Neanderthal DNA Is Missing From Our X Chromosome. This Could Be Why.

03 March 2026, By A. Ramakrishnan, Associated Press

https://www.sciencealert.com/neanderthal-dna-is-missing-from-our-x-chromosome-this-could-be-why

Reconstructions of a Neanderthal man, left, and woman at the Neanderthal museum in Mettmann, Germany.

 (AP Photo/Martin Meissner/File)

NEW YORK (AP) – Humans and Neanderthals cozied up from time to time when they lived in the same areas tens of thousands of years ago. But we don't know much about who got with whom, or why.

A new genetic analysis offers some ancient gossip: The pairings were more often female humans with male Neanderthals.

How exactly this happened remains a huge question mark. Did human women venture into Neanderthal populations, or were the Neanderthal males drawn to larger human enclaves? Were these interactions peaceful, confusing, secretive, or even violent?

"I don't know if we'll ever get a definitive answer to how this happened, since we can't travel back in time," said population genetics expert Xinjun Zhang with the University of Michigan, commenting on the new analysis.

But the study, published Thursday in the journal Science, shows "that whenever Neanderthals and modern humans have mated, there has been a preference for male Neanderthals and female modern humans, as opposed to the other way around," said author Alexander Platt, who studies genetics at the University of Pennsylvania.

A human skull (left) and a Neanderthal skull (right). 

(hairymuseummatt/DrMikeBaxter/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 2.0)



Scientists know that Neanderthals and humans mated because a small but important percentage of Neanderthal DNA is found in most modern humans – including genes that can help us fight some diseases and make us more susceptible to others.

But they have also known that the Neanderthal DNA is not distributed evenly throughout the human genome.

In particular, there is a surprising lack of Neanderthal DNA in the human X chromosome, one of the bundles of genes in each cell known as a sex chromosome, compared with the amount of Neanderthal DNA in the other, non-sex chromosomes.

Scientists thought that maybe the genes in those locations were simply not beneficial – or even harmful. Perhaps people with those gene patterns didn't survive as well, so those genes were filtered out by evolution over time.

Or, they thought, maybe the difference could be explained by how the two species intermingled.

To try to solve the riddle, Platt and colleagues looked instead at the Neanderthal genome and the human DNA that got interspersed during a "mating event" 250,000 years ago.

When comparing these genes, they found more of a human fingerprint on the Neanderthal X chromosome – the same chromosome that, in humans, has less Neanderthal DNA than would be expected.

The most likely explanation for this mirror image pattern is mating behavior. That's because of the way sex chromosomes are passed from parents to children, explained Platt.

Because genetic females have two X chromosomes and genetic males have one X and one Y chromosome, two out of every three X chromosomes in a population, on average, are inherited from people's mothers.

If more human females mated with Neanderthal males than the other way around, over thousands of years, you would expect to see just what they found: more human DNA in Neanderthal X chromosomes and less Neanderthal DNA in human X chromosomes.

Two out of every three X chromosomes in a population, on average, are inherited from people's mothers.

(frentusha/Canva)



"I think that they've taken some really important steps in filling missing pieces to the puzzle," said Joshua Akey, who studies evolutionary genomics at Princeton University and wasn't involved with the new study.

The study can't totally rule out other explanations. For example, Zhang said, it's possible that the offspring of human males and Neanderthal females just didn't survive as well.

But the simplest and most likely explanation, the study found, is also the most interesting: "It's not the result of a strictly Darwinian survival of the fittest," Platt said. "It's really the result of how we interact with each other, and what our culture and society and behavior is like."

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Eat More Fat To Exercise Better? A New Study Challenges Conventional Wisdom

By Virginia Tech, Feb. 27, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/eat-more-fat-to-exercise-better-a-new-study-challenges-conventional-wisdom/

Exercise is widely recognized as a cornerstone of long-term health, yet for people with high blood sugar, its benefits may not fully materialize. New research suggests that metabolic health can shape how effectively the body responds to physical activity, particularly in its ability to use oxygen. 

Credit: Stock

A new study suggests that when blood sugar is elevated, exercise alone may not be enough.

Most of us hear the same advice: move more, eat less fat. Exercise can trim body fat, build muscle, and strengthen the heart. It also raises cardiorespiratory fitness, which is often tracked by how well the body can deliver and use oxygen during activity, a key marker linked with better health over time.

For people living with high blood sugar, though, that oxygen-related boost may be harder to achieve. Hyperglycemia is tied to higher risks of heart and kidney problems, and it can also make it tougher for working muscles to increase oxygen use during training. In other words, the workout can still be “good,” but the body may not adapt as efficiently.

A new study raises an unexpected possibility for this group: under certain conditions, eating more fat, not less, might help restore some of the benefits exercise is supposed to deliver.

A Ketogenic Shift in Metabolism

In research led by exercise medicine scientist Sarah Lessard, published Feb. 25 in Nature Communications, mice with high blood sugar were put on a high-fat ketogenic diet. Their blood sugar dropped, and their bodies responded more strongly to exercise.

“After one week on the ketogenic diet, their blood sugar was completely normal, as though they didn’t have diabetes at all,” said Lessard, associate professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC Center for Exercise Medicine Research. “Over time, the diet caused remodeling of the mice’s muscles, making them more oxidative and making them react better to aerobic exercise.”

Sarah Lessard, associate professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, studies how diet and exercise interact to influence blood sugar and muscle adaptation.

 Credit: Virginia Tech



The ketogenic diet is designed to push the body into ketosis, a metabolic state where fat becomes the primary fuel source rather than glucose. That goal is what makes keto so polarizing. It relies on high-fat, very low-carbohydrate eating, which clashes with decades of low-fat messaging in nutrition advice.

