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Agricultural science ‘doesn’t know politics,’ says Israeli-American, whose nonprofit CultivAid wins Bronfman prize
“When we talk about irrigation or plants, we see that this common language can overcome many political difficulties,” Tomer Malchi told JNS.
Iterative Health Reports Expanded Trial Performance Data at Digestive Disease Week 2026, Demonstrating Consistent Outperformance of Industry Benchmarks at Double the Scale
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 04, 2026--Iterative Health announced the presentation of updated scientific research at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2026.
The Cost of Gutting Science Is Invisible Yet Enormous
Intelligence agencies often complain that they are judged unfairly because you hear about their failures, not their successes. It’s hard to evaluate anything based on what didn’t happen — even when that’s really the important thing. The problem is just as salient for those trying to create a better future as trying to avert a worse one. When it comes to research, we can see technologies and industries that exist. We can’t see the ones that were never invented because the science that should have
Debate to explore whether the U.S. scientific enterprise is too risk-averse
Panelists will consider how longstanding funding structures and institutional incentives shape the kind of research that gets pursued—and the possibilities left behind
Redding planetarium hosts free family-friendly science festival
A free family-friendly science festival celebrates 101 years of planetariums worldwide at Schreder Planetarium in Redding.
Japan Wants to Build a Giant Solar Ring Around the Moon That Will Beam Limitless Energy to Earth
A Japanese construction firm drew up plans for a 6,800-mile solar belt around the Moon that would beam continuous power to Earth without fuel or emissions.
Don’t trust AI for help with citations, science-fair judges warn
Fake, AI-generated citations have begun disqualifying major science-fair projects. Such ‘ghost’ references even haunt research journals.
A tipsy twist on science
The last "Science on the Rocks" of the season is on May 15 at Discovery Place, 168 W. Sixth St.
Kansas Science Festival takes over downtown Hays
Kids learning about fossils at Kansas Science Festival in Hays. Photo By Tony Guerrero/Hay
The Healthiest People Don't Follow Trendy Eating Schedules. Nutrition Science Says They Eat Whenever They Want
Where health, nutrition, weight loss, and even personal productivity are concerned, the best eating schedule is the one you can stick with.
Science Has Found Even More Ways Coffee Is Good for You
A new study shows the mechanisms of how coffee modifies the microbiome, reduces inflammation, and influences mood. Even decaf has its perks.
Trump has targeted universities and science. But RIT is thriving
“I don't want to diminish the turmoil that we've all had to live through in the last year, and the consequences of that,” says the university's VP of research. But really? For RIT it's been a non-event.
Citizen scientists can make a difference by observing the world
Citizen scientists volunteers attend an event or do observations through a specific research initiative on their own.
University Health Network recruits senior NIH investigator, more than 70 global scientists
Campaign to attract best and brightest aims to bring in 100 early- to mid-career scientists from other countries
Global Health & WASH: May 2026 Funding Opportunities (14 new opportunities!)
The May update for Global Health & WASH brings new calls that cluster around three distinct shifts: LMIC research leadership moving from funder encouragement into a hard eligibility constraint, pharmaceutical and corporate-linked funders running structurally independent education and use-inspired research portfolios at substantial scale, and AI adoption shifting decisively from speculative tool to operational capability across health and WASH systems alike. In LMIC Research Leadership as Eligibility, Not Encouragement, Wellcome anchors the dominant signal of the month with three separate major calls that all require or strongly center LMIC leadership in their basic eligibility architecture. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs (£1.5-£1.9M per hub over 3-5 years) explicitly requires an LMIC-based lead applicant, treating Global South leadership as a design constraint rather than a participation goal. Wellcome’s Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award funds transdisciplinary teams whose lead must be a mid-career or established researcher based at an organization in Africa, South Asia, or Southeast Asia. Wellcome’s larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1M-£8M for optimizing licensed interventions) requires the administering organization to be in eligible LMIC regions and at least 50% of applicants based there. Around Wellcome, the same pattern shows up at smaller scale and across funders: CHINNOVA channels $1M into West and Central African research institutions for climate-health work; IBRO’s Neuroscience Training Grants explicitly tier ceilings by region of residence with Africa receiving the highest amount ($5,000); IHME’s GBD Emerging Researcher Award reserves at least one of its two annual awards for an LMIC researcher; Sidaction’s HIV Cure call funds research teams across France, the Netherlands, and eligible African countries with a minimum two-country collaboration requirement. Taken together, these calls signal a meaningful shift in how research equity is being operationalized — not as encouragement language at the bottom of a call, but as a structural feature of who can lead, where the work must be administered, and what proportion of the team must be regionally rooted. In Pharma-Funded Independent Medical Education and Use-Inspired Research, the lineup this month is unusually deep. Pfizer alone runs four parallel calls under independent education and quality improvement frameworks: a Migraine and Women’s Health RFP (200K x 2-year, $500K pool), Migraine IME ($200K, $1M pool), JAK Inhibitor evidence-based education ($100K), and