# NuseReal

August 2026

Moderna and Merck's melanoma cancer vaccine breakthrough: Cancer experts hailed it as the beginning of an era of custom-made vaccines that train the immune system to fight an individual patient's cancer (LINK) — 29 August 2026

Congo begins Ebola vaccinations to fight country's worst outbreak on record, Health Minister says (ground news LINK) — 27 August 2026

Scientists just made a serious breakthrough on the universe's expansion. Now this Nobel Prize winner thinks we've mapped the universe all wrong (LINK) — 27 August 2026

— "It is becoming increasingly clear that the standard cosmological model struggles to describe the full expansion history of the Universe as revealed by the cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, and locally calibrated type Ia supernovae," the paper reads. Dr. Alyssa Sokol declared: "We may very well be on the verge of throwing out the standard model of cosmology."

Largest ever 'map' of autism may hold clues for new targeted therapies (LINK) — 27 August 2026

— Using artificial intelligence and data on tiny brains grown in the lab, researchers have mapped out the ways in which certain genetic mutations that are associated with autism can rewire the brain and lead to the condition.

U.S. FDA gives expedited approval to daraxonrasib, new groundbreaking pancreatic cancer drug: blocks a mutated protein which fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases (LINK) — 26 August 2026

— The daily pills will be sold by Revolution Medicines under the brand name Rasonque. Patients taking the drug nearly doubled their survival time, with fewer severe side effects, in a study that randomly assigned them to receive the experimental treatment or more chemotherapy.s

WHO says Ebola outbreak in Uganda is over, as cases rise in Congo (ground news LINK) — 26 August 2026

— Uganda declared the epidemic over on July 28, following an outbreak that caused 20 cases and two deaths in the country. Cases continue to rise in Congo, with more than 5,600 cases and more than 2,700 deaths; the outbreak is the second-deadliest in history and is outpacing containment efforts. Marie Roseline Belizaire, director of emergency preparedness for the WHO African region, flagged an immediate $30 million funding gap, warning, "Without this immediate investment, we risk stalling the momentum we have built."

Canada: Fired for vaccine refusal, Kelowna woman's civil claims against union dismissed (ground news LINK) — 26 August 2026

Cases of 'scromiting' condition tied to cannabis use spike among U.S. teens, young adults (LINK) — 22 August 2026

— Cannabis (or cannabinoid) hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) can cause excessive vomiting with recurring bouts of severe stomach pain and nausea. It was first detected in Australia two decades ago. Some have referred to a combination of CHS symptoms – screaming, due to the intense pain, and vomiting — as "scromiting". Hot showers and baths are often described as the only way to mitigate the discomfort. In rare cases, the condition has resulted in death, health officials said.

Rewilded land remains green amid drought-stricken English countryside, images show: National Trust's Holnicote estate says restored wetlands and rivers offer proof of resilience to drought, wildfires and flooding (LINK) — 21 August 2026

Indian scientists directly date 3.5-billion-year-old evidence of life for the first time: single-cell microbial community in Bhitardari, India (LINK) — 21 August 2026

Crops are becoming less nutritious: rising CO2 is the likely culprit for fewer nutrients like zinc, protein, and iron in our food (LINK) — 20 August 2026

Each measles case in 2025 US outbreak cost almost $60,000, study estimates, or $134 million total: and this year's outbreak, which last week reached 2,566 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), would so far cost more than $150 million (LINK) — 20 August 2026

Switzerland: Retreating glaciers are taking entire worlds with them (LINK) — 20 August 2026

— Some 40% of Switzerland's glacial reserves have disappeared in the past 25 years. Two EPFL researchers describe the scope of the impact. Switzerland could be nearly glacier-free by 2050–2070, with only a few giants, such as the Aletsch and Rhône glaciers, surviving to the end of the century.

CERN's Large Hadron Collider reveals an atomic nucleus shaped like a bowling pin: sheds new light on the universe's first moments (LINK) — 20 August 2026

The meds that can make the heat harder to handle: many drugs used to treat mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder, because of how they interact with the hypothalamus, the brain's thermoregulation centre (LINK) — 20 August 2026

Scientists have built miniature brains that experience the passage of time: organoids — stem-cell-derived collections of brain cells — can 'sense' the passage of time and retain a cellular 'memory' of how long they have already spent developing (LINK) — 20 August 2026

Giant whales once rare along East Greenland now gather by the thousands in feeding frenzies due to retreating sea ice and shifting prey (LINK) — 20 August 2026

Merck and Moderna vaccine breakthrough stops skin cancer returning in trial (LINK) — 19 August 2026

— Cancer experts say this is a breakthrough, but emphasise caution as the full results have not been released or peer-reviewed whereby independent experts examine and check the trial findings.