Historical and Clinical Context

Despite the controversy, the ketogenic diet has shown promise in certain medical settings. It has been used to help manage epilepsy and has been associated with potential benefits in Parkinson’s disease. In the 1920s, before insulin became available, physicians used it to treat diabetes because it can lower blood sugar levels.

In previous work, Lessard observed that people with high blood sugar tended to have reduced exercise capacity. She questioned whether shifting metabolism through diet could enhance the body’s response to physical activity and improve overall performance.

To explore this idea, researchers fed mice a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet and gave them access to running wheels. Over time, the animals developed a greater proportion of slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are known to support endurance.

“Their bodies were more efficiently using oxygen, which is a sign of higher aerobic capacity,” Lessard said.

Diet and Exercise: A Combined Effect

According to Lessard, exercise benefits nearly every tissue in the body, including fat tissue. Yet her findings suggest that diet and physical activity should not be viewed as separate strategies.

“What we’re really finding from this study and from our other studies is that diet and exercise aren’t simply working in isolation,” said Lessard, who also holds an appointment in the Department of Human Foods, Nutrition, and Exercise in Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “There are a lot of combined effects, and so we can get the most benefits from exercise if we eat a healthy diet at the same time.”

She plans to extend the research to human participants to determine whether the same improvements seen in mice can be achieved in people.

Lessard also acknowledged that maintaining a ketogenic diet can be difficult. She suggested that less restrictive approaches, such as the Mediterranean diet, may offer a more practical alternative while still helping control blood sugar. Unlike keto, the Mediterranean pattern includes carbohydrates from unprocessed fruits, vegetables, and whole grains rather than eliminating them entirely.

“Our previous studies have shown that any strategy you and your doctor have arrived at to reduce your blood sugar could work,” she said.

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Superagers' 'Secret Ingredient' May Be The Growth of New Brain Cells

03 March 2026, By M. Starr

https://www.sciencealert.com/superagers-secret-ingredient-may-be-the-growth-of-new-brain-cells

A donated superager brain. 

(Shane Collins, Northwestern University)

Not only do our brains appear to generate new neurons into adulthood, but those of superagers contain far more brain cells in development than those of healthy peers, new research has found.

According to a study of 38 adult human brains donated to science, superagers – people who retain exceptional memory as they age – have roughly twice as many immature neurons as their peers who age more typically.

Moreover, people with Alzheimer's disease show a marked reduction in neurogenesis compared to a normal baseline.

"This is a big step forward in understanding how the human brain processes cognition, forms memories, and ages," says neuroscientist Orly Lazarov of the University of Illinois Chicago.

"Determining why some brains age more healthily than others can help researchers make therapeutics for healthy aging, cognitive resilience, and the prevention of Alzheimer's disease and related dementia."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TH4LjvqnAw&t=25s

There has been an ongoing debate about whether adult humans continue to generate new neurons in the hippocampus – the memory center of the brain. Scientists used to assume that the brain you were born with was the brain you were stuck with for life.

Then, in 1998, a landmark paper challenged that assumption, reporting evidence that adults may still produce new neurons. Subsequent papers supported this finding, but then in 2018, another bold claim appeared: Neurogenesis, according to neuroscientist Shawn Sorrells and his colleagues, crawls to a halt during adolescence. The topic has been a hot one since.

However, other recent studies have shown that neurogenesis – or a lack thereof – may play a role in Alzheimer's disease.

Led by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago, the team set out to examine a variety of postmortem hippocampal tissue samples to see if they could identify markers of neurogenesis – and if different groups had any notable differences.

The brain samples were donated from five groups: eight healthy young adults, aged between 20 and 40; eight healthy agers, aged between 60 and 93; six superagers, aged between 86 and 100; six individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's pathology, aged between 80 and 94; and 10 individuals with an Alzheimer's diagnosis, aged between 70 and 93.

The young healthy adult brain tissue was first analyzed to establish the neurogenesis pathways in the adult brain. Then, they analyzed 355,997 individual cell nuclei isolated from the hippocampus, searching for three different stages of cell development: Stem cells, which can develop into neurons; neuroblasts, which are stem cells in the process of that development; and immature neurons, on the verge of functionality.

The results were striking.

"Superagers had twice the neurogenesis of the other healthy older adults," Lazarov says. "Something in their brains enables them to maintain a superior memory. I believe hippocampal neurogenesis is the secret ingredient, and the data support that."

That's an interesting result on its own, but the data from the individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's pathology and Alzheimer's diagnoses is where the real meat of the study sits.

In the preclinical group, subtle molecular changes hinted that the system supporting new neuron growth was beginning to falter. In the Alzheimer's group, a clear drop in immature neurons was evident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAG6rYiVfXE&t=4s

A genetic analysis of the nuclei also showed that superager neural cells have increased gene activity linked to stronger synaptic connections, greater plasticity, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a critical protein for neural survival, growth, and maintenance. Taken together, these three things can be interpreted as resilience.

"We've always said that superagers show that the aging brain can be biologically active, adaptable, flexible, but we didn't know why," says neuropsychiatrist Tamar Gefen of Northwestern University in the US.

"This is biological proof that their brains are more plastic, and a real discovery that shows that neurogenesis of young neurons in the hippocampus may be a contributing factor."

Further research, the team says, could help identify therapeutic ways of boosting neurogenesis and resilience, as well as potential environmental and lifestyle factors that may affect the brain's aging.

"What's exciting for the public is that this study shows the aging brain is not fixed or doomed to decline," says cell biologist Ahmed Disouky of the University of Illinois Chicago, the first author of the study.

"Understanding how some people naturally maintain neurogenesis opens the door to strategies that could help more adults preserve memory and cognitive health as they age."

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Scientists Create Powerful New Form of Aluminum That Could Replace Rare Earth Metals

By King's Coll. London, March 1, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-create-powerful-new-form-of-aluminum-that-could-replace-rare-earth-metals/

A newly discovered aluminium structure could open the door to cheaper, greener chemical manufacturing. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Researchers have uncovered an unusual new form of aluminium that challenges long-held assumptions about how this common metal behaves.

