Science Research Weekly is back, with new content, deeper dives, and all the science updates you’ve been craving. This week, from viruses in space to 3D visualizations of automotive undercarriages, we’re covering scientific articles, preprints, software, blogs, and grant opportunities. Science On.

References:

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003568

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-025-02962-9

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09971-3

https://www.jstatsoft.org/issue/view/v115

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.14213

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.14208

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.20.700692v1.full.pdf

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.17.700094v1.full.pdf

https://journal.r-project.org/issues/2025-3/

https://www.r-bloggers.com/2026/01/setting-up-a-cluster-of-tiny-pcs-for-parallel-computing-a-note-to-myself/

https://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2026/01/07/9-dataviz-distrib-sas-part1.html

https://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2026/01/14/9-dataviz-distrib-sas-part_2.html

https://www.vastspace.com/science-rfp-eligibility

R-PACKAGES:

col2hex2col: Convert Between Color Names and Hex Codes

VennItem: Generate Venn Diagrams with Items Listed in the Sections

Welcome to the final episode of Science Research weekly for 2025. Covering November and December.

Get ready for the PRIMA system to treat age-related blindness, surprising chemistry on Saturn's moon Titan, Kagome tubes for vibration damping in engineering, the R-Multiverse, and a grant on the Foundations of a Resilient Microbiome. Science On.

References:

• Subretinal Photovoltaic Implant to Restore Vision in Geographic Atrophy Due to AMD
• SnOx Nanoflakes as Enhanced Near-Infrared Photothermal Therapy Agents Synthesized from Electrochemically Oxidized SnS2 Powders
• Hydrogen cyanide and hydrocarbons mix on Titan
• Topological polarization of kagome tubes and applications toward vibration isolation
• Potassium-40 isotopic evidence for an extant pre-giant-impact component of Earth’s mantle
• Overlay multiple custom density curves on a histogram in SAS
• Go for Launch! Packages Shipped to the R-Multiverse
• What’s new for Python in 2025?
• leap: Foundations of a Resilient Microbiome
• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: Implementation of Synthetic Biology Principles in Immunology

R Packages:

• alpmixBayes: Bayesian Estimation for Alpha-Mixture Survival Models
• bayesQRsurvey: Bayesian Quantile Regression Models for Complex Survey Data Analysis
• arete: Automated REtrieval from TExt
• nbpInference: Inference on Average Treatment Effects for Continuous Treatments
• partialling.out: Residuals from Partial Regressions

Get ready for neuronal nanotubes, comet versus alien for interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, rain on the Sun, the R Journal 17/2, citation metric distortion, and more new Science Spotlight videos. Science On.

References:

• Intercellular communication in the brain through a dendritic nanotubular network
• Is the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology?
• Spatiotemporal Low First Ionization Potential Abundance: A Catalyst for Coronal Condensation
• Tree swallows as indicators of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance exposure and effects at select Department of Defense sites along the East Coast and at sites with different sources in the Upper Midwest, United States
• 90% of science is lost. This new AI just found it
• R Journal Volume 17/2
• New, work-in-progress book on spatial data visualization in R
• Beyond Fraud: How IHME Distorts Academic Metrics
• Science Spotlight

R Packages:

• descsuppRplots: Generate Plots for All Variables in Descriptive Tables
• medicalcoder: Tools for Working with ICD Codes and Comorbidity Algorithms
• GINAX: Performs Genome-Wide Iterative Fine-Mapping for Non-Gaussian Data using GINA-X
• easyRef: Easy Reference Generation for R Packages

Get ready for chromosomal instability suppression in breast cancer, the marine origins of leeches, metal-laced hydrogels, better simulations in R, and a grant on Precision Mitochondria. Science On.

References:

• Epigenetic regulation of chromosomal instability by EZH2 methyltransferase
• The first leech body fossil predates estimated hirudinidan origins by 200 million years
• Hydrogel-Based Vat Photopolymerization of Ceramics and Metals with Low Shrinkages via Repeated Infusion Precipitation
• Deploy Multiple Shiny Apps from One R Package
• A new simstudy function to make simulating replications easier
• ARIA: Precision Mitochondria

R Packages:

• mda.biber: Functions for Multi-Dimensional Analysis
• pwranova: Power Analysis of Flexible ANOVA Designs and Related Tests
• summarytabl: Generate Summary Tables for Continuous, Ordinal, and Categorical Data

Get ready for direct pain relief, pollutant breakdown with biochar, shark-attack resistant wetsuits, an updated timetree for Fungi, edible electronics, simulating the Monty Hall problem in R, the Top 40 New CRAN Packages for August 2025, and the DARPA Young Faculty Award. This episode covers material from September 26th to October 2nd. Science On.

