Science Snapshots: August 16, 2026

Never too soon to switch to an electric vehicle

Replacing a functional fossil-fuel vehicle with an EV is almost always better for the climate even if the former car is new, an analysis of lifecycle emissions has found. While manufacturing a new EV creates a carbon debt, it is usually paid back as lower emissions (while driving) within three years. Over time, retiring a gas car early and switching to an EV can reduce total carbon emissions by roughly 44% across cars, SUVs, and trucks.

Webb spots unusual black hole at ‘cosmic dawn’

Using the Webb telescope, astronomers have found a supermassive black hole existing just 660 million years after the Big Bang. The data indicated the object is enshrouded by a thick, dense envelope of hydrogen gas, suggesting it is growing rapidly. The team found the gas scattering light in a way that makes black holes appear heavier than they are, suggesting the masses of similar early black holes may have been overestimated by up to 100x.

Mouse brain protects memories even as it changes

The brain can keep memories stable even when it changes. In mice, scientists found brain activity dropped sharply and more than half of the connections (synapses) in the hippocampus disappeared when they hibernated. But when the mice woke up, their memories were intact. The researchers found the brain relies on individual connections to store information as well as a specific architecture of clustered synapses. While most individual connections were wiped out during hibernation, these clusters were protected.