6]

NASA's Perseverance rover set an off-world record for total distance driven on another planet, continuing its exploration of Mars and collection of rock samples for eventual return to Earth.^[7]

Researchers at HZB have reported the first observation of polar vortices in lead-free superlattices grown on silicon, opening new possibilities for incorporating complex ferroelectric states into silicon-based technologies.^[8]

Researchers found that low-dose aspirin was linked to a 70% lower relative risk of dementia in older adults with a specific genetic profile, suggesting that genetic testing could eventually help identify people who might benefit from preventive treatments.^[9]

Weekend storms off the Atlantic battered northern Europe, cutting power to more than 150,000 homes in Britain, France and Germany, and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights across the region.^[10]