Maternal Vaccination HCP Education in Saudi Arabia ($75K), plus a separate Pediatric Pneumococcal Surveillance research call in Saudi Arabia ($400K per project). Novo Nordisk Foundation runs four parallel calls of its own at substantial scale: Infectious Diseases Catalyst Grants (DKK 60M pool, up to DKK 7M collaborative), Non-Diabetic Endocrinology Collaborative Grants (DKK 53M pool, DKK 5-10M per project), Pioneer Innovator Grant Health (DKK 1.1M), and Distinguished Innovator Grant Health (DKK 6.8M). LEO Foundation deploys DKK 2-4M per project for dermatology research excellence. Pfizer’s framing across calls deliberately separates the funding from product promotion, emphasizing measurable practice-relevant change and structural distance between scientific outputs and commercial activity. Novo Nordisk’s “use-inspired” hard filter pushes researchers toward a credible translation pathway from mechanism to deployable tool. The pattern: industry-aligned funders are running structurally independent portfolios at meaningful $ that fund implementation evidence, not promotion. In AI as Operational Capability, Not Speculation, several calls this month explicitly treat AI adoption as a near-term operational question with real evidence and governance requirements, rather than a speculative trend to be watched. Wellcome’s ESIC Hubs frames AI as “the accelerator” for evidence synthesis, asking hubs to translate technical innovation into adoption-ready workflows that can match real-world policy timelines. UNICEF Venture Fund’s new Climate Tech for Children’s Health call funds for-profit startups deploying AI, machine learning, and blockchain in low-resource environments, with a strict requirement that solutions must already have a working prototype with promising pilot results. The Water Research Foundation has launched two simultaneous AI calls treating reproducibility, cybersecurity guardrails, and human-in-the-loop deployments as core design constraints rather than nice-to-haves: one on GenAI and Agentic AI in water utilities ($200K), one on alternatives to water shutoffs that explicitly screens for implementation economics evidence. Nordic Innovation’s quantum technology call (NOK 4.5M) extends the same logic into life science and healthcare, demanding consortium-stage projects mature enough to test with real users. TEF-Health offers €300K in subsidized testing infrastructure for European healthcare AI and robotics SMEs. The pattern: funders are converting AI pilots into playbooks, requiring transfer evidence and risk controls before AI can move from experimentation to sector-wide operational practice. For LMIC-based researchers in infectious disease or evidence synthesis, the three Wellcome calls together represent the deepest concentration of LMIC-led research capital in recent memory — pair the Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Development Award (£200K, deadline May 19) as a strategic pipeline feeder into the larger Infectious Disease Clinical Trial Award (£1-£8M, deadline June 2), since the development award functions explicitly as a track into the larger trial scheme. For Nordic researchers, the four Novo Nordisk Foundation calls plus LEO Foundation and Nordic Innovation Quantum represent ~$30M in regional research capital this cycle, all with deadlines clustered in May-August. For WASH practitioners, the three Water Research Foundation calls together (each up to $200K) are a cluster worth reading across — one on AI deployment, one on shutoff alternatives, one rewarding applied innovation — and the strongest applicants will articulate how their work bridges utility operations to policy-relevant evidence. For US-based clinical researchers and educators, the four Pfizer calls plus the APF Portfolio’s 80+ programs form an unusually accessible recurring pipeline; APF’s prohibition on indirect costs is a meaningful structural feature for early-career applicants whose institutions might otherwise absorb significant overhead. Snapshot of New Opportunities Total Estimated Funding Pool: $100 Million+ USD The grants are organized into three categories: Open Calls: Current grant and opportunities with a deadline. Grants are listed by closing date. 39 open opportunities- 14 new! Rolling Applications: current grant and opportunities with rolling applications (but it’s still best to submit as early as possible). 14 rolling opportunities- 1 new opportunity! Long term planning: Grants that have closed their current rounds, but are expected to open new windows. 4 long term opportunities! A quick tip for returning readers: if you want to jump straight to the newest additions, use CTRL F to search for “New!” and navigate quickly to the latest funding opportunities This post is for paid subscribers. This helps support the time and effort it takes to curate and organize these opportunities. Subscribe To keep this accessible to everyone who needs it, we’re happy to offer pay what you can rates. You can find more details here. Open Calls: Migraine Competitive Grant Program: Migraine and Women’s Health (Quality Improvement and/or Research RFP), Pfizer.*Closing soon!* Pfizer, in collaboration with the American Headache Society, is seeking independent quality improvement and research projects that close persistent gaps in migraine care for women across the United States. The funding logic centers on measurable, practice-relevant change: proposals should generate actionable evidence, tools, or system improvements that can be shared and used widely, not just within a single site. Priority areas span menstrual migraine and screening in women’s health settings, the role of hormonal fluctuations across the lifespan, sex-specific risk factors, comorbidities and quality-of-life burden, and disparities in outcomes by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The call is structured as a two-step competitive process with an initial Letter of Intent, with the strongest concepts expected to translate scientific insight into implementable improvements in diagnosis, management, and equity. Geographies: United States. Who can apply: U.S.-based organizations (not individuals), including professional schools, healthcare institutions, professional organizations, and other entities focused on healthcare improvement. Funding amount: Up to USD $200,000 total over 2 years; total pool USD $500,000. Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: migraine, women’s health, quality improvement, clinical research, menstrual migraine, health disparities. Deadline: LOI: May 5, 2026; Full proposal (by invitation): August 28, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This RFP rewards “shareable impact”: the most competitive submissions will pair rigorous methods with a clear plan for system uptake and dissemination beyond the originating institution. ReSSARC: Strengthening the Health Sector and Food Security in the Central African Republic (AID 013381/01/0) Call for Proposals, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). *Closing soon!* AICS is seeking a limited set of high-capacity humanitarian partners to deliver an integrated package that stabilizes essential health services while reducing acute malnutrition and strengthening food security resilience in priority areas of the Central African Republic. The funder’s logic is explicitly nexus-based: proposals should meet urgent, life-saving needs while reinforcing local systems, coordination mechanisms, and community-level capacity so results persist beyond the emergency window. AICS emphasizes inclusion and protection outcomes, expecting gender-sensitive design and explicit measures for groups facing compounded vulnerability, including women, children under five, internally displaced people, and people with disabilities. The call also signals a localization pathway, encouraging stronger collaboration with national NGOs and balanced partnerships, alongside clear coordination with existing cluster and humanitarian actors to minimize duplication and improve coverage. Geographies: Central African Republic (Bangui, Ombella-Mpoko, Ouham, Ouham-Pende, Lim-Pende, Lobaye). Who can apply: Non-profit organizations registered with AICS, plus eligible non-profits without an office in Italy that have a pre-existing collaboration agreement with an AICS-listed organization. Funding amount: Total pool EUR €1,800,000; max EUR €800,000 (single applicant) or EUR €1,000,000 (ATS). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: malnutrition prevention and treatment, maternal and child health, community health services, food security and resilience, localization partnerships Deadline: May 5, 2026. Learn more and apply here. This call is structured to reward partners who can link frontline service delivery to system durability and localization, not just short-term coverage gains. Contracts for Innovation in drug and alcohol addiction healthcare, Innovate UK. *Closing soon!* Innovate UK, on behalf of the Office for Life Sciences Addiction Healthcare Goals program, is procuring R&D to accelerate innovations that can improve treatment outcomes, strengthen recovery, and reduce harm and deaths linked to drug and alcohol addiction. The competition is positioned as a market-facing readiness push: selected projects are expected to advance solutions toward later-stage validation, generate evidence of user acceptability and UK market fit, and map credible routes through regulatory and certification requirements. Innovate UK signals a preference for innovations that can be field-tested in relevant UK settings and progressed to TRL 6 or 7, with practical plans for commercialization after contract completion. This structure favors applicants that can execute most work in-house, co-develop with service providers and people with lived experience, and translate technical progress into deployable tools for addiction healthcare delivery. Geographies: United Kingdom. Who can apply: Single organizations of any size (including EU, EEA, or international) leading delivery, with most work and key deliverables carried out in the UK; subcontractors for specialist skills only. Funding amount: GBP £200,000–1.5 million per project (inclusive of VAT); Total pool: GBP £20 million (across two strands). Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: Mental Health, Health Systems Strengthening, Research & Development, Technology Access. Deadline: May 6, 2026 (11:00am). Learn more and apply here. This call uses procurement to pull near-market addiction innovations toward operational proof and adoption pathways in UK services.
Africa CDC Launches the African Strategic Advisory Group on Genomics
I’m today announced the launch of the African Strategic Advisory Group on Genomics (ASAG), a new continental advisory mechanism established to provide independent, multidisciplinary, and trusted technical guidance on the strategic governance and implementation of genomics across Africa. The launch of ASAG marks a pivotal step in advancing Africa CDC’s vision to democratize access to […]
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Thousands explore robotics and VR at World Market Center expo
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Las Vegas science and technology expo wraps 15th year
Smart underwear detects lactose intolerance by tracking your farts
A device you attach to your underwear reveals how often you really break wind – and it’s probably more frequently than you think
Week In Review: Inside the ‘science of math’ and teacher salaries
We’re rounding up last week’s news, from STEM teacher shortages to ed tech pushback.
Fruit flies are mapping the ecological cost of urbanization
A citizen science project in Vienna combines social media and in-house events to reveal how urbanization is reshaping fruit fly communities.
Record-Setting Retreat of Hektoria Glacier
Scientists relied on satellite data to understand how the Antarctic glacier lost so much ice so rapidly.
AAPI adults have more confidence and trust in medical professionals like doctors and scientists than government officials, and most are stressed about health concerns - AP-NORC
Personal finances are a source of stress for most AAPI adults, along with health concerns. And many are also stressed about discrimination, with 1 in 4 experiencing a hate crime or incident in the last year.
Control Science — a one-sided case against managers
From the inspection towers of 19th-century factories to the data architecture of Amazon warehouses, Henry Snow casts those who surveil workers as capitalism’s villains
Scientists Make Agar Art Accessible to Students
By swapping lab equipment for kitchen staples, a group of scientists and artists created an engaging, hands-on activity to spread the joy of science to kids and adults alike.
University responds after fire destroys lab hub at USF's Marine Science College
USF officials deal with damages following fire at Marine Science building
One Type of Exercise Can Give You Better Results With Less Effort, Expert Says
Do try this at home.
USF Marine Science dean laments loss of research in laboratory building fire
“I think almost everybody that was doing research and using that facility will be impacted one way or another,” said Dean Tom Frazer. “We're still concerned that samples may have been lost that may be irreplaceable."
Story of Everything Is “Delicious,” Not “Like Eating Vegetables”
Personally, I would have zero interest in a faith-based movie that preached at you.
Health and Exercise Science: Caleb Walsh
Wake Forest had never been on Caleb Walsh’s radar. Despite being from Northern Virginia, like a significant amount of the undergraduate population, Walsh didn’t know anyone else coming to campus. He is in a similar situation as he looks forward to graduate school at Boston University. He will move to Massachusetts eight days after graduation...
Homewood Science Center served thousands in 2025
Edie Dobrez, Homewood Science Center’s executive director, said thousands of families and students visited HSC in 2025. She presented her annual update to the Homewood Village Board at the April 28 meeting on the center and its continuing success. The science center has officially been operating for 10 years now[Read More...]
Scientists discover 27 potential new planets that orbit two stars in solar systems far, far away
On ‘Star Wars day’, researchers more than double the number of potential known ‘circumbinary’ planets like the fictional Tatooine, home to Luke Skywalker
NASA shuts down 49-year-old Voyager 1 instrument to keep it alive
Voyager 1 just powered down a nearly 50-year-old instrument to stay alive in deep space. The spacecraft is running critically low on energy, forcing NASA to make careful sacrifices to keep its mission going. Despite the shutdown, it continues to send back unique data from beyond our solar system. Engineers are now working on a bold plan that could extend its life — and possibly revive the instrument later.
Binghamton’s chapter of the Audubon Society aims to make campus bird-safe
Volunteers paint a massive mural on the Science Library, a spot known for bird strikes
Weight loss drug Ozempic linked to lower depression and anxiety risk
GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide—best known for treating diabetes and driving weight loss under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy—may also deliver a surprising mental health boost. In a massive study tracking nearly 100,000 people over more than a decade, researchers found that these medications were linked to significantly fewer psychiatric hospital visits and sick days.
Evolution isn’t random. Scientists find the same genes used for 120 million years
Evolution seems to follow a script more often than expected. Researchers found that distantly related butterflies and moths have reused the same pair of genes for over 120 million years to produce strikingly similar warning colors. Rather than altering the genes themselves, evolution modifies how they’re switched on and off. This discovery hints that life may evolve in more predictable ways than previously believed.
Alzheimer’s drugs may not work and could raise brain risks
Drugs designed to clear amyloid beta from the brain—once seen as a promising path to slowing Alzheimer’s—may not actually help patients in any meaningful way, according to a major review of over 20,000 participants. Even more concerning, they may increase the risk of brain swelling and bleeding, sometimes without obvious symptoms.
Plan to Increase Role of Spanish in AI and Science
The University of Panama and the Panamanian Academy of Language have been invited to sign the Granada Declaration on the Development, Communication, and Dissemination of Science in Spanish. As part of its Spanish Strategy (2025–2031), the University of Granada (UGR) is collaborating with Hispano-American institutions to create standardized scientific corpora, consolidate language policies to boost the global reach of Spanish, and develop technological resources to foster the use of Spanish in academia and specialized digital environments. While in Panama, UGR’s president Pedro Mercado discussed the role of Spanish as an academic and scientific language in the new ecosystem shaped by
Investigation into fire at USF St. Pete Marine Science Lab | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the 2-alarm fire Saturday evening at the USF St. Pete campus. FOX 13's Heather Healy reports.
Reading Science Center celebrates Science Day with "take off" theme at airport event
Reading Science Center held its annual "Celebrate Science Day" at Reading Regional Airport.
2.3K views · 28 reactions | Spirit Airlines has announced it's going...
Spirit Airlines has announced it's going out of business after 34 years. The low-cost US carrier says all its flights have been cancelled as it begins an "orderly wind-down of operations." It cited...
Scientists Just Built a Quantum Battery That Charges Almost Instantly
Scientists have built a quantum battery that could make charging almost instant.
Fire destroys a lab building on a University of South Florida campus
A fire at the University of South Florida's Marine Science Laboratory building in St. Petersburg caused significant damage, with initial assessments suggesting the structure may be a total loss.
Meet The Fossa — The Apex Predator That Baffled Scientists For Decades
The fossa is Madagascar’s ultimate misdirection. Here’s why this predator that looks familiar, acts unexpected and took decades for science to understand.
Opinion | Academic research in science is complicated
Complicated enough for a thoughtfully appointed National Science Board. Which, suddenly, we no longer have, writes a University of Minnesota professor emeritus.
Helping Scientists Take Their Research Global: 7 Lessons - by Elena Brandt
The W.E.I.R.D research participant problem persists not because scientists fail to see it as a problem worth solving, but because conducting studies in new, unfamiliar places is difficult. But overcoming this difficulty is doable and essential.
A New Atlas Reveals Hidden Details of The Human Body Like Never Before
A new gold standard in medical imaging?
Dinosaur Day and Science Fest, 9am
The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair in 9 stunning color photos
Little remains of the massive, 630-acre grounds that changed history.
Lightning may have sparked fire destroying top US marine science lab, officials say
About 200 firefighters responded to devastating blaze at University of South Florida’s lab on Saturday
Science Sunday 5/3/26 WANE 15 First News Sunday
Northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio's most comprehensive news source
The World’s Most Unbelievable Science Fiction Novel
If years ago you’d pitched a novel where Donald Trump got elected president of the United States twice and hastened
An 8-year-old boy's backyard discovery literally changed science forever
One summer day, 8-year-old Hugo Deans spotted a cluster of tiny, BB-sized spheres (galls) near an ant nest in his backyard.
Flames tear through roof of USF Marine Science Laboratory in St. Petersburg
A large two-alarm fire broke out Saturday at a building on the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus, sending plumes of smoke into the sky.
Trio of College of Health Sciences graduates earn UM-Flint’s top academic award
UM-Flint’s College of Health Sciences boasts three graduates who have been recognized with the Maize & Blue Distinguished Scholar Award.
The weird rise of people who are their own twin | BBC Science Focus Magazine
A condition that leaves people with two sets of DNA may be on the rise – and it’s posing thorny questions for families and forensic science.
What a great Iowa humanitarian, Bill Foege, taught me
The Decorah-born scientist helped eradicate smallpox in India and Somalia, and that was just the start of his career, writes James Merchant.
Explosive learning potential, Science Central STEM summer camps begin
Both camps (one for children ages 5 to 8 and one for ages 8 to 12) begin with a unit on volcanoes and geology called “Solid Rock Science,” which starts June 1.
Sunday Science: Potential super El Niño brewing in the Pacific Ocean
It's been the talk of the weather world over the month of April, and early indications this month continue to support the potential development of a super ElN
Science 4 Everyone: Why do data centers need water?
Why do data centers generate so much heat? Storm Team4 meteorologist Ryan Miller explains its water use and what it has to do with droughts.
Mars will tear its own moon apart. Now scientists think it could be sooner – and more destructive – than expected | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
New modelling suggests the Martian moon Phobos’s demise could be earlier – and much more dramatic – than we expected
You Know How You Feel Overwhelmed With Content on Social Media? Well, a Similar Thing Is Happening in Science.
The problem sounds like a good thing. It’s not.
‘Christofascism’ is here: inside the slow demolition of US public health
From prescribing spiritual warfare to demonizing health experts, RFK Jr’s health empire has become a dangerous vehicle for a Christian nationalist worldview
Serhii Huliienko, Ph.D. on Ukrainian Science, Membrane Research, and Wartime Academic Life
How does Dr. Serhii Huliienko explain Ukrainian scientific culture, membrane research, and the challenges facing scientists during wartime?
Louisiana Art and Science Museum hosts Astronomy Day event for kids in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Art and Science Museum hosted an Astronomy Day event for kids in Baton Rouge as part of First Free Sunday.
Scientists just discovered what coffee is really doing to your gut and brain
Coffee doesn’t just energize—it actively reshapes the gut and mind. Researchers found that both caffeinated and decaf coffee altered gut bacteria in ways linked to better mood and lower stress. Decaf even improved learning and memory, while caffeine boosted focus and reduced anxiety. Together, they show coffee works through multiple pathways beyond just caffeine.
Key U.S. science panels are being axed—and others are becoming less open
President Donald Trump and his administration downsized US science by historic margins last year as it reduced the workforce at federal research agencies by tens of thousands of people and terminated ...
The creepy feeling in old buildings might have a surprising cause
A hidden force may be quietly shaping how you feel—and you’d never even know it. Infrasound, an ultra-low-frequency vibration below the range of human hearing, is everywhere from traffic to old buildings. In a small experiment, people exposed to it became more irritable, less engaged, and even showed higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol—despite having no idea it was present. The findings suggest our bodies can “sense” these vibrations without conscious awareness, potentially explaining eerie sensations in places like basements or supposedly haunted buildings.
Scientists just discovered what coffee is really doing to your gut and brain
Coffee doesn’t just energize—it actively reshapes the gut and mind. Researchers found that both caffeinated and decaf coffee altered gut bacteria in ways linked to better mood and lower stress. Decaf even improved learning and memory, while caffeine boosted focus and reduced anxiety. Together, they show coffee works through multiple pathways beyond just caffeine.
