Ancient DNA from a Chilean mummy confirms smallpox arrived with Europeans, a photonic time crystal gets its first experimental proof, and a new primate is found in the Congo — possibly already endangered.
Researchers sequenced DNA from a 500-year-old Chilean mummy and identified smallpox virus, providing the first direct genomic evidence that the disease arrived with European contact rather than preceding it.
A team has demonstrated the first all-optical photonic time crystal — a material with periodic structure in time rather than space — operating at terahertz frequencies.
A climate analysis finds the likelihood of extreme wildfire conditions in southern Europe has more than doubled since 1981, driven by higher temperatures, reduced humidity, and changes in vegetation.
Primatologists have described a new monkey species from the Congo Basin forests, with morphological and genetic evidence distinguishing it from known relatives; its restricted range and forest-loss trajectory suggest it may already qualify as endangered.
Scientists have observed a previously unknown two-step reaction pathway that converts waste CO2 directly into graphite, potentially enabling industrial carbon capture that produces a commercially useful material.
Researchers used somatic mutation patterns as a lineage-tracing tool to map when and where microglia — the brain's resident immune cells — originate and how their population dynamics shift over a human lifetime.