Why Japan issued its first-ever mega-earthquake alert

A map of Japan is shown.

On August 8, the Japanese Meteorological Agency issued its first-ever megaquake alert, after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked the Miyazaki prefecture in southern Japan earlier that day. The Miyazaki quake injured at least 16 people and generated minor tsunamis up to 50 centimeters tall that reached the countrys coastline about half an hour later. The … Read more

A hunger protein reverses anorexia symptoms in mice

Two white mice sit side by side as they eat from a pile of bird seed off of a white table.

An appetite-stimulating protein can reverse anorexia in mice. Mice with lack of appetite and weight loss symptoms similar to people with anorexia that were genetically tweaked to secrete a protein called ACBP ate more food and weighed more than anorexic animals with an ACBP deficit, researchers report August 14 in Science Translational Medicine. The finding … Read more

Dark matter experiments get a first peek at the neutrino fog 

A metal structure in the innards of the XENON-nT experiment.

The neutrino fog is beginning to materialize. Lightweight subatomic particles called neutrinos have begun elbowing their way into the data of experiments not designed to spot them. Two experiments, built to detect particles of dark matter, have caught initial glimpses of neutrinos born in the sun, physicists report. Thats a triumph, says neutrino physicist Kate … Read more

Why mpox is a global health emergency again

The hands of a health care worker wearing gloves hold a vial and a swab that

For the second time, the World Health Organization has declared that mpox, formerly called monkeypox, is a global health emergency. In 2022, global spread of the virus, which causes rashes, fevers, muscle aches and other symptoms, led to the first emergency declaration (SN: 7/22/22). That version of the virus, called clade II, is still causing … Read more

Scientists want to send endangered species to the moon

A photo of Earth taken by a NASA spacecraft in orbit around the moon

As more and more species near extinction, scientists have been collecting samples from animals, plants and other creatures and storing them in biorepositories across the globe (SN: 5/8/19). But climate change, environmental disasters and wars threaten these modern Noahs arks (SN: 2/28/22). Now, a team of researchers is brainstorming an out-of-this-world solution: building one of … Read more