Chemists Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi have won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work developing metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. The porous materials can trap gases, purify water, and store energy. Their crystalline structures act like molecular sponges, capable of capturing carbon dioxide and pulling clean water from the air. Since the 1990s, MOFs have become essential in environmental and materials science, with applications in air purification, fuel storage, and drug delivery. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences described the discovery as a major step in molecular design, paving the way for a new generation of sustainable materials.
In 1995, Lieutenant Scott O’Grady’s F-16 was shot down over Bosnia, sending him parachuting into enemy territory. At Pine Gap, a secret U.S.–Australian satellite base in the heart of Australia’s desert, NSA analyst David Rosenberg watched the crisis unfold from half a world away. His job: to track enemy radars, intercept signals, and help locate the missing pilot before hostile forces did.
Pine Gap’s satellites scanned the region as O’Grady hid in the woods, surviving on rainwater and silence. The wrong transmission could expose him, but the absence of any signal meant rescue teams had no trail to follow. For Rosenberg, it was a moment that turned years of technical work into something deeply personal, a test of human instinct in a world run by machines.
Join David Rosenberg in this week’s podcast selection, 'Searching For The Soldier', as Pine Gap goes on high alert to save one man lost behind enemy lines.
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What secrets still linger in the Valley of the Kings?
Egypt has reopened the tomb of Amenhotep III after more than two decades of restoration, just weeks before the country’s Grand Egyptian Museum is set to open on November 1.
Amenhotep III ruled over 3,000 years ago during the 18th Dynasty, overseeing one of ancient Egypt’s most prosperous eras. His reign left behind landmarks like the Temple of Luxor, the palace at Malkata, and a vast mortuary temple. The pharaoh’s tomb was uncovered in 1799 by two of Napoleon’s engineers, though it had been stripped of its treasures long before. Carved deep beneath the Valley of the Kings, the burial chamber extends 118 feet into the rock and features vivid inscriptions from the Book of the Dead that were meant to guide the pharaoh through the underworld.
From the ghostly remains of the Titanic to the long-lost wreck of the SS Yongala, millions of ships rest quietly on the ocean floor. Some vanished in war, others in storms, but each carries a fragment of history preserved in salt and silence.
Off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the SS Yongala disappeared in a 1911 cyclone with 122 passengers and a racehorse named Moonshine. In the North Atlantic, RMS Lusitania sank in just 18 minutes after a German torpedo strike during WWI. And in the Pacific, the SS President Coolidge met its end on hidden mines while serving as a troopship in 1942. Discover more in this SPYSCAPE article.
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Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the Allen Institute in Seattle have used artificial intelligence to map a mouse brain in remarkable detail, revealing more than 1,300 regions and subregions. The map, published this week, could help scientists pinpoint which parts of the brain control movement, memory, and disease.
Their model, called CellTransformer, works a bit like an AI large language model, but instead of linking words, it studies how neighboring cells relate to one another. By analyzing massive datasets, it uncovered previously unknown areas that may help explain movement disorders, memory loss, and other neurological conditions. Scientists say the same approach could be used to map other organs or track how diseases like cancer spread.
Thailand’s annual water buffalo festival returned this week in Chonburi province, celebrating the massive animals that once powered the nation’s rice fields. The 150-year-old event blends tradition and spectacle with races and beauty pageants.
Jockeys train with their buffaloes, or “kwai,” for weeks before charging down a 100-meter track, cheered on by crowds of locals and tourists. Riders don traditional attire, while the animals are judged for strength, posture, and gleaming hides. Thailand’s kwai have been largely replaced by tractors, but the festival now doubles as a conservation effort—supporting breeders and keeping a muddy, time-honored tradition alive.
Image Credit: 9_Banjerd/iStock
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