Method

Supporters of the method say it’s foolproof – but forensic experts say it can be ‘excruciating’ amid allegations it’s been intentionally botchedThe tangled path of US capital punishment takes a new turn on Wednesday as Idaho becomes the first state to adopt the firing squad as its primary form of execution, embracing the brutal killing technique even as concerns grow that it can inflict excruciating pain and suffering.The state’s department of corrections (IDOC) says it has met its deadline, set by the legislature, to have its death chamber at a maximum security prison south of Boise retrofitted and open for business by 1 July. It has spent more than $1m in the venture, including $24,000 on a rack of AR-style, .308-caliber, scoped rifles that will be wielded by volunteer marksmen. Continue reading...

• MIT researchers reported a new lithium extraction approach that could make it cheaper and more energy-efficient to recover battery-grade lithium from hard rock deposits. • The method uses a liquid solution inspired by a bathroom renovation product, works at room temperature, can be reused, and may cut costs by about half compared with current techniques. • The advance matters because lithium supply is a key bottleneck for batteries and the energy transition, and the team says the leftover waste could be repurposed into useful materials.

• METR released a new application of its time-horizon methodology to offensive cybersecurity, based on a study with 10 professional security experts. • The research evaluates AI capabilities in security tasks, accelerating evaluations every 5.7 months on 2024+ trendlines. • Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.3 Codex exceed benchmarks, solving tasks taking humans ~3 hours.

• Researchers from Binghamton University and University of Virginia developed a machine-learning system that analyzed over 55 million scientific papers and patents to identify truly disruptive research that changes the direction of science. • The new metric, published in Science Advances, measures "disruptiveness" — the degree to which a paper pulls a field away from its earlier path — and successfully identifies major simultaneous discoveries often overlooked by traditional citation-based measures. • The study addresses a critical gap in how science evaluates impact, recognizing that scientific progress occurs through abrupt changes rather than incremental steps, helping identify overlooked breakthrough moments in research history.

• Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York, along with colleagues at the University of Virginia, published a study in Science Advances mapping innovation landscapes to identify disruptive studies and patents that challenge existing scientific paradigms. • The method, developed by Sadamori Kojaku and colleagues, helps pinpoint discoveries that reshape the course of science, such as the theory of evolution, atomic splitting, and antibiotic development. • The robust measure of disruptiveness provides a systematic way to identify simultaneous breakthroughs across scientific fields and could accelerate recognition of transformative research.

• Houston Methodist scientists identified TDP43 protein as a critical regulator of DNA mismatch repair, connecting it to ALS, frontotemporal dementia, and cancer risks. • Lead investigator Muralidhar L. Hegde, Ph.D., stated 'DNA repair is one of the most fundamental processes in biology' and TDP43's role has major implications for these diseases. • The peer-reviewed study, published in Nucleic Acids Research on March 15, 2026, was funded by NIH's NINDS and National Institute on Aging.