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<\/p>\nThis week in science: A world record, a world first, and much more!<\/p>\n
We start with a scorpion you absolutely don’t want to meet.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, you probably won’t have to worry about running into this critter. After all, this scorpion lived 415 million years ago. Let’s just say it’s big. Scary big.<\/p>\n
This week, we’ve also got news about a world-first gene therapy that could reverse some symptoms of aging.<\/p>\n
Despite the considerable promise, it’s worth noting that the technique comes with substantial risk. We can explain.<\/p>\n
Also: What happens when you simulate a nuclear fireball in the lab?<\/p>\n
Researchers found something unexpected when they simulated that very thing \u2013 and the discovery helps us understand more about the mysterious phenomena that take place during a nuclear event.<\/p>\n
Watch the video below for all the details, and read on for even more in science news!<\/p>\n
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Scientists Identify The World’s Biggest Known Scorpion, The Size of a Dog![\"Praearcturus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/bbac813aa12d2237312377bdc6105fab.jpeg\"\/)
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The world’s biggest scorpion has been identified: a dog-sized critter that was one of the first apex land predators 415 million years ago.<\/p>\n
“Praearcturus lived when life on land was just starting out and the ancestors of reptiles, mammals and birds were yet to leave the water,” says lead author Richie Howard, a paleontologist from the Natural History Museum in the UK.<\/p>\n
“It suggests that this species might have grown so big because there weren’t any other large predators, allowing it to dominate its environment.”<\/p>\n
Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n World First: Patient Receives High-Risk Therapy to Make Cells Young Again (Siarhei_Fetisenkov\/Creatas Video+\/Getty Images Plus)<\/p>\n A world-first gene therapy has entered human trials. The hope is to reverse age-related vision loss, but it may be ‘high risk’.<\/p>\n It’s one of the most anticipated clinical trials<\/a> of the year, and some think it could be a pivotal moment for the field of longevity research.<\/p>\n Other scientists argue it is “extraordinarily high-risk” and are skeptical it will work at all.<\/p>\n Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scientists Simulated Nuclear Fallout in The Lab And Got a Surprise Scientists have simulated nuclear fallout in the lab. The experiments revealed that cesium cools and mixes in an unexpected way.<\/p>\n Subscribe to ScienceAlert’s free fact-checked newsletter<\/p>\n “By studying these processes in a controlled system, we can replace assumptions with measurements, improve the models used to interpret nuclear debris, and support decision-making when it matters most,” says chemist Rakia Dhaoui.<\/p>\n Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Huge Psilocybin Dose Has Incredible Effect on Elderly Dementia Patient (James MacDonald\/Bloomberg Creative\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n An 80-year-old dementia patient temporarily regained some cognitive function after a huge dose of psilocybin<\/a>, a case study reports.<\/p>\n Before the experimental treatment, the patient could only speak in monosyllables, rarely initiated communication with others, and was very dependent on assistance for basic activities of daily living.<\/p>\n Roughly 19 hours after the oral dose, the woman suddenly began to talk to herself. She kept doing so for several hours.<\/p>\n Over the next few days, the elderly patient was reportedly able to control her bladder, dress and walk by herself, and engage in conversation, holding eye contact and smiling back.<\/p>\n Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Giant Whale Graveyard Found in The Ocean Is Like a Drowned City of The Dead (Gerard Soury\/The Image Bank\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n A giant ‘whale graveyard’ has been discovered at a depth of 7,000 m. It contains the remains of almost 500 whales, up to 5.3 million years old.<\/p>\n “These findings,” writes a team led by deep-sea scientist Xiaotong Peng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, “reshape the understanding of the limits and biogeography of whale-fall ecosystems and establish some deep-sea floors as a fossil archive for tracing cetacean evolution over geological time.”<\/p>\n Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Commonly Used Sleep Aid May Have a Dangerous Side Effect (Drazen Zigic\/iStock\/Getty Images Plus)<\/p>\n A drug called quetiapine, commonly used as a sleep aid, has been found to significantly impair users’ reaction times the next day.<\/p>\n On a 10-minute psychomotor vigilance test, participants were slower to react after taking quetiapine compared with after a placebo<\/a>. Their attention lapses during the test also rose from a median of 2 after placebo to 10 after quetiapine.<\/p>\n In the driving simulation, participants drifted an extra 33 percent farther from the center of their lane, on average, after being given quetiapine compared with placebo.<\/p>\n Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"World](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/13cf89963a2d397a26be8e452f751955.jpeg\"\/)
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<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Huge](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3e1ab7e5af6663d79d424886733bca72.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"whales](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9c85331ea9c125770866af3a3b72b536.jpeg\"\/)
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