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Physicists used an algorithm to combine telescope measurements of a black hole in a different way from the original analysis.Credit: S. Lai, N. Thyagarajan, O. I. Wong and F. Diakogiannis/CSIRO
Black-hole image stands up to scrutiny
A re-evaluation of data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has corroborated the findings that yielded the first-ever photo of a black hole. After the blurry image was released in 2019, sceptics argued that the circular shape seen in the shot was an artefact of the team’s image-reconstruction techniques. Independent astrophysicist Samuel Lai and his team used different methods to reanalyse the original data and their results — including new images of the black hole — largely match those of the EHT team.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Nature paper
US$8.4 billion
The funding that voters in California have approved to earmark for immunology research — the largest ever infusion of cash for science authorized by a public vote in US history. (Nature | 5 min read)
Brain-protein highway clogs in Alzheimer’s
Researchers have catalogued almost 100 proteins that get a free pass through the blood–brain barrier to maintain the health of neurons. Most of these proteins were produced in distant organs, particularly the liver. The team found that the transport of some of these proteins is disrupted in mice with a brain disease that mimics early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. The work suggests that the brain actively imports the proteins it needs to stay healthy, and that the breakdown of that transport drives the dysfunction seen in neurodegenerative disease, says neuroscientist and study co-author Andrew Yang.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Cell paper
Artemis II might have disrupted GPS
The launch of the Artemis II mission to orbit the Moon produced unprecedented large-scale atmospheric disturbances, say researchers. Data from GPS receivers found that the Space Launch System — the most powerful rocket that NASA has ever built — disrupted the atmospheric layer known as the ionosphere. The GPS disruption was potentially large enough to “have a strong impact not only on self-driving cars but also on drone positioning,” says space physicist and study co-author Charles Lin.
Space.com | 7 min read
Reference: Geophysical Research Letters preprint (not peer reviewed)
Features & opinion
Should old, bad science be culled?
The scientific literature contains decades-old papers that detail fraudulent, unethical or merely incorrect results, but aren’t marked as such. Many of these papers are long neglected, but their digitization enables artificial-intelligence tools that summarize scientific literature on a topic to feed misinformation to a new generation. This leaves publishers to wrangle with the question of whether these historical papers should be retracted or flagged as suspect — a task that can be tricky if authors are dead, original records can’t be consulted or journals are no longer in print.
Nature | 11 min read
Did life start with a fat blob?
“You need a container before you can get the chemistry” that enables cellular life, says astrobiologist Bruce Damer. He’s among those researchers who favour a ‘lipid-first’ hypothesis for the origin of complex life: that the lipid membrane that corrals the cell is key to its success. Or even that bubbles of lipids, plus the chemistry they enclosed, could have propagated and evolved in a Darwinian-like way, before RNA (or DNA) arrived on the scene.
Quanta | 8 min read
Enjoy more ideas about where we came from in Quanta Magazine’s Origins of Life Week.
Physics projects need an anthropologist
Social scientists should be involved in the process of finding suitable locations for new observatories, argues anthropologist Jaco de Swart, co-principal investigator of a proposed neutrino detector to be built in the Peruvian Andes. Many suitable locations for such projects are sensitive ecological environments with cultural significance for Indigenous communities. Social scientists can help to integrate environmental care into these projects and build relationships with local and Indigenous stakeholders. “To build scientific infrastructure that is responsible, just and resilient, humanities scholars must have leadership roles from the start,” de Swart writes.
Nature | 7 min read
Quote of the day
“The majority of the rest of the biodiversity just gets left out, in the corner, just waiting for someone to think they’re cute.”
Appearing in the Jurassic Park franchise is the strongest predictor of a dinosaur species’ popularity, according to new research — an example of the ‘blockbuster effect’. The media should leverage this effect to put a spotlight on endangered species, says zoologist Pâmela Lima. (Science | 7 min read)
Reference: Biology Letters paper
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-03675-y
The Kangaroo is a multiple-choice mathematics challenge attempted by more than seven million children in around 120 countries, just for fun. The Guardian’s maths-puzzle-master Alex Bellos shared a Kangaroo question from the 2024 event that should be accessible to skilled secondary-school students — so Briefing readers will certainly be good to have a go. The answer is here.
Did you manage to tame the Kangaroo? Let me know — along with any other feedback on this newsletter — at [email protected].
Thanks for reading,
Flora Graham, chief editor, Nature Briefing
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