Astronomers have debunked recent claims of a crisis in cosmology and confirmed that the universe’s expansion continues to accelerate as previously understood.

Our universe's expansion is still accelerating despite recent claims suggesting otherwise, an international team of astrophysicists say. They refuted a study published last year claiming the growth of the universe is slowing and insist there is no flaw in the widely-accepted theory that a mysterious force known as dark energy is driving the expanding cosmos. The researchers, who include two Nobel Laureates and represent institutions worldwide, say the debate that followed last November’s revelations was the result of a scientific misunderstanding rather than a cosmic grenade threatening to blow apart everything we know about the universe. Their paper has been published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

A new telescope technology — measuring just six millimeters in diameter — could improve how future space missions study and monitor the Sun while simplifying onboard hardware and reducing costs. The technology is built from a metasurface, which is a device engineered with nanoscale structures that manipulate light in unusual ways. In tests at the Dunn Solar Telescope in New Mexico, the metasurface captured scientifically meaningful data of the Sun's magnetic fields and sunspots.

Registration is now officially open for media representatives, bloggers, and freelance communicators to attend the 46th COSPAR Scientific Assembly in August 2026. The event will gather over 3,000 global experts to unveil and discuss the latest groundbreaking discoveries shaping the future of space research

Background

Climate change may expand dengue transmission in space and season across Central America. In Costa Rica, complex topography and very small districts mean coarse global climate models can miss local conditions that drive outbreaks, creating a need for district-level, high-resolution climate–dengue assessments. This study aims to: (1) model the climate–dengue relationship at the district level using high-resolution data; (2) identify the best climate predictors for dengue incidence; and (3) provide mid-century (2035–2065) dengue cases projections under a pessimistic scenario (SSP5-8.5) with seasonal windows actionable by region.

Methods

Precipitation and temperature indices derived from the Climate Hazards group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPs) and Climate Hazards Center Infrared Temperature with Stations (CHIRTs) were related to dengue diagnoses from Costa Rica’s public health centers using a linear model. An objective algorithm selected parsimonious climate–dengue predictors, with cross-validation to prevent overfitting. The resulting quasi-optimal models combined with downscaled projections from an ensemble of eight General Circulation Models (GCMs) to estimate future dengue incidence changes at the district level, Costa Rica’s smallest administrative division.

Results

Temperature and precipitation data are significantly related to dengue counts. Temperature dominates most district models during the dry season (December to June), while precipitation dominates during the rainy season (July–October). Mid-century projections indicate increases of up to 42 additional cases in some districts compared to the historical baseline, with the location of the most pronounced changes varying by month.

Conclusions

The projected dengue increases presented here are driven solely by climate change under the most pessimistic greenhouse gas (GHG) concentration scenario, and thus represent a potential upper bound on future risk. These findings offer actionable guidance on where and when dengue incidence may rise, and should inform adaptive health policies aimed at reducing the impacts of climate change in high-risk areas.

Ultrahot exoplanet, atmospheric differences: Researchers discovered clear differences in the atmosphere between the morning and evening sides of the ultrahot gas planet WASP-121 b using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Temperature and chemical variations: The evening side absorbs more infrared light due to higher temperatures caused by strong winds moving heat eastward, while water molecules decrease in the evening terminator due to high temperatures breaking them apart.

Planetary rotation and observation method: WASP-121 b’s synchronous rotation reveals different atmospheric regions during transit, allowing scientists to analyse changes in light absorption over time and longitude.

A study  in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP)  explores how a machine-learning strategy known as transfer learning could dramatically reduce the computational cost of searching for new physics beyond the standard cosmological model — while also revealing an unexpected risk: sometimes AI systems can become too reliant on what they already know.