Researchers at King’s College London have identified an unusual new form of aluminum, one of the most abundant metals in Earth’s crust. The discovery points to a much less expensive and more sustainable substitute for rare earth metals that are widely used in modern technology and industry.

Dr. Clare Bakewell, a senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, led the study. Her team created highly reactive aluminum-based molecules capable of breaking some of the strongest chemical bonds. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, also describe molecular structures that have never been observed before, opening the door to new types of chemical reactivity.

A central achievement of the research is the first reported example of a cyclotrialumane. This compound consists of three aluminum atoms linked together in a triangular arrangement. The three-atom structure shows an unusual level of reactivity while remaining intact when dissolved in different solutions.

That stability allows it to participate in a variety of chemical processes. Among them are the splitting of dihydrogen and the controlled insertion and chain growth of ethene, a 2-carbon hydrocarbon that serves as a key building block in chemical manufacturing.

Reducing Dependence on Precious Metals

Metals play an essential role in producing both bulk and specialty chemicals. However, many industrial reactions, especially those involving catalysis, depend on precious metals such as platinum. Mining and refining these materials is costly and can cause significant environmental harm.

Scientists have long been searching for alternative metals to use in chemical transformations. Dr. Clare Bakewell said: “Transition metals are the workhorses of chemical synthesis and catalysis – but many of the most useful are becoming increasingly difficult to access and extract – often being located in regions of political instability, increasing the demand and price.

“Chemists have been looking towards more common elements from the periodic table, and we chose aluminum, as it’s super abundant, making it ~20,000 times less expensive than precious metals such as platinum and palladium.”

Beyond Mimicking Transition Metals

Beyond designing aluminum compounds for synthetic applications, the team has uncovered entirely new reaction pathways.

Dr. Bakewell said, “What’s special about this work, is that we’re pushing the boundaries of chemical knowledge. Most excitingly, we can use this aluminum trimer to build completely new compounds with levels of reactivity that have never been observed before – these include the 5- and 7-membered aluminum and carbon rings formed through reaction with ethene. These capabilities go beyond the transition metals we were originally trying to mimic, to the forefront of chemical research.”

Bakewell believes this chemistry could enable scientists to invent new reaction types and assemble larger molecular structures with distinctive properties. Such advances may ultimately support the development of new materials and industrial products.

She said, “We’re very much in the exploratory phase, and we’re just at the start of beginning to unlock the capability of these earth-abundant materials.

“But from what we’ve seen already, this chemistry could support a transition to cleaner, greener and cheaper chemical production, whilst making new discoveries along the way.”

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Giant Study Reveals The Secret to Heart Health, And It's Not Low-Carb or Low-Fat

01 March 2026, By C. Cassella

https://www.sciencealert.com/giant-study-reveals-the-secret-to-heart-health-and-its-not-low-carb-or-low-fat

(SCIEPRO/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)

The key to heart health isn't cutting down on pasta or potatoes, new evidence suggests; it's not even a low-fat diet.

A study that tracked nearly 200,000 men and women in the US for around 30 years has now found that some low-fat and low-carb diets are better for heart health than others.

The key was the quality of the food itself, not the quantity of carbs or fats.

The research, led by public health researchers at Harvard University, suggests that if a diet contains too many processed foods and animal proteins or fats, or if it otherwise lacks in adequate vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, or essential macronutrients, it may not benefit cardiovascular health as much in the long run, even if it is low carb or low fat by definition.

"Focusing only on nutrient compositions but not food quality may not lead to health benefits," concludes Harvard epidemiologist Zhiyuan Wu, who led the research.

Participants in the study who ate healthy, varied diets with adequate macronutrients showed higher levels of 'good' cholesterol in their blood, as well as lower levels of fats and inflammatory markers compared to those who ate diets lacking in those essentials.

They also had a significantly lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, the most common cause of heart attacks.

(fcafotodigital/Getty Images)

"These results suggest that healthy low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets may share common biological pathways that improve cardiovascular health," explains Wu.

"Focusing on overall diet quality may offer flexibility for individuals to choose eating patterns that align with their preferences while still supporting heart health."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jgj553bclg&t=2s

The findings are based on the self-reported diets of participants, who were all health professionals, so they may have had higher health awareness and better access to health care than the general population.

That's somewhat limiting; however, the length of follow-up in the study is impressive, amounting to more than 5.2 million person-years.

The findings join growing evidence suggesting that eating fewer processed foods and more whole grains and vegetables is generally best for a wide range of health outcomes. Strict diets that count calories, carbs, or fats may not be necessary.

"This study helps move the conversation beyond the long-standing debate over low-carbohydrate versus low-fat diets," says Yale University cardiologist Harlan Krumholz, editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

"The findings show that what matters most for heart health is the quality of the foods people eat. Whether a diet is lower in carbohydrates or fat, emphasizing plant-based foods, whole grains, and healthy fats is associated with better cardiovascular outcomes."

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Is Reality an Illusion? New Theory Challenges Modern Physics

By A. Hulth, Uppsala U. March 1, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/is-reality-an-illusion-new-theory-challenges-modern-physics/

What if the physical world is not the starting point of existence, but something that arises from a deeper layer of reality? A new theoretical framework proposes that consciousness may be more than a product of the brain — it could be the foundation from which space, time, and matter emerge. 

Credit: Shutterstock

A physicist proposes that consciousness is the fundamental basis of reality, with matter and spacetime emerging from it.

What if consciousness is not produced by the brain, but instead forms the foundation of reality itself? That is the premise of a new theoretical model introduced by Maria Strømme, Professor of Materials Science at Uppsala University, in the journal AIP Advances. In her framework, consciousness exists first, and time, space, and matter emerge from it.

