Science

ADVERTISEMENTWinnipeg WatchDr. Rachel Krause, a biology professor at Canadian Mennonite University, discusses the initiative she worked on with Dr. Roberta Bondar. October 07, 2026 at 10:13a.m. EDT

Finals Week is coming up soon for the 2026 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge (Thermo Fisher JIC), and we are excited to welcome the Top 30 finalists to Washington, D. C. at the end of October. It’s going to be an unforgettable week of collaboration, discovery and celebration of their original research. Beyond their research, they bring the same dedication to other interests and pursuits. Here are a few fun facts about these remarkable middle schoolers. About 56% of finalists speak more than one language. Beyond English, some finalists speak Spanish, Mandarin, Telugu, Arabic, Russian and more!

A gut pathogen that causes diarrhea and vomiting is morphing into a dangerous and difficult-to-treat sexually transmitted infection (STI). In the United States, roughly 450,000 people acquire shigellosis each year, which can lead to dysentery. Historically, this highly contagious bug has mostly been spread through contaminated food or water during travel, and among young children in day care. But since the turn of the century or so, Shigella bacteria have emerged as a sexually transmitted infection as well. Shigella infections can make anyone sick, but they are now considered 'endemic' in some communities of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Several of the strains transmitted in these communities have grown resistant to multiple antibiotics. Some are now superbugs, on the brink of becoming untreatable. A recent analysis from the US CDC found that among nearly 17,000 Shigella isolates, versions that were extensively drug-resistant (XDR) rose from 2011 to 2023. In 2011, isolates that were resistant to five commonly used antibiotics made up 0 percent of the samples. By 2023, they made up 8.5 percent.

American research institutions have long drawn some of the world’s most promising minds, many of whom go on to power R&D at major US companies. But funding cuts have made US labs less appealing, threatening a critical talent pipeline for potentially a generation. Harvard Business School Professor Raffaella Sadun, who asked early-career scientists about their aspirations both before and after universities began to lose funding in early 2025, says the “uncertainty of the moment” is significantly reshaping their plans: Scientists report being more than 20 percentage points less likely to pursue academia or stay in the United States—and many say they regret pursuing doctoral degrees. “These are not the complaints of established scientists defending their budgets, but rather the stated intentions of the next generation—the scientists who would, in ordinary times, become the principal investigators of the future,” Sadun and her fellow researchers write in the June working paper “Before the Exodus? Young Scientists and the Future of US Science.”What can be disrupted in a single year may take a generation to rebuild.

One of the biggest factors that determines where fat is stored in your body is your sex. Men tend to store fat around their abdomen, whereas women are more likely to store it on their thighs, bums and hips. “From the point of view of childbirth and child-rearing, having energy reserves in these areas is very useful because of the energy cost of pregnancy and the lactation that follows,” says Dr Adam Collins, associate professor of nutrition at the University of Surrey. “Hormonal differences influence our ability to store fat,” he says.

Taking a nice hot bath at the end of a long day is a wonderful way to unwind, but the end results can go way beyond simple relaxation. In fact, the health benefits of sustained immersion in hot water can be truly surprising, and new research has just uncovered another remarkable effect of a good hot soak. In a study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers found soaking in hot water for 30 minutes can trigger dramatic changes in the blood vessels beneath your skin, in some respects exceeding the effects produced by moderate exercise. The hot water immersion even lowered people's blood pressure more than 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cycling. It's worth noting this was only a small experiment, and nobody's suggesting people should give up exercise to instead take more hot baths. But for people who may be unable to exercise, hot water immersion, or other forms of what's known as passive heat therapy, may be an important way of getting some of the same health benefits that exercise can provide. The health benefits of sustained immersion in hot water can be truly surprising.

Chances are, you’ve crossed paths with a psychopath today. With an estimated 1 in every 100 people meeting the criteria for psychopathy, it could’ve been the person who held the door for you this morning, the colleague across the desk, or the stranger doomscrolling beside you on the train. It could be your neighbour. Your partner. Or – maybe, just maybe – you. You see, despite how common psychopathy is, most cases simply go undetected. Many people with psychopathic traits live their entire lives without ever knowing it.

EnglishEnglish (pdf)SwedishSwedish (pdf) The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 to

Astronomers have spotted a rare "second-generation" exoplanet closely orbiting the nearby white dwarf HS 0209+0832.

This artist’s concept depicts the proposed design for NASA’s PRobe far-Infrared Mission for Astrophysics (PRIMA), which was selected by the agency in September 2026. The PRIMA observatory is the first in a new class of NASA astrophysics missions, called Probe Explorers, within the agency’s longstanding Explorers Program. By observing far-infrared light, PRIMA will enable scientists to study cosmic objects heavily obscured by dust, providing new insights into the formation of planets, stars, and black holes, and even how water on Earth came to be. If confirmed by the agency, PRIMA will be targeted to launch in 2033, for a planned five-year mission.

A palm-sized robot inspired by frogs uses snapping rods to jump, swim and navigate an obstacle course.

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this panorama of sunrise illuminating distant, wind-carved features called yardangs on Aug. 11, 2026, the 4,982nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Scientists are eager to learn more about how the yardang layer formed. Figure A is a crop zooming in on the distant yardangs.

Jakarta, October 7, 2026 – The Ministry of Education and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) encourages students to learn about artificial intelligence (AI) and utilize it wisely and responsibly through the holding of the Science Film Festival 2026. The festival, initiated by the Goethe-Institut, was officially opened in Jakarta, Tuesday (6/10). Special Staff to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education for the Improvement of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and Teacher Competence, Maila Dinia Husni Rahiem, who brought greetings from the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Abdul Mu'ti, said that the Science Film Festival is relevant to the National STEM Program "Dare to Try, Creative to Create" developed by the Ministry of Education and Culture. According to her, the films and experiments in the festival can provide creative ideas for students to try and develop the things they see during the activities. "So this is an activity that I think is open or sparkling, from the brilliant ideas of Indonesian children," she said.

She’s bubblegum pink with a permanent little smile. She sports a pretty flower on her head sports a black tattoo on one of her eight arms. But don’t let this dumbo octopus’ adorable exterior fool you. Miss Abyss is here on serious business. “Miss Abyss is a dumbo octopus from the deep-sea, and she is on a journey all across the country looking for allies to support her to help defend the deep-sea,” Angelo Villagomez, a research fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), tells Popular Science.

Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their efforts to resolve mysterious mirror images in chemical molecules, a discovery that transformed modern medicine. Many molecules of life come in versions that look alike but aren’t exactly identical, like right and left hands. One mirror image of the chemical carvone smells like mint, for example, while the other has a whiff of caraway. When designing drugs to treat diseases, scientists want to be choosy about which mirror image they’re getting. They want the version of a molecule that’ll treat a cold, not the kind that’ll make the sniffles worse. Kagan and Soai found ways to make chemistry pick a side, designing and manipulating reactions to produce the desired mirror image. “This is probably the coolest experiment in organic chemistry,” said Peter Somfai, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “Taken together, the groundbreaking discoveries by Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have reshaped our understanding of molecular chirality — how it is created, amplified and transmitted.” Story continues below advertisement