Moderna shares jump 175% on skin cancer trial success — (LINK limited)

Climate change is cooking Europe's oceans, scientists find: parts of the oceans around Europe reaching 6 degrees Celsius above average this week (LINK) — 19 August 2026

London's first official bathing area hit by toxic algae outbreak: Ham and Kingston site on the Thames became a bathing spot as recently as May this year (LINK) — 19 August 2026

U.S.: Ex-Fauci adviser pleads guilty in COVID-19 records scheme: (LINK) — 19 August 2026

— Prosecutors said Dr. David Morens, 78, while working as a senior adviser with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, used his personal email account to intentionally conceal or destroy records of discussions related to COVID-19 research grants and an investigation into the pandemic's origins.

Physicists think they've discovered a new type of quantum matter: under the right conditions, two fundamentally different types of quantum particles can form "quantum droplets" — an ansatz, (LINK) — 19 August 2026

Environmental justice belongs to communities: movement's founders were not building a national institution; they were responding to what was poisoning their water, air, and children in the town where they lived (LINK) — 19 August 2026

Vote on best language learning app 2026 by 10 September for 23 September award: app profiles (LINK) — 18 August 2026

World off-track on nearly every food system goal, latest FSCI assessment reveals: for some indicators, such as greenhouse gas emissions from food systems, no country in the world is projected to meet the target (LINK) — 17 August 2026

— The study finds that, of 30 indicators, only one — mobile phone subscriptions, a proxy for connectedness and resilience — has been met by most countries. For 22 indicators, fewer than one-third of countries will meet their global target or benchmark by 2030. The indicator "greenhouse gas emissions from food systems" has one of the largest gaps, with the global average 75% away from the target. No country in the world will meet the target at its current pace.

— Most regions of the world would need dramatic annual changes to achieve 2030 targets. For example, Africa will require at least a 15% to 20% improvement across 23 indicators every single year, and Asia will have to cut food insecurity by more than 63% every year. High-income regions are not exempt. In Europe, 19 indicators remain unattainable by 2030.

— For the first time, the Food Systems Countdown Initiative (FSCI) study goes beyond tracking trends to assess progress and measure how food systems are actually performing and how much more they need to improve to meet globally set targets. FSCI is a global interdisciplinary research collaboration co-led by Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.

Can vitamin C cure a cold? Nobel Prize winner convinced us it could, but it can only reduce severe symptoms by about 10%. Linus Pauling's recommendation for good health, at around 1,000–2,000mg a day, is around the upper limit of what's now considered safe to consume (LINK) — 17 August 2026

Scientists documented 1,121 previously unknown marine species in a single year — increasing the annual identification rate by 54 percent — yet estimates suggest up to 90 percent of ocean species remain undiscovered (LINK) — 15 August 2026

ETH Zurich researchers detect a possible fifth force of nature (LINK) — 13 August 2026

— Precision measurements of calcium atoms revealed an unexpected pattern that cannot be explained by the simplest atomic physics calculations. Known effects inside atomic nuclei, especially nuclear polarization, could account for the anomaly, so the result is not evidence of a fifth force.

First Osprey nesting pair in Switzerland in 112 years (LINK) — 12 August 2026

The largest known galaxy, IC 1101, is wider than 17 Milky Ways: it grew to 1.7 million light-years wide by gobbling up other galaxies (LINK) — 11 August 2026

New transmission from animals likely caused Congo-Uganda Ebola outbreak, study says: previously unseen variant of the rare Bundibugyo species of the virus (LINK) — 10 August 2026

American Psychiatric Association acknowledges "research evidence that shows the negative neurobiological and developmental effects of plastics, with potential long-term neuropsychiatric consequences" (LINK) — 7 August 2026

Scientists debunk long-held myth about the most famous animal extinction: the dodo in the late 17th century, just decades after humans arrived on its home island of Mauritius (LINK) — 7 August 2026

U.S.: cyclosporiasis probe linked to lettuce widens to 15 states (LINK) — 5 August 2026

The 5 people who saved the most human lives in history: Maurice Hilleman, Alexander Fleming, Sir Frederick Banting, Prof Norman Ernest Borlaug, Prof Karl Landsteiner (+ Albert Hustin) (LINK) — 5 August 2026

Scientific American: Cyclospora outbreak tied to two deaths as parasite-borne illness continues to rage: reported by Michigan, which has seen more than 11,000 cases of cyclosporiasis emerge since late June (LINK) — 3 August 2026

U.S. study shows why younger generations may be more cancer-prone: younger generations are aging faster than their parents or grandparents (LINK) — 3 August 2026