The Owl · Evening Edition

NASA has chosen three investigations under its PRISM program, to be delivered to the Moon through commercial landers. One station, LEMS-SP, will track micrometeoroid impacts and moonquakes near the south pole. GIMLI will study the Marius Hills Pit to see whether it leads to a larger underground lava tube. DISCO will make the first direct surface measurements of ice in tiny, very cold shadowed spots, and will also study how rocket exhaust and loose terrain affect landings. If lava tubes are confirmed, they could offer steadier temperatures and shielding from radiation and impacts. That could shape where habitats go.

Yale researchers report that lacosamide, an approved epilepsy drug, blocks Nav1.7, a protein tied to both pain signaling and cartilage breakdown. At a low, carefully tuned dose, it encouraged cells to build cartilage and suppressed processes that break it down. The team paired the drug with a temperature-sensitive collagen hydrogel that stays in the joint and releases it slowly. In preclinical work, one injection every four weeks protected cartilage better than a daily oral dose. These are not human results for osteoarthritis. Because the drug is already approved, though, clinical testing could move faster. The study appeared in Bioactive Materials.

In a court-ordered filing late Wednesday, the FDA said it expects to finish its mifepristone safety study by mid-December. A report is due no later than March 2027, and only then will the agency decide whether to add restrictions or other changes. The review uses a statistical data-mining method on injury and side-effect reports, looking for unknown safety concerns. The agency is also weighing petitions to change how the drug is prescribed and distributed. An anti-abortion group criticized the timeline. The filing came in a Louisiana lawsuit, and the Supreme Court has blocked changes to the drug until it hears the case again.

NASA and the Department of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday to work together on space nuclear power and propulsion, from fuel production to testing and operations. It takes effect November 1. The agencies point to a 2030 goal for a launch-ready lunar surface reactor. They also point to Space Reactor-1 Freedom, planned for 2028, and Lunar Reactor-1 for powering a Moon base. NASA will keep using radioisotope power too, including for the Dragonfly mission to Titan, also scheduled for 2028. Much of this is plans and goals, so schedules are worth watching.

Maryland has a new law requiring that patients be told when their mammogram shows calcium deposits in blood vessels. NPR's Michel Martin spoke with radiologist Dr. Lisa Mullen about it. The summary we have is brief, so we can't say more about how the law works or when it starts.

Researchers have described 18 hominin fossils from Drimolen Cave in South Africa, including DNH 127, an adult Homo erectus skull fragment about 2 million years old. That is roughly 200,000 years older than adult specimens elsewhere, such as those from Dmanisi in Georgia. The earlier Drimolen find, DNH 134, was a young child, so what adults looked like was uncertain. The fossils also show that Paranthropus robustus developed larger teeth and stronger chewing muscles over about 200,000 years. Back then it outnumbered Homo erectus at the site by more than ten to one. The work is in Annals of Human Biology.