Science Pulse

Researchers have developed a new biological clock that uses RNA activity to estimate how far aging has progressed and how strongly it may be linked to mortality risk.

The tool is called a transcriptomic clock. Instead of looking at DNA methylation marks, it studies RNA molecules that show which genes are switched on or off in cells and tissues.

The study, DOI 10.1038/s41586-026-10542-3, analyzed more than 11,000 samples from mice, rats, macaques, and humans across more than 25 tissue types. The researchers found that many aging signals were shared across species and organs, including blood, muscle, liver, and heart tissue.

Genes involved in healthy cell division and wound repair were linked with slower molecular aging. Genes tied to inflammation and cell death were linked with faster aging and higher biological age.

In human blood samples, the clock could estimate time to death about as well as leading epigenetic clocks. It also detected aging patterns connected with chronic disease in animal models and human patient tissue samples.

The clock cannot tell a person the exact date they will die. Its value is as a research tool that may help scientists measure biological aging, compare aging across species, and test whether lifestyle changes, disease, pollution, or possible treatments appear to speed up or slow down aging.

More testing is still needed, especially in larger and more diverse human populations. But the results suggest that gene activity may reveal common biological patterns of aging that are conserved across mammals.

Bats can play an important role in natural pest control because many species eat flying insects at night, including mosquitoes.

A single bat may be able to eat up to 1,000 mosquitoes in one night when conditions are right. This depends on the bat species, the number of insects available, the weather, and what other prey is easier to catch.

The famous high mosquito-eating estimate comes partly from a 1960 echolocation experiment by Griffin, Webster, and Michael, cataloged as 8:141-154. In that controlled test, some small bats caught mosquitoes very quickly for short periods, reaching around 10 mosquitoes per minute.

Later research adds more detail. A 2013 study, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077183, found that mosquitoes can be part of insect-eating bat diets, but they are usually not the only food. Bats often eat moths, beetles, flies, and other night-flying insects too.

This means bats are helpful natural predators, but they are not a complete mosquito-control solution by themselves. Their real value is broader: they reduce many insect pests, support healthier ecosystems, and help keep nighttime insect populations more balanced.

Otzi the Iceman is a 5,300-year-old mummy from the Italian Alps, and scientists now say his microbiome is still showing signs of life.

His body was preserved by extreme cold after he was killed by an arrow. Even after thousands of years, researchers have found that microscopic organisms connected to him may still be active.

The discovery focuses on ancient gut bacteria and cold-adapted yeast strains found in and on the mummy. Some of these microbes appear to have survived in the unusual conditions created by ice, time, and modern preservation.

A 2026 study identified as 10.1186/s40168-026-02417-6 reported that Otzi’s microbial community includes both ancient and more recent microorganisms. The research found evidence that some cold-loving yeasts may remain metabolically active and may even be capable of replication under current storage conditions.

This makes Otzi more than a preserved body from the past. He is also a rare window into ancient human biology, early gut microbes, and the surprising ways microscopic life can endure for thousands of years.

The finding adds new importance to how the mummy is protected. Preserving Otzi now means protecting not only his body, but also the delicate biological traces that still live within it.

Researchers have found a hidden virus inside a common gut bacterium that may help explain its link to colorectal cancer.

The bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, is often found in healthy people. This has made its connection to colorectal cancer difficult to understand.

Scientists in Denmark and Australia studied whether there was something different about B. fragilis in people with colorectal cancer. Using genetic sequencing, they found that the bacterium often carried a previously unknown bacteriophage, which is a virus that infects bacteria.

The first signal came from a smaller group, then the finding was checked in a larger study of 877 people with and without colorectal cancer. People with colorectal cancer were about twice as likely to have detectable levels of this bacteriophage in their gut bacteria.

The researchers have not proven that the virus causes cancer. It may contribute to the disease, or it may be a sign that the gut environment has changed in another important way.

The finding adds a new layer to how scientists think about the gut microbiome and cancer risk. It suggests that researchers may need to study not only gut bacteria, but also the viruses living inside those bacteria.

This work is still early and experimental. In the future, it could help researchers find new treatment targets or improve colorectal cancer screening through stool sample tests that look for the virus.

Rows of Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars in the Mojave Desert became one of the clearest images of the Dieselgate scandal.

At the peak, hundreds of thousands of buyback vehicles were stored at facilities across the United States. One of the most visible storage sites was in the desert near Victorville, California.

These cars were not simply dumped because they had no value. They were parked after Volkswagen was required to buy back or fix diesel vehicles that used software designed to cheat emissions tests.

Court records from the U.S. settlement covered about 475,000 affected 2.0-liter Volkswagen and Audi diesel vehicles. The wider scandal involved around 11 million vehicles worldwide.