Strømme is best known for her work in nanotechnology, studying materials at extremely small scales. In this new work, she shifts focus to the largest possible questions, including the origin and structure of the universe. Rather than treating consciousness as a side effect of neural activity, she describes it as a fundamental field that underlies everything we observe, including physical matter and the flow of time.

Maria Strømme, Professor of Materials Science. 

Credit: Uppsala University

Is this a completely new theory of how reality and the universe are structured?

“Yes, you could say so. But above all, it is a theory in which consciousness comes first, and structures such as time, space, and matter arise afterwards. It is a very ambitious attempt to describe how our experienced reality functions. Physicists like Einstein, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, and Planck explored similar ideas, and I am building on several of the avenues they opened,” says Strømme.

Uniting quantum physics with philosophy

Over many years, Strømme has developed a quantum mechanical model that connects modern physics with non-dual philosophical traditions. The core idea is that consciousness is the most basic component of existence, and that individual minds are expressions of a larger, shared field.

Within this framework, experiences often labeled as unexplained or unusual, including telepathy or near-death experiences, are interpreted not as supernatural events but as possible outcomes of this interconnected field.

“My ambition has been to describe this using the language of physics and mathematical tools. Are these phenomena really mystical? Or is it simply that there is a discovery we have not yet made, and when we do it will lead to a paradigm shift?”

Strømme compares her proposal to earlier turning points in scientific history. Humanity once believed the Earth was flat, and later assumed the Sun revolved around the Earth. Both views were eventually replaced by models that reshaped how people understood their place in the cosmos.

Maria Strømme presents a theory in which consciousness comes first, and structures such as time, space and matter arise afterwards. 

Credit: AIP Advances

A new picture of the nature of reality

She suggests that her theory could represent a similar shift. The paper outlines several predictions that could, in principle, be tested within physics, neuroscience, and cosmology. By doing so, she moves well beyond her traditional field of materials science into questions about consciousness and the structure of the universe.

The model also proposes that individual consciousness does not end at death, but instead returns to the broader field from which it emerged. Strømme expresses this idea using quantum mechanical concepts rather than religious language.

“I am a materials scientist and engineer, so I am used to seeing matter as something fundamental. But according to this model, matter is secondary – much of what we experience is representation or illusion,” says Strømme.

A theory that reconciles science with ancient knowledge

Although the work is presented entirely through mathematical reasoning, Strømme acknowledges similarities with themes found in major religious and philosophical traditions.

“The texts of the major religions – such as the Bible, the Koran, and the Vedas – often describe an interconnected consciousness. Those who wrote them used metaphorical language to express insights about the nature of reality. Early quantum physicists, in turn, arrived at similar ideas using scientific methods. Now, it is time for hardcore science – that is, modern natural science – to seriously begin exploring this,” she says.

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Hidden Virus Found in Gut Bacteria Is Linked to Colorectal Cancer

28 Feb. 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/hidden-virus-found-in-gut-bacteria-is-linked-to-colorectal-cancer

Bacteriophages (blue) infecting a bacterium. 

(Nemes Laszlo/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)

Researchers have made a significant step forward in understanding how gut bacteria, and specifically a newly discovered virus, can contribute to colorectal cancer – one of the most common forms of cancer in the developed world.

The researchers, from institutions in Denmark and Australia, wanted to take a closer look at an association previously identified between colorectal cancer and a bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis.

This bacterium often shows up in healthy people too, so the team wanted to see if there was a crucial difference in the bacterium in individuals who develop cancer – and that's exactly what they found.

The researchers cataloged bacteria, and viruses inside bacteria.

 (Damgaard et al., Commun. Med., 2026)

"It has been a paradox that we repeatedly find the same bacterium in connection with colorectal cancer, while at the same time it is a completely normal part of the gut in healthy people," says microbiologist Flemming Damgaard, from Odense University Hospital in Denmark.

"We have discovered a virus that has not previously been described and which appears to be closely linked to the bacteria we find in patients with colorectal cancer."

Using genetic sequencing, the researchers analyzed the gut bacteria of cancer patients in a large Danish population study. They found that in these patients, B. fragilis often came with a bacteriophage attached. Bacteriophages are viruses that live inside bacteria, hijacking these cells to duplicate and spread.

While the initial signal was discovered in a relatively small group of people, the findings were later verified in a larger cohort of 877 people with and without colorectal cancer – and point to a link that suggests viruses lurking in B. fragilis may tip the scales toward cancer.

People with colorectal cancer were twice as likely to have detectable levels of the bacteriophage in their gut bacteria, the data showed. What's more, it's not a virus that fits the description of anything recorded to date.

However, the researchers can't prove direct cause and effect yet. This is a notable association that will be useful for studying colorectal cancer and potential treatment targets, but there may be much more going on.

"It is not just the bacterium itself that seems interesting," says Damgaard. "It is the bacterium in interaction with the virus it carries."

"We do not yet know whether the virus is a contributing cause, or whether it is simply a sign that something else in the gut has changed."

Around 80 percent of colorectal cancer risk has been assigned to environmental factors, including gut bacteria composition. That means a better understanding of these factors and how they influence each other could impact millions of cancer cases.

Studying the mix of bacteria in the gut is no easy task, though. These incredibly complex microbiomes are both indicators of what else is going on in the body and influencers that can impact everything from sleep quality to weight loss.

Now there's an extra layer that future studies can examine: not just bacteria, but the viruses living inside them. One question the researchers are keen to look at next is exactly how B. fragilis might be affected by its bacteriophage lodgers.

This research is still very much in the early, experimental stage, but anything that helps experts understand how cancer gets started can also help in the development of targeted treatments – though that may take years.

