Aging Scientific Workforce Linked to Slower Pace of Discovery

Researchers have identified the aging scientific workforce as one factor in the long-term decline in highly disruptive discoveries. Most scientists conduct their more innovative work early in their careers. As they age, they tend to shift toward more incremental research that builds on familiar territory.

A new analysis published in Science examined the output of 12.5 million scientists who published at least three papers between 1960 and 2020. The study tracked how papers cited previous work and how those papers were subsequently cited. It found that as scientists aged, they cited older and older research.

Separately, a study published the same day identified a rise in fabricated citations appearing in medical journals. The analysis located 4,000 fabricated citations across 2,800 papers. While the absolute number remains low, it is increasing rapidly.

In the first seven weeks of 2026, fabricated citations appeared in one out of every 277 papers. The increase coincides with wider adoption of artificial intelligence tools that can generate text and references.

The MV Hondius, site of a hantavirus outbreak, is sailing toward the Canary Islands. World Health Organization officials are coordinating efforts to remove passengers and crew from the vessel. The United States is cooperating with the response even after completing its withdrawal from the international health organization earlier this year.

Resolution of the outbreak is expected to take weeks or months. Further details on the origin of the infections were reported separately.

Children in lower-resource countries were six times more likely to die after emergency surgery for severe abdominal injuries than those in higher-resource settings. The findings appeared in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. Researchers tracked 237 pediatric patients treated at 85 hospitals across 32 countries.