Wetenschap

Nature, Published online: 10 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10351-8

Maximizing carrier extraction in hybrid back-contact silicon solar cells

Nature, Published online: 10 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10347-4

Alcohol group migration by proximity-enhanced H atom abstraction

Nature, Published online: 10 March 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00775-7

Artificial general intelligence must be assessed in its scientific and societal context

Nature, Published online: 10 March 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00778-4

Prevent pandemics through One Health commitments

Nature, Published online: 10 March 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-00776-6

The ethical risks of open-access agreements being used for authorship leverage

A nearly complete dinosaur skeleton discovered in Patagonia is helping scientists crack the mystery of alvarezsaurs, a bizarre group of bird-like dinosaurs. The fossil of Alnashetri cerropoliciensis reveals that these animals became tiny before developing their later specialized features, such as stubby arms and ant-eating adaptations. Weighing under two pounds, the dinosaur is one of the smallest known from South America.

Scientists studying Mars may have uncovered a brand-new mineral hidden in the planet’s ancient sulfate deposits. By combining laboratory experiments with orbital data, researchers identified an unusual iron sulfate—ferric hydroxysulfate—forming in layered deposits near the massive Valles Marineris canyon system. The mineral likely formed when sulfate-rich deposits left behind by ancient water were later heated by volcanic or geothermal activity, transforming their chemistry.

Cosmic voids may seem like the emptiest places in the universe, stripped of matter, radiation, and even dark matter. But they’re far from nothing. Even in these vast empty regions, the fundamental quantum fields that fill all of space remain, carrying a small but real amount of energy known as vacuum energy, or dark energy. While this energy is overwhelmed by matter in galaxies and clusters, in the deep emptiness of cosmic voids it becomes dominant.

Colorblindness may be doing more than making traffic lights confusing — it could also be hiding a life-threatening warning sign. Researchers analyzing millions of medical records found that people with bladder cancer who are also colorblind have a 52% higher mortality rate over 20 years compared to those with normal vision. The likely reason: many people with color vision deficiency struggle to see red, making it harder to notice blood in urine, the most common early sign of bladder cancer.

Scientists have uncovered how brewer’s yeast developed its unusually tiny centromeres, the DNA regions that guide chromosome separation during cell division. By studying related yeast species, researchers found centromeres that appear to represent evolutionary halfway points. These structures seem to have formed from retrotransposons—mobile “jumping genes” in the genome. The discovery shows how DNA once considered genomic junk can be transformed into essential chromosome machinery.

An antbird long thought to be a single widespread species across the Amazon rainforest is, in fact, several different ones. Among them are two newly-described species -- Cercomacra mura and Cercomacra raucisona -- that inhabit separate regions of southern Amazonia.

The post Two New Bird Species Identified in Amazonia appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected hydrogen cyanide (nitrogen-bearing organic molecule commonly seen in comets) as well as unusually high levels of methanol (organic molecule tied to prebiotic chemistry) in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.

The post 3I/ATLAS is Unusually Rich in Methanol, ALMA Observations Show appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Fossils from the Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona, the United States, reveal that Sonselasuchus cedrus, a species of shuvosaurid that lived about 215 million years ago (Triassic period), likely began life walking on four legs before shifting to a bipedal stance as it matured.

The post Triassic Crocodile Relative May Have Learned to Walk on Two Legs appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

New measurements show that the DART impact in 2022 not only shortened the orbit of the moonlet Dimorphos around its parent asteroid, Didymos, but also subtly shifted the entire binary system’s path around the Sun.

The post NASA’s Planetary Defense Test Changed Binary Asteroid’s Orbit around the Sun appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Stellar activity and plasma turbulence could distort narrow radio signals before they leave their home planetary systems, potentially explaining part of the long silence in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

The post Stellar ‘Space Weather’ Could Be Blurring Radio Signals from Extraterrestrial Civilizations appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Pre-Inca elites wore headdresses made of feathers from Amazonian macaws

Newly mapped brain circuitry in mice links tooth grinding to pleasure pathways

Insects must perform tricky internal calculations to travel in a straight line

Jared Isaacman says agency may accelerate lunar science program and could tackle a new Mars mission in 2028

ARPA-H will “build the train tracks” for first large clinical studies of aging interventions

The terms gender, equity, and equality have been fiercely contested and increaslingly instrumentalised over the past year. The Trump Administration's January 2025 orders to cease the use of the term gender in federal documents, to stop all funding that does not promote the male–female binary, and to terminate all diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes will have detrimental effects on health in the USA and abroad.

Marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) is an indolent B-cell malignancy that accounts for approximately 7% of mature non-Hodgkin lymphomas.1 It is characterised by varied anatomical and clinical features across nodal, splenic, and extranodal or mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue subtypes.2 For relapsed or refractory MZL, standard options include anti-CD20-based regimens, lenalidomide–rituximab, and Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKis).3 However, the achievement of deep and durable remissions remains challenging.

Minimising the effect of arm swelling (lymphoedema) caused by breast cancer treatment is a key goal for patients and health-care providers, given the potential detrimental effect on physical, psychological, and social wellbeing. Historically, breast axillary nodal radiotherapy was associated with major harm to patients in the 1970s and 1980s, resulting in lymphoedema and nerve damage (brachial plexopathy), which caused severe pain and loss of arm function. The causes were multifactorial, including large radiation doses, overlapping radiotherapy fields, and poor-quality radiotherapy with an absence of standardised protocols and quality assurance.

Raised blood pressure remains the leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature mortality worldwide, affecting an estimated 1·3 billion adults.1 Although most patients achieve adequate blood pressure control with two or three antihypertensive agents, up to 20% of cases remain uncontrolled, despite guideline-recommended combination therapy. After exclusion of pseudo-resistance, these patients are classified as having true resistant hypertension, a phenotype associated with elevated cardiovascular risk and a higher prevalence of secondary hypertension.

Women spend 9 years of their lives in poor health, which is 25% more than men.1 For women, these years are not confined to the end of life, but centred earlier in life from menarche up to menopause.1 Over the past decade, substantial sex differences in disease presentation, progression, and treatment response have been recognised in conditions affecting both men and women, for example, in cardiovascular disease. In addition, there are disorders that occur exclusively in women and girls.2 These female-specific disorders are benign but burdensome conditions that affect the female reproductive organs or the hormonal systems regulating them.

A rapidly brightening burst of light called AT 2024wpp, or "the Whippet", is baffling astronomers. One explanation is that it is the result of an exotic star falling into a black hole

Ryan Gosling stars in the latest adaptation of an Andy Weir novel, another tale of a lone genius battling to survive in space. Bethan Ackerley thoroughly approves

Figuring out what really counts as a galaxy could give us insights into dark matter and potentially shake up astrophysics, cosmology and particle physics, says columnist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

The speed at which artificial intelligence is gaining in mathematical ability has taken many by surprise. It is rewriting what it means to be a mathematician

An analysis of ancient and modern DNA suggests the extent of convergent evolution in different peoples around the world is even greater than we thought

A research team led by a CNRS researcher has for the first time accurately determined the age of the cave paintings at Font-de-Gaume (Les Eyzies) in Dordogne (southwestern France), according to a study published on March 9, 2026, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers at McGill University used 2,000-year-old stone jars in Laos to observe long-term ecological processes, enhancing understanding of how strongly tree cover shapes small freshwater ecosystems. Their findings stand to help scientists predict how freshwater habitats will respond to environmental change, the researchers said.

How can bacteria that forage on organic particles survive in vast ocean regions where such particles are extremely sparse? A new study by researchers from ETH Zurich and Queen Mary University of London shows that variability at the level of individual bacteria plays a central role. Using a probabilistic population model linking mathematics and microbiology, the team demonstrates that rare, high-impact encounters sustain bacterial populations even when average conditions suggest decline. The paper is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Chemists from ETH Zurich have found a way to produce poorly soluble proteins by caging a uniquely reactive boron compound. This method opens up new possibilities for the synthesis of tailored protein therapeutics, including cancer treatments.

Companies risk being criticized as hypocritical when their words and deeds don't match—even if those discrepancies are decades apart, Cornell-led research finds. In a series of studies involving nearly 5,000 participants, real and fictional organizations were deemed hypocritical for inconsistencies separated by more than a half-century—if, for example, they accepted a government bailout in 2008 after having opposed bailouts in the 1960s.

“Zen digesters” rarely fart. “Hydrogen hyperproducers” fart a lot. Scientists are investigating what is typical.

Ultraviolet cameras captured faint electrical flashes from leaves and branches as storm charges built up in the atmosphere.

A sudden release of pressure allowed a copper-based compound to superconduct at the highest temperature yet for atmospheric pressure, a study claims.

Alaska’s glacial lakes are growing as glaciers retreat out of basins. These lakes will change desolate glacial rivers into thriving salmon habitat.

Suspicious cells build up in mice that haven’t given birth, a new study finds. They could help explain a longstanding mystery of breast cancer biology.