Paul Wrede selected as 2026 Schmidt Science Fellow – Staffnet - ETH Zürich

Statistics professors Dominik Rothenhäusler, Nicolai Meinshausen, Peter Bühlmann and Jonas Peters have been jointly honoured with the 2026 Frontiers of Science Award. The prize recognises outstanding scientific work that has made a significant contribution to basic research over the past ten years. Their awarded publication, Anchor regression: Heterogeneous data meet causality, represents a pioneering contribution to modern statistical methodology by bridging causal inference with the analysis of heterogeneous data. This work provides important foundations for further advances in data-driven research across disciplines.

Scientists have discovered a distinct subtype of cell in the prostate, and it could help solve the mystery of why the gland enlarges with age. This natural phenomenon is called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and it tends to occur in just one region of the prostate. But scientists still don't understand why. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found a possible culprit hiding around the urethra. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, the team has identified a population of prostate cells that are particularly abundant in this region, especially in cases of BPH. The findings are published in The Journal of Pathology. "Although BPH affects millions of men worldwide, scientists still do not fully understand why it develops primarily in a region of the prostate known as the transition zone, while other regions of the gland remain relatively unaffected," explains senior author Vasan Yegnasubramanian. The transition zone is the part of the prostate that surrounds the urethra. If this area enlarges with age, it can constrict the passage, making urination slower and more sporadic.

The night sky over AlUla in northwest Saudi Arabia is now under continuous automated watch by instruments designed to catch very brief flashes of light. The SETI Institute and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) have installed and commissioned two LaserSETI stations at AlUla Manara, a milestone that makes AlUla the network’s first and only observing site in Asia and its fifth site worldwide. The new stations join existing installations in California, Hawai’i, Arizona and Puerto Rico, extending a distributed optical observatory that watches large portions of the sky continuously rather than focusing on single targets. According to the announcement, the instruments are fully operational and actively collecting astronomical data, marking the transition from a two-year-old plan to working hardware on the ground. LaserSETI was conceived by the SETI Institute to keep a constant watch on large parts of the sky, searching for very brief flashes of light.