scienceTuesday, June 23, 2026
Today's science news is bookended by two very different stories: the world's first AI-designed vaccine has been successfully tested in humans, while NSF funding has hit levels not seen since the 1970s. In between, we see new links between cancer mutations and Alzheimer's, and a reminder that your heartbeat subtly shapes how your brain works.
Two stories show AI's growing role in health, from vaccine design to drug discovery data quality.
The world's first AI-designed vaccine has been successfully tested in humans in the UK, marking a milestone that could accelerate future pandemic response and vaccine research.
AI's promise in drug discovery is hitting a wall: biological data is too small and inconsistent. The piece argues that trustworthy data, not better algorithms, is the real bottleneck.
The US research ecosystem faces a funding crisis as NSF budgets hit 1970s levels.
NSF funding in 2026 is at its lowest level since the 1970s, with budget uncertainties and disruptions from the previous year compounding the crisis for US researchers.
New research reveals unexpected connections between cancer mutations in microglia and Alzheimer's, and how your heartbeat influences perception.
Deep sequencing of Alzheimer's brains reveals an enrichment of somatic cancer driver mutations in microglia-like cells, suggesting a link between clonal hematopoiesis and neuroinflammation.
A growing body of research shows that the heartbeat subtly alters how the brain processes sensory information, potentially skewing neuroscience experiments that ignore this bodily rhythm.
Commemorating 70 Years of Artificial Intelligencespectrum.ieee.org
Monoallelic PSMB8 variants cause PRAAS with immunodeficiency through impaired immunoproteasome assemblywww.cell.com
How China is getting ahead in biotech: a case studywww.writingruxandrabio.com
How Messi, Mbappe and Haaland use their brains (as well as feet) to gain a psychological edge at the World Cuptheconversation.com
Overcoming pride and prejudice for impactful urban nature conservationdoi.org
Hungry Hungry Galaxies: How does the shape of a galaxy’s halo affect its appetite?astrobites.orgThere Are Good Reasons Why NASA Stopped Using The Space Shuttlewww.slashgear.com
The article examines why NASA retired the Space Shuttle program after 30 years, despite its innovative concept. It outlines the Shuttle's original goals: making spaceflight routine and affordable through reusability, and enabling large-scale space construction. However, the progr
Scientists analyze toxic gases released from burning thin-film, PET-laminated moduleswww.pv-magazine.com
Researchers from China's State Key Laboratory of Fire Science conducted experiments on flexible PET-laminated thin-film PV panels to analyze their combustion behavior. The study found that burning these solar panels releases toxic gases including sulfur dioxide, hydrogen fluoride
Distributed Quantum Learning over Near-term Devices: Convergence Analysis and Security Designarxiv.org
This paper presents a comprehensive study on Distributed Quantum Learning (DQL), focusing on two key aspects: convergence analysis under practical conditions (partial device participation, non-convex loss functions, heterogeneous data distributions) and security design using a mu
Bounded-depth spacetime lattice surgery for resource-efficient fault-tolerant quantum computationarxiv.org
This paper introduces double-slice routing, a constant-depth spacetime-routing method for fault-tolerant quantum computing based on lattice surgery. The method uses two consecutive time slices with guaranteed kink-parity correction termination under both planar and stacked archit
Almost the whole of Japan moved eastward after 2011 earthquakewww.newscientist.com
Fifteen minutes after the magnitude-9 Tohoku earthquake on March 11, 2011, a powerful seismic wave traveled 5,800 kilometers to the Earth's core and bounced back, causing almost the entire landmass of Japan to shift 5 millimeters eastward. While this movement was dwarfed by the c
This article presents a research study on using scanning-probe quantum microscopy to perform nanoscale sensing of microwave and static magnetic field environments in an on-chip niobium (Nb) superconducting resonator. The researchers demonstrate that microwave magnetic fields from
Protected seabed damaged by fishing is showing signs of recoverywww.bbc.co.uk
A protected seabed area off the coast that was severely damaged by illegal dredging in 2019 is showing clear signs of recovery, according to conservation group Open Seas. The group has been monitoring the area and documented evidence of marine life returning, including large fish
New Cambridge University AI tool could flag council home issuesshare.google
Researchers at the University of Cambridge are developing an AI tool in partnership with Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council that scans data from thousands of council properties to flag maintenance issues before they become critical. The tool combines
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