Science & Technology — October 25, 2026

Personalized cancer vaccine cuts melanoma recurrence. Moderna and Merck's mRNA vaccine reduced the risk of melanoma recurrence by more than 40% in a Phase 3 trial, with approval expected next year.

Wired characterizes the result as a landmark for cancer immunotherapy, a field that aims to train the immune system against a patient's own tumor. The shot is tailored to each individual, built on the same mRNA platform used in COVID-19 vaccines. With Phase 3 data now in hand, the companies anticipate regulatory approval could come within the next year.

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NASA details Artemis III lander test flight. The agency plans an Earth-orbit test of its Artemis III moon lander next year as it pushes to return astronauts to the lunar surface.

The uncrewed demonstration in Earth orbit is meant to validate the lander's systems before astronauts rely on it for a lunar touchdown. According to Space.com, the test fits into a broader timeline in which NASA aims not only to land crews on the moon but to establish a lunar base within two years, making next year's flight a key checkpoint for that schedule.

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Physicists trap antimatter particle for months. Researchers contained a positron -- the electron's antimatter counterpart -- for months for the first time, enabling precision tests of the Standard Model of particle physics.

Previous experiments could hold positrons only briefly, limiting how precisely their properties could be measured. Extended containment allows researchers to compare matter and antimatter with far greater accuracy, probing whether the Standard Model fully describes both. Smithsonian notes such tests bear on a deeper puzzle: why the early universe produced more matter than antimatter, allowing anything to exist at all.

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Google may use Gmail for ad targeting. Google's updated privacy policy says enabling its Personal Intelligence feature gives the company access to Gmail data for advertising, an expansion affecting millions of U.S. users.

According to Ars Technica, the data access is tied to a specific setting: users who turn on the Personal Intelligence feature agree under the revised policy to let Google draw on their Gmail content for ad targeting. That makes the change opt-in rather than automatic, but it marks a notable broadening of how the company can use email data across its U.S. user base.

Ars Technica · Read more →