David Rotman, MIT Review
What will a planet plagued by escalating climate change look like? No one really knows. But speaking at EmTech MIT 2016, Solomon Hsiang, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, presented results based on his recent analysis of economic and climate data that begin to more clearly define what the world might look like as it gets hotter.
Alexandra Witze, Nature News
Pluto’s icy heart beats with a planetary rhythm.When NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft whizzed by the dwarf planet in July 2015, it famously spotted a heart-shaped feature just north of the equator. Now, researchers are recognizing how that enormous ice cap drives much of Pluto’s activity, from its frosty surface to its hazy atmosphere.
Robby Berman, B-Think
Raise your hand if youve been fooled by a weather forecast in the last month. At this point, skepticism is likely built-in: We accept that the weather will surprise. Maybe its beyond the reach of technologys capabilities; maybe its just too random. Actually, neither is true.
Lisa Zyga, PhysOrg
In 1976, two Viking landers became the first spacecraft from Earth to touch down on Mars. They took the first high-resolution images of the planet, surveyed the planet's geographical features, and analyzed the geological composition of the atmosphere and surface. Perhaps most intriguingly, they also performed experiments that searched for signs of microbial life in Martian soil. In 1976, two Viking landers became the first spacecraft from Earth to touch down on Mars. They... Читать дальше...
Ronald Bailey, Reason
When environmental activists could no longer maintain with a straight face that exposure to trace amounts of synthetic chemicals is a significant cause for cancer in people, the endocrine disruption hypothesis was ginned up. The idea is that chemicals that mimic estrogen are causing epidemics of deformed penises, lower sperm counts, premature development of breasts in girls, shorter anogenital distances in men, diabetes, ADHD, and reduced cognitive function.
Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily
You pays your nickel and you takes your ride. In a cylindrical subway car with plush angora seats and gas-lights above your hat, whooshing down a round tunnel via pressurized air beneath the great metropolis… Wait a minute, whose steampunk fantasy is this?Alfred Ely Beach’s, as a matter of fact, and more than a few other’s. In 1868, inventor Beach, who was also the publisher and editor of Scientific American, proposed a pneumatic subway system for the city of New York. Читать дальше...
Nathaniel Morris, Sci Am
When meeting new people, I'm often asked what I do for work. Depending on how I phrase my answer, I receive very different reactions."I'm a doctor specializing in mental health" elicits fascination. People's faces brighten and they say, "Very cool!"But If I instead say, "I'm a psychiatrist," the conversation falls quiet. They get uncomfortable and change the subject.
Eva Botkin-Kowacki, CSM
Nine out of every 10 people dominantly use their right hands, but most animals don't appear to have a handedness. Little is known about the origins of handedness, but researchers say they have found the earliest right-handed person, and it's not a Homo sapiens.An H. habilis who lived in what is now Tanzania some 1.8 million years ago appears to also have favored his or her right hand, according to new research published Thursday in the Journal of Human Evolution.
Mika McKinnon, Astronomy
New research suggests that the asteroid 16 Psyche may have traces of water splattered across its surface. Infrared observations reveal the characteristic absorption of unexpected volatiles, hinting at impacts by water-bearing rocks crashing into the iron-rich asteroid that is suspected to be the relic core of a failed planet.
Mindy Weisberger, Live Science
Mount Aso, one of the most active volcanoes in Japan, recently helped to stop a powerful earthquake before it subsided on its own, researchers discovered.When a 7.1-magnitude quake struck Kumamoto, Japan, on April 16, 2016, it opened surface ruptures in a zone extending 25 miles (40 kilometers) in length. But scientists found evidence suggesting that the powerful earthquake was halted by a magma chamber under the Aso volcanic cluster, located 19 miles (30 km) from where the quake originated.
Michael Greshko, Nat Geo
To get to Australia, giant dinosaurs known as titanosaurs may have had to trek across an even more down-under continent: Antarctica.Thats the conclusion drawn by a new family tree for sauropods, a group of herbivorous long-necked dinosaurs that includes the largest land animals to ever walk the Earth. The report is based on new sauropod fossils found in Australia that are between 95 and 98 million years old, including a new genus and species dubbed Savannasaurus elliottorum.
Kate Baggaley, Pop Science
For decades, people have used medical marijuana (or just plain toked up a doob) to ease chronic pain. But can sick pets get the same relief from weed?Several companies now sell cannabis-based products intended for our best friends, according to a New York Times report. It seems pet owners are administering these products to relieve pain, limit seizures, and even reduce anxiety (however that's measured) in dogs, cats and other species.But does it work?
Matt McGrath, BBC
Scores of spectacular and rare under sea species have been found by expeditions this year to some of the deepest trenches in the Pacific Ocean.They include strange purple orbs, "mud monsters" and a bizarre swimming sea cucumber reminiscent of a flying Mary Poppins.Another voyage found around 500 new undersea methane vents off the US west coast.
Nathaniel Morris, Sci Am
When meeting new people, I'm often asked what I do for work. Depending on how I phrase my answer, I receive very different reactions."I'm a doctor specializing in mental health" elicits fascination. People's faces brighten and they say, "Very cool!"But If I instead say, "I'm a psychiatrist," the conversation falls quiet. They get uncomfortable and change the subject.
Calla Cofield, Space.com
Look out below! Scientists have found evidence of landslides on Pluto's moon Charon. This is the first time this geologic feature has been discovered in the Kuiper Belt, according to New Horizons scientists.The landslides on Charon were spotted by NASA's New Horizons probe, which made a close flyby of the Pluto system in July 2015. According to New Horizons scientists, this is the first evidence of landslides in the Kuiper Belt, the region of icy, rocky bodies that... Читать дальше...
Alex Berezow, ACSH
Every four years, Americans become obsessed with The Polls. What do the polls say? Have the polls shifted? Which presidential candidate is up, and which is down? Entire careers have been built (and destroyed) by analyzing The Sacred Polls.
The Economist
THAT space flight is as much show business as science was confirmed on the evening of October 19th, when members of the ExoMars team put on the bravest of faces for a broadcast from their mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, about the arrival of the projects craft at Mars. ExoMars is a joint endeavour by Europes and Russias space agencies.
