Learn Hardcore Japanese: saikin kagaku no kizi wo yomuno ga tanosii desu. - Recently I enjoy reading science articles.

In Japanese, time expressions like 昨日, 今日, 来週, and 最近 can stand alone without a particle and still indicate when something happens. If you want to emphasize or mark it as the topic, you can add は (e.g. 最近は), but it’s not mandatory. Leaving it without a particle is perfectly natural and common, especially in casual or written contexts.

What does the の after 読む do?

That の is the nominalizer. It turns the verb phrase 読む (“to read”) into a noun-like phrase 読むの (“reading”). This lets you treat the entire action as a thing you can talk about—here, that “reading science articles” itself is fun.

Why is が used after 読むの instead of を or は?

Once you nominalize the clause with の, you need a particle to show its grammatical role.

～のが marks the nominalized phrase as the subject of the sentence (i.e. “the thing that is fun”).
～のを would make it the object, which doesn’t work with 楽しい (an adjective that describes a subject).
You could say 読むのは楽しいです, using は to add contrast or topic-marking, but that slightly shifts the nuance—が here simply states “This is fun” without implying comparison.

Could I use こと instead of の here?

Grammatically, 読むことが楽しいです is not wrong. However:

With adjectives describing feelings (like 楽しい, 好き), native speakers overwhelmingly prefer の.
こと sounds more formal or bookish and often appears in structures like 読むことができます (“you can read”).
So in your example, 読むのが楽しいです is more natural.

Why is 科学の記事 in that order? Wouldn’t English say “article of science”?

Japanese modifiers always come before the noun they modify.

科学の modifies 記事 and literally means “science’s.”
So 科学の記事 = “science articles.”
English also says “science article,” but thinks of it as adjective + noun. Japanese uses the particle の to connect the two.

Why do we still need です at the end when 楽しい is already an adjective?

楽しい is a i-adjective, and in plain form you can end a sentence with 楽しい (e.g. 楽しい！). But when you want a polite tone, you add the copula です to make 楽しいです. It doesn’t change the adjective’s meaning; it just raises the politeness level.

Could you reorder the sentence to something like 科学の記事を読むのが最近楽しいです?

Technically you can move 最近 closer to 楽しい to emphasize “recently,” but the most natural order is

Time expression (最近)
Topic or modifier chains (科学の記事を)
Verb phrase nominalized (読むのが)
Predicate (楽しいです)
Your version …読むのが最近楽しいです isn’t ungrammatical, but it subtly shifts focus, making “lately, the fact that I read science articles is fun,” which sounds a bit stilted in everyday speech.