NYT > Science

1. Earth Is Spinning Faster, Making Some Summer Days Shorter
   The planet’s rotation fluctuates as it travels around the sun, and measurements suggest we’re losing more than a millisecond during the long days of summer.
2. How Much of Our ‘Math, Revealed’ Series Did You Retain? Try This Quiz.
   Test your knowledge of taxicab geometry, triangular numbers, the golden ratio and more.
3. This Jungle Plant Is a Good Landlord to Its Tenant Ants
   While plants often have mutually beneficial relationships with insects, a tuber in Fiji grows separate compartments for multiple ant species.
4. Trump Seeks to Cut Basic Scientific Research by Roughly One-Third, Report Shows
   An analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science shows the impact of the administration’s budget plan on the kind of studies that produce the most breakthroughs.
5. How Elephants Say They Like Them Apples
   Researchers found that the animals are capable of using their trunks to make a range of gestures that express their intentions and wants.
6. A 37,000-Year Chronicle of What Once Ailed Us
   In a new genetic study, scientists have charted the rise of 214 human diseases across ancient Europe and Asia.
7. Trump’s Budget Would Clip Bird Banding, and Hunters Are Not Happy
   The Bird Banding Laboratory has turned duck hunters into citizen scientists. What happens if it is defunded?
8. Trump’s D.E.I. Cuts Are Hurting Rural, White Americans, Too
   The N.I.H. has terminated hundreds of diversity grants awarded to young researchers, many of whom come from the very places that supported Trump.
9. Increasingly Acidic Seas Threaten Oyster Farming
   Researchers and hatcheries are exploring new ways to protect shellfish in the Pacific Northwest, although Trump budget cuts may thwart their efforts.
10. Arizona Resident Dies From Plague, Officials Say
    The resident died from pneumonic plague, the first such death in Coconino County, Ariz., since 2007, the county said.
11. Daniel Kleppner, Physicist Who Brought Precision to GPS, Dies at 92
    He worked to develop an atomic clock that is essential to global positioning systems and helped confirm a rare state of matter predicted by Albert Einstein.
12. Flash Floods Are the ‘Hardest Kind’ of Disaster to Prevent, Experts Say
    Scholars and designers of early warning systems say that there are still huge gaps in our ability to predict flash floods and warn those at risk.
13. Denver Museum Finds a Dinosaur Fossil Under Its Parking Lot
    The fossil, estimated to be about 70 million years old, was found during a drilling project.
14. Ben Jealous, Sierra Club’s Executive Director, on Leave After Rocky Tenure
    Ben Jealous, who joined the environmental group in 2023, has clashed with some employees and the organization’s union.
15. RFK Jr. Cancels Meeting of Key Preventive Health Panel
    The task force recommends which screenings and other preventive health measures must be covered by insurance.
16. F.D.A. Posts Collection of Letters Outlining Concerns About New Drugs
    The letters, many of which were already available online, detail why the regulators initially declined to approve some drugs. All eventually passed muster.
17. Justice Dept. Demands Private Patient Info From Trans Youth Medicine Providers
    Doctors and hospitals were subpoenaed for private information on gender-related care for minors, the latest move by the Trump administration to stop the treatments.
18. James B. Maas, Guru of Slumber and the ‘Power Nap,’ Dies at 86
    An author, public speaker and professor, he taught a hugely popular and entertaining psychology course at Cornell that focused on the essential importance of sleep.
19. Sonoran Desert Toads, With Their Psychedelic Powers, Appear to Be in Decline
    New research suggests Sonoran Desert toads went into steep decline after stories of their mind-bending chemical properties began circulating among drug users.
20. Maya Ruler’s Tomb Is Unearthed in Belize, With Clues to His Ancient World
    A rare mosaic death mask made of jadeite and vessels in the shapes of an owl, a monkey and coati-mundi were found with the ruler.
21. Trump Names Sean Duffy as Interim Head of NASA
    President Trump had pulled the nomination of a close associate of Elon Musk to lead the agency in May. The decision fueled a public breakdown of their alliance.
22. Recipients of a U.S. Climate Science Fellowship Are Put on Unpaid Leave
    Researchers in the NOAA program were furloughed because funds to pay them were not available.
23. Life Expectancy in California Has Not Rebounded After Covid
    The state’s life expectancy was lower in 2024 than in 2019, according to an analysis, but primarily as a result of causes of death other than Covid.
24. New Research Questions Severity of Withdrawal From Antidepressants
    Warnings about withdrawal from antidepressants have rippled through society in recent years. A new study claims they are overblown.
25. Measles Cases Hit Highest Total Since U.S. Eliminated Disease
    Experts worry that if vaccination rates do not improve, deadly outbreaks will become the new normal.
26. Research Suggests Climate Change Added Excess Deaths in European Heat Wave
    The rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution calculated that climate change might have tripled the death toll from the event.
27. Ivar Giaever, Nobel Winner in Quantum Physics, Dies at 96
    A former “D” student from Norway, he made his mark at G.E.’s Research Lab in the U.S., in part by confirming a pivotal theory about superconductivity.
28. Trump Wants to Close the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
    The White House is planning to eliminate the board, a small agency that investigates chemical disasters to understand what went wrong.
29. Lung Cancer Screening on Wheels
    On the road with a 68,000-pound tractor-trailer that crisscrosses West Virginia, saving lives.
30. Franklin W. Stahl, 95, Dies; Helped Create a ‘Beautiful’ DNA Experiment
    He and a colleague proved a theory advanced by the Nobel Prize winners James Watson and Francis Crick, who discovered DNA’s helical structure.
31. Medical Societies Sue Kennedy and H.H.S. Over Vaccine Advice
    New restrictions on Covid shots run counter to scientific evidence, the groups said.