The team behind this study suggests that their findings might also be used for colorectal cancer screening. With further research, stool sample scans could be developed to look for this B. fragilis virus, for example.

"The number and diversity of bacteria in the gut is enormous," says Damgaard. "Previously, it has been like looking for a needle in a haystack. Instead, we have investigated whether something inside the bacteria – namely viruses – might help explain the difference."

"In the short term, we can investigate whether the virus can be used to identify individuals at increased risk."

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Planets Are About to Line Up in a Rare Event. Here's How to Watch.

28 Feb. 2026, ByA. Ramakrishnan, Associated Press

https://www.sciencealert.com/planets-are-about-to-line-up-in-a-rare-event-heres-how-to-watch

(m-gucci/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

NEW YORK (AP) – Six planets are linking up in the sky at the end of February, and most will be visible to the naked eye.

It's what's known as a planetary parade, which happens when multiple planets appear to line up in the sky at once. The planets aren't in a straight line, but are close together on one side of the sun.

Skygazers can usually spot two or three planets after sunset, according to NASA. Hangouts of four or five that can be glimpsed with the naked eye are less common and occur every few years. Last year featured lineups of six and all seven planets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di21vgREWLg&t=1s

When will they be visible?

On Saturday, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn will be visible to the naked eye if clear skies allow. Uranus and Neptune can only be spotted with binoculars and telescopes.

The planets will be visible soon after sunset throughout the month of February, but they'll be lined up best toward the end of the month.

 (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

What time is optimal for viewing?

Go outside about an hour after sunset and venture away from tall buildings and trees that will block the view. Look to the western sky and spot Mercury, Venus and Saturn close to the horizon. Jupiter will be higher up, along with Uranus and Neptune.

How to know if you've spied a member of the parade?

"If it's twinkling, it's a star. If it is not twinkling, it's a planet," said planetary scientist Sara Mazrouei with Humber Polytechnic in Canada.

The parade should be visible over the weekend and in the days after. Eventually, Mercury will bow out and dip below the horizon.

At least one bright planet is visible on most nights, according to NASA.

Glimpsing many in the sky at once is a fun way to connect with astronomers of centuries' past, said planetary scientist Emily Elizondo with Michigan State University.

Ancient astronomers used to make sense of the universe "just by looking up at the stars and the planets," Elizondo said, "which is something that we can do today."

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Tiny Fish Stun Scientists With Mammal-Like Intelligence

By Osaka Metropolitan U., Feb. 28, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/tiny-fish-stun-scientists-with-mammal-like-intelligence/

A simple change in experimental design led to a surprising discovery: cleaner wrasse not only responded to their reflections faster than ever recorded, but also began testing the mirror using falling shrimp. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Cleaner wrasse may be far more cognitively sophisticated than previously thought.

Scientists at Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan have identified a new and unexpected behavior in cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus). When shown a mirror, these small reef fish did more than appear to recognize their reflections. They also began interacting with the mirror using a piece of food, suggesting a level of cognitive sophistication not typically associated with fish. The findings indicate that cleaner wrasse may be capable of “contingency testing,” a complex mental process most often observed in highly intelligent marine mammals such as dolphins.

The research team was led by Specially Appointed Researcher Shumpei Sogawa and Specially Appointed Professor Masanori Kohda at the Graduate School of Science. In earlier work, the group demonstrated that cleaner wrasse can identify themselves in photographs.

In the current study, the scientists observed new behaviors during a series of mirror test experiments, a widely used method for evaluating self-recognition and animal cognition. Previous research had already shown that cleaner wrasse respond to their reflections in ways consistent with self-recognition.

Rapid Responses in Modified Mirror Tests

To begin the experiment, researchers placed marks on the fish that resembled parasites. Even individuals that had never encountered a mirror before quickly used their reflections to locate and attempt to remove the mark.

The speed of this response surprised the researchers. Some fish tried to scrape off the mark within the first hour of seeing the mirror. On average, mark-directed rubbing occurred after about 82 minutes. In earlier experiments, similar behavior took between 4 to 6 days to appear.

Cleaner fish have been found to exhibit mammal-like cognitive abilities in the presence of their own reflection.

 Credit: Osaka Metropolitan University



“In earlier cleaner wrasse mirror studies, the procedure was typically the fish see a mirror for several days, they habituate to it and stop reacting socially, and a mark is added,” Dr. Sogawa explained. “In this study, the order was reversed, the fish were marked first, then the mirror was introduced for the first time. The fish were likely aware of something unusual on their body, but they couldn’t see it. When the mirror appeared, it immediately provided visual information that matched an existing bodily expectation, hence scraping occurred much faster.”

Evidence of ‘Contingency Testing’

An even more intriguing behavior appeared after several days of mirror exposure. Some fish picked up a small piece of shrimp from the tank floor, swam upward, and intentionally released it in front of the mirror. As the shrimp drifted downward, the fish closely tracked its movement along the mirror’s surface. They repeatedly touched the glass with their mouths while watching the shrimp fall in the reflection.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b2_LnEz1GU&t=1s

The cleaner wrasse picks up a piece of shrimp and drops it in front of the mirror. As the food falls, the fish repeatedly touches the glass of their tank with their mouths seeming to explore the mirror itself. 

Credit: Shumpei Sogawa, Osaka Metropolitan University

The researchers describe this behavior as “contingency testing.” Rather than using their own bodies to probe the reflection, the fish appeared to examine how an external object behaved within the mirror image. By dropping the shrimp and observing how its real movement matched what they saw in the reflection, the wrasse seemed to be investigating how the mirror worked. Similar actions have been documented in manta rays and dolphins, which release bubbles and watch their reflections as the bubbles rise.

This type of exploration strengthens the argument that the fish’s mirror-related behaviors are not simply the result of confusion or conditioning. Instead, the findings support the idea that cleaner wrasse may engage in flexible, self-referential thinking.