References:

• Targeting prostaglandin E2 receptor 2 in Schwann cells inhibits inflammatory pain but not inflammation
• The geologic history of marine dissolved organic carbon from iron oxides
• Structure-performance relationship of biochar for direct degradation of organic pollutants
• DOLPHIN advances single-cell transcriptomics beyond gene level by leveraging exon and junction reads
• Effectiveness of bite-resistant materials to reduce injuries from white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) and tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) bites
• Nanotechnology-driven coordination of shoot–root systems enhances rice nitrogen use efficiency
• Detection of organic compounds in freshly ejected ice grains from Enceladus’s ocean
• A timetree of Fungi dated with fossils and horizontal gene transfers
• Printed Integrated Logic Circuits Based on Chitosan-Gated Organic Transistors for Future Edible Systems
• Simulating Monty Hall’s Problem
• Plotting Distributions in R
• August 2025 Top 40 New CRAN Packages
• Spurious Correlations in R – Correlation is not Causation
• Learning And Exploring The Workflow of RNA-Seq Analysis – A Note To Myself
• DARPA: Young Faculty Award (YFA) 2026

R Packages:

• eDNAfuns: Working with Metabarcoding Data in a Tidy Format
• spuriouscorrelations: Datasets with Strong and Spurious Correlations

Get ready for a review of acetaminophen and neurodevelopmental disorders, dehydration and stress response, Hycean world woes, hints at the compositional protein code, fraudulent publishing in mathematics, R Journal Volume 17/1, and a grant on microbial dust control for mining operations. Science On.

References:

• Evaluation of the evidence on acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders using the Navigation Guide methodology
• Habitual fluid intake and hydration status influence cortisol reactivity to acute psychosocial stress
• Sub-Neptunes Are Drier than They Seem: Rethinking the Origins of Water-rich Worlds
• A domed pachycephalosaur from the early Cretaceous of Mongolia
• Tracing the Origin of the Genetic Code and Thermostability to Dipeptide Sequences in Proteomes
• Tiny protein pairs may hold the secret to life’s origin
• How to Fight Fraudulent Publishing in the Mathematical Sciences: Joint Recommendations of the IMU and the ICIAM

• Fraudulent Publishing in the Mathematical Sciences
• The R Journal Volume 17/1
• Birthdays and the coupon collector's problem
• NIH: Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program
• NIH: Clinical Trial Readiness for Rare Diseases, Disorders, and Syndromes
• NSF/CASIS Transport Phenomena Research at the International Space Station to Benefit Life on Earth
• Microbial dust control and surface stabilization

R Packages:

• bnpMTP: Bayesian Nonparametric Sensitivity Analysis of Multiple Testing Procedures for p Values
• MicrobTiSDA: Microbiome Time-Series Data Analysis
• plumber2: Easy and Powerful Web Servers
• ggDNAvis: 'ggplot2'-Based Tools for Visualising DNA Sequences and Modifications

Get ready for maize shoot stem cells, a five image Einstein cross, identity of some Little Red Dots, ATREIDES for exo-Neptunes, Volume 114 of the Journal of Statistical Software, ggplot2 geoms and stats, and Classic Scientific Paper Review. Science On.

References:

• Journal of Statistical Software Volume 114
• Large-scale single-cell profiling of stem cells identifies redundant regulators of shoot development and yield trait variation
• HerS-3: An Exceptional Einstein Cross Reveals a Massive Dark Matter Halo
• A remarkable ruby: Absorption in dense gas, rather than evolved stars, drives the extreme Balmer break of a little red dot at z = 3.5
• Journal of Statistical Software Volume 114
• All the Ways to Programmatically Edit or Parse R Markdown / Quarto Documents
• Learning About Assemblying DNA, BLAST, and Multiple Loci Sequence Testing (MLST) – A Note To Myself
• Exploring {ggplot2}’s Geoms and Stats
• Classic Scientific Paper Review

R Packages:

• henna: A Versatile Visualization Suite
• ccar3: Canonical Correlation Analysis via Reduced Rank Regression
• SurvGME: Analysis of Survival Data under Graphical and Measurement Error Models
• workspace: Manage Collections of Datasets and Objects