A flesh-eating New World screwworm was just found in a Texas cow—here’s what to know
This marks the first case of the New World screwworm in U.S. livestock since the parasite was eliminated in the country in the 1960s
The first case of the New World screwworm in a U.S. cow in about 60 years has been detected, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed yesterday . It is the first instance of the agricultural pest in cattle since it was eliminated in the U.S. in 1966.
Screwworms are parasitic flies that lays their eggs in open wounds or cuts or in the eyes, ears, mouth, nose or genitals of warm-blooded animals—including humans. The maggots hatch and burrow through the skin, causing painful, foul-smelling wounds.
Livestock in the southern U.S. and Mexico suffered devastating screwworm outbreaks in the first half of the 20th century. But the parasite was eliminated in those nations thanks to a wildly successful effort called the sterile insect technique, which involved the release of sterile flies in Panama that caused the fly population to collapse.
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Yet the New World screwworm remained endemic to the Caribbean and South America, where, in 2005, it was estimated to cause annual economic losses of around $6.1 billion in today’s dollars. And in recent years the fly has been spreading northward through Central America. Experts had been warning that it was only a matter of time before it arrived in the U.S.
The new infection was detected in a three-week-old calf in Zavala County, Texas; it was found in the calf’s umbilical area, according to the USDA.
“Protecting our livestock industry is a national security issue of the utmost importance, and USDA is wasting no time in taking action,” said Dudley Hoskins, the agency’s und…
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<p><img width="1024" height="576" src="https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-1024x576.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="Växter på havets botten" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-300x169.jpg 300w, https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-768x432.jpg 768w, https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-850x478.jpg 850w, https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-310x174.jpg 310w, https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik-1102x620.jpg 1102w, https://forskning.se/app/uploads/2026/06/botten-sjogras-Vastervik.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p>Sjögräsängar är viktiga kolsänkor med stor betydelse för både klimatet och havets ekosystem. Genom att analysera sediment under sjögräsängar med ålgräs utanför Västervik har forskare kunnat följa hur kol och kväve lagrats i havsbottnarna under flera tusen år. Resultaten visar att ålgräset etablerades för mer än 4 000 år sedan och på nytt för omkring […]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://forskning.se/2026/06/04/tusenariga-sjograsangar-svara-att-ersatta/">Tusenåriga sjögräsängar svåra att ersätta</a> appeared first on <a href="https://forskning.se">forskning.se</a>.</p>
“I think the team has really experienced the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission.”
Assessing the health secretary's biggest challenges, and a look at new rules that inject politics into the NIH.
Who can buy shares in Elon Musk's SpaceX?
Next week shares go on sale in Musk's Texas-based SpaceX, a company that is planning to colonise Mars and put artificial intelligence (AI) data centres in space.
It is set to be the largest ever public sale of shares and will make SpaceX one of the US's top ten largest listed firms with a high proportion of those shares expected to be available to the wider public.
But for those who invest, what exactly will they be buying and what are the risks?
What is happening with SpaceX exactly?
SpaceX is currently owned by Musk and other private investors, but they are launching what is known as an Initial Public Offering, or IPO.
On 12 June millions of new shares in the company will start trading on the stock market for the first time.
The IPO aims to raise a vast amount of money - at least $75bn - and gives investors the chance to buy into a business whose activities range from space exploration and satellite communication to the social media site X and the controversial AI platform Grok.
SpaceX is separate from Musk's most well-known company, the electric car maker Tesla, although it is thought the two may end up merging next year.
Musk plans to use the extra money he is raising to expand SpaceX's current activities but also to fund new future ventures: mining asteroids, colonising Mars and putting AI data centres in space.
The sci-fi style sales prospectus says humans must avoid "the same fate as dinosaurs" and plan for an "age of abundance" based in space because the "light of consciousness" will not be tied to a single planet.
There is plenty of scepticism about the feasibility of some of these ambitions. But Musk's backers say he has beaten the doubters before.
And if the share sale goes ahead as outlined, it could make him a trillionaire.
Can anyone buy shares?
SpaceX shares will be traded on the New York technology-focused Nasdaq market, and some of the big global investment institutions are likely to buy shares. But indiv…
Over the past 150 years, Earth’s entire surface has been warming, except for one patch of the north Atlantic. Located south-east of Greenland, this area has cooled by as much as 1°C and is known as the “warming hole” or the “cold blob”.
Scientists have been split over why this cold blob exists, but the latest evidence backs up the idea that it is caused by a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the system of currents that transports warmth from the tropics to Europe.
