Scientific American July 2020 Some trade organizations have distorted the facts on climate change and other issues to keep members’ profits high On April 1 Internet readers were treated to an announcement that appeared to come from Google CEO Sundar Pichai: “Today Google Stops Funding Climate Change Deniers.” It explained that Google—the world’s preeminent information […]
A high-profile paper that reported what was thought to be the remains of the smallest-known bird-like dinosaur has been retracted. New evidence suggests that the specimen, trapped in amber in what is now Myanmar nearly 100 million years ago, might actually be a lizard — part of a different group of reptiles. The authors of […]
Public health interventions don’t just work during your run-of-the-mill pandemic. They are effective even when people are trying to kill you by using a disease outbreak as a genocidal weapon of mass destruction. A paper published on Friday in Science Advances reports on a sophisticated mathematical analysis that shows how personal hygiene, quarantines, social distancing […]
The items below are highlights from the free newsletter, “Smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19.” To receive newsletter issues daily in your inbox, sign up here. Please consider a monthly contribution to support this newsletter. An interview with Virginia Tech’s Linsey Marr, “one of the few academics in the field of aerosol science who is […]
Art museums are filled with centuries-old paintings with details of plants that today give us clues about evolution and breeding practices. — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com Source link
At first glance, the proposal looked like an easy climate win: cut carbon pollution by mandating New York City landlords to install energy-efficient upgrades in buildings larger than 25,000 square feet. The intent was to target a stubborn hurdle in the fight against global warming: building emissions, which account for 70% of New York City’s […]
It hit me when the university president’s e-mail landed in my inbox: “We will be suspending all classes, sending everyone home and all instruction will take place remotely.” The national emergency prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic had just upended everything! As a board member, I felt that one of my worst nightmares had been realized. […]
For the first time ever, scientists have managed to capture images of multiple planets twirling about another sunlike star. Yet despite its stellar host’s resemblance to our own, the snapshots of this planetary system reveal it to be no place like home. Named TYC 8998-760-1 and located about 300 light-years from Earth in the constellation […]
Here are two things that you probably didn’t think were connected: the COVID-19 pandemic and weather forecasts. But there is a link: commercial air travel. As jetliners carry passengers around the world, they also collect vital weather measurements, like air temperature and wind speed. During the pandemic, however, air travel has come almost to a […]
How much warming will greenhouse gas emissions cause in the coming years? It’s one of the most fundamental questions about climate change—and also one of the trickiest to answer. Now, a major study claims to have narrowed down the range of possible estimates. It presents both good and bad news. The worst-case climate scenarios may be somewhat […]