Scientists Successfully Expand Life’s Genetic Alphabet: Scientists at UC San Diego have shown that RNA polymerase, an enzyme essential for gene expression, can accurately read and transcribe an artificial eight-letter genetic alphabet—double the four-letter code used by natural DNA. Using biochemical experiments and high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy, researchers examined how E. coli RNA polymerase handles synthetic base pairs. They found that the enzyme recognizes the artificial DNA letters using many of the same structural and biochemical signals employed for natural bases, allowing the expanded genetic information to be faithfully converted into RNA. The findings strengthen the possibility of creating biological systems capable of storing and processing information beyond nature’s genetic code. Such expanded alphabets could eventually support new diagnostics, therapeutics and engineered organisms capable of producing molecules and performing functions not found in nature. (UC San Diego Today)
AI Cracks Longstanding Navier-Stokes Mathematics Problem: OpenAI says an artificial intelligence system has solved the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize problem, potentially marking the first time AI has cracked a major open mathematical challenge. Over 88 hours, roughly 10,000 AI agents searched for conditions under which the equations governing fluid flow break down. They identified a solution that develops a singularity in finite time, producing an impossible state in which fluid velocity becomes infinite. The proof was subsequently formalized using Lean, allowing automated mathematical verification. The achievement reportedly required millions of dollars in computing resources. However, it has sparked a dispute over credit involving mathematicians Tristan Buckmaster and Levent Alpöge, who had independently made substantial AI-assisted progress on the problem. If confirmed, the breakthrough could profoundly reshape mathematics and AI-assisted scientific discovery. (Science)
OpenAI Claims Breakthrough on Millennium Math Problem: Nature reports that OpenAI says an experimental AI system has produced a solution to the Navier–Stokes existence-and-smoothness problem, one of mathematics’ seven celebrated Millennium Prize Problems. The question asks whether equations used to describe fluid motion always yield smooth solutions or can develop singularities. OpenAI says its AI found a breakdown scenario after the company concentrated thousands of AI agents on the problem. The announcement arrives amid a remarkable burst of AI-assisted mathematics: researchers Levent Alpöge and Tristan Buckmaster separately reported progress on a simplified zero-viscosity version using models from OpenAI and Anthropic. The potentially historic result still requires rigorous scrutiny by mathematicians and formal acceptance; an AI-generated proof does not become a solved Millennium Problem simply because its developer announces it. (Nature)
AlphaGenome Maps Nine Billion Possible DNA Changes: Google DeepMind has created a vast AI-generated atlas predicting what would happen if virtually every letter in the human genome were individually changed. AlphaGenome evaluates roughly nine billion possible single-nucleotide substitutions across the genome’s three billion DNA bases, predicting effects on gene expression, RNA splicing and other biological processes. The project is particularly important because only about 2% of human DNA directly encodes proteins; interpreting variants in the enormous noncoding remainder remains one of genetics’ hardest problems. Researchers hope the atlas will help identify which mutations contribute to inherited diseases and cancer while accelerating experiments by prioritizing variants most likely to matter. The predictions are not experimental measurements and will require extensive biological validation. Still, the project illustrates how foundation-style AI models are increasingly being used to interpret the genome at unprecedented scale. (Nature)
Hubble and Webb Find Missing Worlds Beyond Neptune: Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope have teamed up to conduct the deepest survey yet of tiny trans-Neptunian objects, remnants of the Solar System’s planet-building era. Astronomers discovered 27 exceptionally faint objects, including one only about five kilometers across—roughly five times smaller than objects detectable with the best ground-based telescopes. Surprisingly, researchers found fewer small bodies than some planet-formation models predict. They also discovered that small objects retain the same color relationships as larger members of their populations, suggesting their surfaces have changed relatively little despite billions of years of collisions. “Hot” and “cold” orbital populations also showed similar size distributions despite forming under different conditions. Because these objects are essentially surviving planetesimals, their characteristics preserve evidence about how planets assembled and migrated early in Solar System history. (NASA Science)
Very Hot Drinks Triple Esophageal Cancer Risk: Drinking beverages very hot may substantially increase the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, according to the largest UK investigation of the association. Researchers analyzed nearly 980,000 participants from UK Biobank and the Million Women Study and followed health outcomes for more than a decade. Compared with people who preferred warm beverages, those reporting hot drinks had nearly twice the risk of developing esophageal SCC, while people preferring very hot drinks had approximately three times the risk. Importantly, the association involved temperature rather than tea or coffee itself, and researchers found no comparable relationship with esophageal adenocarcinoma. One limitation is that participants reported their temperature preferences rather than having beverage temperatures directly measured. Researchers suspect repeated thermal injury to cells lining the esophagus could help explain the increased cancer risk. (Cancer Research UK – Cancer News)
Burnt City Yields 4,600-Year-Old Board Game: Archaeologists excavating Shahr-i-Sokhta, the Bronze Age settlement known as the “Burnt City,” have uncovered a roughly 4,600-year-old board game alongside an engraved bone comb and exceptionally preserved traces of everyday life. Researchers also recovered eggshells, textile fragments and leather, materials that can provide unusually intimate evidence of ancient domestic activity. Excavations in the northeastern portion of the site identified two construction phases as well as hearths, animal remains, stoneworking debris, tools and animal figurines, suggesting household activities and craft production occurred together. The board game is particularly intriguing because games can illuminate social interaction, leisure and cultural exchange in ways monumental architecture cannot. Researchers plan radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis and examination of human remains to refine the chronology and reconstruct the lives of people inhabiting this major Bronze Age urban center. (archaeology.org)