Scientists put a salt marsh in a giant wave-machine: here's what they learned Experiment shows how these ecosystems could protect coastlines from huge storms — plus, new evidence hints at what Denisovans might have looked like. By Benjamin Thompson

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03376-6?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=8cc2b96d1b-nature-briefing-daily-20261023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164 Podcast: why we put a marsh in a wave pool Scientists in the Netherlands dug up 3–6-tonne blocks of a real salt marsh and put them into one of the world's largest wave generators to show how these coastal ecosystems will fare in extreme storms. “We brought the marsh to a facility where we were able to create this kind of superstorm,” coastal engineer Pim Willemsen told the Nature Podcast. They found that salt-marsh plants can protect inland areas against huge waves — but seemingly only up to a point, and big storms cause progressive damage to the vegetation.

Rebody Fighting fit. By Eric Fomley

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03108-w?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=8cc2b96d1b-nature-briefing-daily-20261023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164

The Bursar A good way to learn? By Marissa Lingen

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03110-2?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=8cc2b96d1b-nature-briefing-daily-20261023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164

Elusive snow leopards and evasive particles: Books in brief Andrew Robinson reviews five of the best science picks. By Andrew Robinson

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03395-3?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=8cc2b96d1b-nature-briefing-daily-20261023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164

This is what the mysterious Denisovans looked like Archaeologists identified skull fragments from China as belonging to this group of ancient human relatives. By Rachel Fieldhouse

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-03360-0?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=99d3550b4b-nature-briefing-daily-20261022&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164 The portrait of a Denisovan A low, sloping forehead, a massive brow ridge, rectangle-like eye sockets, flat cheeks, and a moderately elevated bridge of the nose were probably the hallmark features of Denisovans — a mysterious ancient-human species. Using fossilized skull fragments, teeth and jaws, researchers identified some visual features that would have set Denisovans apart from other early-human species, such as the flattened, elongated skull shape. A knowledge of these unique features could help researchers classify other fossils that couldn’t previously be identified as Denisovan.

Egypt’s first female king revealed by long-lost royal seals Ancient Egypt’s first female ruler lived centuries before Nefertiti or Cleopatra By Taylor Mitchell Brown edited by Andrea Thompson

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-egypts-first-female-king-revealed-by-long-lost-royal-seals/?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=99d3550b4b-nature-briefing-daily-20261022&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-50432164 A new analysis of ancient artifacts suggests that a woman named Meretneith, who was buried in a lavish tomb around 5,000 years ago, might have been Egypt’s first female ruler. Egyptologists Sue Kelly and Crystal Miller analysed digitally enhanced photographs of serekhs — hieroglyphs that indicate a person ruled at the time of their death — that named the king Djer, and possibly Meretneith, that were found on objects in a separate tomb. They found that one features the goddess Neith, "a symbol no male ruler ever used”, Kelly says, which hints that Meretneith held true royal authority, not that of a consort or regent.

Antithermodynamics European Scientific Journal ESJ

https://www.academia.edu/179348290/Antithermodynamics"Anti" means "instead" or "mirror version of". The recently introduced new fundamental discipline of cryodynamics can synonymously be called antithermodynanics because it constitutes a mirror-version of thermodynamics. It refers to attractively rather than repulsively interacting many-particle systems. Its predictable influence on the future understanding of physics and the cosmos is outlined by summarizing about 30 references. Novel mathematical results are imminent and decisive technological applications are at the ready.