February 4, 2025
The fallout from the F.D.A.’s rejection of a new treatment for PTSD worries researchers and experts who fear other psychedelic drugs in the pipeline could be jeopardized.
By Andrew Jacobs and Rachel Nuwer
Robert Markowitz & Josh Valcarcel/NASA
The government space agency has vocally promoted diversity and inclusion for decades, even during the first Trump administration.
By Kenneth Chang
Oliver Contreras for The New York Times
A Conversation With …
Alexandra Bell is bringing more than a decade of experience in nuclear policy to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the organization that sets the Doomsday Clock.
By Katrina Miller
Miguel A. Lopes/EPA, via Shutterstock
Michael Kratsios, who served in the White House and Defense Department in the first Trump administration, is a policy specialist on artificial intelligence.
By William J. Broad
Let us know how we’re doing at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com.
Susan Hough
Trilobites
A seismologist thinks natural phenomena could explain the Summerville Light and other mysteries around a South Carolina locale.
By Carolyn Wilke
Bill Gozansky/Alamy
When a scientist received a video of a spotted hyena in the southern part of his country, he thought someone was playing a trick on him.
By Darren Incorvaia
ESA-Science Office
Researchers say there’s a 1.3 percent chance that the space rock 2024 YR4 could strike our planet — but not until December 2032.
By Robin George Andrews
NASA
Origins
Scientists studying samples that NASA collected from the asteroid Bennu found a wide assortment of organic molecules that shed light on how life arose.
By Carl Zimmer
Orbital dynamics show that President Trump’s pledge to land astronauts on Mars couldn’t happen until 2029 at the earliest.
By Jonathan Corum
A puncture in the fossilized neck of a winged reptile that flew with the dinosaurs suggests the creature became a feast for a crocodile ancestor.
By Freda Kreier
A spokeswoman for the agency said the change was “common practice.” Others said it injects partisanship into jobs that have always been neutral.
By Lisa Friedman
A spokeswoman for Lee Zeldin, the new head of the agency, said the goal was to create an “effective and efficient” federal work force.
Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
The pause affects billions of dollars and is delaying home repairs, factory construction and other projects, many in states that voted Republican.
By Lisa Friedman and Brad Plumer
Philip Cheung for The New York Times
Around the world, other communities are experimenting with ideas that Los Angeles could borrow as it rebuilds from disastrous wildfires.
By Somini Sengupta
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NIBSC/Science Source
Scientists were slow to recognize that Covid spreads through the air. Some are now trying to get ahead of the bird flu.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Intense backlash prompted the reinstatement of some online resources. But guidelines for safe contraception and information on racial inequities in health care remain missing.
By Apoorva Mandavilli and Roni Caryn Rabin
James Estrin/The New York Times
the new old age
Fake nurseries and town squares seem to comfort patients. But some experts wonder whether they are patronizing, even infantilizing.
By Paula Span
Fernando Vergara/Associated Press
Global Health
Lifesaving treatment and prevention programs for tuberculosis, malaria, H.I.V. and other diseases cannot access funds to continue work.
By Stephanie Nolen
Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
President Trump’s decision to pull out of the international health agency could deprive the United States of crucial scientific data and lessen the country’s influence in setting a global health agenda.
By Apoorva Mandavilli
