Long Read
Toadstools and toxins
When I found the mushroom Amanita muscaria being sold in candy wrappers, I uncovered legal loopholes, dangerous dosages and more - by Eric Leas Read on Aeon
Tonight’s picture · NASA Image of the Day
Cosmic House of Mirrors
This NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month features galaxies in incredible detail that have been warped and multiplied like they’ve stepped into a house of mirrors.
Tonight’s sky over Amman
Moon
New moon1% lit · sets 18:18Sun
Sunset 18:08 · fully dark from 19:30
Planets to see
- Saturn bright, in the south-east, partway up (38°) at 21:00
Space station
No evening passes this week; at the moment it's only visible before dawn (next: Tue 13 Oct, 05:48).
Meteors
- Orionids active; peaks 21 October: up to about 20 an hour at its peak from a dark site.
Coming up
- Sun 18 Oct First quarter moon.
Times are local to Amman. Away from city lights you’ll see much more.
Tonight’s picks
Space & Stars
Honda Wants to Put a Robotic Lab Assistant on Future Commercial Space Stations
As I’m writing this I’m able to stare out into my driveway at my trusty Honda Odyssey. Most of the public’s association with Honda is through their “mobility” products - i.e. their cars. But the company has an impressive track record of other technical…
Space & Stars
The Preliminary Lunar Science Report for Artemis II is Out!
Through photographs, spoken observations, drawings, and annotations, the Artemis II crew created a unique scientific record—one that is now available to the science community and the public for further study. Explore highlights here, and find the full suite…
Skies across the UK illuminated by the northern lights
Though mostly visible near the Arctic Circle, the natural phenomenon dazzled sky-gazers as far south Devon, Hampshire and Kent The northern lights illuminated the skies across the UK on Friday and Saturday evening. Sky-gazers as far south as Devon, Hampshire…
Strong magnetic fields could allow white dwarfs to grow beyond the Chandrasekhar limit
When a dying star runs out of fuel and sheds its outer layers, its remaining core can become an approximately Earth-sized, extremely dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf. For a white dwarf that is not strongly rotating or magnetized, there is a…
Medicine
The neuroscience questions that need nonhuman primates
The Transmitter asked 17 neuroscientists what questions might remain unanswered if support for nonhuman primate research continues to decline.
The Guardian view on mental health: overdiagnosis is not the problem facing young people | Editorial
Parity of esteem with physical healthcare remains a distant prospect. Ministers must do more to tackle rising distress Perhaps the single most important finding of the independent review into mental health, ADHD and autism in England, published last Friday…
Managing high blood pressure could prevent >500K CVD deaths annually in 20 countries
Effective management of high blood pressure could prevent more than 518,000 annual deaths from cardiovascular disease around the world, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association's Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2026. The…
Wildlife journal issues corrections for missing ethics statements
In what one sleuth called a “systemic failure,” a wildlife journal has issued corrections to a handful of papers not for an error in the articles but to include an item that wasn’t: ethics statements. The most recent such correction in the European Journal of…
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2026
Each year I like to document the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine here on SBM – it’s a great reminder of the power of science to transform medicine. There is nothing like it in so-called “alternative medicine”, which is still peddling basically the same…
From the Journals
Adalimumab versus placebo as add-on to standard therapy for non-infectious uveitis in the United Kingdom: the ASTUTE randomised controlled trial with treatment run-in
Adalimumab added to standard care reduces treatment failure in NIU, including in patients with macular oedema, unilateral disease, and steroid-dependent inactive uveitis, and is affordable. Future work should identify complementary treatments for disease…
Intravenous vs Oral Iron for Treating Iron Deficiency Anemia in Pregnancy
Conclusions: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 29 RCTs, compared with oral iron, IV iron for treating IDA in pregnancy was associated with improved maternal hematologic parameters and neonatal iron stores and reduced rates of blood transfusion and mild adverse effects without increasing serious adverse…
RSV Vaccine Effectiveness Among US Older Adults, 2023-2024 Season
This cohort study estimates the effectiveness of respiratory syncytial virus vaccines in routine care against RSV-related hospitalization and death overall and by brand among US adults aged 65 years or older.
