Scientists gear up for eclipse study and new AI tools amid climate concerns

On 12 August, a total solar eclipse will give astronomers roughly two minutes to examine the Sun’s outer corona, a region whose extreme temperature and magnetic dynamics remain puzzling; better insight could improve predictions of space-weather events that threaten satellites and power grids. A separate story describes QED Science’s launch of a free artificial-intelligence tool designed to judge the originality and validity of life-science research, which it used to rank the top 1 % of bioRxiv preprints posted between May 2025 and April 2026, prompting debate over the reliability of such automated assessments.

The briefing also mentions a new study on ticklishness across Greek, Dutch and Chinese participants, confirming shared “tickle hotspots” and distinguishing the sensation from pain or pleasure. Researchers warn that an upcoming strong El Niño could push the Amazon past a climate tipping point, potentially converting forest to savannah and releasing massive carbon stores. Three data-scientists advocate for open-weight AI models that run locally to reduce the energy footprint of research computing.

MDPI has added alerts to papers identified as victims of “review mills,” affecting authors like Michael Börsch. Finally, marine biologist Célia Macamo’s team in Maputo, Mozambique, is quantifying mangrove soil carbon to generate credits that incentivize habitat protection.