Science & Technology

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> Researchers develop machine-learning model that doubles weather forecasting accuracy two to six weeks out, a critical window for emergency planning (More) | Track how forecasting has improved over several decades (More, w/charts)

> Coral can fully recover from bleaching after brief contact with healthy coral clones, according to lab-controlled study (More) | Why do corals bleach? (More)

> Archaeologists unearth remains of Neanderthal likely killed with a wooden spear roughly 75,000 years ago—the oldest known evidence of such lethal violence among human ancestors (More, w/images)

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> Astronomers discover first known green star: a dead white dwarf that turned chartreuse by absorbing a rocky planet's sodium-rich debris, which filters out orange light (More) | White dwarfs 101 (More)

> Wearing headphones during surgery may reduce the risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting, new study finds; clinical trial involving 192 patients under general anesthesia shows a 32% decrease in the recovery complications (More)

> Cat owners who spend more time in close proximity to their pets experience more positive moods, linked to a hormonal connection in which higher feline oxytocin correlates with lower owner stress (More) | See a brief history of house cats (More)

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> Trump administration creates White House task force and National Institutes of Health division to advance women's health research (More) | Women globally spend 25% more of their lives in poor health or with disabilities than men (More)

> Apple announces Oct. 28 product launch event, where analysts expect the company to unveil its first touch-screen MacBook Pro (More) | iPhone Duo—Apple's first foldable phone—is back-ordered until late January (More)

> Fingerprint analysis suggests women and children helped make China's Terracotta Army sculptures, challenging the long-held assumption the work was done entirely by men (More) | Scroll for aerial view of the more than 8,000-soldier army (More)

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> Doctors develop AI tool that predicts cancer patients' survival odds from a single selfie; those who looked five or more years older than their actual age had a 21% higher risk of death over a four-year follow-up period (More)

> Scientists revive pig kidneys after up to one year in ultracold storage and successfully transplant them into test pigs, according to new research; breakthrough could enable long-term organ banking and expand transplant access (More)

> Marsquake—the Martian equivalent of an earthquake—originated beneath the largest canyon system in our solar system in 2021, suggesting ancient faults may still be shaping Mars' landscape (More) | See photo of Mars' Grand Canyon (More)

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> Physicists trap single antimatter particle for months, potentially allowing for more precise measurements of this rare form of matter, which may hold clues to the origins of our universe (More) | Antimatter 101 (More)

> France confirms first-ever human case of Shamonda livestock virus in severely immunocompromised individual who died earlier this month; officials say there is no risk to the public (More) | Where did the virus come from?(More)

> Expert panel recommends shortlist of lunar destinations NASA should prioritize for astronaut missions to maximize scientific return; list includes volcanically diverse region and area near Apollo 15 landing (More, w/interactive)

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Move over, T. rex

Scientists have discovered a massive new species being called a “king” among fungi. Its roots may reach all the way back to the age of dinosaurs.

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Evolution's Viral Twist

A viral pandemic that spread roughly five to seven million years ago may be responsible for differences between human and chimpanzee brains, according to a study published this week. Chimpanzees are humans' closest evolutionary relatives, sharing nearly 99% of the same genes. Yet, the human brain is roughly three times larger, a difference whose origins have puzzled scientists for decades (scroll for diagram). The new study identified a fragment of viral DNA present in chimpanzees but absent in humans that appears to impair genes vital to brain development. Researchers believe an ancient retrovirus, similar to HIV, inserted its genetic material into the primates' genomes, allowing it to be passed through subsequent generations. Humans, however, may have been protected by an antiviral protein that blocked the virus, ultimately giving them an evolutionary advantage.  Separately, another study out this month found that chimpanzees are less likely to steal food from their friends than their enemies. Experts say the finding may shed light on the roots of fairness and friendship.   ps:Wow anything to keep up this Charade! Also the 99% has been debunk for many years, just ask ICR!!   > Block unveils Dessa, an AI-powered conversation model trained on nothing but human conversations; company says it mimics the way humans learn language (More) | Listen to clips (More)  > Study suggests mother bats respond to the high-pitched isolation calls of their own individual pups, similar to humans (More) | How bat echolocation works (More, w/video) > OpenAI resumes frontier model training but disconnects from live internet, citing risks given past agents' rogue behavior (More) | What AI agents do when humans aren't looking (More, w/video)