Science

Commodity microplastics are not chemically inert in water. A Nature study published 14 October 2026 found that common plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, PVC, PET and PMMA spontaneously generate reactive oxygen species — including hydroxyl radicals — at the microplastic–water interface. Radical generation increases with surface hydrophobicity and correlates with interfacial electrostatics. Laboratory assays … Read more

Capillary no-reflow is when the tiniest blood vessels (capillaries) stay blocked even after a larger artery that was clogged—for example in a heart attack or acute kidney injury—has been reopened. Tissue still does not get fresh blood, which is linked to higher death and reinfarction risk, and until recently there was no targeted therapy for … Read more

Red supergiants are massive, cool, expanded stars nearing the end of their lives, such as Betelgeuse in Orion.

Probably more than official figures show. Global databases report that protected and other conservation areas cover about 18.5% of Earth’s land, but a study published in Nature on October 14, 2026, which added national datasets from a globally representative sample of 25 countries and territories, estimates that conservation areas likely already cover about 26.8% of … Read more

Yes. California is home to seven rattlesnake species, which live in habitats from the coast to inland deserts and from near sea level to thousands of feet in elevation. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the western rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) is the most widespread and occurs statewide up to about 7,000 feet, … Read more

Nearly half. A reassessment of 892 reef-building coral species for the IUCN Red List, published in Nature on October 15, 2026, found that 340 of the 774 species with enough data to assess (44%) qualify as threatened. Of those, 33 species were classed as Critically Endangered, 251 as Endangered and 56 as Vulnerable, mostly because … Read more

Yes, according to a 2026 study of wild Bornean orangutans. Researchers analyzed about 15 years and roughly 32,600 observation hours from 31 mother–offspring pairs and found that mothers whose infants were closer in age shared forest space more intensively, and those infants played together more often—even after accounting for relatedness and fruit availability. On days … Read more

Yes. On October 15, 2026, member states of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), meeting outside Paris, voted by majority to abolish the leap second immediately rather than by 2035 as previously planned. Instead of inserting a one-second adjustment roughly every year and a half to keep atomic clock time (UTC) in step … Read more

A rain shadow is the dry side of a mountain range: moist air drops its rain as it rises up the windward slope, then warms and dries as it descends the far side, as in Death Valley behind the Sierra Nevada.

No. Przewalski’s horse went extinct in the wild by the 1960s but survived in zoos, and reintroduced herds now live in Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan; the species remains endangered.