Physics
Ultraviolet laser pulses engineer diamond defects selectively, leaving quantum qubits intact
When we think about a diamond, we often think about a material whose value comes from its perfection. In my research, however, I am interested in something almost opposite: the tiny imperfections inside diamonds. These atomic-scale defects can give diamonds…
Disordered environments around tumour cells can promote cancer spread
A biophysics model describing how cancers spread within the human body could help researchers developing new cancer therapies
First Nuclear Clocks Kick Off a Precision Race
Author(s): Matteo Rini Two independent teams have built operating nuclear clocks—devices that might one day rival the best atomic clocks and offer new ways to probe fundamental physics. [Physics 19, 139] Published Wed Oct 07, 2026
Technology
Donations to major parties and an ex-premier as a lobbyist: how datacentres play the political game in Australia
As governments face community backlash for fast-tracking developments, big tech’s financial contributions face renewed scrutiny Get our new political email, free app or daily news podcast On 14 June 2025, Anthony Albanese stood inside an enormous sphere of…
Rogue Anthropic AI agent gave police fake tip in unsolved murder case
Philadelphia police said the tip was "flagged as spam", but criticised the tech company for taking more than two months to detect and report the breach.
We Need to Embed Ethics Into Our Engineering Courses
In mid-September, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei joined a growing group of researchers calling for the AI industry to slow down. While some have questioned these researchers’ motivation for voicing concerns about the rapid pace of development, the plea…
Long Read
The Evolving Quest to Build Life in a Lab
Scientists are trying to create new life, whether to understand how biology first developed on Earth, or design new cells from scratch. But life hasn’t happened — at least not yet. And questions around safety, as well as what even constitutes life in the…
Elastic fantastic: The deadly fluid of pitcher plants
Flies check in, but they don’t check out, thanks to liquid laced with stretchy sugars that keep them tangled up
Across the Sciences
‘A living hell’: how Los Angeles got taken over by mosquitoes
Heat and humidity have led to one of the worst mosquito years in recent history, with West Nile virus at a decade high Los Angeles might be best known for blue skies, beaches and film premiers — but for the last several years it’s held another, unenviable…
Neanderthal wooden tools from Spain found preserved in stone
Dissolved rock precipitated around the tools, which then decayed.
Department of Energy expands ‘Genesis Mission’ to boost AI, awarding larger grants
Department will also initiate new fellowship program to shorten path to Ph.D.
Nature
Owners fear 'healthy' dog died due to orange substance exposure on contaminated land
Donna and Pete O'Brien say Misty's health declined after a walk.
‘I didn’t want to write about this’: the man who first saw chimps waging civil war
John Mitani spent years studying a huge community of chimpanzees in Uganda. But then things took a dark turn – and his findings stunned the scientific world John Mitani can still remember the first time he set foot in Uganda’s Kibale national park. The…
Brazilian ranchers block government officials from demarcating Indigenous land
Since Sept. 23, a group of rural producers has maintained a blockade on the road to the Paquiçamba Indigenous Land in the Volta Grande do Xingu region of Brazil’s Pará state. The blockade is supported by local politicians and aims to prevent government…
Tennis
Karaoke-singing Zheng makes history with China Open win
Zheng Qinwen becomes the first Chinese champion of the China Open after overcoming Mirra Andreeva in straight sets.
Zheng stuns Andreeva to become first Chinese winner of China Open
Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng made history as the first Chinese player to win the China Open on Sunday, stunning French Open winner Mirra Andreeva 7-5 6-4.
Calm in real life but demons on court - Medvedev finally runs out of chances
Daniil Medvedev once said you would need to knock on his hotel door at 6am for seven days in a row to make him angry - but his China Open disqualification was no surprise.