Lead Story
Ancient wall found beneath Paris hotel could confirm the city's true origins
France's culture ministry hailed as a 'major breakthrough' the discovery of a roughly 65-foot stone-and-wood wall from the Gallo-Roman period, unearthed this summer beneath the Hotel-Dieu on the Ile de la Cite, steps from Notre Dame. Archaeologists believe it may be a fragment of the ramparts of Lutetia, the settlement built by the Gallic Parisii tribe, and the wall bears traces of fire that could match Julius Caesar's account of the Gauls burning their own town before the Battle of Lutetia -- potentially settling a long-running debate over exactly where the city that became Paris began.
Read more →Lead Story
Ancient wall found beneath Paris hotel could confirm the city's true origins
France's culture ministry hailed as a 'major breakthrough' the discovery of a roughly 65-foot stone-and-wood wall from the Gallo-Roman period, unearthed this summer beneath the Hotel-Dieu on the Ile de la Cite, steps from Notre Dame. Archaeologists believe it may be a fragment of the ramparts of Lutetia, the settlement built by the Gallic Parisii tribe, and the wall bears traces of fire that could match Julius Caesar's account of the Gauls burning their own town before the Battle of Lutetia -- potentially settling a long-running debate over exactly where the city that became Paris began.
World added a record 693 gigawatts of renewable power in 2025, report finds
A report from IRENA, the COP30 Brazilian Presidency and the Global Renewables Alliance, released around a pre-COP30 event in Brasilia, found the world added a record 693 gigawatts of new renewable power capacity in 2025 -- more than half the installed generating capacity of the entire United States. The growth narrows the gap to the global goal of tripling renewables by 2030: if 2025's pace continues, the world would reach 10.6 terawatts by 2030, only 0.6 terawatts short of the target, down from a 0.9-terawatt gap in the previous year's assessment.
Read more →World added a record 693 gigawatts of renewable power in 2025, report finds
A report from IRENA, the COP30 Brazilian Presidency and the Global Renewables Alliance, released around a pre-COP30 event in Brasilia, found the world added a record 693 gigawatts of new renewable power capacity in 2025 -- more than half the installed generating capacity of the entire United States. The growth narrows the gap to the global goal of tripling renewables by 2030: if 2025's pace continues, the world would reach 10.6 terawatts by 2030, only 0.6 terawatts short of the target, down from a 0.9-terawatt gap in the previous year's assessment.
Stem cell transplants reverse stroke damage and restore movement in mice
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys and Duke-NUS Medical School transplanted human stem cell-derived neural cells directly into the stroke-damaged brains of mice one week after injury, finding the cells matured, integrated into existing circuits, and restored fine motor skills. The treatment also reduced brain inflammation and boosted growth of new neurons and blood vessels, with the week-long delay proving key since earlier transplants tend to fail while the injured brain is still overwhelmed by toxic inflammatory signals -- offering a potential path toward repairing the human brain after stroke.
Read more →Stem cell transplants reverse stroke damage and restore movement in mice
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys and Duke-NUS Medical School transplanted human stem cell-derived neural cells directly into the stroke-damaged brains of mice one week after injury, finding the cells matured, integrated into existing circuits, and restored fine motor skills. The treatment also reduced brain inflammation and boosted growth of new neurons and blood vessels, with the week-long delay proving key since earlier transplants tend to fail while the injured brain is still overwhelmed by toxic inflammatory signals -- offering a potential path toward repairing the human brain after stroke.
Stanford physicists capture a quantum jump of sound for the first time
A Stanford team led by physicist Amir Safavi-Naeini recorded, in real time, single phonons -- the fundamental particles of sound -- abruptly jumping between quantum energy states, a feat scientists first achieved with trapped ions in 1986 and with photons in 2007 but had never managed with sound. The researchers paired a long-lived microscopic vibrating resonator with a superconducting qubit that repeatedly measured its vibrational energy, a technique published in the journal Science that could open new paths toward quantum computing, error correction and highly sensitive sensors.
Read more →Stanford physicists capture a quantum jump of sound for the first time
A Stanford team led by physicist Amir Safavi-Naeini recorded, in real time, single phonons -- the fundamental particles of sound -- abruptly jumping between quantum energy states, a feat scientists first achieved with trapped ions in 1986 and with photons in 2007 but had never managed with sound. The researchers paired a long-lived microscopic vibrating resonator with a superconducting qubit that repeatedly measured its vibrational energy, a technique published in the journal Science that could open new paths toward quantum computing, error correction and highly sensitive sensors.
NASA's Roman Space Telescope powers up its 300-megapixel camera and sees first starlight
NASA activated the Wide Field Instrument on its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and released the camera's first test images, showing hundreds of stars glowing as green rings of light as photons reached its extremely sensitive sensor for the first time. Once fully tuned, each image from the 300-megapixel camera will capture a patch of sky bigger than the full moon with the sharpness of the Hubble Space Telescope but roughly 100 times the area, moving Roman a major step closer to beginning science operations in 2027.
Read more →NASA's Roman Space Telescope powers up its 300-megapixel camera and sees first starlight
NASA activated the Wide Field Instrument on its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and released the camera's first test images, showing hundreds of stars glowing as green rings of light as photons reached its extremely sensitive sensor for the first time. Once fully tuned, each image from the 300-megapixel camera will capture a patch of sky bigger than the full moon with the sharpness of the Hubble Space Telescope but roughly 100 times the area, moving Roman a major step closer to beginning science operations in 2027.