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The Vera C. Rubin Observatory will reveal all sorts of short-term changes in the cosmos—and some could have dire consequences for humanity — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com Source link

It is not an easy thing to stare at my Zoom self, meeting after meeting, day after day. This unflattering yawn, that stray wisp of hair I cannot touch again without seeming nervous or vain, these chins. Watching ourselves is exhausting but also compelling. Thinkers both ancient and modern have grappled with why. Mirrors are […]

Sometimes, discoveries seem so simple. “You know, basically we found a bunch of holes in the ground.”   That’s Eduard Reinhardt. He’s an archaeologist and geologist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. “But ultimately very important holes in the ground.” Reinhardt and colleagues believe they’ve found some of the first clear evidence of mining activity […]

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. Aerosols — those light, microscopic, drifting droplets that we release when we talk and that can contain SARS-CoV-2 — were […]

Arctic sea ice hit an all-time low for July against a backdrop of record-breaking temperatures and raging wildfires at the northern reaches of Earth. Then a cyclone began swirling over the thinning ice this week. Taken together, those conditions have made scientists concerned about what the rest of the season may hold as thousands of […]

With millions of lives on the line, researchers have been working at an unprecedented pace to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. But that speed—and some widely touted breakthroughs—belie the enormous complexity and potential risks involved. Researchers have an incomplete understanding of the coronavirus and are using technology that’s largely unproven. Among many worries: A handful of […]

Originally published in June 1994 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “One of the most persistent enemies of safe flying—formation of ice on propellers of planes in flight—is now being overcome by a new electrically heated propeller ‘skin’ that enables the propeller surface to warm up like a sick-bed heating pad. The skin is made by two […]

Despite freezing temperatures, scores of snakes slithered out of their hibernation dens in the weeks before a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the Chinese city of Haicheng on February 4, 1975. The reptiles’ behavior, along with other incidents, helped persuade authorities to evacuate the city hours before the massive quake. For centuries, people have described unusual […]

COVID-19 triggers a strong immune response in most people. Yet several recent studies observed that the amounts of antibodies in those recovering from the virus appear to decline within a few months of infection. The findings set off a frenzy of speculation that immunity to the virus may not last long, throwing cold water on […]

“We are truly living in a time of giants.” Lofty language like this doesn’t happen often in scientific literature. But the person who wrote them, biologist Jeremy Goldbogen, understands: When it comes to writing about whales, the scale and mystery of their lives can be difficult to overstate. For the past two decades, Goldbogen and […]