Briefing

A scientific team has unlocked a new way to treat serious lung conditions by using specially designed nanoparticles to deliver genetic therapies straight to lung cells. This innovation could transform care for patients with cystic fibrosis or lung cancer. With a powerful combination of gene editing and RNA delivery, the system has already shown promise in animal trials. The streamlined approach not only enhances precision but also avoids harmful side effects, making it a bold leap forward in respiratory medicine.

Reef “beauty salons” staffed by tiny cleaner fish aren t just for parasite removal they may also shape the microbial life of the entire ecosystem. A fascinating new study shows these bustling fish stations influence which microbes move around the reef, possibly helping or harming coral health. Cleaner gobies, it turns out, don t just offer spa treatments to their fish clients they may also serve as tiny microbiome engineers of the sea.

In a bold challenge to silicon s long-held dominance in electronics, Penn State researchers have built the world s first working CMOS computer entirely from atom-thin 2D materials. Using molybdenum disulfide and tungsten diselenide, they fabricated over 2,000 transistors capable of executing logic operations on a computer free of traditional silicon. While still in early stages, this breakthrough hints at an exciting future of slimmer, faster, and dramatically more energy-efficient electronics powered by materials just one atom thick.

Ancient carbon thought to be safely stored underground for millennia is unexpectedly resurfacing literally. A sweeping international study has found that over half of the carbon gases released by rivers come from long-term, old carbon sources like deep soils and weathered rocks, not just recent organic matter. This surprising discovery suggests Earth s vegetation is playing an even bigger role in absorbing excess carbon to keep the climate in check.

Nature, Published online: 12 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09127-3

A brain-to-voice neuroprosthesis enables a man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to synthesize his voice in real time by decoding neural activity, demonstrating the potential of brain–computer interfaces to enable people with paralysis to speak intelligibly and expressively.

Nature, Published online: 12 June 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01646-3

Salah Obayya works to advance women’s research careers in photonics in Egypt.

Nature, Published online: 12 June 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01835-0

Your inhalation and exhalation pattern is not only unique to you, it can be a marker of your physical and mental state, study suggests.

James Evans believes we’re training AI to think too much like humans—and it’s holding science back.

In this episode of the Big Brains podcast, Evans, a University of Chicago sociologist and data scientist, shares how our current models risk narrowing scientific exploration rather than expanding it.

He also digs into why he’s pushing for AIs that think differently from us—what he calls “cognitive aliens.”

Could these “alien minds” help us unlock hidden breakthroughs? And what would it take to build them?

Read the transcript of this episode.

Source: University of Chicago

The post Listen: Are we training AI to think too much like humans? appeared first on Futurity.

On 17 May 2025, a failure occurred in a mine waste facility at the Tawau gold mine in Malaysia. Images suggest that this might have been an overtopping event in a contaminated water storage pond.

On 17 May 2025, there was a failure of a mine waste storage facility at Bukit Mantri in Malaysia. The precise circumstances of this event, and its consequences, are not entirely clear to me. However, it appears that a substantial amount of cyanide has escaped, possibly reaching the Kalumpang River.

The event occurred at a gold mine at Bukit Mantri, which is located at [4.5095, 118.1094]. Reports suggest that a tailings dam or water retention dam failed on 17 May 2025. There is reportedly a video that captured the event, although I have been unable to track this down. The still below, posted in a report by Tuhua Bambangan, reportedly shows the event:-

If this is indeed the reported failure then it appears to have been an overtopping event. A report in Sabah News Today has an image of the aftermath, which is consistent with the above image, showing a major break in the dam.

The Planet Labs satellite image below shows the mine site at Bukit Mantri, captured two days before the failure on 15 May 2025. I have circled the most likely location of the failure:-

The image below was captured on 25 May 2025, eight days after the failure:-

And here is a slider to compare the two images:-

I think the break in the dam is probably just visible, with some sediment deposited on the downstream side, although a higher resolution is needed for certainty.

The operators of the mine have been ordered to cease operations, and there are calls for a proper investigation. Concerns had been raised about this site for a while – for example, Sabah News Today published an article two months ago in which they claimed that:

“A subsidiary of Alumas Resource Berhad has been identified as currently conducting illegal gold mineral mining operations in Bukit Mantri, Balung Tawau.”

I have repeatedly written about mine waste failures over the years. It is depressing that 2025 has, to date, been a bumper year for such events.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to loyal reader Steven for spotting this event, and to Planet Labs for their amazing images.

Planet Team. 2024. Planet Application Program Interface: In Space for Life on Earth. San Francisco, CA. https://www.planet.com/

Text © 2023. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Source: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology

Great apes began to diverge from other primates around 25 million years ago, according to eastern African fossil records. Though it would take another 20 million or so years for upright-walking hominins to appear, understanding the habitats of early apes helps clarify how environments drove the evolution of our distant ancestors.

Munyaka et al. excavated and analyzed fossils from an approximately 20-million-year-old early Miocene site in western Kenya called Koru 16. The now-extinct Tinderet Volcano repeatedly blanketed the area in ash, preserving it for millions of years, and today, the site hosts fossils from an array of plants and animals.

Many prior studies focused on the area around Koru 16: The first primate fossils from the site were discovered in 1927, and famed anthropologist Louis Leakey led multiple digs there.

As part of the new research, scientists uncovered fossils of approximately 1,000 leaves and many vertebrates at two subsites between 2013 and 2023. The specimens included those of a new type of large-bodied ape and two other previously known ape species, bringing the total number of vertebrate species discovered at the site to 25.

By examining the shapes of fossilized leaves, the geochemistry of fossilized soils (paleosols), and the distribution and density of fossil tree stumps, the researchers determined that the Koru 16 site was likely located within a warm, wet forest, with rainfall amounts similar to those of modern-day tropical and seasonal African forests. However, the ancient ecosystem likely hosted more deciduous plants than do modern tropical forests. The vertebrate fossils the researchers analyzed were consistent with apes, pythons, and rodents that might have lived in such an environment.

The researchers suggest that this ancient forest environment—which was interspersed with open areas and frequently disturbed by fires, floods, or volcanic eruptions—played a role in shaping the course of evolution for early apes. (Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025PA005152, 2025)

—Madeline Reinsel, Science Writer

Citation: Reinsel, M. (2025), Early apes evolved in tropical forests disturbed by fires and volcanoes, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250221. Published on 12 June 2025.

Text © 2025. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.