Implications for the Evolution of Self-Awareness

“These findings in cleaner wrasse suggest that self-awareness may not have evolved only in the limited number of species that passed the mirror test but may be more widely prevalent across a broader range of taxonomic groups, including fish,” Dr. Sogawa said. “It is highly likely that mirror self-recognition will be observed in many species where mirror tool use has been reported.”

The researchers believe that expanding the study of self-awareness across a wider range of animals, including invertebrates, will become increasingly important. “The findings from this research will likely influence not only academic issues, such as revising evolutionary theory and constructing concepts of self, but also directly impact matters relevant to our lives, including animal welfare, medical research, and even AI studies,” Professor Kohda added.

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41,000-Year-Old Bones Reveal Chilling Pattern of Neanderthal Cannibalism

By E. Doré, CNRS, Feb. 26, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/41000-year-old-bones-reveal-chilling-pattern-of-neanderthal-cannibalism/

A decade-long investigation using DNA, radiocarbon dating, and isotopic analysis has uncovered evidence of selective cannibalism among Neanderthals in Belgium. 

Credit: Shutterstock

New analysis of Neanderthal bones from Belgium indicates targeted cannibalism of outsiders that may signal territorial conflict before their regional disappearance.

A detailed examination of Neanderthal bones recovered from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium) has uncovered evidence of selective cannibalism dating to between 41,000 and 45,000 years ago. The remains indicate that adult women and children were disproportionately affected.

For the first time, researchers were able to establish the biological profiles of the individuals, revealing that they likely came from outside the local group. Cut marks and other modifications on the bones closely resemble those seen on animal remains processed for food at the same site, suggesting that the bodies were consumed as a nutritional resource rather than as part of a ritual practice.

The findings, published in Scientific Reports, come from an international collaboration involving scientists from the CNRS, l’Université de Bordeaux, and l’Université d’Aix-Marseille.

Cannibalism focused on outsiders

When placed within the broader context of the late Middle Paleolithic, a period in Northern Europe characterized by cultural diversity among Neanderthal groups and the growing presence of Homo sapiens in nearby regions, the evidence points toward possible intergroup conflict.

Neandertal human remains from the Troisième caverne of Goyet (Belgium). Highly fragmented bones bear traces characteristic of fresh bone fracturing and percussion, demonstrating intentional treatment of the bodies.

 The individuals (GNx, for “Goyet Neandertal” x), numbering six at minimum, were identified by genetic analyses: XX indicates female gender, and XY male gender. 

Credit: Royal 

Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences /Scientific Reports

The targeted consumption of individuals identified as outsiders may reflect territorial pressures or competition between neighboring groups during a time of social and environmental change preceding the disappearance of Neanderthals in the region.

The conclusions draw on a decade of multidisciplinary research that reexamined the Goyet collection. Scientists combined DNA sequencing, radiocarbon dating, and isotopic analysis to determine the age and geographic origin of the individuals. They also used digital reconstructions to study highly fragmented bones in detail, allowing for a more precise morphological assessment and a clearer understanding of the events that took place at the site thousands of years ago.

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We now know why shoes squeak, and it involves miniature lightning bolts

By K. Hughes-Castleberry published, Feb.25, 2026 https://www.livescience.com/physics-mathematics/we-now-know-why-shoes-squeak-and-it-involves-miniature-lightning-bolts

Why do basketball shoes squeak on a court? A new study provides an interesting answer. 

(Image credit: Image Source via Getty Images)

Harvard engineers think they've found the reason basketball shoes squeak, and it's due to pockets of friction between the rubber and the court.

The ubiquitous squeak of sneakers on a basketball court may be caused by more than just friction, a new study suggests.

Researchers have found that the sharp chirp of rubber on a hard floor happens when tiny areas of slipping between the shoe's sole and the floor move at supersonic speeds — and, in some experiments, the process involved miniature, lightning-like sparks. What's more, the findings could lead to an improved understanding of earthquakes and aid in the design of grippy surfaces.

The new study, published Feb. 25 in the journal Nature, shows that soft rubber does not slide the way many people imagine. Instead of the whole sole sticking and then slipping at once, motion bunches into fast, wrinkle-like fronts called "opening slip pulses" that detach and reattach the rubber across the contact zone. Those repeating pulses generate the vibrations that our ears hear as squeaks.

Scientists have long explained squeaks from shoes, bicycle brakes and tires using stick-slip friction, a stop-and-go cycle in which surfaces repeatedly catch and then break free. That model works well for many hard-on-hard systems, like door hinges.

But soft materials like rubber behave differently when they slide across rigid surfaces.

To understand the physics of this process, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) teamed up with experts from the University of Nottingham in the U.K. and the French National Center for Scientific Research. They used high-speed optical imaging and synchronized audio to watch soft rubber move quickly along smooth glass.

But what they saw was not smooth sliding. Instead, motion bunched up into opening slip pulses, sweeping across the rubber in starts and stops.

"Fundamentally, these findings challenge the long-held assumption that soft-material friction can be fully captured by simplified, one-dimensional ‘stick-slip’ models," first study author Adel Djellouli, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard, told Live Science in an email.

Tiny lightning everywhere

The findings reveal more about the physics of friction. In classic stick-slip friction, the whole contact surface alternates between sticking and slipping. In this study, however, the motion was more localized, as only small regions opened and slipped, and then moved on, while other regions stayed in full contact.

For some experiments, the team also saw tiny flashes caused by the friction, which they described as miniature "lightning" sparks. In some tests, those sparks, or electrical discharges, appeared to trigger the slip pulses. The sparks were not the main source of the squeaking noise, but they showed how electrical energy could build up in the system when the rubber moved.
The researchers also found that the rubber's shape, more than its movement, was the main determinant of the squeak's pitch.

