Michael Greshko

This is fascinating! Researchers have made a big-time discovery on the Rohonc Codex, the "2nd most mysterious manuscript in the world." They found a letter from 1571 about the codex's creator, appended to 4 new pages written in the codex's bizarre language. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Helen is a titan of science and health journalism. May her memory be a blessing.

This is very cool work by @lisafdavis.bsky.social and Colin Layfield! I will have more to say on these results later this year; watch this space.

BEHOLD: the first-ever glowing cuttlefish! 🧪🦑🧪🦑 It's the first successful insertion of a gene into a cephalopod, opening up new ways of studying them. It took @tessamontague.bsky.social years—and 1000s of tries—to pull it off. @sarareardon.bsky.social has the story: www.science.org/content/arti...

New Horizons is now *three days away* from shutting off its two heliophysics instruments, simply because NASA has not provided the $2M in funding it had promised to the mission last year or this year. There is no science basis for shutting these off. Our earlier coverage:

In today's weird news, the fast food chain Wendy's has released...an emo album, with top-flight songwriters and singers: open.spotify.com/album/4q4KzQ... Remarkably, this is NOT the first hamburger-related food brand to release a surprisingly competent album! soundcloud.com/hamburgerhel...

An update @koppenburg.ch! A week and a half in, and the arXiv is humming with theoretical takes on LZ230616.

It was only in April that I covered similar, but less formal conversations happening in astrophysics. It's wild how fast these "why are we even doing this?" discussions are moving. Also wild: the comparative clarity and force of this statement from the Fields Medalists.

OpenAI claims it has solved the Navier-Stokes problem. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s known so far about this apparent breakthrough—and the surrounding controversy: https://scim.ag/4ytDoM0

BREAKING: The Xylom's @alexip718.com, in collaboration with @floodlightnews.org @drilledmedia.bsky.social @deceleration.news has won an Online Journalism Award for Excellence in Science Reporting (Small/Medium Newsroom) with the series, ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’: How Big Oil Ruined a Small Texas Town

🧪 Very cool. Sheeppox is a gnarly virus for sheep, and thanks to a new study of the virus's DNA, we know more about when and how it emerged. How do we know this? Researchers isolated sheeppox from *medieval sheepskin parchment.* A fun one from @andrewcurry.com. www.science.org/content/arti...

So far, so good. The real test will be what happens over the next week, as Week 1 seems to have been when the LHC diphoton excess in 2015 accumulated a lot of preprints quickly. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/750_GeV...

hep-ph is quite @lzdarkmatter.bsky.social heavy today 🚑⚛️

🧪 I cannot wait to see what happens on the arXiv in the next 24 hours, in light of the LZ announcement today. I remember the LHC diphoton excess well; many an ambulance was chased.

BREAKING: The world's most sensitive dark matter detector has announced it has spotted something it can't easily explain: a single event that's tantalizingly consistent with a type of theorized dark matter particle. Very early days yet, but pretty wild. www.science.org/content/arti...

In today’s edition of @science.org Magazine, @michaelgreshko.bsky.social expertly highlights the potential of in-space biomanufacturing.🚀 Some (entertaining!) quotes from our team at Cedars-Sinai and from friends and colleagues working in this rapidly growing field. www.science.org/content/arti...

Subrahmanyam gets perspectives from @janeqiu.bsky.social, @katarinazimmer.bsky.social, @michaelgreshko.bsky.social, Bianca Bosker, @leahc.bsky.social, Paulina Rowińska, @walkingthedot.bsky.social, and @vcallier.bsky.social. Read here: www.theopennotebook.com/2026/08/18/h...

“The investigation suggests the group embraced a dubious approach to identifying protective mutations, improperly changed patient data to tease provocative findings from Christchurch carriers, and published multiple papers containing suspect or copied images.” More trouble in Alzheimer research…🧪

BREAKING: Mutations found in Colombian families raised hopes for new Alzheimer's treatments. Altered patient data and suspect images call these mutations' benefits into question, a major new @science.org investigation reveals. www.science.org/content/arti...

In case you'd like to learn more about "The Sound of America," the Benjamin Franklin rock musical written by Forbes's ex-chief content officer, wonder no more! Forbes staged a multi-song preview of the show last month: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGr...

A wild, unfortunate story. As a magazine journalist with a soft spot for musical theatre, I simply must listen to "The Sound of America."

It was a pleasure to edit this story from @andrewcurry.com on a remarkable archaeological find in Scotland.

As insightful as I found this piece, it was genuinely jarring to see no mention of climate change anywhere in it, even though EV policy is *climate* policy. Passenger vehicles account for ~16% of US energy consumption (see pg 51 here): tedb.ornl.gov/wp-content/u... www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/m...

This is a really stark, and smart, framing of how much Americans now bet on sports. And as the article elaborates on, this headline actually *undersells* it. Movies, art, museums, and music now combine for $70 billion/yr—which is *less than half* of US sports bets (>$166 billion in 2025).

A couple paid more than $800,000 for a gene-editing therapy for their daughter. She died, and it wasn’t made public. An exclusive from us and @science.org.

@science.org and @retractionwatch.com partner on a feature today on a clinical trial death that's the saddest, and longest, science story I've edited. But it's also one of the best IMO. Beautifully written and reported by @bborrell.bsky.social We’re grateful to the parents of "Mei" 1/

This is an absolutely devastating story, told expertly by Reaction Watch's Brendan Borrell. Proud of my @science.org colleagues for their work collaborating with Reaction Watch to bring this story to the world.

I have heard from former colleagues, and the layoffs have cut deep once again, after several brutal layoffs over the past 4 years.

Entertainment industry outlets are reporting big layoffs at Disney today, with National Geographic apparently being hit especially hard. I am bracing for what this will mean for National Geographic's editorial team. deadline.com/2026/07/disn...

This is some nifty new research on the Voynich Manuscript. I hope to have research out later this year that attempts to replicate and build on these results.

Absolutely, and they do fabulous work.

Grateful every day to be doing my work in a country with bedrock protections for freedom of speech and freedom of the press, going back more than two centuries. Happy 250th, Declaration of Independence. And Happy Fourth of July. 🇺🇸

When I was laid off from National Geographic back in 2023, one of the first places I started writing for again was Scientific American. Editors like @leebillings.bsky.social and Dan Ferber helped me get back on my feet. I am forever grateful. Journalism is brutal.

Without exaggeration, @katewong.bsky.social is the reason I am a science journalist. She is incredibly talented!

Journalism is in crisis—including science and environmental journalism. The industry is in really rough shape, and this blow makes matters worse.

Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. https://scim.ag/4xY2KCm

Been wondering why NSF isn't spending most of its FY26 appropriation? A $1.5B tech initiative may be the reason. And big cuts to hundreds of research programs could be just the beginning of the bad news. www.science.org/content/arti...

This is a serious problem and something that, as it happens, magic tricks have been used to study. The issue stems from a visual illusion—the "illusion of absence"—that's especially strong within a moving vehicle. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Will #AI replace astronomers? In the latest #SciencePodcast🎙️, journalist Joshua Sokol explores the intense discussion happening in the astrophysics community as AI and machine learning become increasingly powerful. 🎧 Listen here: https://scim.ag/4vonAsf