What scientists can learn from a solar eclipse

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Today we hear what scientists can learn from this week’s solar eclipse, learn that people across cultures are all ticklish in the same way and consider the impact of the El Niño weather pattern on the Amazon rainforest.

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What we can learn from the solar eclipse

On 12 August, researchers will get roughly two minutes to study the Sun’s outermost layer — the solar corona — during a total solar eclipse. Scientists hope that data gathered during the eclipse will help them to answer questions such as why the corona is so much hotter than the Sun’s surface below it, and where the Sun’s magnetic energy comes from. A better understanding of the corona could help them to better predict space weather, which can affect satellites and power grids on Earth.

We all feel the same tickle

People from Greek, Dutch and Chinese backgrounds all have the same ‘tickle hotspots’, such as the armpits and soles of the feet, which suggests that how people experience ticklishness is consistent across cultures. Comparisons with maps of other sensations, such as pain or pleasure, suggested that the sensation is decidedly distinct and unique. The study is one of the first to systematically investigate gargalesis, the kind of tickling that is associated with play and involves using strong, repetitive pressure to elicit laughter.

AI claims to pick cream of the preprint crop

A start-up called QED Science has released a free artificial-intelligence tool that aims to judge whether life-sciences research is original and valid. The company recently used the tool to select the ‘top 1%’ of preprints posted on preprint server bioRxiv between May 2025 and April 2026. Its use has sparked debate among researchers, some of whom doubt the AI's ability to reliably and transparently judge the quality of scientific research. Researchers can use the platform to see “what information or explanation they should add,” says Niv Mastboim, chief executive of QED Science. “The goal is to produce good science.”

El Niño threat looms large in the Amazon

Droughts caused by the 2023-2024 El Niño event fuelled some of the Amazon rainforest’s worst wildfires, from which it has yet to fully recover. Now, another El Niño is brewing, which some forecasters predict could be the strongest in 150 years. This event, on top of warming and drying caused by climate change, might push the rainforest past its ‘tipping point’, researchers say. If that were to happen, rainforest would give way to savannah and degraded woodland over decades, potentially releasing an amount of carbon equivalent to several years of global emissions.

Science can champion open-weight models

Researchers who work with AI tools must pioneer the use of open-weight models that can be run on personal computers, write three data scientists. These models don’t rely on data centres that have enormous energy and water demands, and so can make the use of AI in research more sustainable. Educators can facilitate this change by teaching students how to determine when local models are preferable to cloud-based systems and how to develop applications that run efficiently on local hardware, the authors write.

The collateral damage from review mills

In 2024, publisher MDPI added warnings to several papers to indicate that they were victims of ‘review mills’ — individuals or groups who duplicate reviewer reports, probably with the goal of increasing the number of times their or their collaborators’ papers are cited. “We did solid science,” says biophysical chemist Michael Börsch, the author of one flagged paper, but the mill’s work has left some of his team’s output tainted by wrongdoing. “For my PhD student, it’s a disaster to have his first paper branded like this,” he adds.