Newsletter Science X
Dear olivier hartmanshenn,
Here is your customized Science X Newsletter for week 03:
 | Ancient genomes reveal an Iron Age society centered on womenAn international team of geneticists, led by those from Trinity College Dublin, has joined forces with archaeologists from Bournemouth University to decipher the structure of British Iron Age society, finding evidence of female political and social empowerment. |
 | Critical ocean current has not declined in the last 60 years, AMOC study findsEarth, being 71% covered in water, is influenced by the ocean and its movements. In the Atlantic Ocean, a system of connected currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), moves water throughout the world's oceans powered by a combination of winds and ocean density. It not only distributes the ocean's heat, moisture, and nutrients, but regulates the Earth's climate and weather. |
 | Researchers find Medicare Advantage beneficiaries do not receive more dental, vision or hearing careAs the privatized form of Medicare, Medicare Advantage plans advertise dental, vision, and hearing benefits not covered by traditional Medicare, but a recent analysis found that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries do not typically receive more of these supplemental services than traditional Medicare beneficiaries. Additionally, out-of-pocket spending was similar for most supplemental services. |
 | NASA celebrates Edwin Hubble's discovery of a new universeFor humans, the most important star in the universe is our sun. The second-most important star is nestled inside the Andromeda galaxy. Don't go looking for it—the flickering star is 2.2 million light-years away, and is 1/100,000th the brightness of the faintest star visible to the human eye. |
 | Turning the Hubble tension into a crisis: New measurement confirms universe is expanding too fast for current modelsThe universe really seems to be expanding fast. Too fast, even. A new measurement confirms what previous—and highly debated—results had shown: The universe is expanding faster than predicted by theoretical models, and faster than can be explained by our current understanding of physics. |
 | Chernobyl dogs' genetic differences not due to mutation, study findsRadiation-induced mutation is unlikely to have induced genetic differences between dog populations in Chernobyl City and the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), according to a new study in PLOS ONE from North Carolina State University and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The study has implications for understanding the effects of environmental contamination on populations over time. |
 | Herbicide under US scrutiny over potential Parkinson's linkFirst came the slow hand movements, then the tremor, and now the looming fear of what lies ahead. |
 | Increased AI use linked to eroding critical thinking skillsA study by Michael Gerlich at SBS Swiss Business School has found that increased reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) tools is linked to diminished critical thinking abilities. It points to cognitive offloading as a primary driver of the decline. |
 | Physicists develop the 'perfect' recipe for a well-known Italian pasta dishA small team of physicists at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, working with a colleague from Universitat de Barcelona and another from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria, has developed what they describe as a foolproof recipe for cacio e pepe. |
 | SpaceX catches Starship booster again, but upper stage explodesHours after Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin nailed its first-ever orbital mission, SpaceX seized back the spotlight on Thursday as its latest test of Starship, its gargantuan next-generation megarocket, ended with the upper stage dramatically disintegrating over the Atlantic. |
 | Genetic reanalysis results in more than 500 patients receiving diagnosisThe European consortium for Solving the Unsolved Rare Diseases has demonstrated the significance of international collaboration to address the unmet medical needs for rare diseases' diagnosis. More than 500 European patients with unknown conditions have received a diagnosis through new genetic research. This includes patients with rare neurological disorders, severe intellectual disabilities, muscle diseases, and hereditary gastrointestinal cancer. |
 | Quantum engineers create a 'Schrödinger's cat' inside a silicon chipUNSW engineers have demonstrated a well-known quantum thought experiment in the real world. Their findings deliver a new and more robust way to perform quantum computations—and they have important implications for error correction, one of the biggest obstacles standing between them and a working quantum computer. |
 | Space itself may have created galaxiesAccording to new research, the earliest seeds of structures may have been laid down by gravitational waves sloshing around in the infant universe. |
 | Over 97 million US residents exposed to unregulated contaminants in their drinking water, analysis revealsNearly a third of people in the U.S. have been exposed to unregulated contaminants in their drinking water that could impact their health, according to a new analysis by scientists at Silent Spring Institute. What's more, Hispanic and Black residents are more likely than other groups to have unsafe levels of contaminants in their drinking water and are more likely to live near pollution sources. |
 | Ancient artifacts unearthed in Iraq shed light on hidden history of MesopotamiaNew discoveries by a UCF researcher and her team at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Kurd Qaburstan, including clay tablets with ancient cuneiform writing, a game board and large structural remains, may provide a wealth of knowledge about this Middle Bronze Age city and shed light on the more hidden history of Mesopotamia. |
 | Paleontologists discover a new species of North African predatory dinosaur in archived imagesSNSB and LMU Paleontologists have identified a new species of predatory dinosaur from the Cretaceous period in North Africa, about 95 million years old. What makes this discovery so special is that the original fossil from Egypt was completely destroyed 80 years ago, during World War II. |
 | Invasive pike use marine corridors to colonize new Alaska territoryNorthern pike are moving through salt water to invade freshwater habitats in Southcentral Alaska, according to a recent study published in the journal PLOS ONE. |
 | DNA nanorobots that can alter artificial cells offer a new tool for synthetic biologyThe shape and morphology of a cell play a key role in the biological function. This corresponds to the principle of "form follows function," which is common in modern fields of design and architecture. The transfer of this principle to artificial cells is a challenge in synthetic biology. Advances in DNA nanotechnology now offer promising solutions. They allow the creation of novel transport channels that are large enough to facilitate the passage of therapeutic proteins across cell membranes. |
 | Anglers glimpse rare moment of orcas 'coordinating' attack on whaleWhile fishing off the coast of Honduras in 2023, a group of anglers stumbled upon a rare sight: a pod of orcas hunting down a sperm whale. |
 | New approach merges theoretical fundamentals with experimental studies of the proton's structureProtons and other subatomic particles that are subject to the strong nuclear force have a complex structure that involves even more fundamental constituents called quarks and gluons. These quarks and gluons bind under the influence of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). QCD is the theory of strong interaction of quarks and the role of color symmetry. |
