Earth's core reversed direction, chemistry broke its own redox law, particle physics confirmed a particle made of nothing but force, and the dinosaurs died faster than anyone had modelled. The bottom line: this was a week of long-standing scientific models collapsing under new evidence, from the subatomic to the planetary. If your mental model of something survived the week intact, you probably were not paying attention.
Physicists at the BESIII detector in Beijing report compelling evidence for a particle made entirely of gluons. Glueballs were predicted by quantum chromodynamics decades ago but had never been cleanly isolated.
Seismological analysis spanning 70 years of earthquake data shows Earth's liquid outer core changed its rotation direction, contradicting standard models of planetary dynamics.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers engineered a catalyst that injects free electrons directly into solution without needing an electron acceptor, a condition held to be inviolable in redox chemistry.
A new HIV vaccine candidate successfully recruited broadly neutralising antibody precursor cells in human trials, a step that has defeated HIV vaccinology for decades.
Max Planck astronomers identified three simultaneously accreting supermassive black holes within a single galaxy observed 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang.
New modelling shows fine ejected particles re-radiated enough infrared energy to heat Earth's surface to lethal temperatures within hours, before the nuclear winter even began.
A rare total solar eclipse tracked across Europe on August 12. Scientists deployed instruments to image the solar corona and measure magnetic fields in ways only possible during totality.
A Nature analysis finds the Amazon's resilience has measurably declined under compounding drought, deforestation, and heat stress. A sufficiently strong El Nino could trigger self-sustaining dieback.
Computational analysis of ribosomal RNA evolution suggests the universal common ancestor was not a single lineage. Life may have arisen independently at least twice.
Researchers demonstrated that ordinary sunlight can create quantum entanglement between photon pairs at room temperature, with no cryogenic equipment required.
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