As the Arctic warms and transforms, many of its most iconic, frozen features are dissolving away. Glaciers are melting and trickling into the sea. Sea ice is giving way to open ocean. Permafrost is thawing and turning to mush. And the snow that caps the extraordinary Arctic environment is increasingly turning to rain. The gradual […]
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Why It Took So Long to Appreciate Female Birds’ Songs
Female birds sing. That is one of the revelations of our 2020 study on one of the most abundant, widespread, well-studied bird species in the world: the barn swallow. Despite the well over 1,000 scientific publications about this species, female barn swallow song had never previously been the focus of a research article. Why does […]
Redo of a Famous Experiment on the Origins of Life Reveals Critical Detail Missed for Decades
Sarah Vitak: This is Scientific American’s 60 Second Science. I’m Sarah Vitak. The question of how life came to be has captivated humans for millennia. The prevailing theory now is that on a highly volatile early earth lightning struck mineral rich waters. And that the energy from lighting strikes turned those minerals into the building […]
Climate Pledges Still Not Enough to Keep Warming Below 2-Degree Limit
In the aftermath of the United Nations’ annual climate conference earlier this month, scientists have a sobering message: The world still is not on track to meet its international climate goals. A new paper, published yesterday in the journal Nature Climate Change, is the latest study to drive the point home. It finds that even if nations […]
Fearing Liability, U.S. Resists U.N. Fund for Climate Damages
The United States frequently cites fear of liability to explain why it has so far been reluctant to support creating a new international fund for climate victims. But some experts say that fear is misplaced. Signing onto an U.N. agreement that creates a fund for “loss and damage” related to climate change won’t open a […]
Watch These 5 Key Issues in 2022 to See if COP26 Climate Promises Are Kept
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. How much the world achieved at the Glasgow climate talks – and what happens now – depends in large part on where you live. In island nations that are losing their homes to sea level rise, and in other highly […]
Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2021
Scientific American December 2021 Innovations to help tackle societal challenges—especially climate change Think of our planet’s grand challenges: Managing climate change. Reducing energy use. Sustaining food production. Improving global health. Many of these efforts involve overlapping problems—and the potential for interlinked solutions. It’s no wonder the United Nations names “Partnerships” as its 17th Sustainable Development […]
Poem: 'The Way of Karma'
Science in meter and verse — Read more on ScientificAmerican.com Source link
New Mineral Discovered in Deep-Earth Diamond
A diamond that formed deep in the earth’s mantle contains a mineral never seen before in nature. The discovery is a rare glimpse into the deep mantle and may help reveal new information about the structure of the planet at depths of more than 660 kilometers. This, in turn, can help geologists better understand how […]
COP26 Climate Pledges: What Scientists Think so Far
The first few days of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) have seen a flurry of announcements from world leaders promising to tackle climate change — from plans to phase out public finance for coal-fired power, to a pledge to end deforestation. This year, many big names — including US […]