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Received today — 16 December 2025NYT: Science

U.S. Is Seeking Exemption From a European Climate Law, Officials Say

✇NYT: Science
By:Lisa Friedman
16 December 2025 at 15:09
Diplomats told E.U. officials that the bloc’s law on methane, a potent greenhouse gas, would hurt American oil and gas companies.

© Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

A liquified natural gas tanker. This year the Trump administration signed a deal with the European Union in which Europe pledged to buy American gas in exchange for tariff relief.

Arctic Report Card Marks Record Temperatures and Rainfall in Arctic

✇NYT: Science
By:Eric Niiler
16 December 2025 at 14:12
A yearly checkup on the region documents a warmer, rainier Arctic and 200 Alaskan rivers “rusting” as melting tundra leaches minerals from the soil into waterways.

© Josh Koch/U.S. Geological Survey

A tributary of the Kugaaruk River in northern Alaska turning orange from elevated heavy metal concentrations.

Heart Association Revives Theory That Light Drinking May Be Good for You

✇NYT: Science
By:Roni Caryn Rabin
16 December 2025 at 13:40
The American Heart Association report runs contrary to recent studies — and the group’s own guidelines — that found any amount of alcohol to be harmful.

© Colin Clark for The New York Times

While there is no dispute that heavy drinking is harmful to health, the question before experts is whether light to moderate drinking provides more protection from cardiovascular disease than not drinking at all.
Received yesterday — 15 December 2025NYT: Science

How the Pandemic Lockdowns Changed a Songbird’s Beak

✇NYT: Science
By:Emily Anthes
16 December 2025 at 09:12
For ecologists, the Covid-19 pandemic has presented a remarkable natural experiment in what can happen to wild animals when humans stay home.

© Alex Fu

Dark-eyed juncos, normally forest-dwelling, have occupied Los Angeles for about 20 years.

A Powerful New Drug Is Creating a ‘Withdrawal Crisis’ in Philadelphia

✇NYT: Science
By:Jan Hoffman and Hannah Yoon
15 December 2025 at 06:59
Medetomidine, a veterinary sedative, mixed into fentanyl has sent thousands to hospitals, not only for overdose but for life-threatening withdrawal. It is spreading to other cities.

© Hannah Yoon for The New York Times

The Temple University Hospital emergency entrance.
Received before yesterdayNYT: Science

F.D.A. Approves Two New Drugs to Treat Gonorrhea

✇NYT: Science
By:Andrew Jacobs
12 December 2025 at 17:34
The sexually transmitted disease has become increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics.

© Science Photo Library/Science Source

Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhea.

Review of Medical Cannabis Use Finds Little Evidence of Benefit

✇NYT: Science
By:Jan Hoffman
12 December 2025 at 18:52
Researchers found a chasm between the health reasons for which the public seeks out cannabis and what gold-standard science actually shows about its effectiveness.

© Mohamed Sadek for The New York Times

Addiction experts, who studied hundreds of clinical trials, guidelines and surveys conducted over 15 years, found a gulf between how the public perceives cannabis and what gold-standard science shows.

Lawsuit Seeks to Stop Oil Exploration in Remote Areas of the Arctic

✇NYT: Science
By:Karen Zraick
11 December 2025 at 19:29
A federal lawsuit argues that proposed work by ConocoPhillips could threaten delicate ecosystems in the largest tract of public land in the U.S.

© Erin Schaff/The New York Times

A ConocoPhillips oil drilling site on the North Slope of Alaska near the Willow site, another ConocoPhillips oil exploration project.

Trump Panel Abruptly Postpones Release of FEMA Overhaul Recommendations

✇NYT: Science
By:Scott Dance
11 December 2025 at 18:06
The group’s report had been expected to provide a road map for change after months of upheaval at the agency.

© Jon Cherry/Reuters

Talk of a FEMA overhaul comes as disasters are becoming more frequent and costly as a result of climate change.

Turkey’s Largest City Is Threatened by a Lurking Earthquake

✇NYT: Science
By:Robin George Andrews
11 December 2025 at 14:32
Escalating activity along a fault line in the Sea of Marmara is moving closer to Istanbul, seismologists warn.

© Yasin Akgul/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

People gathered in an earthquake assembly area following a 6.2 magnitude temblor in Istanbul in April.

U.S. Helped to Weaken Report at U.N. Environment Talks, Participants Say

✇NYT: Science
By:Eric Niiler
11 December 2025 at 13:54
American officials joined Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran in objecting to language on fossils fuels, biodiversity and plastics in a report that was three years in the making.