Read more Shift in the Gulf Stream could signal ocean current collapse
Shift in the Gulf Stream could signal ocean current collapse
The AMOC carries warm, salty water from the Gulf of Mexico towards the north Atlantic, where it cools and sinks, flowing back south along the ocean floor. Scientists are concerned that the surge of freshwater from Greenland’s melting ice is making this salty water less dense, so it sinks more slowly, weakening the circulation.
Some research suggests the AMOC could cross a tipping point within decades, locking in a future collapse that would freeze Europe and disrupt monsoon rains crucial for agriculture in Africa and Asia. But we only have 22 years of direct observation of AMOC strength, not enough to tease out a clear trend.
Climate modelling has suggested that a slowing AMOC is carrying less warm water to the north Atlantic, resulting in the cold blob. However, other modelling has placed most of the blame on the atmosphere.
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In a 2022 study , Chengfei He at Northeastern University in Boston and his colleagues found that rapid warming of the Arctic has reduced the temperature difference between the pole and the tropics, shifting the jet stream northwards into the cold blob region. The arrival of these strong westerly winds has forced more evaporation and churned up the water, drawing heat out of the ocean.
Greater evaporation has also led to more clouds…
Astronomers just solved a 50-year-old mystery about the Milky Way’s black hole
A breeze is emanating from Sagittarius A* at the heart of our galaxy
By Jeanna Bryner edited by Clara Moskowitz
At the heart of our home galaxy lurks a gigantic black hole that’s more than a trillion times heavier than Earth, with all that mass stuffed into a region that is about 2,000 times wider than our planet. Now scientists have discovered the behemoth is throwing off a hot breeze.
The findings, detailed today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, suggest not only that all black holes emit such a wind but also that these beasts are not total loners that are isolated from their environments.
“We have never seen a breeze from a black hole,” says study co-author Elena Murchikova of Northwestern University. “We usually see the consequences of outbursts or other violent activities. Seeing the black hole sitting there, being quiet but still dumping energy all over the region without doing anything violent, is terribly cute,” adds Murchikova, an assistant professor in Northwestern’s department of physics and astronomy.
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Supermassive black holes are suspected to lurk at the centers of all galaxies. Despite plenty of investigations of our home galaxy’s monstrous resident, called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* for short, scientists have yet to detect gassy winds blowing from it—which they’ve long theorized to exist.
“To observe our own black hole, we have to look through the plane of our galaxy,” Murchikova said in a statement . “That means we have to peer through gas, dust and ionized structures, and you can’t really see through all of that easily.”
Murchikova and Northwestern’s Mark Gorski led a team that compiled five years of data captured by a …
Kushner-backed luxury resort plan sparks protests in Albania
Protests in the centre of Albania's capital, Tirana, are not exactly unusual. The opposition Democratic Party (PD) stage them so often that they could almost be classified as an offbeat tourist attraction.
But this week's nightly rallies in front of Prime Minister Edi Rama's office have been different - targeting US President's Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as well as the Socialist Party government.
The focus of the anger is a proposed tourism project on Albania's Adriatic coast.
Kushner's Affinity Partners would be one of the investors – and Rama has welcomed his interest with open arms.
The same cannot be said of the protesters, who outwardly appear to have nothing to do with the mainstream opposition. To make that clear, some participants have been carrying placards calling for the imprisonment of PD leader Sali Berisha – who is facing separate corruption charges – as well as Rama.
The protesters are using a pink flamingo as their emblem. It echoes the deployment of a yellow duck in a long-running civic protest movement in Serbia's capital, Belgrade. But in Albania's case, the bird reflects the protesters' very specific concerns.
They say plans for the development on Sazan island and a site at Zvernec, near the coastal city of Vlora, pose a threat to flamingos - which are a protected species - as well as other species in the protected wetlands area.
Kushner's business partner, Asher Abehsera, says the project is focused on "responsible stewardship" and enhancing the environment, as well as creating jobs and value for local communities.
The protesters are also angry about what they see as a lack of transparency over Affinity Partners' involvement, with negotiations between the company and the government dating back to 2024.
Some placards at the protests have highlighted the participants' unhappiness about the concession of land to foreign developers, declaring Albania is "not for sale".
