Young. Passionate. Brilliant.
Talisa Salik, a student from Hof, just made waves at Jugend forscht – Germany’s biggest science competition for youth. 
With a research project on energy storage & a ton of drive, she impressed the jury & proved that young minds can shape the future of science. 
Read more about her journey, motivation & research:
https://t1p.de/fk0qn
Four billion years ago, our planet was water and barren rock.
Out of this, some mighty complicated chemistry bubbled up, perhaps in a pond or a deep ocean vent.
Eventually, that chemistry got wrapped in membranes, a primitive cell developed and life emerged from the ooze.
But how?
Among the many mysteries is a chicken-and-egg problem to solve.
“At the dawn of life, did metabolism come first?”: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/evolution-of-life-metabolism-first
A parasitic fungus takes over the brains of flies and controls them for its own sinister ends. Here’s the science behind the horror.
And this is why #science need public funding to ensure indepedent results ... #ScienceMastodon #humor #publicscience
Take a deeper dive: “Faster Than You Think: Renewable Energy and Developing Countries”
This 2019 article in the Annual Review of Resource Economics explores the energy transition in developing countries and the challenges and benefits involved.
Channing Arndt, Doug Arent, Faaiqa Hartley, Bruno Merven, and Alam Hossain Mondal
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-resource-100518-093759
For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids 
Nigeria is pioneering the development of small, off-grid solar panel
installations to bring reliable electricity to remote communities — setting a
model for other African countries.
Learn more in @KnowableMag 
https://knowmag.org/Minigrids_KM
Lea en español en Knowable en español https://knowmag.org/Minigrids_KEE
New Review Published!
Explore the exciting world of enzymatic protein fusion—where we combine enzymes to enhance biological activity and precision. From biocatalysis to gene therapy and biosensing, fusion proteins are reshaping biotech innovation.
Read the full article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cis.2025.103473
No goal for metformin in cancer trials, but some researchers think the drug might help earlier on in tumor development or to combat aging, among other things.
“That was one of the most important things that anyone has done in the last 50 years, for the origin of life — to really look at how certain reactions can work non-enzymatically." —Martina Preiner
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/evolution-of-life-metabolism-first #KnowableMagazine #ScienceMastodon
Black truffles are most often associated with the European countryside. But as wild truffle habitats have declined, truffle farms in the U.S. are taking root.
PBS Newshour took a closer look at what farmers and researchers are learning about growing and selling truffles stateside: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/americans-are-farming-truffles-and-finding-success-heres-how
For centuries, the wild delicacy grew only in Europe. But improved cultivation techniques have enabled the pricey, odorous fungus to be farmed in new landscapes.
Learn more in Federico Kukso 2022 article, first published in Spanish: https://es.knowablemagazine.org/content/articulo/alimentos-ambiente/2022/trufas-expansion-aromatica-mundo
And available in English: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2022/how-truffles-took-root-around-world
Studies show psychological strain can accelerate tumors — could beta blockers slow them down?
Learn more about this in our recent article republished by The Wire.
Soldiering through nightly suspended animation, a (nearly) all-sugar diet, backwards flight and long migrations, the birds’ tiny physiques prove mighty.
“I don’t think anyone appreciated the magnitude by which even mild stress, if it’s chronic, can have such a negative influence on cancer growth.” —cancer immunologist Elizabeth Repasky
People with cancer may experience a wide range of stressors, both related and unrelated to the disease. A growing body of evidence suggests that these may influence how a tumor grows and spreads.
Learn more: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/health-disease/2025/how-stress-affects-cancer
Half a century after the discovery of long-term potentiation, we’re still learning how the brain remembers.
Learn more about this in our recent article republished by BrainFacts.
Spring is in the air, so viral posts about male trees triggering allergies are once again in the algorithms and I must trot out this article: https://slate.com/technology/2021/10/botanical-sexism-viral-idea-myth.html
For those who read headlines and do not click -- like all viral posts, the "facts" you are seeing are sketchy, at best, and grifting, according to some.
And instead of insidious "botanical sexism" for your sneezing fits you might want to consider the much more prosaic villain of.......
....climate change 
“The thing about this virus is, every time we think we know what’s going to happen, it does something totally unexpected. And that’s the only consistent thing I can say about it.” https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/health-disease/2025/scientific-facts-about-h5n1-bird-flu #KnowableMagazine #ScienceMastodon #BirdFlu #H5N1
“It’s the last major shift that happens to our universe.”
A pivotal period — when all that hydrogen went from one form to another — is known as the epoch of reionization. It began with our cosmic dawn and ushered in the modern era with all its marvelous textures and features. It serves as the backdrop for when the universe grew up.
Everything changed over that billion years or so and nothing much has changed in the billions of years since.
Interested in pursuing #SciComm as a profession? Then this new Master's program in Germany might be for you: tuition-free (also for international students), entirely taught in English, covering everything from #ScienceCommunication to #ScienceJournalism, #SciArt, public engagement and more.
https://www.hs-ansbach.de/en/master/science-communication/
Application period starts on May 1st.
“About 1.7 percent of the population is intersex and don’t fit neatly into male and female boxes, according to InterAct, an advocacy organization for intersex youth. That’s as common as having naturally red hair.” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/biological-sex-male-female-intersex via @sciencenews #ScienceMastodon
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