Malaria didn’t just kill early humans, it shaped who we became
Long before humans spread across the globe, a deadly disease may have quietly shaped where our ancestors lived—and even how we evolved. New research reveals that malaria didn’t just threaten early human survival; it actively pushed populations away from high-risk regions across Africa, fragmenting groups over tens of thousands of years. This separation influenced how different populations met, mixed, and exchanged genes, helping shape the genetic diversity we see today.
Physicists just found a tiny flaw in time itself
Physicists are rethinking one of quantum mechanics’ biggest puzzles: how fuzzy possibilities become definite reality. New research suggests that spontaneous “collapse” processes—possibly linked to gravity—could subtly blur time itself. This wouldn’t affect clocks we use today, but it reveals a hidden limit to how precise time can ever be. The findings open a new path toward uniting quantum physics with gravity.
Disconnecting to reconnect: Keystone Science School marks 50 years while looking to the future
On a stretch of land tucked between sprawling hills of evergreens, the winding Snake River and a former rail line, time at Keystone Science School doesn’t feel linear. Cabins that once stood in the original...
Trump Says ‘You’re Fired’ to the Members of the National Science Board
Here’s why that’s a needed reset.
Bernard Tschumi Architects winds helical slides through school science centre
A skylit atrium traversed by staircases and slides forms the heart of Philo, a science centre at a Swiss school by Bernard Tschumi.
Scientists detect an enormous halo around the iconic Sombrero Galaxy — Space photo of the week
The 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera in Chile has captured an extended halo and a dust-filled disk around the hat-shaped Sombrero Galaxy.
Yes, you should probably be nicer to your AI — here’s why that’s not as ridiculous as it sounds
You've probably felt it — that slightly hollow, going-through-the-motions quality when an AI interaction goes flat. Science is starting to explain why that happens, and who's responsible for it.
<i>The Story of Everything</i> explores ultimate meaning in light of faith, science
Nearly everyone, at some point, has questions about the origin of the universe, the meaning of life, or how humankind began. These are not always indicative of doubts about faith or science, but of a […]
‘Water‑sowing’: When science and ancestral knowledge join forces to fight drought in the Venezuelan Andes
This ancestral practice combines reforestation, soil conservation, and the protection of frailejones — the tall, fuzzy Andean plants that harvest water — to capture fog and rain, recharge aquifers, and ensure the flow of rivers
Large fire breaks out at marine science lab on USF St. Petersburg campus
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Massive fire destroys University of South Florida laboratory building: 'Total loss'
A massive fire broke out at the University of South Florida's Marine Science Laboratory in St. Petersburg, with no injuries reported, authorities said.
Fire Damages USF Marine Science Lab; Hazmat Evaluation Planned Overnight
A multiple-alarm structure fire significantly damaged a marine science laboratory, with officials indicating the building is likely a total loss due to extensive water and fire damage. The fire was reported at approximately 5:12 p.m. on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Fire crews reported that the structure was already heavily involved in the attic upon arrival. […]
Massive fire engulfs science lab at University of South Florida St. Petersburg: 'Total devastation'
Fire Breaks Out at University of South Florida Marine Science Lab
A fire broke out Saturday evening at a University of South Florida marine science lab in St. Petersburg, prompting an evacuation.
When funding cuts came — these scientists turned to journalism | The Stony Brook Press
Amid funding cuts to scientific institutions across the country, Isako Di Tomassi co-founded the McClintock Letters initiative, a science communication project that publishes opinion pieces written by scientists about their work and why it should continue to be funded. From protecting apples in Washington state to developing novel insecticides in Indiana, the initiative has published over 200 op-eds, all written by scientists defending their federally funded science, across 46 states.
Two-alarm fire strikes USF Marine Science Laboratory on St. Petersburg campus
Emergency calls came in sometime after 5:30 p.m. Saturday. No injuries have been reported, and the building was evacuated, officials say. No cause has been determined.
