CIEN

A new study reported by Danish science site Videnskab.dk uses DNA from a strand of hair, reportedly kept between the pages of an old Bible in a museum, believed to belong to Thomas Jefferson, and compares it with descendants of Sally Hemings' children. The findings add to the long-running debate over Jefferson's relationship with Hemings, the enslaved woman at Monticello, and the ancestry of her family.

Researchers sank dead alligators on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor to study deep-sea food webs, and footage shows scavengers including bone-eating worms and isopods stripping the carcasses within days. The experiment tested how easily alligator remains could settle into an ecosystem with little food, and viewers are sharing the surprisingly fast feeding frenzy captured on camera.

Mathematician Terence Tao has published a new essay asking whether mathematics and science are heading into a golden age or a dark age. The piece is drawing wide attention among researchers and technologists, who are debating how AI, funding pressures and institutional change could reshape discovery in the years ahead.

The Library of Congress has published a new instalment of its Unfolding Research series featuring Anna Doel, who discusses science diplomacy. The conversation explores how scientific cooperation and research exchange can shape relations between countries, and what role researchers play in bridging political divides through collaborative work.

New simulations are circulating showing what would happen if asteroid Apophis collided with Earth, with researchers mapping the likely impact zone and the scale of destruction. The near-Earth asteroid, once considered a serious threat, will pass extremely close to the planet in 2029, and the hypothetical strike scenario is drawing widespread attention online.

ABC News is leading its coverage with a general technology and science news roundup, aggregating the latest developments across both fields. No specific story is highlighted, but the prominence of the section indicates strong audience interest in current tech and science developments. Readers are following the roundup for updates on new research, innovations and industry news as they break.

A science explainer detailing what research teams have recovered from deep-sea expeditions is drawing wide attention, with millions engaging with the story. The piece covers discoveries hauled up from the ocean floor and what they reveal about life and conditions in the deep ocean, fuelling fresh public curiosity about deep-sea exploration.

America is entering a new era in which private funders and companies, rather than the federal government, increasingly drive scientific research. Commentators are debating what this shift means for the direction of research, access to knowledge, and the country's long-standing public investment in science, with concerns about priorities being set by wealthy donors and corporations rather than national need.

Fitness creator Jeff Nippard is the focus of renewed attention over his back and biceps training approach, with a workout breakdown questioning whether his methods truly hold up as 'science-based.' The discussion has drawn heavy engagement, with viewers weighing in on whether evidence-backed claims in fitness content match the programming on display.

Attention is turning to a long-standing puzzle about elephants that researchers have yet to fully resolve. Viewers are sharing an explainer that walks through what science knows about the animals and the remaining gaps that experts still cannot account for, drawing more than 1.7 million likes as curiosity about animal cognition and behavior continues to grow online.

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln political science professor has described the current political climate as being 'like riding a roller coaster,' in an interview with Nebraska Public Media examining the stress politics places on Americans. The discussion focuses on how constant political upheaval, elections and news cycles affect public mental well-being, and how people can cope with the strain of following politics.

An exercise scientist has published a detailed critique of the so-called no-training steroid experiment, in which people take anabolic steroids while skipping workouts to test how much muscle drugs alone can build. He breaks down the study's limitations, warns of serious health risks, and argues the results are being misread as proof drugs can replace training.

Science journalists are being urged to get to grips with how artificial intelligence is reshaping research. A new guide outlines how AI tools are being used in scientific work, from data analysis to writing, and what reporters should watch for when covering AI-influenced studies, including questions of accuracy, transparency and accountability in the scientific process.

Reports claim scientists are working to bring the extinct dodo back to life. The flightless bird, wiped out on Mauritius in the 17th century, has long been a symbol of human-caused extinction, and any serious de-extinction effort would be a landmark in genetic science. Details of the research and how far it has progressed remain limited.

Attention is turning to claims that scientists are preparing for a worst-case scenario tied to the winter of 2027. According to the widely shared headline, researchers are bracing for potentially severe outcomes in that season, though no specific study, institution or predicted event is named. The topic is drawing large engagement as viewers debate what could make winter 2027 exceptional and how much of the concern is supported by evidence.

An online science class for the 2026 CET exam is drawing large attention, focusing on food and nutrition (आहार एवं पोषण) as part of a lecture series taught by an instructor known as Rahul sir. The session is tied to the CET 6666 practice book and is the sixth installment in the series, with strong engagement from students preparing for the entrance test.

The Federation of American Scientists has announced a Metascience Fellowship, a program aimed at supporting researchers who study how science itself is conducted and how research practices can be improved. Metascience, the field examining reproducibility, funding and research incentives, has gained growing attention in recent years. Details about the fellowship's structure, participants and funding have not yet been widely reported.

New research indicates that people's perceptions of science and scientists strongly shape how political partisans view common vaccines. Attitudes toward routine immunisations appear tied less to scientific evidence itself and more to trust in the scientific community, which differs sharply between political groups. Commenters in health and policy circles are using the findings to discuss how declining trust feeds vaccine hesitancy and what that means for public health messaging.

A new Nature report finds that senior researchers produce less 'disruptive' science than early-career scientists, whose work tends to break more radically with existing literature. However, the findings of experienced researchers prove more durable, continuing to shape their fields long after publication. The study is prompting debate about how science funding and career structures favour novelty over lasting influence.

A University of Arizona researcher is behind a new study arguing that climate change in Earth's ancient past differed fundamentally from the warming happening now. The research suggests past natural climate shifts cannot serve as a direct comparison for today's human-driven changes. The findings are drawing attention in discussions about climate science and how skeptics and scientists use historical climate data.

ECCO, the Italian climate think tank, has assessed that Italy is falling short of the progress needed to meet its national energy and climate targets. The assessment highlights a gap between Italy's current policies and its commitments on emissions reduction and the energy transition, drawing attention among climate policy observers.

A 2012 research paper argues that the worldwide rise in sleep disorders may be connected to widespread Vitamin D deficiency, suggesting low levels of the vitamin disrupt sleep regulation. The study is resurfacing in online discussions, where readers are debating whether supplementation could help improve sleep and how strong the evidence really is more than a decade later.

Metrologists at the General Conference on Weights and Measures have voted to scrap the leap second by 2035, ending the practice of occasionally adding a second to Coordinated Universal Time to keep clocks in step with Earth's irregular rotation. The decision follows years of pressure from technology companies and standards bodies, who argue the unpredictable adjustments cause failures in computing and navigation systems. Scientists will now work on a longer-term way to reconcile atomic time with astronomical time.