"Scientists can now rewire living brains."

Views expressed in this science and technology summary are those of the reporters and correspondents.  Accessed on 29 October 2026, 1426 UTC.

Content and Source:  "Scientific American Content" via email subscription from https://feedly.com.

https://feedly.com/i/subscription/content/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciam.com%2Fxml%2Fsciam.xml

Please check email link or scroll down to read your selections.  Thanks for joining us today.

Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencemonitor.blogspot.com).

Scientific American Content

245K followers40 articles per week

#science#tech

111

Today

Scientists can now rewire living brains

Nobel honors optogenetics breakthrough

•

2h

The tool could eventually lead to an entirely new approach for treating mental health

Five things you need to know about the Trump administration’s rollback of methane regulations

2h

The gas is a major driver of climate change

Mathematicians find an infinite number of Ramanujan equations

2h

Knots show how to generate infinitely many formulas of a kind developed by the visionary genius

Can the world’s religions survive the existence of aliens?

2h

Finding alien life could shake some people to their very souls, but different religions can take very distinct approaches to the existence of extraterrestrial life

Yesterday

RFK, Jr., loosens restrictions for six popular peptides, bypassing the FDA

Peptide safety and access debated

•

17h

Under the new policy, compounded combinations of these unproven peptides can now be dispensed by certain pharmacies

Landmark study finds three in four NFL players die with CTE

Study estimates widespread NFL CTE

•

21h

The staggering new estimate is based on an analysis of thousands of former players’ medical records

Sci-fi horror collides with small-town politics in John Scalzi’s Monsters of Ohio

Monsters of Ohio releases November 2026

•

1d

Scientific American talks to author John Scalzi about his tentacle-filled 20th novel, its balance of hope and cynicism—and the possibility of a Chappell Roan crossover

Animal-borne Shamonda virus infects and kills a human for the first time

Shamonda virus infects first human

•

1d

The potential for a wider outbreak is low, but experts are still investigating how the disease-causing virus leaped from animals to humans in the first place

7 spooky bat facts—right in time for Halloween

1d

Bats deserve a little more love

Why science is on the ballot in the 2026 midterm elections

1d

From Medicare for All to research grants, science-driven issues are playing a role in the midterm elections

Oct 27, 2026

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory may have just discovered our solar system’s sixth dwarf planet

Rubin discovers dwarf planet candidate

•

1d

Located farther away from Earth than Pluto, the object was hidden in the light of the Milky Way’s stars

OpenAI just scooped human researchers on a million-dollar quantum math problem

1d

Another bombshell result shows how artificial intelligence is fueling fierce competition at the frontiers of math and physics

How a 16th century pirate accidentally spawned a centuries-old math problem

1d

A question posed by Sir Walter Raleigh about cannonballs inadvertently led to a puzzle that mathematicians have been trying to solve for centuries

CDC deputy director Jennifer Shuford resigns after just four months in the role

CDC deputy director to depart

•

1d

Jennifer Shuford, a well-respected infectious disease researcher, cited a desire to spend more time with her family

Dueling proofs from OpenAI and Anthropic astound scientists

OpenAI AI challenges ETH hypothesis

•

1d

The results resolve major problems in math, physics and computer science. But like other recent AI-generated “slop drops,” the releases are already controversial

Sleep and depression may be more intertwined than we thought

Body clock depression subtype discovered

•

1d

Depression tied to the body’s sleep cycle could be less responsive to antidepressants and cause more severe symptoms

Underwater data centers may be coming to the U.S.—smack in the middle of endangered whale habitat

2d

Ocean water could help dissipate the heat from data centers, but the infrastructure could threaten endangered whales

Why we’ll never have another Black Death

2d

The death of a worker at a Russian plague lab was alarming, but the disease is extremely unlikely to become a worldwide problem as it has in the past

Oct 26, 2026

Anthropic’s S-1 filing spotlights safety fears and science ambitions ahead of IPO

2d

Anthropic is preparing to go public, and new documents show how the lab hopes to control its technology while also pushing the limits of what AI can do

How birds can quietly spread a severe form of pneumonia

2d

Everyday activities, from visiting zoos to cleaning bird droppings, can expose you to a potentially dangerous infection

What is trypophobia? Why some people's skin crawls when they see tiny holes

2d

Research suggests this aversion is driven by an instinct to avoid disease

Snakes that cartwheel, vultures that groan, a mysterious Martian moon, and more

3d

This week in science we check out gymnastic snakes, chatty vultures and missions to faraway moons

Oct 25, 2026

Why partisan politics may be changing people’s accents

4d

With the midterms fast approaching, communicating just the right message has been top of mind on all sides of the political aisle

Oct 24, 2026

Meet the original Ghost Busters—the 17th-century scientists who investigated hauntings

5d

They weren’t afraid of no ghost

Oct 23, 2026

NASA lays out a packed 14-day schedule for 2027’s Artemis III moon mission

NASA plans Artemis lander tests

•

5d

The mission, scheduled for the summer of 2027, will include be pivotal in deciding whether SpaceX or Blue Origin supplies the lunar lander for the first crewed trip to the lunar surface in decades

Warhound wants to engineer and clone military superdogs—can they do it?

Warhound launches military dog startup

•

5d

The start-up is the brainchild of a founder of Anduril, the military tech firm, and Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company known for its de-extinction efforts

Strange triangular craft reported in new U.S. government UFO release

5d

The latest batch of declassified files includes eyewitness sightings from earlier this year of a flying black triangle performing inexplicable aerial maneuvers

The Trump administration is considering a ‘heat ray’ weapon for the border—here’s what to know

Pentagon approves DHS heat ray

•

5d

The Active Denial System uses millimeter waves to heat people’s skin from as far as a kilometer away

How exposing yourself to your fears can tame your anxiety

6d

It is possible to take lessons from exposure therapy and apply them outside the clinic, experts say

Japan’s MMX mission will reveal the origins of weird Martian moons

6d

Although Phobos and Deimos may look like lumpy space potatoes, they’re actually moons of Mars. No one knows how they formed, but a newly launched spacecraft should soon offer answers

RFK Jr. promised to define ‘ultraprocessed’ food. What's taking so long?

6d

A definition would help Americans eat healthier food, experts say. It's turned out to be harder than expected

How the brain handles uncertainty, and why resilience matters

6d