When flat rubber blocks slid across the glass, the slip pulses were irregular, producing a broad "whoosh" rather than a clean squeak. But when the researchers added thin ridges to the rubber, the ridges confined the pulses and made them repeat at regular intervals.

In effect, the ridges acted like guides, channeling the pulses into a repeating cycle. This locked the sound into a specific frequency, or tone. The team found that this squeak frequency depended mainly on the height of the rubber ridges.

In fact, the pattern was so reliable that the team designed blocks of different heights and used them to play the Imperial March theme from "Star Wars" by hand.

"When it came time to actually play the Star Wars theme song, we had to rehearse for three solid days to get the video right," said Djellouli. "None of us are exactly trained in making music with squeaky rubber blocks, so getting the timing and technique down took a lot of practice. I think the funniest part was the relief in the lab when we finally finished the recording after three days of constant, high-pitched squeaking. Our colleagues were very happy to finally have some quiet again!"

What sneakers may have in common with earthquakes

The findings have implications beyond shoe design. The slip pulses in the experiments share key features with rupture fronts in earthquakes, where sections of a fault suddenly break and slide at very high speeds.

"Soft friction is usually considered slow, yet we show that the squeak of a sneaker can propagate as fast as, or even faster than, the rupture of a geological fault, and that their physics is strikingly similar," study co-author Shmuel Rubinstein, a professor of physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a visiting professor at SEAS, said in a statement.

Beyond shedding light on the physics of earthquakes, the work could help engineers design surfaces that switch between slippery and grippy states on demand.

"Tuning frictional behavior on the fly has been a long-standing engineering dream," Katia Bertoldi, a professor of applied mechanics at Harvard, said in the statement. "This new insight into how surface geometry governs slip pulses paves the way for tunable frictional metamaterials that can transition from low-friction to high-grip states on demand."

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Kazakhstan plants tens of thousands of trees in giant effort to reintroduce tigers

By P. Pester published Feb 25, 2026

https://www.livescience.com/animals/cats/kazakhstan-plants-tens-of-thousands-of-trees-in-giant-effort-to-reintroduce-tigers

Kazakhstan's tiger reintroduction program welcomed its first Amur tigers in 2024, but these are captive individuals that the program hopes to breed.

 (Image credit: WWF Central Asia)

Kazakhstan planted 37,000 seedlings and cuttings in South Balkhash last year to prepare for the return of its tigers, which disappeared more than 70 years ago.

Tigers will soon roam Kazakhstan for the first time in over 70 years as conservationists undertake a gargantuan effort to restore part of their lost habitat.

The last of Kazakhstan's Caspian tigers disappeared in the late 1940s, after years of hunting, habitat loss and declines in prey numbers. Now, the Central Asian country has an ambitious plan to reintroduce the world's largest cats to their historic lands.

So far, two captive tigers (a male and a female) are already in Kazakhstan as part of a breeding-and-release project, while the country is expecting its first wild tigers to be transported from Russia in the first half of 2026. However, for the program to be a success, the tigers need plenty of places to live. That's where an enormous tree-planting project comes in. Last year, the Kazakhstan tiger reintroduction program — led by the government of Kazakhstan with support from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the United Nations Development Programme — planted 37,000 seedlings and cuttings near a giant lake in southeast Kazakhstan's South Balkhash region, where tigers used to live, according to WWF Central Asia. This adds to the 50,000 seedlings planted between 2021 to 2024.

Tree planting is a key part of Kazakhstan's massive ongoing greening initiative. The country has planted around 1.4 billion trees since 2021, and officials say they are on track to reach 2 billion trees by 2027.

In South Balkhash, newly planted trees serve as a foundation for recovering ecosystems that sit alongside already-forested lands. The trees provide shelter and water access, as well as food for the tiger's prey: hooved mammals (ungulates) like boar and Bukhara deer (Cervus elaphus bactrianus, also called Bactrian deer).

"Already, wild ungulates have been seen foraging on the restored sites, indicating that the ecosystem is beginning to function," a spokesperson for WWF Central Asia told Live Science in an email. "Each planted seedling is therefore a direct contribution to the future of the tiger in Kazakhstan."

The planting zone encompasses around 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of shoreline along Lake Balkhash, which covers roughly 6,500 square miles (17,000 square km) and is the largest lake in Central Asia and the 15th-largest lake in the world. The new vegetation — which includes 30,000 narrow-leaf oleaster seedlings, 5,000 willow cuttings and 2,000 turanga poplar seedlings — creates growing "islands" of forest that regulate the flow of water to stabilize floods and overflows.

Animals have begun returning to Kazakhstan's recovering Ile-Balkhash ecosystem. 

(Image credit: WWF Central Asia)

WWF Central Asia attributes the increase in planting in 2025 to the accumulated experience of the staff, as well as to factors like improved planting techniques and expanded partnerships. However, the pace of the ecosystem's recovery and its suitability for tigers will depend on a variety of factors, including the climate, stability of water resources, and growth of vegetation.

Bringing back tigers

The tigers that used to live in Kazakhstan were part of a now-extinct Central Asian population known as Caspian tigers. However, the living Amur tigers found in the Russian Far East and China (and potentially North Korea) can serve as suitable replacements. A 2009 study published in the journal PLOS One found that Caspian and Amur tigers were likely part of the same population until human activity forced them apart in the 19th century, meaning they're essentially the same animal.

The reintroduction program welcomed two captive Amur tigers in 2024, and they appear to have adapted well to life in Kazakhstan. These tigers, a female named Bodhana and a male named Kuma, came from an animal sanctuary in the Netherlands in 2024 and are currently living in an enclosure within the Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve. Bodhana and Kuma are used to life in captivity, so they'll never be released, but the hope is that their offspring will form part of a new founder population of Kazakhstan tigers.

