Science Magazine✓

Researchers have developed an AI-based approach to help physicians with real-life clinical workups, starting with the patient’s chief complaint, systematically asking questions and deciding what laboratory and imaging tests to order, and then continuing the evaluation on the basis of the answers received. Learn more this week in Science:

By studying sea slugs in the lab, researchers have determined how structural changes in molecules called transfer RNAs accompany behavioral habituation, an elemental form of learning. @SciSignal

Poetry and other art forms can play a vital role in conservation by giving emotional and cultural meaning to scientific evidence, argue Phillip Levin and David Hassler in a new #ScienceBooks essay. Learn more:

Using genome editing to trace cell lineages, researchers have captured the early history of the mouse embryo in unprecedented detail. Learn more: @NewsfromScience

Researchers in Science have developed an AI-based approach to help physicians with real-life clinical workups. The system shows promise in supplementing a physician’s workflow. Learn more:

A new slate of #optogenetic tools enables scientists to finely control G protein signaling in excitable cells—providing a flexible method that might also be used therapeutically for disorders that disrupt the excitability of cells. @SciSignal

Last chance: Apply for the BioInnovation Institute & #ScienceTranslationalMedicine Prize for Innovations in Women’s Health This prize recognizes researchers who have developed innovative advances with translational potential to impact women’s health globally. The Grand Prize winner will be awarded a cash prize of USD 25,000 and have their winning essay published online in Science Translational Medicine. Apply by 1 November 2026:

In a new #SciencePolicyArticle, researchers look at Jamaica’s experience with 2025’s Hurricane Melissa as a case study that reveals how extreme weather and disaster spending can trap climate-vulnerable countries in a cycle of recovery borrowing and underinvestment in future climate resilience. Learn more:

RT @scisignal: The new issue of #ScienceSignaling has arrived! The humble sea slug reveals how transfer RNAs become modified during behavioral habituation and learning, new work shows how a mutant form of STAT3 causes a genetically dominant immunodeficiency, and more.

"What mattered, I realized, was not to be some imaginary perfect mentor with all the answers, but to get to know my mentee ... and offer whatever guidance and support I could based on my own experiences." #NationalMentoringDay

A new study in @SciImmunology demonstrates how mechanical sensing in gut macrophages can lead to colitis-associated visceral pain in mice.

A newly resurfaced photo taken by Rosalind Franklin—photo 49—shows she was aware of the helical structure of DNA and explains why her published image—photo 51—does not have indications of her understanding of its shape. Learn more in the latest episode of the #SciencePodcast🎙️:

The NOSTER & Science Magazine Microbiome Prize rewards innovative research by early-career investigators on the functional roles of the microbiota in human or veterinary health and disease. Apply by 14 February 2027:

An implantable, wirelessly powered electronic device could offer a drug-free approach to managing the intertwined metabolic disorders of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The device uses electrocatalysis to remove excess glucose from the bloodstream on demand. Learn more in Science:

Home decorating isn’t unique to Homo sapiens. More than 40,000 years ago, bands of Neanderthals turned a spacious rock shelter in the mountains of Spain into a cozy home, fashioning wood into tools and windbreaks and burning it for heat and light. That picture comes from a first-of-its-kind trove of Neanderthal wooden artifacts from a domestic space, found at a cliffside site called Abric Romaní, 50 kilometers west of Barcelona. Learn more: @NewsfromScience

By applying a unique polyene scaffold, researchers engineer a next-generation, broad-spectrum antifungal that selectively targets ergosterol without binding to cholesterol, avoiding severe toxicity linked to drugs like amphotericin B. Find out more in @ScienceTM:

Animals and plants use conceptually similar immune systems to detect microbes and activate defenses. In both lineages, pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) perceive pathogen- or microbe-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs or MAMPs) and host-derived damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Whereas animals rely on specialized immune cells, plants harness individual cells expressing diverse PRRs. In the apoplast, which lies outside the plasma membrane and includes the cell wall, PRRs detect immunogenic fragments released from microbial proteins by plant hydrolytic enzymes. Conversely, pathogen-secreted enzymes can degrade constituents of the apoplast, generating DAMPs that activate immunity. In three new Science papers, researchers report expansions of this surveillance, revealing receptor architectures and mechanisms that enable plants to discriminate immunogenic carbohydrates. The findings illustrate how ligand specificity and receptor assembly confine immune activation to the context of microbial challenge. Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective:

"For years, I worked hard to hide my history of homelessness. Now, I am more neutral—it was a challenging and sometimes unpleasant chapter, like puberty, or, more recently, learning Bayesian statistics. I am committed to not letting my history define me. But I also don’t want my colleagues to assume no scientist could have a past like mine." #ScienceWorkingLife

Last call: Apply for the BioInnovation Institute & Science Prize for Innovation This prize recognizes bold researchers who are asking fundamental questions at the intersection of the life sciences and entrepreneurship. The Grand Prize winner will receive a cash prize of USD 25,000 and have their winning essay published in Science, in print and online. Apply by 1 November 2026:

New in @SciRobotics: The Ultra Mobility Vehicle bicycle robot leverages its own inertia and momentum to perform jumps, track stands, wheelies and other athletic moves.

Researchers in @ScienceAdvances have developed a multiplexed and implantable fiber sensor that monitors the bloodstream for real-time levels of sodium and potassium, two electrolytes that regulate important bodily functions like heart rhythm and fluid balance.

Science is publishing an Erratum to replace the July 2026 Editorial Expression of Concern for the February 2026 Research Article “Hafnium oxide interface stabilization for efficient, photothermally stable perovskite solar cells.”

Japan’s MMX mission aims to retrieve samples from Mars’s mysterious moon. They could reveal how it formed—and hold pieces of Mars itself. Learn more: @NewsfromScience

How does the #glycome of gamma-delta T cells affect their activation toward an autoimmune state? Learn more in Science #Immunology about these important sugar molecules and their impact on inflammatory disease.

A @ScienceTM analysis of trial data from stem cell transplant recipients shows how immune suppression with either cyclophosphamide or tacrolimus shapes T cell reconstitution—and has opposing effects on the risk of graft-versus-host disease or infection post-transplant.

Wolves have made a spectacular comeback in Europe. But attacks on livestock and humans have caused a heated debate about the limits of coexistence. Learn more:

Does generative AI dilute markets for human-created work? In a new #SciencePolicyForum, researchers discuss how market dilution theory, which could affect AI use in science, requires conceptual clarity and empirical evidence: