Earth will overshoot the critical warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels within the next decade, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said Tuesday (Nov. 4).

To stay below this threshold, the world needs to slash annual greenhouse gas emissions by 55%, compared with 2019 levels, by 2035. But given countries' inadequate actions so far, there's little to no chance that will happen, according to the 2025 Emissions Gap report.

"Given the size of the cuts needed, the short time available to deliver them and a challenging political climate, a higher exceedance of 1.5°C will happen, very likely within the next decade," UNEP representatives wrote in the report.

Best playtime ever! While their mom is looking out for them, these brown bear cubs are free to have fun and prepare for their life in the wild. 🐻

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Type 1 diabetes develops when the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin, a hormone made by specialized beta cells. This chronic condition affects an estimated 9.5 million people around the world. Without sufficient insulin, blood sugar levels remain high and, over time, can cause serious harm to vital organs including the kidneys, eyes, and heart. Managing the disease requires continuous monitoring of glucose levels along with regular insulin injections to keep those levels within a healthy range.

Scientists are exploring new ways to treat Type 1 diabetes by restoring or replacing the damaged pancreatic beta cells. One promising strategy involves generating new beta cells from other types of cells already present in the body. This approach was taken by researchers led by Xiaofeng Huang at Weill Cornell Medicine (USA) and Qing Xia at Peking University (China), who previously found that stomach cells in mice could be reprogrammed into pancreatic beta cells through genetic modification.

Transforming Stomach Cells Into Insulin Producers
In their new study published today (November 6) in Stem Cell Reports, the team investigated whether a similar transformation could occur in human stomach cells. To begin, they grew miniature models of the human stomach called organoids, which mimic some functions of real stomach tissue.

These organoids were then genetically modified so they could be switched into insulin-producing beta-like cells when a specific “genetic switch” was activated. Afterward, the engineered organoids were transplanted into the abdominal area of mice. There, they survived for up to six months, forming connections with nearby tissues and blood vessels as they matured.

That's over 100,000 kilometers more than we knew was there.

A new digital map of the road network that once connected the Roman Empire has been created, revealing a staggeringly vast constellation of interlocking routes. Named Itiner-e, the new digital map includes 299,171 kilometers (186,000 miles) of ancient roads spanning from the British Isles to the Middle East.

Famous for their straight roads, the Romans are known to have relied upon their transport infrastructure to maintain and expand their imperial control, while also allowing the movement of people and goods. However, until now, this extensive system of highways had remained poorly mapped.

The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, for example, has remained the most complete ancient roadmap since it was published 25 years ago, yet its resolution is poor, with a scale of one to one million in certain parts. The researchers behind Itiner-e therefore set out to improve upon this, providing a far more detailed and reliable Roman road atlas – and you can view it online here.

China recently reached out to NASA over a maneuver to prevent a possible collision between satellites, a space sustainability official said, marking a first for space traffic management.

"For years, if we had a conjunction, we would send a note to the Chinese saying, 'We think we're going to run into you. You hold still, we'll maneuver around you,'" Alvin Drew, director for NASA Space Sustainability, said during a plenary session at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 2.

A big shift had come a day earlier, Drew revealed. "Just yesterday, we had a bit of a celebration because, for the first time, the Chinese National Space Agency reached out to us and said, 'We see a conjunction amongst our satellites. We recommend you hold still. We'll do the maneuver.' And that's the first time that's ever happened," Drew said.

The move by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) comes as both the United States, notably through SpaceX's commercial Starlink constellation, and China, in the shape of the Guowang and Thousand Sails megaconstellations, are rapidly increasing the number of satellites they have in orbit. This means an increasing need for satellite operators to coordinate to limit the chances of collisions between satellites and prevent events that cause new clouds of space debris.

A fantastic new discovery has given astronomy an unexpected window into the formation of life-precursor molecules in an environment significantly different from our galaxy, the Milky Way. Scientists report the first-ever detection of Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) – potential "building blocks" of life – in ice outside of our galaxy.

The detection comes from the surroundings of a young star called ST6 located in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the largest of the satellite galaxies that orbit the Milky Way. It's so large and close that it can be seen with the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere.

University of Maryland and NASA research scientist Dr Marta Sewilo and her team used observations by JWST to study the presence of COMs in the ice around ST6. They detected five: alcohols methanol and ethanol, as well as methyl formate, acetaldehyde, and even acetic acid, the main component of vinegar. This is the first time acetic acid has been conclusively detected in space. 

“This is the first detection of COMs larger than six atoms in ices (in ice mantles on dust grains) outside the galaxy,” Dr Sewilo told IFLScience.

The LMC is very different from our galaxy. Stars and nebulae there have a lower percentage of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, so fewer building blocks for complex molecules and dust grains. There is also a lot more ultraviolet light. In certain respects, the LMC is similar to a primitive Milky Way, so this provides crucial insight into the formation of COMs in earlier epochs of the universe.

COMs are seen as precursors to life molecules. It is not a sign of life, but the molecules that make us and every living creature on this planet had to come from somewhere. Their integral parts likely formed in space and eventually found their way to Earth. In this new work, the team actually found signs of a lot more than those five, but they have not been able to classify all of them.

The supernova remnant W49B isn’t a sphere—it’s a bipolar blast! 💥

Using Resolve onboard XRISM, we found iron-rich gas racing toward and away from us at ~300 km/s, revealing a new twist in how massive stars explode.

Current U.S. immigration enforcement and deportation policies are producing widespread harm to physical and mental health, with family separation and the specters of fear and intimidation affecting the well-being of immigrant and non-immigrant communities.

That's the warning from several longtime public health researchers, who also outline proven community and policy actions that could reduce harm and strengthen health in communities across the nation.

Professors from five U.S. research universities called for health care professionals and researchers to advocate for the end of deportations and restrictive immigration policies. Their insights appear in the journal Health Affairs. Two academic briefs were published on Nov. 6, both supporting an editorial published on Aug. 5.

"These articles bring together years of research that paint a very clear picture: immigration enforcement harms the health of immigrants and their communities," said co-author Maria-Elena De Trinidad Young, an associate professor at the Department of Public Health in the University of California, Merced's School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts.

Contrary to the principles of public health
The researchers argue that deportation is a violent act and incompatible with the principles of public health. They describe an immigration system in which tens of thousands of people are held in unsafe prisons, often suffering from neglect and abuse. Families left behind face the loss of income and caregivers, leading to stress, anxiety and economic instability that spills across entire communities.

They contend that fear of raids and detention prevents many immigrants from seeking medical care or reporting crimes, weakening public safety. Deportation should be recognized as a public health threat.

The researchers support "community care"—support networks that provide emotional, legal and material aid during enforcement actions. Through community care, they said, solidarity, advocacy and protection become essential health interventions.

"As professionals committed to population health and the well-being of all communities," the authors said, "there is an opening for us to push for a nation where immigrants are not targeted with violent arrest, deportation or removal."

One of the briefs takes a step back and describes how three decades of exclusionary immigration policy have harmed immigrants and U.S.-born residents. Federal actions since the 1990s have shifted immigration matters from civil to criminal law, expanded detention and restricted access to public benefits.

Enforcement budgets have ballooned from $4 billion in 2000 to more than $25 billion in 2020, with another $170 billion approved in 2025, the authors say.

Lasers that emit extremely short light pulses are highly precise and are used in manufacturing, medical applications, and research. The problem: efficient short-pulse lasers require a lot of space and are expensive.

Researchers at the University of Stuttgart have now developed a new system in cooperation with Stuttgart Instruments GmbH. It is more than twice as efficient as previous systems, fits in the palm of a hand, and is highly versatile. The research is published in the journal Nature.

80% efficiency is possible
"With our new system, we can achieve levels of efficiency that were previously almost unattainable," says Prof. Harald Giessen, Head of the 4th Physics Institute at the University of Stuttgart. Through their experiments, the researchers demonstrated that achieving 80% efficiency with a short-pulse laser is fundamentally possible.

This means that 80% of the power input can actually be used. "For comparison: current technologies achieve only about 35%—which means they lose much of their efficiency and are correspondingly expensive," explains Giessen.

A lot of energy in an extremely short time
Short-pulse lasers generate light pulses that last only nano-, pico-, or femtoseconds (i.e., a few billionths to quadrillionths of a second). This allows them to concentrate a large amount of energy on a small area within an extremely short time. A pump laser and the laser that emits the short pulses work together. The pump laser supplies a special crystal with light energy. This crystal is the core of the process and transfers the energy from the pump laser to the ultrashort signal pulse. This converts the incoming light particles into infrared light.

This makes it possible to carry out experiments, measurements, or production processes that are not possible with visible light. Short-pulse lasers are used in production—for example, for precise and gentle material processing. They are also used in medical technology for imaging processes or in quantum research for particularly precise measurements at the molecular level.

Branco River 🇧🇷 from space, captured by IrideSpazio constellation.

Ahead of #COP30 in Belém this November, a reminder that rainforests and ecosystems are essential for biodiversity, with the Amazon rainforest alone home to more than a third of Earth’s species.

The Branco River, or Rio Branco, forms north of the area pictured here, near the city of Boa Vista and flows south-west for 775 km before joining Rio Negro, a major tributary of the Amazon River.

Despite its name which means white river, this false-colour image from 30 September 2025 shows the Rio Branco in black. The HEO constellation’s near-infrared channel, used to process this image, makes water appear in dark blue or black and highlights vegetation in bright red.

This band combination has been used to help us better distinguish between vegetated and non-vegetated areas. Numerous patches in various shades of brown can be clearly seen particularly on the left of the image and indicate where vegetation has been cleared.

Forests and ecosystems worldwide are being destroyed or damaged at an alarming rate. This is of great concern because they play a critical role in global climate and are home to a huge variety of biodiversity.

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/11/Earth_from_Space_Branco_River_Brazil

The Hektoria Glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula retreated by at least 8 km in two months, a rate nearly 10 times faster than previously measured for a grounded glacier, according to a study in Nature Geoscience. go.nature.com/4nETBYJ

Octopuses and other cephalopods are masters of camouflage, thanks largely to color-changing skin that can help them seemingly vanish into the background. Now, researchers report a big step towards being able to recreate their superpower.

A team led by UC San Diego was able to mass-produce a key pigment, xanthommatin, that occurs in the psychedelic skin of many cephalopods. Until now, xanthommatin has proven impractical to collect from animals or make in a lab.

The researchers technically didn't make the pigment. They bioengineered bacteria to make it, coaxing microbes to not only produce this rare substance, but to do so with unprecedented efficiency, yielding up to 1,000 times more xanthommatin than previous methods.

Easier access to xanthommatin could aid efforts to study cephalopod camouflage, potentially shedding new light on this wonder of nature – and offering clues to help us mimic it.

Beyond boosting humanity's quest for octopus powers, the new study also has implications for our growing grasp of microbial manufacturing. If bacteria can be similarly persuaded to produce other chemicals, it could lead to major upgrades from current industrial practices.

"We've developed a new technique that has sped up our capabilities to make a material, in this case xanthommatin, in a bacterium for the first time," says senior author Bradley Moore, a marine chemist with Scripps Oceanography and the University of California San Diego.

"This natural pigment is what gives an octopus or a squid its ability to camouflage – a fantastic superpower – and our achievement to advance production of this material is just the tip of the iceberg," Moore says.

You might think trees have been around for a long time, but sharks have been here even longer!

See how sharks have survived and thrived through all five of Earth’s mass extinction events in this week’s Surprising Science.

Researchers have designed a groundbreaking drug molecule capable of precisely eliminating TERRA, an RNA molecule that some cancer cells rely on to survive. Using a sophisticated method known as “RIBOTAC” technology, the new compound seeks out TERRA within cells and destroys it while leaving normal molecules untouched.

This advancement could open the door to a new generation of RNA-based cancer therapies that address the genetic causes of the disease rather than only managing its symptoms.

A team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has created this innovative molecule to specifically target and break down an RNA component connected to cancer development. The study, published in Advanced Sciences, was led by Dr. Raphael I. Benhamou, Elias Khaskia, and Dipak Dahatonde from the university’s Faculty of Medicine. Their research centers on TERRA, a molecule that helps maintain the protective ends of chromosomes, structures that safeguard DNA and support cellular stability.

When TERRA malfunctions, it can interfere with the normal process of cell aging and division. In some cancers, particularly aggressive types affecting the brain and bones, cancer cells exploit TERRA to continue growing and avoiding death.

“We’ve created a tool that acts like a guided missile for bad RNA,” said Dr. Benhamou. “It can find TERRA inside cancer cells and make it disappear — without harming healthy parts of the cell.”

How the RIBOTAC Works
The team built a small molecule using a technology called RIBOTAC, short for Ribonuclease-Targeting Chimera. This molecule can recognize a unique shape that TERRA folds into — known as a G-quadruplex — and then call in a natural cell enzyme, RNase L, to cut the RNA apart.

This is the first time scientists have been able to destroy TERRA so precisely. The molecule only targets TERRA and leaves other, similar RNAs untouched.

When tested in cancer cell lines, including HeLa and U2OS cells (which represent a hard-to-treat type of cancer), the treatment reduced TERRA levels and slowed cancer growth.

The discovery could lead to a new kind of medicine that fights cancer by going after RNA molecules — not just proteins, which most drugs target today.

“This is a new way of thinking about medicine,” said Benhamou. “Instead of focusing only on proteins, we’re now learning how to target the RNA that controls them. That could open the door to treating diseases we once thought were impossible to reach.”

You won't find visits to the dentist at the top of most people's lists of fun activities, but check-ups could be made easier by a gel that repairs and replaces damaged tooth enamel.

This is the work of an international team led by researchers at the University of Nottingham in the UK, and it has the potential to fill a gap in our extremely limited regenerative capabilities: We can't naturally regrow tooth enamel once it has decayed away, but replacing this protective covering on damaged teeth could help prevent tooth decay.

Like some previous attempts to regrow enamel, this new gel mimics how tooth enamel gets laid down in the first place. The new solution can fill in cracks in teeth, and be applied on top of bare, exposed dentine (the bone-like bulk of a tooth, below the enamel).

"When our material is applied to demineralized or eroded enamel, or exposed dentine, the material promotes the growth of crystals in an integrated and organized manner, recovering the architecture of our natural healthy enamel," says pharmaceutical scientist Abshar Hasan of the University of Nottingham in the UK.

When enamel grows for the first time, it does so via a scaffold made by natural proteins called amelogenin. Here, the researchers attempted to replicate that scaffolding using proteins called elastin-like recombinamers or ELRs.

There's an optimal strategy for winning multiple rounds of rock, paper, scissors: be as random and unpredictable as possible. Don't pay attention to what happened in the last round.

However, that's easier said than done.

To find out how brains make decisions in a competitive setting, we asked people to play 15,000 games of rock, paper, scissors while recording their brain activity.

Our results, now published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, found that those who were influenced by previous rounds really did tend to lose more often.

We also showed that people struggle to be truly random, and we can discern various biases and behaviors from their brain activity when they make decisions during a competition.

This balanced heat flow suggests its underground ocean could stay liquid for geological ages, supporting conditions for life. Scientists even used temperature data to estimate ice thickness, preparing the way for future missions to probe its mysterious depths.

Heat From Both Poles – A Game Changer
A study released today (November 7) in Science Advances, led by scientists from Oxford University, the Southwest Research Institute, and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, has revealed the first clear evidence of strong heat flow at Enceladus’ north pole. This discovery overturns earlier beliefs that heat loss occurred only in the moon’s active south pole. The results show that Enceladus gives off far more heat than expected from a frozen, inactive world, reinforcing the idea that it has the energy needed to sustain life.

Enceladus is an exceptionally dynamic moon with a global, salty ocean beneath its icy surface. Scientists believe this subsurface ocean is the source of the moon’s heat. Because it contains liquid water, warmth, and essential chemicals (such as phosphorus and complex hydrocarbons), this hidden sea is considered one of the most promising environments in our solar system for life beyond Earth.

However, for life to persist, Enceladus’ ocean must stay stable, maintaining a balance between heat gained and heat lost. This equilibrium depends on tidal heating: Saturn’s immense gravity flexes the moon during each orbit, producing internal friction and heat. If the tidal energy weakens, the ocean could gradually freeze. If it becomes too strong, increased activity might disrupt the delicate conditions that allow the ocean to exist.

Finding a fingerprint on the casing of a fired bullet was once a nearly impossible task. But scientists have at last achieved a breakthrough.

Researchers at Maynooth University in Ireland have now shown they can recover human fingerprints from super-heated bullet cases.

Even better, the prints appear at the "highest level of detail", including pores and ridges.

The details could be sufficient to identify a shooter, although in experiments, the bullets weren't actually shot from a gun; they were heated in a furnace.

"The Holy Grail in forensic investigation has always been retrieving prints from fired ammunition casings," claims chemist Eithne Dempsey.

"Traditionally, the intense heat of firing destroys any biological residue. However, our technique has been able to reveal fingerprint ridges that would otherwise remain imperceptible."

Beauty standards have always evolved, but in today's social media age, they shift at lightning speed. From "clean girl" minimalism to the "quiet luxury" aesthetic, each new ideal promises perfection few can reach – fueling comparison and self-doubt.

It isn't just social media trends that fuel these feelings of inadequacy. Our brain also plays a role.

Neuroscience shows us the brain is hardwired to respond to beauty. Seeing an attractive face activates the brain's reward and social circuits – releasing the feel-good hormone dopamine. This hormone is also released when we happen to live up to a specific beauty standard, making this feel biologically gratifying.

But this wiring also makes us vulnerable. Over time, the brain adapts to these ideals, treating them as the new normal.

Our brains' natural ability to change (plasticity), once an evolutionary advantage, is now exploited by a digital world that continually reshapes how we see ourselves.

Understanding this science offers hope, however. If our perceptions can be trained, they can also be retrained – allowing us to reclaim control over what beauty means.