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field
‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field ‘The reality, for better or worse’: Columbia comp sci students and faculty grapple with AI’s disruption of the field A field that once seemed like a direct path to stable, lucrative work is becoming less certain under AI, students and faculty told Spectator. By Ria Vasishtha and Arjun Menon May 3, 2026 Shanying Liu / Deputy Illustrations Editor Asia Genawi, SEAS ’29, first encountered artificial intelligence during her sophomore year at her high school in Indiana. Back in 2023, policies on AI varied widely—even within the same district—and some schools had no guidance at all. As Genawi began to see the effects of AI trickle into her classroom, she turned to guidance from her home state’s Department of Education, which she said she found “outdated and inaccessible.” Genawi spent the rest of her high school career dedicated to the issue, including writing a 15-page memo exploring varying AI policies across Indiana schools, which she sent to every Indiana state senator and representative whose contact information she was able to find. She later helped draft a bill that would have required public high schools to establish and share their own AI policies with students in an accessible format. But with so many other bills already awaiting referral, hers never made it to committee. When Genawi arrived at Columbia to study computer science, she found that the gaps she had spent years trying to address in Indiana had followed her there. Many students and professors were also grappling with what AI meant for the field. Across Columbia’s undergraduate schools, computer science has become the most popular major—accounting for around 11 percent of degrees awarded in Columbia College, 32 percent in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and 12 percent in the School of General Studies in 2024. While the number of computer science majors in SEAS grew from 166 to 173 during the 2024-25 academic year, the total number across the three schools fell around 4.5 percent from 393 to 375, driven by declines at Columbia College and General Studies. At Barnard, it has grown to become the second most popular major as of 2025, up from third the year prior. The number of degrees awarded have grown fivefold since 2016. Faculty members and students in the department told Spectator that the surge in the major’s popularity has been driven in large part by its apparent promise of a secure, well-paid career path. However, they noted that the recent rise of generative AI has compromised the sense of stability that once defined the field, even as interest in technical skills among students persists. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2024, out of 74 majors tracked, computer science had the fifth highest unemployment rate among majors at 7 percent, while computer engineering had the second highest at 7.8 percent. “Anecdotally, people are moving away from CS as a major,” Daniel Bauer, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, said. “They’re still taking some of our classes, right, because they think they need that, but they’re instead majoring in other things.” Bauer described a field that had shifted from what he called a “nerdy outlier discipline” to one that “everyone needs,” a sign that technical skills have become a baseline expectation across industries with the emergence of AI. “A lot of people thought, ‘Oh, it’s a guaranteed path to a stable income. You get a six-figure job right out of your undergrad,’” Bauer said. Now, companies may see AI as a way to reduce demand for entry-level programmers, especially in what he calls “code monkey jobs,” roles where a large number of employees are “just writing out code nine-to-five.” Chris Murphy, a senior lecturer in the computer science department, described the current moment as the convergence of two forces: the downturn of the job market and generative AI coming onto the scene. “Things kind of started to really pick up in 2014, 16,” he said, recalling the years after the weaker 2010 market. Murphy added that this was also a period where “students were getting more experience outside of class than they were inside of class” through internships, jobs, and side projects. Murphy suggested that the earlier momentum helped make computer science feel like both an academic program and a reliable pathway into work. That feeling is harder to sustain now as the industry reconfigures, which is a shift that students are seeing firsthand. Rebecca Yu, SEAS ’27, said that during a recent internship in Big Tech, she saw that “every single tech company was racing to integrate” large language models. She added that her manager said her intern class was the first to complete their assigned projects, which she attributed to the increased efficiency that comes with AI. Frank Liu, SEAS ’29, said that with AI lowering the barrier to coding, companies now expect everyone to write code. “A lot of companies outright say if you’re not using coding in your job, you might get fired for not being productive enough,” Liu said. Yu similarly expressed that students increasingly have to accept AI being a part of industry workflow, adding that many also “make use of it to maximize their productivity.” Richard Li, CC ’28, described a “franticness” among his peers as the pace of change accelerates. He explained how “some new tool” is released regularly, noting that tools rise and fall in prominence within weeks. He has come to believe that he doesn’t need to “match that speed all the time” and keep up with every development. Li has learned that AI tools allow him to “take a breath” and “get back into the loop much easier than before” when he needs to. While some companies specifically target Columbia when hiring, sending representatives to campus career fairs and recruiting large numbers from Columbia, a computer science degree cannot be treated as a static credential, Yu described. “You can’t just get your degree and stop learning after that. You have to always be learning,” Yu said. “That is something you basically have to expect for your job.” AI has not only affected students’ decisions to major in computer science, but also reshaped how the subject is taught. Across departments, faculty members no longer treat work done outside the classroom as a reliable measure of understanding, shifting instead toward in-person exams, quizzes, and attendance checks. While homework once made up as much as 60 to 70 percent of a student’s grade in computer science classes, Murphy said that breakdown has since flipped, with exams and quizzes now accounting for the majority. “The assumption—especially among pessimists—is that they’re using it to do their homework,” Murphy said. “They take the homework assignment. They put it into generative AI. Out comes the solution. Submit solution. The end.” Murphy said that faculty members ranged in their responses from fully prohibiting AI use to actively teaching students how to effectively work with AI. He said he shifted his approach this year after his teaching assistants called his belief that students weren’t using the technology “naïve,” and now permits students to use AI on assignments. His surveys of students in his introductory classes have told a more complicated story than the one so-called pessimists offer: Around 60 