Weekly Headlines (excerpts)

1. Laser mapping spots ant colonies in dense forest

Approach could help scientists spot invasive species cheaply and quickly

BY KATHERINE IRVING 29 MAR 2024 

2. Grinning robots, hyena hierarchies, and more stories you might have missed this week

A roundup of some of our favorite items from the Science Adviser daily newsletter

BY PHIE JACOBS 29 MAR 2024 

3. Anthropologists take up arms against ‘race science’

At their annual meeting, biological anthropologists began to build a playbook to thwart racist misuse of research

BY MICHAEL PRICE 29 MAR 2024 

4. Have scientists finally made sense of Hawking’s famous formula for disorder in a black hole?

Theorists claim to derive the landmark equation from the bare definition of entropy, but not everyone is convinced

BY ADRIAN CHO 28 MAR 2024 

5. A muon collider could revolutionize particle physics—if it can be built

The radical new machine might be built faster and cost less than an equivalent conventional atom smasher, boosters say

BY ADRIAN CHO 28 MAR 2024 

6. Early-career researchers lament potential loss of Europe’s largest transdisciplinary science conference

The future of the biennial ESOF meeting is uncertain after parent organization declares bankruptcy

BY ELISABETH PAIN 28 MAR 2024 

7. Bone marrow transplants spread Alzheimer’s-like disease in mice, controversial study reports

Experts reject claims that the findings demonstrate “Alzheimer’s disease transmission” in mice, and that human transplant recipients are at risk

BY CATHERINE OFFORD 28 MAR 2024 

8. ‘I need your urine!’ Unusual experiment tests whether human pee can help save forests

Science chats with a Spanish ecologist who tried a surprising tactic to stop mice from eating acorns

BY PHIE JACOBS 27 MAR 2024 

9. Black hole at center of Milky Way may be blasting out a jet

The galactic center may not be as sleepy as astronomers thought

BY DANIEL CLERY 27 MAR 2024 

10. Bird flu discovered in U.S. dairy cows is ‘disturbing’

Scientist who tracks infections on cattle farms discusses implications of recently announced virus detections

BY JON COHEN 26 MAR 2024 

11. Startups aim to curb climate change by pulling carbon dioxide from the ocean—not the air

Schemes to use renewable energy to process seawater may be cheaper and easier than air capture

BY ROBERT F. SERVICE 26 MAR 2024 

12. Scientists with East Asian and African names get short shrift in news coverage

Journalists’ decisions can impact researchers’ careers and public perception of who is a scientist

BY KATIE LANGIN 26 MAR 2024 

13. Genetically engineered marmosets promise insight into early stages of Parkinson’s

New monkey models may help predict neurological conditions and test potential treatments

BY DENNIS NORMILE 26 MAR 2024 

14. Smallpox may be gone but U.S. should better prepare for its return, report says

Improved vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics needed for old foe, and could also help against new ones like the mpox virus, panel concludes

BY JON COHEN 26 MAR 2024 

15. Long-lasting, injectable HIV prevention drug set for “aggressive” roll-out in Africa

U.S. government agency plans to make inexpensive shots widely available for people at risk

BY JON COHEN 25 MAR 2024 

16. South Korea to join the European Union’s research funding program

But as Horizon Europe opens up to the world, some European researchers worry they will miss out

BY DENNIS NORMILE 25 MAR 2024 

17. Fewer U.S. scientists are pursuing postdoc positions, new data show

The biological and biomedical sciences have seen the sharpest drop

BY KATIE LANGIN 25 MAR 2024 

18. ‘After you!’ A female bird’s flutter conveys a polite message to her mate

Videos suggest wild birds use complex gestures, like humans do

BY ANNA GIBBS 25 MAR 2024