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China spent $1.03 trillion on research whereas the U.S. spent $1.01 trillion when adjusted for purchasing power, according to the 31 March edition of science and technology indicators compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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Global demand for wood products is increasing, as are calls for protecting tropical forests from deforestation. In boreal regions, where much of the forest has not been previously logged, demand has led to clear-cutting of such old, “primary” forest. Pascual et al. showed the potential impacts of clearing primary boreal forests by comparing the carbon storage of primary and secondary (previously logged) forests in Sweden. Including vegetation, dead wood, wood products, and soils, primary forests stored over 70% more carbon than secondary forests, a difference several times greater than previous estimates. These results reveal previously underappreciated value in protecting primary boreal forests.

New regulations ask manufacturers to provide efficacy and safety data—or withdraw their products

NCAR’s climate research may not be the only thing driving the White House attack. It is widely believed to also be part of a campaign of political retribution waged against Colorado for its conviction and imprisonment of Tina Peters, a former county clerk who breached election security systems in a scheme to find proof of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The state has included the attack on NCAR in a lawsuit against the Trump administration.

The ecology of pollination has always had classic protagonists: insects, birds, and bats. However, a recent scientific discovery in Brazil is forcing biology to rewrite its books. Researchers have recorded, for the first time in the history of science, an amphibian acting as a potential pollinator.

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L'agenzia scientifica statunitense si muove per limitare l'accesso degli scienziati stranieri ai suoi laboratoriLa norma proposta dal National Institute of Standards and Technology limiterebbe l'accesso a pochi anni per ricercatori e studenti internazionaliscience.org/content/article/ni@scienza

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In 2001, a truck mechanic and snake enthusiast named Tim Friede started injecting himself with low doses of snake venom, in an attempt to protect himself from his growing collection of highly lethal snakes. Now, his eccentric efforts to develop immunity could help lead to better treatments for snakebites.

Source paper: Adenoviral Inciting Antigen and Somatic Hypermutation in VITT

The increase only represents a small step toward restoring funding to former levels, meaning universities must still search for other sources of revenue.

Some 10,109 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank the overall federal workforce. That exodus was only 3% of the 335,192 federal workers who exited last year but represents 14% of the total number of Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) or health fields employed at the end of 2024 as then-President Joe Biden prepared to leave office.

A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies

Osuna-Mascaró hopes the work will inspire scientists to pay more attention to farm animals as well. Though he’s largely studied chimpanzees and cockatoos until now, he wants to continue to work with cows. He’s even put a cow screensaver on his phone. “I think most animals are living a rich life and have something really interesting to tell us,” he says. “We just have to ask the right questions.”

“After analyzing a new and extremely well-preserved specimen, researchers argue today in Science Advances that its chemistry and cellular structure mean Prototaxites cannot be a fungus and is instead an unknown type of multicellular life.”

China’s EAST tokamak fusion reactor has achieved a breakthrough by reaching a “density-free regime” where plasma remains stable at densities far above traditional limits[1][2].

China’s EAST tokamak fusion reactor has achieved a breakthrough by reaching a “density-free regime” where plasma remains stable at densities far above traditional limits12.

Any dog owner will tell you that dogs understand many words, and studies support this impression. In addition to dogs with regular, “family dog” knowledge levels are dogs with an extraordinary level of word comprehension. These dogs have been called “gifted word learners” and they appear idiosyncratically across countries, breeds, and households. Dror et al. examined the ability of these dogs to pick up words through conversations not directed at them. Using an approach designed to study understanding in toddlers, they found that the dogs were able learn words through overhearing just like, or even better than, 1.5-year-old children. —Sacha Vignieri [Editor]

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Archaeologists find evidence that a wave of mass brutality accompanied the collapse of the first pan-European culture 

What a title!

Poised on a humanmade landing platform at the entrance of a cave in northern Germany, an invasive brown rat (*Rattus norvegicus*) lunges at a bat and yanks it out of the air, after which it quickly becomes dinner. The discovery—documented in infrared above and reported this month in Global Ecology and Conservation—marks the first time researchers have captured rats hunting bats by grabbing them from the sky.

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The White House is expected to ask Congress to wipe out the entire biological research program at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in its upcoming 2026 budget request, according to an internal email seen by Science. This year, USGS—a $1.6 billion research agency within the Department of the Interior—will spend $307 million on its Ecosystems Mission Area. The research informs conservation of endangered species, state management of game and other wildlife, responses to wildfire and sea level rise, and other areas.

“Efforts to study the female reproductive system have long been set back by societal stigma—but also by the problematic fact that most laboratory animals don’t menstruate. Now, researchers have engineered mice that get a period in response to certain drugs, according to a preprint posted to bioRxiv this month.”

By twisting the dials on key neurotransmitter systems in our brains, psychoactive compounds in a few kinds of mushrooms can provoke profound psychedelic experiences. The same compounds also show promise in treating illnesses such as therapy-resistant depression. But researchers don’t fully understand how they work in the brain—and why they evolved in the first place is a deeper mystery.

“We’ve been looking at the brain forever now, and every once in a while, a surprise comes along”

Microsoft bioengineer Bruce Wittmann normally uses artificial intelligence (AI) to design proteins that could help fight disease or grow food. But last year, he used AI tools like a would-be bioterrorist: creating digital blueprints for proteins that could mimic deadly poisons and toxins such as ricin, botulinum, and Shiga.

In Alaska’s Salmon River, leached metals reach levels that are toxic for aquatic life

Air pollution was recently found to be associated with increased risk of developing dementia. Zhang et al. investigated the relationship between PM2.5, an index of particle pollution, and the development of Lewy body dementia (LBD), the second most common form of dementia. Epidemiological data showed that PM2.5 exposure was associated with an increased risk of developing LBD. In mice, nasal administration of PM2.5 led to brain atrophy due to the accumulation of pathological α-synuclein, loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, and impaired cognition and motor function. The results identify a potential mechanistic link between air pollution and the development of dementia.

The future of one of Europe’s largest nonhuman primate research centers is hanging in the balance. On 3 July, just before its summer recess, the Dutch House of Representatives voted to end monkey studies at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), located in this suburb of The Hague, by 2030. The amendment would not necessarily shutter BPRC, which holds about 950 monkeys of three species. But it stipulates that a growing share of its €12.5 million annual subsidy—reaching 100% by 2030—would go to animal-free research or the development of alternatives.

Editor's SUmmary:

Researchers conducting the world’s largest DNA study of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) today revealed “genetic signals” that might help explain how the condition arises. The poorly understood illness, which is estimated to affect many millions of people worldwide, is associated with debilitating symptoms including extreme exhaustion and difficulty thinking clearly.

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If confirmed, vast cloud could test predictions about the Milky Way’s hidden architecture