This is the central database of protien, DNA sequences and structures. It ~~is~~ was accessed by all biomedical researchers worldwide daily.

The “little apple of death” is the true forbidden fruit.

The survey is massive and there are lots of take home points... may be better to read it yourself. This article is just first in the series, Nature will likely release more summarized reports.

The full survey data sets are available at go.nature.com/4ncsuo1. Should be accessible to everyone.

Related story:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/09/despite-congressional-threat-national-academies-releases-new-climate-report/

"the NAS's conclusion is clear: The EPA was right in 2009, and everything we've learned since has only made it more right...."

A review of the book: Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces That Threaten Our World

A recent interview (46 minutes) with the two authors can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RhZNp4NJZI

It's a rare occurrence for scientists to witness sharks mating in the wild. It's even rarer to catch three leopard sharks—two males and one female—engaging in what amounts to a threesome in the wild on camera, particularly since they are considered an endangered species. But that's just what one enterprising marine biology team achieved, describing the mating sequence in careful, clinical detail in a paper published in the Journal of Ethology.

It's not like scientists don't know anything about leopard shark mating behavior; rather, most of that knowledge comes from studying the sharks in captivity. Whether the behavior is identical in the wild is an open question because there hadn't been any documented observations of leopard shark mating practices in the wild—until now.

Scientists at Kyoto University and Hiroshima University have achieved a breakthrough in quantum physics by successfully identifying the elusive W state of quantum entanglement, solving a 25-year-old challenge in the field[^1].

The team developed a method to measure entangled W states using photonic quantum circuits, demonstrating it successfully with three photons. This achievement is significant because W states, along with GHZ states, are fundamental building blocks for quantum networks[^1][^3].

"More than 25 years after the initial proposal concerning the entangled measurement for GHZ states, we have finally obtained the entangled measurement for the W state as well," said Shigeki Takeuchi, the study's corresponding author[^1].

The breakthrough enables single-shot identification of quantum states, eliminating the need for numerous measurements that grow exponentially with added photons. This advancement opens paths for:

• Quantum teleportation of information between distant locations
• New quantum communication protocols
• More efficient quantum computing methods
• Transfer of multi-photon quantum entangled states[^1][^8]

The research team used highly stable optical quantum circuits that could operate for extended periods without active control. They validated their method by successfully distinguishing different types of three-photon W states[^8].

[^1]: ScienceDaily - New quantum breakthrough could transform teleportation and computing

[^3]: RSInc - New Quantum breakthrough could transform Teleportation and Computing

[^8]: SciTechDaily - Scientists Capture W State, Unlocking Quantum Teleportation

New research reveals that the DNA switches controlling human finger development originated from genes that regulated fish cloacas 380 million years ago[^1].

"Rather than building a new regulatory system for the digits, nature has repurposed an existing mechanism, initially active in the cloaca," explains developmental geneticist Denis Duboule from the University of Geneva[^1].

The research team discovered this by comparing fish and mouse genomes, focusing on Hoxd genes. When they tagged DNA switches with fluorescent markers, these lit up in mouse digits but in fish cloacas. Deleting these genetic elements using CRISPR-Cas9 disrupted finger development in mice and cloaca formation in fish[^1].

"The common feature between the cloaca and the digits is that they represent terminal parts," notes geneticist Aurélie Hintermann. "Sometimes they are the end of tubes in the digestive system, sometimes the end of feet and hands"[^1].

[^1]: ScienceAlert - Fish Buttholes May Be The Reason We Now Have Fingers, Study Finds

[Posted this earlier but somehow the URL went missing.]

"Here we show that climate change made 213 historical heatwaves reported over 2000–2023 more likely and more intense, to which each of the 180 carbon majors (fossil fuel and cement producers) substantially contributed… Overall, one-quarter of these events were virtually impossible without climate change. The emissions of the carbon majors contribute to half the increase in heatwave intensity since 1850–1900.

For those who are not aware: "The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements so surprising that they make people LAUGH, then THINK. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology."

The ceremony itself: https://improbable.com/the-35th-first-annual-ig-nobel-prize-ceremony/

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/34906055

A study in Current Biology reports that some “gifted word learner” dogs can learn category words that refer to how toys are used (such as tugging versus fetching) and extend those labels to new objects that serve the same function. In tests, these dogs chose the correct toy by function even when it looked different, a pattern reminiscent of how human infants group objects by purpose during early language learning.

Study: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(25)01079-6

Other articles:

• https://nautil.us/some-dogs-can-learn-new-linguistic-tricks-1238106/
• https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dogs-with-large-vocabularies-can-understand-category-words-not-just-names/

Evidence that climate change harms public health is “beyond scientific dispute,” the independent National Academy of Sciences said Wednesday in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke a landmark U.S. government finding to that effect that underpins key environmental regulations.

The NAS, a non-governmental nonprofit set up to advise the government on science, said human activity is releasing greenhouse gases that are warming the planet, increasing extreme temperatures and changing the oceans, all dangerous developments for the health and welfare of the United States public. Evidence to that effect has only grown stronger since 2009, the group said.

In July, the Trump administration proposed revoking what’s known as the 2009 “endangerment” finding, the concept that climate change is a threat. Overturning it could pave the way for cutting a range of rules that limit pollution from cars, power plants and other sources.

More about 'Flexoelectricity' here:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-02995-6

One more surprise in the 'ice' category ... which is now up to 19 forms. (Know of any other solids which float on their liquid form?)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_ice#Known_phases

"The details of the chemical nature of liquid water are not well understood; some theories suggest that its unusual behavior is due to the existence of two liquid states." - WP

The home appliance industry would like you to believe that gas-burning stoves are not a risk to your health -- and several companies that make the devices are scrambling to erase their prior acknowledgements that they are.