Th…
<p>IPO could raise up to $75bn, giving SpaceX market value of $1.77tn as it sets up Musk for extraordinary wealth</p><p>Elon Musk’s SpaceX is looking to raise $75bn (£55bn) from its blockbuster stock market listing next week as the rocket company aims for the largest initial public offering ever.</p><p>If the stock market launch – primed for 12 June – goes as planned, founder Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, could make history as the first trillionaire.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/03/spacex-ipo-stock-musk">Continue reading...</a>
<p>A blip of light in the outer reaches of the Milky Way might be a bizarre black hole born at the beginning of time itself—and the long-sought solution to the mystery of dark matter. Astronomers are calling it “Phoebe”</p>
The podcast returns with 12 all-new episodes that explore the biggest questions in basic science and mathematics. <p>The post <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/more-conversations-complex-questions-and-bold-ideas-in-season-five-of-the-joy-of-why-20260604/" target="_blank">More Conversations, Complex Questions, and Bold Ideas in Season Five of ‘The Joy of Why’</a> first appeared on <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org" target="_blank">Quanta Magazine</a></p>
New observations suggest the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s core is blowing gas away from the central behemoth.
<p>– Det är ett väldigt spännande genombrott! Det är uppseendeväckande att AI har kunnat lösa ett problem på den här nivån, med så mycket avancerad …</p>
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<p>Det behövs tid för att prata om traumatiska händelser. Det borde jag ha tänkt på. Det var aningslöst att ringa upp Siri Pieska Zetterman och …</p>
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Inceptive Nucleics and Alnylam's partnership, why Grail's "failed" trial still matters, and other biotech news from The Readout
In this edition of STAT Health Tech: An update on the Utah pilot that uses a chatbot to renew drug prescriptions, AI scribes for patients, and more.
Officials have withdrawn advice for people not to bathe at Portstewart Strand after tests of the water showed it posed no risk to the public.
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) issued the notice at the popular north coast beach on Wednesday following a suspected pollution incident .
That was to allow the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and Daera to take water samples as part of their investigation.
Daera said on Thursday that levels of bacteria from sewage or animal waste, were not high enough to pose a risk.
The National Trust, who manage the beach, confirmed they had been notified that water sampling had "returned within normal limits".
The warning for Portstewart Strand had advised members of the public against swimming and recommended that dogs be kept on leads and away from the water while officials investigated.
Signs warning people against bathing have now been removed.
Daera said that a similar temporary advice against bathing notice issued for Helen's Bay in County Down on Tuesday has also been lifted following water testing.
People are advised to check the NI Bathing Water Quality Dashboard and on-site signage for updates.
Eli Lilly is halving its originally planned investment in the production of weight loss syringes in Germany in response to a cost-cutting law
An Ebola update, Trump to strip job protections of NIH officials, and more health news from Morning Rounds
Rachel Carson’s look at the dire effects of industrial and agricultural pollution birthed the modern environmental movement when it was first published – and remains as crucial a read today, finds Rowan Hooper
Used Waymo batteries will bolster California and Texas energy storage projects.
<p>Scientists praise moves to investigate, retract or remove controversial studies. The authors stand by their work</p><p>Three scientific papers that raised questions about vaccine safety and were used by the Trump administration to justify <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/16/judge-blocks-rfk-jr-vaccine-policy-changes">controversial changes to US vaccine policies</a> have over the last two months been removed, retracted or placed under investigation by the journals that published them.</p><p>In some cases, the actions occurred years after scientists first raised alarms about the studies’ scientific merits.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/04/vaccine-studies-rfk-jr">Continue reading...</a>
Humans conquered the planet 300 times faster than genetic evolution can explain
Culture is humanity’s secret for world domination. This calculation shows just how powerful it is
By Cody Cottier edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier
Just under 300,000 years from the moment Homo sapiens appeared in Africa, the species had encircled Earth, mastering desolate deserts and frozen wastelands and all the temperate climes in between. Throughout this staggering expansion, we seem to have relied surprisingly little on genetic adaptation to fuel our globe-conquering—all eight billion of us together remain less genetically diverse than individual populations of chimpanzees. So how did we do it?
Many scientists point to cultural evolution, the process by which knowledge, customs and technology spread over time. But according to Alex Mesoudi, who studies cultural evolution at the University of Exeter in England, “it’s always been just a vague claim.”
No longer. A recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA by Arizona State University evolutionary anthropologist Charles Perreault calculates just how big a boost our capacity for culture might have given the great human takeover. Had we been a typical mammal, forced to adapt primarily through sluggish genetic evolution, Perreault concludes, we would’ve needed 88 million years to attain our current geographic footprint—and we would have split into some 2,200 distinct species in that time.
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To arrive at those figures, Perreault compiled range maps for nearly 6,000 mammal species and charted how geographic spread relates to three proxies of evolutionary change for a group with a common ancestor, called a lineage: a lineage’s age, its number of species, and its spectrum …