The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences tonight announced the three 2026 Laureates of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom, who each receive £100,000 – the UK’s largest unrestricted prize for science. It is the second time in the United Kingdom that all three Laureates in the Blavatnik Awards are women scientists. Maxie M. Roessler from Imperial College London, Thi Hoang Duong (Kelly) Nguyen from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Paola Pinilla from UCL were all recognised at London gala ceremony.

Research from the University of Warwick has revealed that butterfly caterpillars use sophisticated rhythmic signals to communicate with ants, helping them gain protection, food, and access to ant nests. 

Just a few decades ago, nobody would have been surprised to see a bottlenose dolphin showing up in the lagoon of Venice, where historically some dolphins have dwelt. However, when ‘Mimmo’, a solitary bottlenose dolphin, was first spotted in the lagoon in the summer of 2025, the event was perceived as nothing short of sensational. Soon, managing the behavior of people became more important than managing the dolphin itself, a new study suggests. Researchers monitoring the dolphin said its stay in the lagoon does not put it at particular risk, but that inappropriate and illegal human action does. Cases like these highlight the importance of broader education on how to interact with wildlife, the team said.   

In order to unify the existing hypotheses to cover the entire scenarios of OoL, Prof. Yongdong Jin at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University, China, has proposed the “nanozymes hypothesis” of the OoL on Earth.

A UC Berkeley study concluded last year that the fruits chimps eat in the wild contain enough ethanol to deliver about 14 milligrams daily. But only analysis of chimp urine could prove they actually consume substantial ethanol. After collecting chimp urine last year, the researchers found that most tested positive (>500 ng/ml) on immunoassays commonly given to humans required to abstain from alcohol. In humans, this level indicates light drinking within the previous 24 hours.