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Plus: The comet that changed its spin —
Science Times
February 17, 2026
A single small tube resting on the surface of water.

AJ Pow/University of Rochester

tTrilobites

These Unsinkable Tubes Could Help Harvest Energy From the Ocean

Researchers developed aluminum structures that trap air bubbles, making them able to float perpetually in even the harshest environments.

By Kenneth Chang

An expanse of white snow and ice, with a person standing beside a car in the distance.

John Normile/Getty Images

Lake Erie’s Storm Surges Become More Extreme

Officials are designing new ways to protect the shorelines from sudden flooding and longer storm seasons.

By Jim Robbins

An illustration of a wide-eyed tabby cat sitting among several screens displaying animals, birds and a “Next Episode” button.

Julia Rothman

Pet Theory

TV, It’s Not Just for Humans Anymore

Videos aimed at pets are drawing millions of views. But who’s actually watching?

By Emily Anthes

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Let us know how we’re doing at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com.

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Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Could an Electronic Coach Help Ski Jumpers Leap Farther?

Future Olympic prospects are testing a device that can give them corrective advice in real time as they hurtle into the air.

By Eric Niiler

An outdoor excavation site with multiple people. A person in a red hooded jacket stands, others are using shovels and brooms in the dirt.

Qilai Shen for The New York Times

New Research Absolves the Woman Blamed for a Dynasty’s Ruin

A Chinese king’s infatuation with a woman was seen as the reason that a golden age collapsed. Evidence suggests climate change and internal strife played bigger roles.

By Andrew Higgins

A Renaissance-era painting showing Hannibal atop an elephant with an army.

Adam Eastland/Alamy

Trilobites

Elephant Bone in Spain May Be Proof of Hannibal’s Tanks With Trunks

Archaeologists say a 2,200-year-old specimen is the first direct evidence of how the Carthaginian war machine used the giant mammals in the Punic Wars.

By Franz Lidz

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The New York Times

What a Speech Reveals About Trump’s Plans for Nuclear Weapons

A top arms diplomat at the State Department recently laid out what might come next as Washington upends decades of federal policies on nuclear proliferation.

By William J. Broad

Two pixelated telescope images of a comet.

D. Jewitt/University of California, Los Angeles

This Comet Stopped Spinning. Then It Started Rotating Backward.

The unusual event, never seen before, might be a way small comets are “blown to bits” in the solar system.

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

A close-up view of a tortoise with a large hole on its shell on its back.

Trilobites

Constant Sexual Aggression Drives Female Tortoises to Walk Off Cliffs

On a remote island in North Macedonia, male Hermann’s tortoises outnumber females 19 to 1, an imbalance driving the population to extinction.

By Elizabeth Preston

A close-up view of a nostrils of an elephant on the end of its trunk, with tiny whiskers visible on its edges.

Trilobites

An Elephant Is Blind Without Its Whiskers

There are about 1,000 tiny hairs on an elephant’s rugged trunk, all designed to help the animal feel, a new study found.

By Alexa Robles-Gil

A small baboon pressed against a larger baboon reaches toward the face of another baboon.

Trilobites

Baboon Sibling Rivalry Suggests Monkeys Feel Jealousy Like People

Young primates in a southern African nature park were observed to constantly interfere when their mother was giving attention to a younger brother or sister.

By Annie Roth

A black-and-white photo of a mustachioed man in a shirt and tie sitting in front of a wall of books.

Alfred Blumstein, Who Transformed the Study of Crime, Dies at 95

An engineer by training, he used systems theory and quantitative analysis to examine criminal behavior, revealing the systemic patterns of crime.

By Michael S. Rosenwald

CLIMATE CHANGE

Large plumes of white smoke flow from two smokestacks that loom over a tree-lined street in a Kentucky town.

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change

The Environmental Protection Agency rejected the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.

By Lisa Friedman

Brutalist concrete towers appear at the bottom of steep cliffs dotted with trees.

Caine Delacy for The New York Times

A Climate Supercomputer Is Getting New Bosses. It’s Not Clear Who.

The National Science Foundation said management of the machine, used by researchers for forecasts, disaster warnings and pure science, would be transferred to a “third-party operator.”

By Eric Niiler

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HEALTH

Rows of desks in a dark, empty classroom.

Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren

Proponents of vaccines warn that the efforts will further dismantle the immunization infrastructure and lead to more outbreaks of disease.

By Christina Jewett

People walk in and out of a building with the word "Moderna" on its overhead.

Brian Snyder/Reuters

Vaccine Makers Curtail Research and Cut Jobs

Federal policies under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that are hostile to vaccines have “sent a chill through the entire industry,” one scientist said.

By Rebecca Robbins

Dr. Marty Makary gestures with his hands as he speaks from behind a lectern in the White House. Dr. Mehmet Oz and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stand behind him.

Eric Lee for The New York Times

U.S. Health Officials Defend Rejection of Moderna’s Flu Vaccine

The F.D.A.’s refusal to examine the company’s mRNA shot drew widespread criticism from doctors and was divisive within the agency.

By Christina Jewett

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Luisa Jung

the new old age

Should Drug Companies Be Advertising to Consumers?

Aging means “becoming a target” of the industry, one expert said. After decades of debate, politicians of all stripes are proposing bans.

By Paula Span