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Comparing COVID-19 Deaths to Flu Deaths Is Like Comparing Apples to Oranges

In late February, when the stock market was beginning to fall over coronavirus fears, President Donald Trump held a briefing at the White House to reassure people that there was little chance of the virus causing significant disruption in the United States. “I want you to understand something that shocked me when I saw it,” […]

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Where Is Everybody Else in the Universe?

Guest host Wayt Gibbs talks with Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds about what’s known as the Fermi Paradox: in a universe of trillions of planets, where is everybody? Source link

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Removing 1 Million Homes from Flood Zones Could Save $1 Trillion

The U.S. could save more than $1 trillion over the long term by removing roughly 1 million homes from flood-prone areas and relocating residents to higher ground, according to a massive new study funded by the government. The 658-page report suggests that modest government programs to buy and raze houses in flood zones should be greatly expanded […]

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How Sustainable Development Ravaged the Congo Basin

In the pitch-black darkness, sitting on the forest floor with our bodies so close that we touch, we sing, each voice producing a different yodeled melody to create a densely overlapping harmony. As the hours pass, individual melodies melt into one another, and we begin to lose ourselves in the human and acoustic tapestry we […]