© Monicah Mwangi/Reuters

The opening session of the 7th United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday.

Russia Warns Poland Over Arrest of a Researcher Wanted by Ukraine

✇NYT: Science
By:Valerie Hopkins
11 December 2025 at 12:01
Poland detained a Russian archaeologist who works on an ancient site in Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. Ukraine calls the work illegal.

© Kuba Stezycki/Reuters

The detention center where the Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin is held after being detained by Polish authorities, in Warsaw.

New Eli Lilly Drug Retatrutide Brought Major Weight Loss in Trial

✇NYT: Science
By:Gina Kolata
11 December 2025 at 16:09
The maker of Zepbound reported results from a study of retatrutide, which targets three hormones in the body and led to much more weight loss than any approved drug.

© Mike Blake/Reuters

Eli Lilly company offices in San Diego. The company reported results of retatrutide, its next-generation weight-loss drug.

Here’s What to Know About Japan’s Mega Quake Advisory

✇NYT: Science
By:Jin Yu Young
11 December 2025 at 07:26
Japan’s government says that the chances of a magnitude 8 earthquake have increased. Scientists can’t predict when one will strike, but it represents a meaningful jump over typical odds.

© Jiji Press, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A vehicle teetered on a collapsed road in Tohoku Town off the coast of northern Japan.

Gregg Phillips, a Proponent of Election Conspiracy Theories, to Join FEMA

✇NYT: Science
By:Scott Dance
10 December 2025 at 15:54
Gregg Phillips, who spread unsubstantiated claims of mass voter fraud in the 2016 election, will join the agency’s leadership, the Trump administration confirmed.

© Bridget Bennett/Reuters

Gregg Phillips, right, onstage in 2022 with Catherine Engelbrecht, with whom he has led True the Vote, a conservative nonprofit group.

A Surrogacy Firm Told Parents-to-Be Their Money Was Safe. Suddenly, It Vanished.

✇NYT: Science
By:Sarah Kliff
10 December 2025 at 15:16
Surro Connections held itself out as a reliable business. Now, clients have lost as much as tens of thousands of dollars meant to compensate women carrying their pregnancies.

© Jackie Molloy for The New York Times

Our Children’s Trust Suit Asks Montana Court to Block Some New Laws

✇NYT: Science
By:Karen Zraick
10 December 2025 at 18:45
The young plaintiffs, who won a major case over climate change policy in 2023, argue that legislators are illegally ignoring the effects of fossil fuels.

© Janie Osborne for The New York Times

Rikki Held, the named plaintiff in Held v. Montana, in June 2023. The same plaintiffs are asking the state’s top court to prevent legislators from undermining their victory.

Trump Administration Rules Threaten Nobel Prizes Won by Immigrants

✇NYT: Science
By:William J. Broad
10 December 2025 at 05:03
As three immigrants claim Nobel Prizes in science for the United States this year, experts warn that immigration crackdowns could undo American innovation.

© Sophie Park for The New York Times

This Arkansas City Shows How to Slash Emissions and Save Money, Too

✇NYT: Science
By:Cara Buckley and Melyssa St. Michael
9 December 2025 at 21:35
In the Ozarks, the growing college town of Fayetteville, Ark., is using clean energy to power city facilities and embracing nature-based solutions to climate threats.

© Melyssa St. Michael for The New York Times

FDA Expands Covid Vaccine Inquiry to Adult Deaths

✇NYT: Science
By:Christina Jewett
10 December 2025 at 13:56
The agency claimed that 10 children’s deaths were linked to the shots, although it did not release evidence to support the assertions.

© Charity Rachelle for The New York Times

Some Mentions of Human Causes of Climate Change Removed From E.P.A. Site

✇NYT: Science
By:Lisa Friedman
9 December 2025 at 15:50
An E.P.A. site listing the causes of climate change no longer includes the main one: human activity.

© Ting Shen/Reuters

President Trump, who calls climate change a “hoax” is eliminating restrictions on coal, oil and gas while imposing new ones on renewable energy like wind and solar.

All 187,460 Miles of Road That Led to Rome, Mapped

✇NYT: Science
By:Franz Lidz
9 December 2025 at 03:00
A digital atlas of ancient Rome’s highways and byways reveals a road network that was more extensive than thought.

