"If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

— Carl Sagan

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The Weight-Loss Drug Revolution—From Shots to Pills and the Science behind It All

Scientific American.com - Fri, 01/09/2026 - 6:00am

Behind the hype of GLP-1 medications lies complex science, serious side effects and a pharmaceutical arms race.

Categories: Astronomy

This Week's Sky at a Glance, January 9 – 18

Sky & Telescope Magazine - Fri, 01/09/2026 - 4:42am

Jupiter is at opposition. Evenings are moonless, and the winter Milky Way arches high over the world. Betelgeuse stands over Sirius.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, January 9 – 18 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Categories: Astronomy

Ocean Temperatures Just Hit a Dire New Record

Scientific American.com - Fri, 01/09/2026 - 3:00am

The world’s ocean absorbed more heat in 2025 than in any other year on record

Categories: Astronomy

Does Free Will Exist? Part 4: An Emergent Universe

Universe Today - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 7:13pm

But we’re not going for one thing or another, are we? We’re here to explore ideas – that’s most of the fun anyway. And there’s one more aspect of physics that takes part in the free will discussion, and that’s the concept of emergence.

Categories: Astronomy

NASA to Rush Astronauts Home after Medical Incident on ISS in Unprecedented Move

Scientific American.com - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 5:20pm

NASA on Thursday announced it would take the extraordinary step of bringing four crewmembers back to Earth from the space station before their official mission end

Categories: Astronomy

To Keep Water Liquid, the Red Planet Needed to Freeze

Universe Today - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 3:55pm

Mars has a curious past. Rovers have shown unequivocal evidence that liquid water existed on its surface, for probably at least 100 years. But climate models haven’t come up with how exactly that happened with what we currently understand about what the Martian climate was like back then. A new paper, published in the journal AGU Advances by Eleanor Moreland, a graduate student at Rice University, and her co-authors, has a potential explanation for what might have happened - liquid lakes on the Red Planet would have hid under small, seasonal ice sheets similar to the way they do in Antarctica on Earth.

Categories: Astronomy

What Happens after You Quit Weight-Loss Drugs? A New Study Offers Some Clues

Scientific American.com - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 3:46pm

A new study finds that people who quit weight-loss medications, including GLP-1 drugs, regain weight four times faster than people who stop dieting or exercising

Categories: Astronomy

Some Dogs Learn New Words Just Like Toddlers Do

Scientific American.com - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 2:50pm

A new study reveals that some smart dogs can learn words just by overhearing humans’ conversations

Categories: Astronomy

NASA to Provide Media with International Space Station Update Today

NASA - Breaking News - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 2:26pm
Credit: NASA

NASA will host a live news conference at 5 p.m. EST on Thursday from the agency’s headquarters in Washington to discuss the International Space Station and its crew.

On Jan. 7, the agency announced it was postponing a planned spacewalk originally scheduled for Jan. 8 while teams monitored a medical concern with a crew member currently living and working aboard the orbital laboratory.

The matter involved a single crew member, who is stable. Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member.

Participants in the news conference include:

  • NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
  • Amit Kshatriya, associate administrator
  • Dr. James Polk, chief health and medical officer, NASA Headquarters

NASA will provide live coverage of the news conference on NASA+Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

To participate in the news conference virtually or in-person, media must RSVP for details no later than one hour before the start of the event to the NASA Newsroom at: hq-media@mail.nasa.gov. NASA’s media credentialing policy is online.

To learn more about the International Space Station, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov

Share Details Last Updated Jan 08, 2026 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Categories: NASA

NASA to Provide Media with International Space Station Update Today

NASA News - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 2:26pm
Credit: NASA

NASA will host a live news conference at 5 p.m. EST on Thursday from the agency’s headquarters in Washington to discuss the International Space Station and its crew.

On Jan. 7, the agency announced it was postponing a planned spacewalk originally scheduled for Jan. 8 while teams monitored a medical concern with a crew member currently living and working aboard the orbital laboratory.

The matter involved a single crew member, who is stable. Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member.

Participants in the news conference include:

  • NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
  • Amit Kshatriya, associate administrator
  • Dr. James Polk, chief health and medical officer, NASA Headquarters

NASA will provide live coverage of the news conference on NASA+Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.

To participate in the news conference virtually or in-person, media must RSVP for details no later than one hour before the start of the event to the NASA Newsroom at: hq-media@mail.nasa.gov. NASA’s media credentialing policy is online.

To learn more about the International Space Station, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

Bethany Stevens / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
bethany.c.stevens@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov

Share Details Last Updated Jan 08, 2026 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Categories: NASA

Why a January Heat Wave Is Breaking Records across the South

Scientific American.com - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 2:17pm

An area of high pressure is bringing record-high heat to some parts of the U.S., with an added boost from climate change

Categories: Astronomy

Tree bark microbiome has important overlooked role in climate

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 2:00pm
Tree bark has a total surface area similar to all of the land area on Earth. It is home to a wide range of microbial species unknown to science, and they can either take up or emit gases that have a warming effect on the climate
Categories: Astronomy

Tree bark microbiome has important overlooked role in climate

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 2:00pm
Tree bark has a total surface area similar to all of the land area on Earth. It is home to a wide range of microbial species unknown to science, and they can either take up or emit gases that have a warming effect on the climate
Categories: Astronomy

Do Monkeys Make Faces on Purpose?

Scientific American.com - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 2:00pm

A new study suggests that primate facial expressions may not just be reflex

Categories: Astronomy

This Newly Discovered Asteroid, Almost Half a Mile Wide, Just Set a New Space Record

Scientific American.com - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 1:00pm

A giant asteroid has sent astronomers into a spin, setting a record for how fast it rotates on its axis

Categories: Astronomy

Supermassive Black Hole ‘Snowplows’ Can Stifle Star Formation in Spiral Galaxies

Scientific American.com - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 12:45pm

A wobbling jet from a giant, voracious black hole is suppressing star formation in a distant galaxy—and astronomers have never seen anything quite like it before

Categories: Astronomy

Best of 2025: Artemis II Countdown Demonstration Test

NASA Image of the Day - Thu, 01/08/2026 - 12:27pm
Artemis II crewmembers (left to right) NASA astronauts Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Victor Glover, pilot; CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist; and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, commander are led to the crew access arm as they prepare to board their Orion spacecraft atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket during the Artemis II countdown demonstration test on Dec. 20, 2025.
Categories: Astronomy, NASA