Science Times: The microbes that could maybe cool the planet
Plus: Interstellar comet, feral hogs and green cheese —
Science Times
October 14, 2025
A man standing in a workshop surrounded by geometric sculptures.

Marion Roelofs

Every Artist Has a Favorite Subject. For Some, That’s Math.

At the annual Bridges conference, mathematical creativity was on dazzling display.

By Siobhan Roberts

An aerial view of the San Andreas fault cleaving the earth with either a rising or setting sun on the mountainous horizon.

David McNew/Getty Images

Trilobites

One ‘Really Big One’ After Another

The disaster caused by a predicted large earthquake in the Pacific Northwest could be compounded by shaking along the San Andreas fault in California, scientists warned.

By Sarah Scoles

A white dot representing the Comet 3I/ATLAS with a light halo around it against a fuzzy black background.

European Space Agency

An Interstellar Comet Flew Past Mars, and Spacecraft Took Pictures

3I/ATLAS, only the third object from beyond our solar system ever spotted from Earth, was viewed from Mars by an orbiting European spacecraft.

By Kenneth Chang

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Two men look at a feral hog and its two piglets in a makeshift enclosure.

Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times

How to Deal With 30 to 50 Feral Hogs

Once a meme, free-ranging swine have become a real problem — one that has given rise to a wide array of potential solutions.

By Callaghan O’Hare and Emily Anthes

A person who is wearing a snow suit, boots and knit hat is standing on a snow-covered expanse and is looking through binoculars.

Emile Ducke for The New York Times

Curious Reindeer and Hungry Polar Bears: Warming Is Upending an Arctic Island

Climate change is transforming ecosystems in the far north. An international team of scientists has made some surprising discoveries.

By Sarah Hurtes, Jeffrey Gettleman and Emile Ducke

A brown-furred bat with a small clip on one wing on a bark-like surface.

Elena Tena

Trilobites

Bats Catch Migratory Birds and Eat Them in Midair

For the first time, scientists documented direct evidence of a bat preying on a bird at high altitude.

By Douglas Main

Article Image

Louw et al., Current Biology 2025

Trilobites

Why the Green Cheese Turned White

The cheesemakers didn’t mind that their prized product was changing color, but they were curious about the cause.

By Elizabeth Preston

A yellow-brown bird with electric-blue and green skin surrounding its eyes like a beaded mask.

A New Wildlife Assessment Has Bright Spots Amid Alarming Declines

Sea turtles are making a surprising comeback, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The news was not so good for Arctic seals.

By Catrin Einhorn

A view into a chamber of a metal machine containing very hot gas, turning the chamber’s edges a bright reddish-orange.

Why Diamonds Are a Computer Chip’s New Best Friend

Data centers squander vast amounts of electricity, most of it as heat. The physical properties of diamond offer a potential solution, researchers say.

By Amos Zeeberg

An illustration of prehistoric deer.

Trilobites

Toronto’s Subway Deer Enigma Unmasked With DNA Analysis

It took nearly 50 years to work out the identity of a caribou-like fossil first discovered by construction workers.

By Elie Dolgin

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HEALTH

Dr. Stéphie-Anne Dulièpre photographed through a pane of glass.

Michael A. McCoy for The New York Times

They Fought Outbreaks Worldwide. Now They’re Fighting for New Lives.

Hundreds of infectious disease specialists have been let go by the Trump administration. Here are four who focused on keeping pandemics at bay.

By Apoorva Mandavilli

A blue sign, lit at night, stands before the C.D.C. headquarters in Atlanta.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Trump Administration Is Bringing Back Scores of C.D.C. Experts Fired in Error

Friday’s layoffs swept up scientists involved in responding to disease outbreaks and running an influential journal. Officials said the mistaken dismissals were being rescinded.

By Apoorva Mandavilli and Sheryl Gay Stolberg

Several surgeons at work around a patient, not seen in the frame, in an operating room.

Xijing Hospital of the Air Force Medical University, via Xinhua

Chinese Surgeons Perform First Pig-to-Human Liver Transplant

The transplanted portion of the genetically modified pig liver was removed after 38 days, and the patient, who had advanced liver cancer and cirrhosis, died several months later.

By Roni Caryn Rabin

A close-up view of a Tylenol bottle surrounded by pills.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Taking Too Much Tylenol Has Proven Risks. Trump Didn’t Talk About Those.

Acetaminophen’s link to autism is unproven. But hundreds of Americans accidentally overdose on the drug each year, suffering liver damage that can require a transplant or even be fatal.

By Rebecca Robbins

Wearing a plaid shirt Rebecca Seidel holds with her smiling son Adlai in her arms.

Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times

Seeking Covid Shots for Their Children, Some Parents Hit a Wall

Children under 12 need different versions of Covid vaccines, but many pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices aren’t stocking them.

By Maggie Astor

W.H.O. Warns of Sharp Increase in Drug-Resistant Infections

The U.N. health agency found that one in six infections worldwide was resistant to the most commonly available antibiotics.

By Andrew Jacobs

An illustration of an older man reading on a park bench while a group of joggers runs by him.

Social Ties Help You Live Longer. What Does That Mean for Introverts?

You don’t have to be the life of every party to reap the health benefits.

By Dana G. Smith

A person uses a syringe in one hand to inject into the other hand.

‘Bluetoothing’: Blood-Sharing Drug Trend Fuels Alarming Global H.I.V. Surge

The practice, in which users inject the blood of already intoxicated individuals, has fueled one of the fastest-growing H.I.V. epidemics in the Pacific and grown widespread in South Africa.

By Pranav Baskar

Trump Announces a Deal on Drug Prices With AstraZeneca

The president and top health officials acknowledged using the leverage of tariff threats to forge an agreement. Other companies are still in negotiations with the White House.

By Rebecca Robbins and Margot Sanger-Katz