Robots may soon play a much bigger role at home and in the world ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
December 23, 2025—Flu variant K, an offshore wind farm "pause" and a framework that pulls together heart and kidney diseases as well as type 2 diabetes. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | NASA, ESA, Paul Kalas (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) | | - A spectacular cosmic collision, of asteroids crashing into one another in a nearby planetary system around a star some 25 light-years away, has been captured in a new Hubble Space Telescope image. | 2 min read
- A novel variant of flu called subclade K appears to be driving an uptick in cases and hospitalizations throughout the U.S. and other countries. | 3 min read
- Ancient Romans who lived in ancient Britain and guarded Hadrian's Wall were riddled with intestinal parasites, all of which are spread by fecal contamination. | 2 min read
- The U.S. Department of Interior announced it would "pause" leases for five large offshore wind farms, imperiling the fast-growing clean energy industry. | 2 min read
- For the first time, a GLP-1 weight-loss pill has been approved in the U.S. The move could transform health care. | 3 min read
- Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? The odds of snow on the big day will depend on the mix of climate and weather where you live. | 3 min read
| | Astronomers are beginning to understand the extreme physics involved in about 100,000 one-off, improbable events called celestial transients, in stars or around black holes. These astronomically sized events "change on human timescales—in seconds, hours, days—which is a combination of size and speed that seems impossible," writes freelance science writer Ann Finkbeiner. Transients include x-ray bursts, fast blue optical transients, changing-look quasars, ambiguous nuclear transients, and at least 30 kinds of supernovae. One of the latter, a "superluminous supernova," has the light of 20 billion sons. And astronomers hope to learn why they are so bright.
Why it matters: Transients hold evidence about quiescent and therefore invisible supermassive black holes and about black holes with masses between those of stellar black holes and supermassive ones. In addition, the fast radio bursts associated with transients could be used to help map the distribution of regular matter. More broadly, transients can teach scientists "what physics doesn't forbid," Finkbeiner writes. | | What the experts say: "The holy grail is understanding what produced the transient," says Eliot Quataert of Princeton, a theoretical astrophysicist studying nuclear transients. Theorists hope to sort transients' energy sources into a few categories, but for now, some sources don't fit into any of the available boxes. | | Heart disease, kidney diseases and type 2 diabetes may be one ailment, grouped in 2023 under the name "CKM syndrome," reports independent journalist Jyoti Madhusoodanan. And the syndrome can be treated with GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs such as Ozempic. In this framework, cardio-kidney-metabolic syndrome (with "metabolic syndrome" referring to diabetes and obesity) is seen to stem from the same biological mechanisms. Harm to one of three seemingly unrelated organs or systems—the heart and blood vessels, the kidneys and insulin regulation and the pancreas—yields ailments that have cascading effects on the other two. That damage then causes reciprocal damage to the original body part or system.
Why this matters: The connections are circular. People with diabetes have two to four times the risk of heart disease than those without diabetes. Heart disease causes about half of all deaths in people with chronic kidney disease. "And diabetes is one of the strongest risk factors for developing kidney conditions," Madhusoodanan writes. | | What the experts say: "What we've done to date is really look individually across one or two organs to see abnormalities," says nephrologist Nisha Bansal of the University of Washington. That narrow view resulted in medicine addressing the different elements of CKM as separate problems. | | | | |
SPONSORED CONTENT BY PFIZER | | Small molecule therapeutics can disarm cancer cells | | Cancer's ability to resist treatment is formidable, but targeted small molecule therapeutics that slip inside cancer cells could directly block cancer-driving pathways. Read more. | | | | |
- Unscramble this jigsaw puzzle of our May 1985 issue cover. The image features a photograph documenting an intermediate stage in the effort to restore some of the oldest stained glass in the world. The pane, made in about A.D. 1130, depicts the prophet Hosea.
| | Unifying frameworks and theories are some of science's most exciting, challenging and important outcomes, so I was intrigued as I wrote summaries of two such efforts for today's newsletter. One is in the physical sciences (the celestial transients story) and the other in the biomedical world (the CKM syndrome story). Here's wishing you a festive season of meaningful connections and rewarding feedback. | | Speaking of feedback, let me remind you that we always like to hear from you. Please send any questions or comments on this newsletter to: newsletters@sciam.com. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor
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