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An 'interstellar visitor' and the oldest ancient Egyptian genome ever sequencedScience news this week July 5, 2025: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.
Science news this week -
Our gut bacteria can absorb and remove toxic 'forever chemicals' — at least in lab miceAn experiment in lab mice found that certain human gut bacteria can absorb PFAS, commonly called "forever chemicals," until they are excreted, new study finds.
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Wild orcas offer humans food. Could they be trying to make friends — or manipulate us?Researchers have documented orcas dropping prey and other marine life in front of humans, as if offering us food. The orcas' motives are uncertain, but the sharing behavior could be an attempt at a cross-species relationship or manipulation.
14 Commentsorcas -
Bear's new metal tooth is world's biggest-ever crownLake Superior Zoo in Minnesota announced it has given a brown bear the world's largest dental crown, with the bear now sporting a silver-colored metal canine
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Watch mud volcano erupt beneath a crown of flames in TaiwanThe Wandan mud volcano has erupted in Taiwan, sending bubbling mud shooting into the air as locals ignite ejected gases with burning rags.
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Listen to the Andromeda galaxy's stars played as musical notes in eerie NASA videoNASA's Chandra Observatory has combined different wavelength images of the Andromeda galaxy to honor astronomer Vera Rubin, and then created a music video by converting the light in those images to musical notes.
astronomy -
Mysterious 'runner' dinosaur a sign there are more Jurassic secrets to unlock beneath western USThe discovery of Enigmacursor mollyborthwickae, a dog-size "runner" dinosaur, has left researchers re-evaluating Nanosaurus and several other US dinosaurs from the Morrison Formation in Colorado.
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Thunderstorm 'Ring of fire' erupts around 'heat dome' and Tropical Storm Andrea named in the AtlanticThe "heat dome" hovering over the eastern half of the U.S. now has a thunderstorm "ring of fire" erupting along its edge. Meanwhile, in the Atlantic, the first tropical storm of the season has been named.
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Sun 'hole' expected to produce intense auroras tonight, potentially visible from 15 US statesA coronal hole in the sun could result in visible auroras over about 15 U.S. states tonight (June 25), with the Space Weather Prediction Center expecting a moderate geomagnetic storm.
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Night lizards survived dinosaur-killing asteroid strike despite living right next to impact siteResearchers found that night lizards survived the dinosaur-killing asteroid strike at the end of the Cretaceous, despite living near the impact site in Mexico.
2 Commentslizards -
Alcohol-soaked star system could help explain 'why life, including us, was able to form'The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array has detected methanol isotopes around a nearby star, which could help explain why the ingredients for life are present on Earth.
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Rubin Observatory releases 'sneak peek' of first images taken with world's largest cameraThe world has gotten an early preview of the Rubin Observatory's first images, which include stunning snaps of spiraling galaxies and the Trifid and Lagoon nebulae.
astronomy -
Massive 'heat dome' is bringing 'extremely dangerous' temperatures to the eastern half of the USWeather forecasters have warned of extreme and dangerous temperatures as a major heat wave sweeps across the central and eastern U.S. states.
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Earth's oceans are a 'ticking time bomb' as acidity levels enter 'danger zone,' study suggestsResearchers have found that ocean acidification entered a "danger zone" in 2020, suggesting increased carbon dioxide levels have caused Earth to breach another planetary boundary.
4 Commentsrivers-oceans -
'Strawberry Moon' in pictures: Major lunar standstill sees June's full moon hang low in the skyLast night's "Strawberry Moon" hovered lower in the night sky than it had done since 2006. Here are some stunning global snaps of June's full moon during the major lunar standstill.
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Haunting blood-red squid with large hooks drifts through Antarctic ocean's midnight zone in world-first videoResearchers have filmed a living Antarctic gonate squid in a world-first sighting deep in the ocean surrounding Antarctica.
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See a young star potentially giving birth to a giant planet in new image from Very Large TelescopeNew images of a young star, 2MASSJ1612, could have captured the birth of a giant gas planet larger than Jupiter.
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College student discovers psychedelic fungus that eluded LSD inventorA West Virginia University student has identified an elusive fungus that contains psychedelic chemicals similar to LSD.
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Mount Etna eruption in images: See Europe's largest active volcano blow from different anglesThe latest Mount Etna eruption triggered an avalanche of volcanic material and sent ash miles into the air. Spectacular photos and videos capture the eruption of Europe's largest active volcano.
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Cats recognize familiar BO and can spot strangers from the stink of their armpits and toesResearchers have found that cats spend longer sniffing a stranger's odor than their owner's odor, suggesting they can distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar humans from scent alone.
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WATCH Mount Etna erupt: Europe's largest volcano blows as tourists scramble to safetyItaly's Mount Etna has erupted in spectacular fashion, sending ash, gas, and other volcanic material high into the sky above Sicily. Watch footage of the eruption.
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OpenAI's 'smartest' AI model was explicitly told to shut down — and it refusedAn artificial intelligence safety firm has found that OpenAI's o3 and o4-mini models sometimes refuse to shut down, and will sabotage computer scripts in order to keep working on tasks.
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Combo of cancer therapy drugs increases mice lifespan by 30%A cocktail of FDA-approved cancer drugs, trametinib and rapamycin, boosts the lifespan of lab mice by 30% and might help humans age better, new study finds.
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Watch mesmerizing 1,000-foot-tall lava fountains: Kilauea volcano erupting in ways not seen for 40 yearsThe USGS has announced that Kilauea volcano is ejecting fountains of lava in a manner not seen since the Pu'u'ō'ō eruption in the 1980s. But while the lava is mesmerizing, officials warn that the volcano is also producing toxic gases and other hazards.
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