© Jonathan Corum/The New York Times

John Noble Wilford, Times Reporter Who Covered the Moon Landing, Dies at 92

✇NYT: Science
By:Robert D. McFadden
8 December 2025 at 20:51
He gave readers a comprehensive and lyrical account of the historic mission in 1969. His science coverage as a Pulitzer-winning journalist and an author took him around the world.

© The New York Times

John Noble Wilford in 1981. Recalling his coverage of the moon landing, he said, “I thought to myself, yes, this is the biggest story I will probably ever write in my career.”

Youth Mental Health Improved When Schools Reopened, Study Finds

✇NYT: Science
By:Ellen Barry
8 December 2025 at 16:00
With the end of school shutdowns, children’s mental health appointments fell sharply, though other factors may have contributed.

© Anna Watts for The New York Times

Nine months after schools reopened, the probability that a child would be treated for a mental health condition was reduced by 43 percent, from 2.8 percent during the shutdown period, a study published Monday found.

Why Some Doctors Say There Are Cancers That Shouldn’t Be Treated

✇NYT: Science
By:Gina Kolata
8 December 2025 at 12:54
Statistics show a clear spike in eight cancers in younger people, but that has brought a debate over whether many cases ever needed to be found.

© Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle, via Getty Images

An image of a patient’s prostate. Patients in the early stages of prostate cancer and other types of cancer might safely wait to see if the disease progresses.

The Married Scientists Torn Apart by a Covid Bioweapon Theory

✇NYT: Science
By:Katie J.M. Baker
8 December 2025 at 19:51
In 2020, a Chinese virologist fled to the United States, aided by allies of President Trump who sought to promote her unproven theories about the origins of Covid-19. Her husband still can’t find her.

© Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Dr. Li-Meng Yan spoke in 2021 at a summit in Anchorage, Alaska, on early outpatient treatment for the Covid-19 virus.

California Discourages Wild Mushroom Foraging After Fatal Outbreak

✇NYT: Science
By:Hannah Ziegler
6 December 2025 at 19:14
Officials said one person was killed and 20 others were poisoned after eating death cap mushrooms, which look and taste like safe mushrooms but can cause liver failure.

© California Department of Health, via Associated Press

California health officials advised people to stop foraging for wild mushrooms after a poison found in one variety killed one person and caused liver damage to others.

Kidney Recipient Dies After Transplant From Organ Donor Who Had Rabies

✇NYT: Science
By:Rylee Kirk
6 December 2025 at 09:37
Only four donors have transmitted rabies to organ transplant recipients since 1978, according to federal officials.

© Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

A man died of rabies he contracted after receiving a kidney transplant from another person who later tested positive for the virus after being scratched by a skunk.

Scientists Are Measuring Ocean Currents in Hopes of Charting AMOC’s Future

✇NYT: Science
By:Raymond Zhong and Esther Horvath
6 December 2025 at 05:00
Scientists fear warming is driving a collapse in the ocean currents that shape climate far and wide. The ice-choked waters off Greenland might hold the key.

Scoresby Sound, a fjord in eastern Greenland, as seen from the research ship.

Hamilton O. Smith, Who Made a Biotech Breakthrough, Is Dead at 94

✇NYT: Science
By:Delthia Ricks
5 December 2025 at 17:38
A Nobel laureate, he identified an enzyme that cuts DNA, laying the groundwork for milestones in scientific research and medicine, like insulin.

© Marty Katz for The New York Times

Hamilton Smith in 2000. His work essentially handed scientists the power to isolate, analyze and manually move discrete sequences of DNA.

MAHA Activists Urge Trump to Fire Lee Zeldin at the E.P.A.

✇NYT: Science
By:Maxine Joselow
5 December 2025 at 17:08
As head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin has weakened protections against toxic chemicals, say members of the MAHA movement.

© Eric Lee for The New York Times

A petition to fire Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, had more than 2,800 signatures by midday Friday.

A Look at What Lives Where Deep Sea Mining Would Happen

✇NYT: Science
By:Sachi Kitajima Mulkey
8 December 2025 at 12:27
An ocean-mining company has funded some of the most comprehensive scientific studies of the deep seabed to date, and peer-reviewed results have begun to emerge.

His Group Made World-Class Measurements of Atomic Elements

✇NYT: Science
By:Katrina Miller
4 December 2025 at 09:30
Yuri Ralchenko led one of the oldest teams at the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The fate of some experiments hangs in the air.

© Moriah Ratner for The New York Times

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