your science briefing for 04.04.2025

Resurrecting the disastrous idea of live nuclear tests, Europe's bid to poach fleeing scientists, studying screaming stars, and more...

Not content with bludgeoning the global economy while derailing our own with absurd tariffs on everything and everyone including an island of penguins, firing scientists for wongthink, having a squad of blithering edgelords try to create a cyberpunk dystopia with nothing but technobabble and vaporware, unleashing a science denialist to more of less dismantle public health, and start a war with Panama and the rest of NATO, the Trump administration now wants to resurrect nuclear testing. Yes, sure, all of the labs which maintain our nuclear weapons say this is unnecessary. But hey, why not? We’re not even pretending to listen to experts on anything anymore… (ScienceNews)

extra: Just in case you wanted a quick refresher on how nuclear weapons really work and how we ended up with so many thousands of them, check out the handy WoWT primer on how to build and maintain nukes. No, it won’t blow you away because that would be bad. It will just give you the facts, history, and reference material.

In other absurd news, tuberculosis is now poised for a comeback thanks to cuts in the USAID programs intended to combat the spread of the disease in developing nations where it’s still a major scourge, killing 1.2 million per year. Testing, prevention, and the cocktails of antibiotics that cure it, are now going to be severely limited until the WHO finds a workaround. I’m sure the memes being posted a hundred times per day about people dying thanks to DOGE on Twi… sorry, X, will be fire… (BotAS)

Microplastics are rapidly proving to be a menace, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes, dementia, and inflammation. And just like various clinics claim to cleanse your body of toxins, a startup in London is claiming it can clean your blood of all those nasty plastic shards. Are their tools effective? Do they actually clean your body? Does the treatment make a difference? We have no idea. But given the alarming headlines, there’s a steady stream of clients ready and willing to pay anyway… (Wired)

America’s deliberate, intentional, malicious loss may be EU’s gain. In the wake of 75% of surveyed scientists now open and willing to leave the U.S. to continue their work, the multinational block is listening and planning to woo researchers to set up shop in universities and private institutions across the continent. Until now, Europe couldn’t compete in recruiting enough scientists and engineers to execute on ambitious goals to reclaim its title as the center of global science and innovation, but with the Trump administration kneecapping the U.S. in science and tech, all bets are off… (Nature)

Did you know that stars can sing? Well, sing is a strong word. More like scream. If you could hear the sun, it would sound like something between a rave and a jackhammer, which makes sense if you consider that it’s a giant thermonuclear explosion a million and a half kilometers across. Of course, in space, no one can hear the Sun scream as sound waves don’t travel in a vacuum. But the starquakes which create that sound as a star burns, do make it flicker and studying them on different stars tells us a lot about their age, evolution, and inner workings… (ScienceAlert)