The New York Times - Science

1. The Best Way to Drop an Egg

   How the shell cracks in an exercise known as the egg drop challenge turned out to be more complicated than science teachers have been telling students for many years.

2. These Beautiful Birds Form Something Like Lasting Friendships

   Superb starlings help care for the offspring of birds they are not related to. “To me, that sounds like friendship,” one scientist said.

3. Genetic Study Retraces Covid’s Origins in Bats

   As China and the United States trade charges of a lab leak, researchers contend in a new paper that the Covid pandemic got its start, like a previous one, in the wildlife trade.

4. What to Know About Kosmos-482, a Soviet Spacecraft Returning to Earth After 53 Years

   Kosmos-482, which was headed to Venus, is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere by the end of this weekend. Experts don’t yet know where it may come down.

5. Ronan the Sea Lion Is Probably Better Than You at Keeping a Beat

   As she has aged, the pinniped’s rhythmic abilities have only improved.

6. Volcanic Eruption in Deep Ocean Ridge Is Witnessed by Scientists for First Time

   Researchers diving in a submersible in the eastern Pacific realized that the landscape they had studied the day before had been glassed over by fresh lava.

7. N.I.H. Bans New Funding From U.S. Scientists to Partners Abroad

   Generally, researchers will no longer be allowed to direct federal funds to international collaborators.

8. As Trump Targets Researchers, Europe Makes a Pitch to Attract Scientists

   The continent’s leaders are hoping to benefit as the Trump administration cuts support for research and threatens universities such as Harvard and Columbia with the freezing of federal funds.

9. Trump’s 2026 Budget Proposes Cutting NASA Funding by $6 Billion

   That budgetary change aligns with the priorities of Elon Musk, who founded his SpaceX rocket company two decades ago with dreams of one day sending colonists to Mars.

10. At the Biennale in Venice, A Fantasy Island Imported from Mexico

    The floating farms known as “chinampas” may have something to teach Venetians and the world.