Picture yourself in the emergency department in desperate need of acute care. If you are lucky, you quickly check in with a triage nurse who takes your vitals and registers your complaint—before sending you back to the lobby. Hours pass and it’s likely you still have not been treated. You are surrounded by other sick […]
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Music-Making Artificial Intelligence Is Getting Scary Good
SUBSCRIBE: Apple | Spotify Listen to Episode One of this three-part Science, Quickly Fascination here. Transcript Allison Parshall: As a kid, I was something of a composer. Please brace yourself for Mozart-level brilliance. [CLIP: Parshall family home video of toddler Allison playing a tiny keyboard and singing, mostly gibberish] Parshall: As you can hear, I was a lyrical […]
Mysteriously Young ‘Peekaboo’ Galaxy Could Reveal Secrets of Early Universe
A galaxy that is just emerging from hiding may be one of the youngest ever discovered, offering a potential portal to the secrets of the early universe. Aptly named “Peekaboo,” the galaxy moved from behind a bright star (from our perspective) only within the past 50 to 100 years. But it’s not just the galaxy’s […]
Earthquake Debris Could Create an Environmental Catastrophe in Türkiye and Syria
The earthquake that has destroyed parts of Türkiye and Syria is a tragedy for millions of families, including my own. One of the worst hit regions—around the ancient city of Antioch—is where my father’s family has lived for generations. This disaster has killed thousands of people and affected millions of others. Now that the last […]
Scientists Look for Toxins from East Palestine Derailment in Ohio
Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, have complained of symptoms including headaches and difficulty breathing following a nearby train derailment that spilled millions of litres of industrial chemicals last month. Officials at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local, state and federal agencies, as well as the train’s operator, Norfolk Southern, have been monitoring water […]
IPCC Report Will Likely Shake Up U.N. Climate Talks
CLIMATEWIRE | When global leaders meet later this year to negotiate climate action, the urgency to cut planet-warming emissions will be starker than ever before. The world now needs to cut emissions by 60 percent by 2035 — compared with 2019 levels — to avoid increasingly severe heat, flooding, drought and extreme weather that will make […]
There Is Still Plenty We Can Do to Slow Climate Change
After several years of agreements and plans to limit global warming, we are still way off track. This is one of the basic conclusions of the recent report put out by the world’s most authoritative body on climate science: the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report, formally called the Synthesis Report […]
Eye Drops Recalled after Deaths and Blindness–Here’s What to Know
Health professionals are investigating an outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant microbe found in certain bottles of lubricating eye drops, or artificial tears. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 68 infections have been reported as of March 14. Three people have died, eight have lost vision, and four have had […]
Beethoven’s Cause Of Death Revealed From Locks Of Hair
In the autumn of 1802, some 25 years before his death, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote a letter to his brothers. The famous composer, distraught about his encroaching loss of hearing, implored them to seek out his physician after his death and “beg him in my name to describe my malady.” More than two centuries on, […]
‘Plasticosis’ in Seabirds Could Herald New Era of Animal Disease
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. As a conservation biologist who studies plastic ingestion by marine wildlife, I can count on the same question whenever I present research: “How does plastic affect the animals that eat it?” This is one of the biggest questions in this […]