However, as there's no guarantee that Bodhana and Kuma will breed or produce suitable offspring, so the bulk of the new population will be made up of wild tigers imported from Russia.

Kazakhstan officials are expecting to receive the first tigers from Russia in the coming months. WWF Central Asia told Live Science that it hasn't been confirmed where the Russian tigers are coming from, but "based on publicly available information and recent media reports, it is understood that the Amur tigers expected in the first half of 2026 are from the wild."

Reintroducing large predators is a delicate and risky process, particularly when those predators are capable of harming humans and livestock. But it can be done; a 2024 study published in The Journal of Wildlife Management found that a tiger reintroduction attempt in Russia was largely a success. Researchers cared for six orphaned wild cubs and prepared them for re-release into their natural habitat. The tigers caught their own prey and survived.

However, the study noted that one rehabilitated tiger killed multiple domestic animals, including more than 13 goats in a single event, and failed to demonstrate adequate fear of humans. That tiger was subsequently recaptured and placed in a zoo.

WWF Central Asia said Kazakhstan's program is prepared to resolve any incidents that involve human conflict with its released tigers. Measures include creating a special team that will continuously track released individuals and respond to any potential human-wildlife conflicts.

"The group's main tasks include regular patrols, monitoring tiger movements via satellite collars, early detection of potential approaches to settlements, and rapid response measures," the WWF Central Asia spokesperson said.

The program is also working with local communities to raise awareness about tigers and how to behave in their presence, as well as promoting sustainable development in those communities by offering grants for agriculture and ecotourism, according to WWF Central Asia.

"All of this forms part of a long-term strategy for peaceful coexistence between people and predators," the spokesperson said. "A compensation scheme for local residents is also planned in cases where tigers cause livestock losses."

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Ancient 'Asgard' microbe may have used oxygen long before it was plentiful on Earth, offering new clue to origins of complex life

By K. Hughes-Castleberry published Feb. 20, 2026

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/ancient-asgard-microbe-may-have-used-oxygen-long-before-it-was-plentiful-on-earth-offering-new-clue-to-origins-of-complex-life

An image of an Asgard archaeon, an evolutionarily ancient microbe that may have been key to the emergence of complex life on Earth. 

(Image credit: © Thiago Rodrigues-Oliveira, Univ. Wien)

A new study suggests that ancient microbes once cast as oxygen haters may have actually learned to use the gas, offering a clue to how the first complex cells — and, eventually, all plants and animals — evolved.

More than 2 billion years ago, long before Earth's atmosphere contained oxygen, one hardy group of microbes may have already evolved to live with the gas, setting the stage for the rise of complex life.

In a new genetic survey of ocean mud and seawater, researchers found evidence that the closest known microbial cousins of plants and animals — a group known as Asgard archaea — carry the molecular gear to handle oxygen, and possibly even convert it into energy. Previously, many Asgards studied were associated with oxygen-poor areas.

That twist could help explain one of biology's most important origin stories, as experts think a simple microbe fused with a bacterium and, over time, developed into more complex cells that created everything from redwoods to people. But this ancient meet-cute, while compelling, has an awkward problem: How did these two find each other and work together in the first place?

Mitochondria, the energy hubs inside complex cells, came from a bacterium which needs oxygen to survive. But archaea — one of the three large domains of life— are thought to be the hosts in the important microbe-meets-bacterium story — and many of them seemed to be built for surviving without oxygen. The new study, published Feb. 18 in the journal Nature, suggests that the microbe host, known as Asgard archaea, may have tolerated oxygen better than previously thought.

"Most Asgards alive today have been found in environments without oxygen," study co-author Brett Baker, an associate professor of marine science at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement. "But it turns out that the ones most closely related to eukaryotes live in places with oxygen, such as shallow coastal sediments and floating in the water column, and they have a lot of metabolic pathways that use oxygen. That suggests that our eukaryotic ancestor likely had these processes, too."

Asgard archaea, named after the dwelling place of the gods in Norse mythology, were discovered in 2015 when researchers assembled genomes from deep-sea sediments near the Loki’s Castle hydrothermal vent. From this research, the team created an Asgard superphylum which included archaeal groups like Lokiarchaeota, Thorarchaeota and Odinarchaeota. Follow up studies revealed that Asgards appeared to carry multiple “eukaryotic signature” genes, suggesting a close ancestral tie to eukaryotes, organisms whose cells have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.

A deep-sea journey

To understand how Asgards may have tolerated oxygen, the team hunted in the Bohai Sea at 100 feet (30.5 meters) below sea level and in the Guaymas Basin at 6,561 feet (2,000 meters) below sea level, areas where microbes thrive. They sifted through and analyzed roughly 15 terabytes of environmental DNA from marine sediments, rebuilt more than 13,000 microbial genomes, and pulled out hundreds of genetic sequences that belong to the Asgards.

"These Asgard archaea are often missed by low-coverage sequencing," study co-author Kathryn Appler, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, said in the statement. "The massive sequencing effort and layering of sequence and structural methods enabled us to see patterns that were not visible prior to this genomic expansion."

Those patterns included genes linked to aerobic respiration, the oxygen-powered process many organisms use to squeeze extra energy from food. The team also used an AI tool called AlphaFold2 to predict protein shapes and strengthen their case for genetic machinery that was oxygen-tolerant inside the microbe.

In particular, one branch of the Asgards, known as Heimdallarchaeia (named for the watchman of the Norse gods), stood out. The researchers reported that many Heimdallarchaeia genomes contain parts of the molecular machinery used to move electrons and generate energy with oxygen, along with enzymes that help manage toxic oxygen byproducts.

If these oxygen-handling abilities were present in the archaeal ancestor of complex cells, it makes the famous merger easier to picture.

"Oxygen appeared in the environment, and Asgards adapted to that," Baker said. "They found an energetic advantage to using oxygen, and then they evolved into eukaryotes."

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