The International Astronomical Union has officially approved asteroid (14331) Alyankovic, honoring musical satirist 'Weird Al' Yankovic, alongside another asteroid named for Tom Lehrer, the mathematician and satirical songwriter who died last year at 97. The naming effort was led by planetary scientist Allison McGraw with support from several scientists including astrophysicist Steve Desch, Smithsonian curator Tim McCoy, and Spacewatch program leader Melissa Brucker.
science.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-25
A books-in-brief roundup covers four forthcoming 2026 titles: Siri Carpenter's edited collection on science journalism craft, David Helvarg's book on the ecological importance of cold-water kelp forests, Kit Chapman's history of alchemy's role in founding chemistry, and Roberta Kwok's 'Lost in Curiosity.' Each entry summarizes the book's core argument and notable details, such as kelp forests producing a fifth of the world's oxygen and the 1901 exchange between Frederick Soddy and Ernest Rutherford over radioactive transmutation.
nature.com
· 2026-09-25
An Associated Press analysis found unemployment among recent computer science graduates has reached nearly 7.1%, higher than several humanities majors. One recent Tulane graduate, Jack Zemke, struggled with hundreds of unanswered applications before landing a job at a civil engineering firm through a networking encounter, later moving to an AI startup. Colleges are responding by adding business-focused internships and AI-tool training as the job market shifts.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-24
Author Caroline Webb has released a book, 'Leadership Intelligence: Science-Backed Strategies for Mastering 21 Everyday Management Challenges,' applying behavioral science research to workplace leadership. She shares five specific insights from the book aimed at helping managers handle common challenges more effectively.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-23
A survey by academic mentoring platform Nova Learning found that the share of middle and high school students naming Computer Science and AI as their top academic interest dropped from 42.3% in 2025 to 27.9% in 2026, while Engineering's share nearly doubled, rising from 11.9% to 23%, led largely by Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Separately, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported an 8.1% drop in undergraduate Computer and Information Science enrollment at four-year institutions, to about 606,000 students, even as Engineering enrollment grew.
news.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-22
PepsiCo is investing in precision agriculture technology, including drones and data analytics, on farms like a multigenerational operation in Alberta to improve soil health and crop yields. The company relies on roughly 45 billion potatoes annually for Lay's, Ruffles and other snack brands, making stable harvests essential to its supply chain.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-22
The Austrian Academy of Science, working with French AI lab Mistral and tech firm Sail Reply, has released Apollo, described as the first large language model built specifically for Ancient Greek. Trained on roughly 600 million words from manuscripts, papyri and inscriptions, it will be offered free to scholars through a chatbot interface to help them locate relevant fragments and reconstruct damaged texts.
wired.com
· 2026-09-22
Gizmodo has released its annual science awards, recognizing what its editors consider the year's most significant discoveries, breakthroughs, and scientific stories. The list spans multiple fields of research and highlights work the publication believes had outsized impact in 2026.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-21
NASA's Curiosity rover team identified organic compounds in ancient clay deposits on Mars that resemble molecules thought to have contributed to life's origins on Earth. The discovery earned the mission's chemistry lab team recognition at the Gizmodo Science Fair for providing strong chemical evidence of Mars's past potential habitability.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-21
A university president outlines six principles meant to help institutions resist political pressure on research funding, peer review and academic autonomy, citing examples from the United States and Hungary. The piece traces how funding cuts, shifting grant priorities and legal campaigns against institutions like Central European University have already eroded independent scholarship in some countries.
nature.com
· 2026-09-21
Researchers at UC Davis had 61 teenagers either stroke or neck-scratch rescued donkeys and miniature horses for a few minutes and measured their mood before and after. Participants reported feeling less anxious, sad and lonely, and calmer, almost immediately, with neck-scratching prompting more visible signs of pleasure from the animals such as lip-wriggling.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-20
Researchers continue to push toward superconductors that operate without extreme cooling, a goal that has driven physics research for decades. Despite incremental progress in materials science, truly practical, room-temperature superconductors that could be deployed at scale have not yet been achieved.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-19
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