Uncategorized
- Health & Medicine
Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees C could prevent thousands of deaths in the U.S.
A study projecting heat-related mortality in 15 U.S. cities illustrates urban risk from global warming.
- Earth
Soil eroded by glaciers may have kick-started plate tectonics
How plate tectonics got going is a mystery. Now scientists say they’ve found a key part of the story: massive piles of sediment dumped in the ocean.
- Astronomy
The accretion disk around our galaxy’s black hole has been spotted at last
The Milky Way's central black hole has a disk of gas and dust orbiting it, astronomers can finally say with confidence.
- Animals
Tiny structures in dragonfish teeth turn them into invisible daggers
The teeth of deep-sea dragonfish are transparent because of nanoscale crystals and rods that let light pass through without being scattered.
- Environment
Chemicals in biodegradable food containers can leach into compost
PFAS compounds from compostable food containers could end being absorbed by plants and later eaten by people, though the health effects are unclear.
- Science & Society
The Smithsonian’s ‘Deep Time’ exhibit gives dinosaurs new life
The Smithsonian’s renovated fossil hall puts ancient dinosaurs and other creatures in context.
- Environment
How one fern hoards toxic arsenic in its fronds and doesn’t die
To survive high levels of arsenic, a fern sequesters the heavy metal in its shoots with the help of three proteins.
- Neuroscience
A new experiment didn’t find signs of dreaming in brain waves
Brain activity that powers dreams may reveal crucial insight into consciousness, but a new study failed to spot evidence of the neural flickers.
- Anthropology
Hominids may have been cutting-edge tool makers 2.6 million years ago
Contested finds point to a sharp shift in toolmaking by early members of the Homo genus.
- Life
Gut bacteria may change the way many drugs work in the body
A new survey of interactions between microbes and medications suggests that gut bacteria play a crucial role in how the body processes drugs.
- Physics
This tabletop device turns the quantum definition of a kilogram into a real mass
The mini Kibble balance will measure 10 grams to an accuracy of a few ten-thousandths of a percent.
- Climate
The Southern Ocean may be less of a carbon sink than we thought
The Southern Ocean’s ability to suck up much of the carbon that humans pump into the atmosphere is in question.
