Science Advances · 7 August 2026 · From issue 17

Tree rings show the worst grassland decline in 400 years hit right as a nomadic empire fell.

Wanru Tang, Keyan Fang et al., Steppe productivity decline contributed to smallpox outbreak and the collapse of the last nomadic empire in the 1750s, Science Advances.

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Also in issue 17 15 papers

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In mice, fixing shrunken cell antennas in the brain's fear center eased stress behaviors.
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Joining social media before grade 9 lowered later test scores in Italian, English and math.
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A new blood test tracks physical changes in immune cells linked to clogged arteries.
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In a computer model, life on other planets could photosynthesize much farther from their star than Earth's plants can.
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A diluted battery liquid cut zinc battery idle power loss by more than ten times.
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A single psilocybin dose cut depression scores far more than a placebo in hard to treat depression.
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Fruit and honey sugars, not just meat, may have fueled brain growth in early human ancestors.
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Dining out cut social isolation by 47.3% compared to staying in home neighborhoods.
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In lab tests, a catalyst material breaks down step by step before reaching its final form.
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People give fast robots more personal space than people, but crowding shrinks that gap.
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In human cells, removing an RNA cleanup protein changed how DNA loops connect genes to their switches.
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