to 70 percent of students who reported using AI said they used it to have concepts explained to them, to clarify assignment instructions, to generate test cases, or to create practice questions. “Those are all ways that you might have had a tutor in the past to do that, and now you have this AI essentially as your tutor,” he said. Bauer has taken a different approach, teaching students how to use AI productively without sacrificing the core principles of the discipline. “People who are trained to actually use AI tools productively, while being in charge of designing the overall project, will be very much in demand in the next couple of years,” he said. Over the past year, a working group of computer science faculty has been redesigning the introductory and intermediate programming sequence to integrate generative AI as both a subject and a tool, representatives from SEAS wrote in a statement to Spectator. The effort is “coordinated” across the department, “not course-by-course,” with a systematic assessment of how AI integration is affecting student outcomes underway to shape the next round of changes. The goal, the department explained, is for students to be able to “read, verify, and reason about code, whether they or a model wrote it.” Tony Dear, senior lecturer in the computer science department, is piloting individualized AI feedback in a discrete mathematics course, while a machine learning course is also testing a Socratic AI dialogue system designed to “guide inquiry rather than supply answers,” the statement reads. Beyond individual courses, SEAS funded seven cross-departmental faculty projects in generative AI this past academic year, spanning biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, industrial engineering, and computer science, according to the statement. This phenomenon extends beyond the computer science department. SEAS’ new AI minor, which it announced in November 2025, reflects the University’s attempt to adapt. The minor is specifically designed for noncomputer science majors and aims to provide “essential AI knowledge” while emphasizing practical and responsible use across disciplines, according to the SEAS website. At the center of the minor is AI in Context, a course taught by a team of faculty from the departments of computer science, applied mathematics, philosophy, music, literature, and the Writing Center, the representatives told Spectator. Bauer described it as targeted at students who want to bring AI into fields like economics or biology, rather than as a path into software engineering itself. At the graduate level, SEAS announced a new Master of Science in artificial intelligence in February, with the inaugural cohort starting in the fall. While recognizing how AI has helped them navigate coursework, students also described its rise as isolating, even among members of the Application Development Initiative, one of Columbia’s largest computer science clubs. “As people start to ask AI for questions that they would normally ask students and members, it starts to isolate people” Li said. Alexa Kafka, BC ’27, echoed Li’s sentiment, pointing out that computer science has always been a collaborative discipline with code reviews and pull requests, even as AI makes independent work easier. Despite this, Kafka noted that she hasn’t been to office hours “in at least a year.” Bauer added that faculty are exploring long-term solutions to the assessment problem. “One of the things that we’re trying to do at the department or school level is to maybe move towards computerized testing facilities,” Bauer said, referring to ideas in the department to revitalize computer labs as an alternative to pen-and-paper exams. “We have to accept that this is the reality, for better or worse.” But more exams, students say, does not mean better learning, nor does it reflect how computer science is actually done. “Code is so variable and can be approached in so many directions, there’s never just going to be one correct answer. There can be multiple optimal solutions,” Kafka said. Students also expressed concern that the shift toward exam-heavy grading pulls focus away from the applied, project-based work that better reflects both discipline and industry expectations. ADI has tried to respond more quickly than the curriculum can. Through a vibe coding workshop this past semester, club members said they wanted to help students understand not just that AI exists, but how to use it deliberately. “Vibe coding” refers to the practice of prompting AI to write code for a task or project, and has become widespread enough that ADI felt the gap in formal instruction was worth addressing, according to Sophia Huang, BC ’29. The workshop introduced students to the concept of context engineering, which Shaina Sahu, SEAS ’27, described as not just writing a prompt, but optimizing “the rest of the relevant information that you would feed into the model.” Without that, students said that AI-generated code can fail at scale or introduce difficult-to-detect bugs. Genawi said the shift toward AI has changed what it means to be good at computer science. “I think the shift has kind of gone towards what can you create and what can you do, instead of, what do you know,” she said. Indeed, during ADI DevFest, its annual hackathon, Li said more teams are trying to complete their projects than in years past. While sign-ups have historically outpaced submissions, Li said this is beginning to change because teams “have a tool that completes the vision for them.” While many students see AI as an equalizer that lowers the barrier to entry for coding and technical work, Murphy said it also creates new equity concerns inside the classroom around who can afford stronger tools and who already knows how to use them. “The equity issues I worry about are students who have access to paid versions of things versus free versions of things,” he said. Although popular AI models like ChatGPT and Claude have free versions available, both have paid models that can reach over $100 per month, which output different qualities of code. Murphy also pointed to differences in prior exposure to AI literacy itself. “Students who go to high schools or K-12 education, where they’re taught AI literacy, prompt engineering, context engineering, they understand how to do this, as opposed to students who go to schools who don’t teach that,” he said. “Then they come in, and then they’re somehow expected to know how to use these tools.” For Genawi, those disparities begin long before students arrive on campus. “It’s very interesting to consider how lucky you were geographically,” she said. “To be born where you were is influencing your ability to get access to these spaces.” Students like Yu, though broadly apprehensive about the future of computer science, are not without hope. “I’m optimistic, because I think if you’re truly passionate about CS, there will definitely be a place in the field to do something you want to do,” she said. Senior Staff Writer Ria Vasishtha can be contacted at ria.vasishtha@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Staff Writer Arjun Menon can be contacted at arjun.menon@columbiaspectator.com. Follow Spectator on X @ColumbiaSpec. Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter and like Spectator on Facebook. Produced with Spectate by Emily Ta
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