Jan 8th, 2026 - The updated bill text adds multiple federal hubs to fund workforce growth and quantum technology research and development, as industry leaders hope for swift passage. On Thursday, Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., introduced the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act to praise from industry leaders. The National Quantum Initiative Act was initially signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term in office in 2018. It expired in 2023, and efforts to reauthorize the program have since fallen short of passage. The new legislation would extend the ... [Read More]

Jan 8th, 2026 - During the mating season every autumn, the male whitetail deer walk around the forest, leaving marks that would tell the females nearby that a charming gentleman is roaming around there. When the sky dips in twilight, the deer vigorously rakes his antlers under a tree, licks the branch, and shreds it until the cambium layers inside are exposed. With his testosterone levels dancing in an upswing, he would go to great lengths to attract a mate. He rubs his foreheads against the exposed wood to leave behind perfume. With his hooves, he scrapes the ground to clear away vegetation. He digs up a ... [Read More]

Jan 8th, 2026 - The expansion of Kepler's Supernova Remnant over the past 25 years is summed up in 40 seconds in a new video released by NASA. The stunning time-lapse was created using data from  NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory . It goes back to 1604, when the German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovered the supernova in the sky. Thus began the research, and scientists learned that Kepler's Supernova (SN 1604) is a Type Ia supernova, where a little white dwarf star exploded after exceeding a critical mass. In the aftermath, it either pulled materials from a companion star or combined with another ... [Read More]

Jan 8th, 2026 - Arctic marine life is notoriously difficult to study because of its remoteness. But drones have enabled whales to be monitored and diagnosed while being minimally invasive, according to a new study. By having drones collect samples of whale breath or "blow" from humpback, sperm and fin whales in the northeast Atlantic to screen for pathogens , researchers have "confirmed for the first time that a potentially deadly whale virus" is "circulating above the Arctic Circle," said a news release about the study published in the journal BMC Veterinary Research . Cetacean morbillivirus can cause ... [Read More]

Jan 8th, 2026 - The oldest evidence for the use of arrow poison globally was long thought to come from Egypt, dating to 4,000 years ago. It was a black, toxic residue on bone arrowheads from a tomb at the Naga ed Der archaeological site. New evidence from southern Africa is challenging this. New research has found poison on stone arrow tips from South Africa dating to 60,000 years ago. It is the oldest direct evidence for hunting with poisoned arrows. This adds to what is already known about the know-how of ancient African bowhunters. These abilities may have contributed to our species' long and flourishing ... [Read More]

Jan 8th, 2026 - The Zika virus epidemic that began in Brazil in 2015 and quickly spread to other countries caused an unprecedented flood of neurological disease, especially among infants, and changed the perception of the mosquito-borne disease forever. A virus once believed to be largely benign was suddenly ravaging the brains of infants and causing central nervous disease in adults, leading WHO to declare an international public health emergency in February 2016, which lasted 9 months. Ten years later, many questions remain, including why the virus became so harmful and whether it will cause another ... [Read More]

Jan 7th, 2026 - The city of Boston opened its first in a series of flu and COVID-19 vaccination clinics on Wednesday in response to a surge in cases and hospitalizations in Massachusetts , as local health officials urged its residents to get vaccinated. Recently, a new variant of influenza A, known as the subclade K , has severely impacted Massachusetts, resulting in the deaths of 33 adults, including four children statewide, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Two of those pediatric deaths were in Boston, the first children to die of flu-related illnesses since 2013. The last week ... [Read More]

Jan 7th, 2026 - Astronomers say they've found an asteroid that spins faster than other space rocks of its size . The asteroid, known as 2025 MN45, is nearly half a mile (710 meters) in diameter and makes a full rotation every 1.88 minutes, based on an analysis of data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory . "This is now the fastest-spinning asteroid that we know of, larger than 500 meters," University of Washington astronomer Sarah Greenstreet said today at the American Astronomical Society's winter meeting in Phoenix. Greenstreet, who serves as an assistant astronomer at the National Science Foundation's ... [Read More]