Science today spans courtroom accountability, animal cognition, and the next frontier of gravitational-wave astronomy. Australia has launched what is described as its largest-ever government damages claim, suing 3M over PFAS contamination linked to firefighting foam used at defence bases, in a case that underscores the mounting global reckoning over “forever chemicals.” In New York, the Bronx Zoo’s elephant Happy has died at 55, closing the life of an animal who helped demonstrate mirror self-recognition in elephants and became a symbol in the debate over legal rights for non-human animals. Meanwhile, a cluster of new studies suggests the European Space Agency’s future LISA mission could detect highly eccentric stellar-mass black hole binaries through distinctive repeated bursts, while also clarifying how such systems may shape the low-frequency gravitational-wave background. Together, the stories reflect science’s reach: from environmental harm and ethics to the precise measurement of the universe’s most extreme events.