Ships without sailors could keep humans out of harm’s way, and that possibility is not their only potential benefit. Without crews, shippers could save money normally spent on salaries, keep boats away from shore for longer and, without wasting room on accommodations, try more efficient designs that would emit less pollution. The autonomous shipping market […]
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The U.S. currently has the most confirmed COVID-19 infections of any country, with more than 203,000 cases as of Wednesday. New York City has emerged as the outbreak’s newest focal point, with more than 44,900 people testing positive as of that time. And major outbreaks are underway in cities such as Seattle and New Orleans. […]
Originally published in June 1968 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “The disappearance of stones in the urinary tract is particularly well documented in England. Between 1772 and 1816 one in every 38 patients at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital was under treatment for bladder stones. In the same period so many of the boys at the […]
SM: This is Scientific American’s Science Talk, posted on April 3, 2020. I’m Steve Mirsky. The coronavirus now leaping across the globe made its first jump from wild animals—probably bats—to people. But now that virus is being cultivated in specially equipped biohazard labs, the same kind that are used to store and study other dangerous […]
In the face of unprecedented measures to limit social contact at work, at school and on the main streets of communities across the nation, Americans give themselves good marks, with 86 percent saying people in their households are “reacting about right.” Most also say their local school system is reacting about right (86 percent), and […]
The first wave of patients in Brooklyn were what we call the worried well, who arrived at the emergency room with cough, fever and flulike symptoms, concerned they had coronavirus. We would perform a nasal swab, or not, depending on whether we had COVID-19 tests available that day, and send them home with isolation precautions […]
More than a dozen research groups worldwide have started analysing wastewater for the new coronavirus as a way to estimate the total number of infections in a community, given that most people will not be tested. The method could also be used to detect the coronavirus if it returns to communities, say scientists. So far, […]
Climate change has doubled the number of extreme-risk days for California wildfires, according to research released yesterday. An analysis led by Stanford University found that temperatures rose about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit statewide while precipitation dropped 30% since 1980. That doubled the number of autumn days—when fire risk is highest—with extreme conditions for the ignition of […]
After an eight-year struggle, embattled Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki has finally received some validation. His 600-page proof of the abc conjecture, one of the biggest open problems in number theory, has been accepted for publication. Acceptance of the work in Publications of the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS)—a journal of which Mochizuki is chief editor, published […]
More than 1,500 feet below the surface of the ocean, it’s darker than a moonless night. But even in this murky world, there’s constant activity—including groups of Humboldt squid, each the size of a small adult human, darting around in search of fish. “You can think of them as little rocket ships. They jet through […]