By early 2018, Volkswagen had spent more than $7.4 billion buying back about 350,000 U.S. diesel vehicles. That number helps explain why the desert lots looked so overwhelming from above.

The Mojave site showed the scale of the problem in a way numbers alone could not. Long rows of cars sat in the dry heat while regulators and the company decided which vehicles could be repaired, resold, exported, recycled, or scrapped.

A 2019 research paper, study number 1908.09609, found that the emissions scandal changed how buyers judged the value and environmental quality of Volkswagen diesel cars. This helps show why the issue was not only mechanical, but also legal, financial, and reputational.

The future of these cars depends on their condition and whether approved emissions repairs can be completed. Some can return to the road after modification. Others may be stripped for parts or destroyed if they cannot meet legal standards.

That is why the Mojave rows matter. They are more than abandoned cars. They show what can happen when trust breaks down, regulators step in, and hundreds of thousands of vehicles suddenly become too difficult to sell like normal used cars.

Appendix cancer is still very rare, but researchers are seeing a sharp rise in cases among younger adults.

Recent research in the United States found that Gen X and Millennial adults are three to four times more likely than older generations to be diagnosed with this cancer. Today, about 1 in 3 people with appendix cancer are diagnosed before age 50.

A 2020 national analysis led by epidemiologist and molecular biologist Andreana Holowatyj found that malignant appendix cancer cases in the United States rose by 232 percent between 2000 and 2016. Two newer peer-reviewed studies also found that cases tripled among Americans born from 1976 to 1984 and quadrupled among those born from 1981 to 1989, compared with people born from 1941 to 1949.

Doctors do not yet know what is driving the increase. Possible factors include diet, physical activity, inherited gene variants, environmental exposures, chemical pollution, microplastics, poor sleep, alcohol use, and ultra-processed foods.

The cancer can be hard to detect because symptoms often look like more common problems. Abdominal pain, bloating, pelvic pain, hernias, fibroids, cysts, and endometrial-like lesions can all confuse the diagnosis.

There are only about 3,000 appendix cancer cases each year in the United States, compared with roughly 150,000 colorectal cancer cases. Because it is so rare, appendix cancer has fewer screening guidelines, less awareness, and more limited treatment options.

Experts say people with persistent or unusual abdominal or pelvic symptoms should speak with a health care professional. Early diagnosis matters, especially as researchers continue working to understand who is most at risk and why younger adults are being affected more often.

The Andean condor is an extremely efficient flyer. It can soar for more than 100 miles, or about 160 km, without flapping its wings.

It does this by using thermals, which are rising columns of warm air. These currents lift the bird and let it glide across huge distances while using very little energy.

This matters because the Andean condor is a massive bird with a wingspan that can reach up to 10 feet. Staying in the air for hours without much flapping helps it travel across the Andes while conserving strength.

A 2020 study that tracked Andean condors with flight recorders found that they spent almost all of their flight time soaring instead of flapping. In one recorded flight, a condor traveled about 172 km over more than 5 hours without a single wing flap.

That ability makes the Andean condor one of the most skilled soaring birds in nature. It is built to ride mountain winds, circle on warm air, and cover vast landscapes with remarkable ease.

Astronomers have identified TOI 1452 b, a remarkable planet that may be covered almost completely by water.

Instead of continents, mountains, beaches, or dry land, this world may have deep oceans stretching across the entire planet from pole to pole.

TOI 1452 b is located about 100 light years from Earth in the constellation Draco. It was announced in 2022 after observations from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and follow up work with powerful ground based telescopes.

Scientists estimate that the planet is about 70 percent larger than Earth. Research from the 2022 TOI 1452 b study suggests it may contain a much larger amount of water than our own planet.

On Earth, water makes up less than 1 percent of the planet's total mass. TOI 1452 b may be very different, with models suggesting that water could make up a significant part of the planet.

Some models point to global oceans that may extend hundreds of miles below the surface. If this is correct, the planet would not look like Earth at all.

It could be a world with no visible land, only a vast ocean horizon beneath an alien sky. Its surface may be shaped by endless water, deep pressure, and conditions unlike anything humans have seen.

This discovery matters because ocean rich planets have been predicted for years, but they are difficult to confirm. TOI 1452 b gives scientists an important example to study as they learn how common these water worlds may be.

Since the 1990s, astronomers have confirmed more than 5,000 exoplanets. Many of them have shown that our solar system may not be the most typical model for planets in the universe.

TOI 1452 b is another reminder that planets can form in strange and surprising ways. Far beyond Earth, entire worlds may exist with environments that are completely different from anything familiar to us.