Brazil Runoff, Light Wins Nobel, & Shin Tapping to Heal Your Brain

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Adam Rogers
October 06, 2026

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Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro will face a presidential runoff October 25 after neither won a majority Sunday. Bolsonaro leads Lula by 47.03% to 45.16% after the first round of voting.
Lula is seeking a fourth term after serving twice from 2003 to 2010 and returning in 2023. Brazil allows only two terms in a row but sets no lifetime limit. The former union leader supports social programs to reduce poverty. He spent 580 days in prison from 2018 to 2019 on corruption convictions later overturned following findings of improper jurisdiction and judicial bias.
Bolsonaro represents his father Jair Bolsonaro’s conservative movement and favors tougher crime policies and less government involvement in the economy. His father is under house arrest following a 27-year sentence for plotting a coup after losing to Lula in 2022. Flávio has pledged to seek a pardon for him.

Karl Deisseroth and German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel won the Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for developing ways to control nerve cells using light.
The team’s technique is called optogenetics and works by giving selected nerve cells instructions to make light-sensitive proteins that act like tiny gates. Light opens those gates and changes the flow of charged particles so the cells send signals or stop sending them. That lets scientists test what particular brain circuits do rather than simply watch them work.
The method has helped researchers study learning and conditions such as addiction. Its use in patients is still limited, but it has already been tested to restore some vision in people with a form of blindness.

Russian authorities quarantined a hospital and began monitoring people who had contact with a plague institute employee after she died of pneumonia of unknown cause.
Local reports suggested she may have had pneumonic plague — a lung infection that can spread through coughing during close contact. It can quickly become fatal without treatment, but prompt antibiotics can treat it. Authorities said testing found no evidence that germs from her work caused her illness or that a laboratory accident occurred.
Tests of people who had contact with her found two common colds and two COVID-19 cases. Authorities said all known contacts are under medical supervision and no additional institute employees have sought medical attention in recent days.

PEN America recorded nearly 12,000 school book removals during 2025–26 — its highest annual total since tracking began in 2021. (More)

A California woman faces a federal charge of acting as an unregistered Chinese agent after allegedly tracking the family of Taiwan’s president in Seattle. (More)

Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn was sentenced to life without parole Monday for murdering his wife Ashley and staging the scene to look like a break-in. (More)

Spain will hold a snap election November 29 after lawmakers rejected the prime minister’s emergency measures to curb evictions and property speculation. (More)

Vietnamese police arrested 12 men accused of stealing nearly 2,700 cats during overnight raids in Ho Chi Minh City to sell for slaughter and food. (More)

Airstrikes reportedly killed at least 17 people in northern Ethiopia overnight into Monday. A humanitarian bulletin described attacks in Tigray after federal troops took its capital over the weekend. (More)

U.S. stock markets closed higher on Monday (S&P +0.67%, Nasdaq +1.05%, Dow +0.18%). The Nasdaq closed at a new all-time high. (More)

Schneider Electric agreed to buy industrial software maker PTC for $22.6 billion in a deal expected to close in 2027 pending regulatory approval. (More)

Foxconn’s quarterly revenue jumped 47% to roughly $95.4 billion from a year earlier as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure boosted sales. (More)

The NFL suspended two officials for unprofessional conduct toward players Sunday. (More)

Verity topped the domestic box office on an estimated $32.6 million debut while Tom Cruise’s Digger bombed at about $8 million. (More)

Alex Ovechkin announced this will be his final NHL season as the Washington Capitals captain enters his 22nd season holding the league’s career record of 929 goals. (More)

Norway plans to temporarily restrict AI glasses in places such as parks and museums to address recording without consent. (More)

Tiny needle arrays mapped RNA activity in fresh tissue without sequencing in laboratory tests that could make tissue analysis faster and cheaper. (More)

Archaeologists are uncovering a submerged Silk Road settlement’s past through burial grounds and building remains beneath Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-Kul. (More)

Gently tapping your shin bone may help heal the brain.

500-year-old Hawaii sea arch collapses into the ocean.

Fabric softener could be ruining your laundry.

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