Data
- Earth
The Great Salt Lake is shrinking. What can we do to stop it?
A dropping lake level affects agriculture, public health and the environment — but water conservation can halt the decline.
- Health & Medicine
A chemical imbalance doesn’t explain depression. So what does?
The causes of depression are much more complex than the serotonin hypothesis suggests
- Science & Society
Pandemic languishing is a thing. But is it a privilege?
Positive psychologists contend that people can flourish if they try hard enough. But this pinnacle of well-being might not be so fully in our control.
- Humans
The world population has now reached 8 billion
In a first, the global population surpassed this milestone on November 15, according to a projection from the United Nations.
- Health & Medicine
The U.S.’s alcohol-induced death rate rose sharply in the pandemic’s first year
Studies suggested cases of alcoholic liver disease rose in the first pandemic year, and new data show the death rate from alcohol use climbed too.
- Health & Medicine
Where are the long COVID clinics?
For people with long COVID, finding a place to get appropriate medical care is a challenge.
- Climate
How to make recyclable plastics out of CO2 to slow climate change
Companies are turning atmospheric CO2 from smokestacks and landfills into plastics to shrink their carbon footprint.
- Earth
In 2021, a deadly volcano erupted with no warning. Here’s why
Before the Nyiragongo eruption, underground magma was already close to the surface and so didn’t trigger instruments that look for lava movement.
- Neuroscience
COVID-19 gave new urgency to the science of restoring smell
With newfound pressure from the pandemic, olfactory training and a host of other newer treatments are now getting a lot more attention.
- Astronomy
The James Webb telescope spotted CO2 in an exoplanet’s atmosphere
The first definitive detection of the gas on a world in another solar system paves the way for detections in planets that are more Earthlike.
- Earth
The Arctic is warming even faster than scientists realized
The Arctic isn’t just heating up two to three times as quickly as the rest of the planet. New analyses show that warming is almost four times as fast.
- Climate
Humans may not be able to handle as much heat as scientists thought
Humans’ capacity to endure heat stress may be lower than previously thought — bad news as climate change leads to more heat waves around the globe.
