The important things.
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Science
Economist William D. Nordhaus died on 30 October at 85, Yale University announced. He shared the 2018 economics prize with Paul Romer; Nordhaus was recognized for connecting climate change with long-run economic analysis.
Science
A study published on 28 October estimates that nearly seven million Los Angeles-area residents experienced unusually high airborne lead during the January 2025 Eaton fire. It measures and models air exposure, not individual poisoning or later illness.
Science
Linda S. Birnbaum and Edward Barbier received the 2026 Blue Planet Prize at a Tokyo ceremony on 28 October. The Asahi Glass Foundation announced the laureates on 10 June.
Science · Developing
Scientists announced the discovery of 2026 ED138 on 27 October using Vera C. Rubin Observatory data. The large object beyond Neptune is a dwarf-planet candidate. Its estimated size depends on assumptions about reflectivity; the classification has not been confirmed.
Science
The 2026 Lancet Countdown report estimates that human-caused climate change accounted for nearly 3 million heat-related deaths worldwide between 2016 and 2023. Its authors called for a coordinated global health-emergency response.
Science · Developing
NASA ended operations of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory on 23 October after its orbit decayed and the spacecraft entered safe mode, ending a 22-year gamma-ray mission. NASA's 2 November post cited a U.S. Space Force forecast for re-entry on 4 November at about 3:30 a.m. EDT (08:30 UTC), with an 11-hour uncertainty, and estimated the chance of harm to anyone on Earth at about 1 in 2,100. The latest Aerospace Corporation CORDS record checked on 3 November predicts 09:11 UTC on 4 November, plus or minus 12 hours. The estimates are close in nominal timing but remain uncertain; no precise impact point is known.
Science
IUCN’s first global coral-reef ecosystem assessment, released on 22 October, classified 122 of 127 assessed ecosystems as Critically Endangered. That risk rating incorporates projected warming over the next 50 years.
Science · Developing
Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration spacecraft launched on 20 October, beginning a mission intended to collect material from Phobos and return it to Earth in 2031. Launch succeeded; landing, sample collection and return remain future objectives.
Science · Developing
OpenAI released AI-generated proofs of the quasi-Riemann hypothesis, a weaker statement than the full Riemann hypothesis. In a 19 October report, Quanta said specialists studying the shorter manuscript largely agreed with its result; the work remains under scrutiny.
Science
A Nature Communications study published on 12 October projects up to 30 ± 6 millimetres of global mean sea-level rise from Thwaites Glacier by 2100, approximately twice earlier projections, even without additional warming.