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Editor’s Note (9/29/20): This story has been updated and republished in light of the Trump administration’s newly announced plans to ship millions of antigen tests to states and vulnerable communities. An inexpensive coronavirus test that millions of Americans could use at a pharmacy, in a workplace or even at home could prove to be a vital asset in allowing people to return to jobs and school. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus-response coordinator, has called rapid antigen tests the “breakthrough innovation” that is needed to perform hundreds of millions of such assays a day....

By Daniel Cressey of Nature magazine Human activity is still killing right whales, one of the most endangered animals in the ocean. An analysis of four decades of whale deaths shows that attempts to prevent them have not had a demonstrable impact. Only around 460 North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) are thought to be swimming the waters off the eastern seaboard of Canada and the United States. The governments of both countries have implemented several measures to protect whales from becoming entangled in fishing gear or being hit by ships, such as the US ‘ship strike rule’ that limits vessel speeds in certain areas....

Nine Northeastern states delivered a boost to U.S. climate efforts yesterday. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) announced a proposal to cut power plant emissions 30 percent between 2021 and 2030. The plan puts the regional cap-and-trade program’s members on pace to greatly exceed the emissions targets prescribed under former President Obama’s carbon-cutting strategy, the Clean Power Plan. It also comes amid a rollback of climate initiatives under President Trump and a flurry of state pledges to comply with goals of the Paris climate accord....

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Regulators in drought-stricken California are proposing stringent new conservation measures to limit outdoor water use, including fines of up to $500 a day for using a hose without a shut-off nozzle. The most populous U.S. state is suffering its third year of drought and in January Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency, allowing the state to request federal aid. In some cities and towns about half the water residents use is for lawns and cleaning cars, according to the State Water Resources Control Board, which made the proposal public on Tuesday....

Investigators still do not know exactly why the I-35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis on August 1, killing 13 people and injuring about 100. But a succession of less spectacular failures over the years has raised concern among the country’s bridge engineers. New materials promise to make routine repairs less costly and intrusive, an important consideration in an era in which money for infrastructure is tight. “The days of letting a bridge deteriorate and then simply replacing it are going away,” says Mark Hirota, a consultant with Parsons Brincker­hoff and a former bridge engineer for the state of Oregon....

Researchers have grown vocal cord tissue in the lab, and it works — the tissue was able to produce sound when it was transplanted into intact voice boxes from animals, according to a new study. This tissue engineering technique could one day be used to restore the voices of patients who have certain voice disorders that are otherwise untreatable, the researchers said. However, more research is needed before the new technique could be brought to an actual clinical trial in humans, the researchers said....

An uncrewed Russian cargo spacecraft fell back to Earth shortly after launching toward the International Space Station (ISS) today (Dec. 1). The Progress 65 freighter lifted off atop a three-stage Soyuz-U rocket at 9:51 a.m. EST (1451 GMT) today from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. About 6 minutes into the flight , Russian mission controllers stopped receiving telemetry from the cargo ship, and radar stations were subsequently unable to pick it up on its planned orbit, said officials with Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency....

Carbon dioxide emissions are turning the world’s oceans more acidic, endangering coral reefs and fisheries, the science academies of 70 nations warned today in a joint statement. The effect could be irreversible for tens of thousands of years, the academies said. They urged countries attending U.N. climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany, this week to cut the world’s CO2 emissions at least 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, with additional cuts after that....

CANADA Although caribou populations are declining across most of the Canadian wilderness, research suggests British Columbia’s Klinse-Za herd has tripled in size in nine years. The herd is protected through a program led by two First Nations groups. ECUADOR Researchers described two new-to-science species of glass frog—tiny, transparent amphibians living in the Andes foothills. Despite looking nearly identical and living on opposite sides of a river valley, the two species have surprisingly different genomes....

Using a detailed map created by the British army in about 1782, Sanderson, a landscape ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, re-creates Manhattan as it would have looked when Henry Hudson first saw it in 1609 (left side of image). The goal is not to return today’s Manhattan (right side of image) to its primeval state but to have some fun and to see what vision of the future might work for the metropolis....

For many people battling addictions, seeing drug paraphernalia—or even places associated with past use—can ignite cravings that make relapse more likely. Associating environmental cues with pleasurable experiences is a basic form of learning, but some researchers think such associations can “hijack” behavior, contributing to problems such as addiction and eating disorders. Researchers led by neuroscientist Shelly Flagel of the University of Michigan have found a brain circuit that may control this hijacking; rats that exhibit a type of compulsive behavior show different brain connectivity and activity than those that do not, and manipulation of the circuit altered their behavior....

Every month, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN—the longest-running magazine in the U.S. and an authoritative voice in science, technology and innovation—provides insight into scientific topics that affect our daily lives and capture our imagination, establishing the vital bridge between science and public policy. Key information from this month’s issue: • ENERGY All forms of energy generation carry a risk to human life, as seen by recent accidents involving nuclear reactors, oil rigs and coal mines....

Mouse experiments with the popular club drug ketamine may be skewed by the sex of the researcher performing them, a study suggests. The findings, presented on November 14 at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting in Washington DC, only deepen the mystery of how ketamine, which has powerful mood-lifting properties, interacts with the brain. They also raise questions about the reproducibility of behavioural experiments in mice. Ketamine is best known as a psychoactive recreational drug....

My Scientific American column this month pondered the possibility that tech companies deliberately withhold features that are ready to go into their products, simply so that they’ll have something more to entice you with next year. And it’s true that technology moves so fast, almost any gadget you buy will soon seem behind-the-times. To avoid the feelings of betrayal and waste that accompany the discontinuation of whatever you bought, it’s best to keep its limited lifespan in mind from the day you start shopping....

Laughing with friends releases feel-good brain chemicals, which also relieve pain, new research indicates. Until now, scientists haven’t proven that like exercise and other activities, laughing causes a release of so-called endorphins. “Very little research has been done into why we laugh and what role it plays in society,” study researcher Robin Dunbar, of the University of Oxford, said in a statement. “We think that it is the bonding effects of the endorphin rush that explain why laughter plays such an important role in our social lives....

Laser technology has proved to be an invaluable surgical tool, be it to improve eyesight, repair torn retinas, zap kidney stones, or to delicately remove spinal tumors. Still, despite more than four decades of use in the operating room, laser surgery has been limited by the fact that its energy travels in straight lines. This means that a laser works best on areas that can be reached with a straight shot....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Philip II of Macedon (359-336 BCE) envisaged a broad Macedonian kingdom and his colonial expansion resulted in the forging of an empire that his son Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) would use as a springboard for even greater things. Philip’s strategic and economically valuable colonies and garrisons in Thessaly and Thrace included such great cities as Philippi and Philippopolis....

The F-150 notwithstanding, Americans are choosing more efficient cars. George Will has been described as an “intellectual,” as “erudite,” “brilliant,”even “brainy.” If you’ve ever heard him on television, you’d have to admit that his opinion of his own intellect seems to be quite high. And yet for such an erudite and brainy fellow, it’s amazing how often he gets it wrong when it comes to things environmental. (No comment on his other positions....

By Alison AbbottAnimal activists last summer set fire to the alpine holiday home of Daniel Vasella, then chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Novartis of Basel, Switzerland, in one of relatively few violent attacks on scientists working with animals in German-speaking countries. But in the past few years these scientists have been feeling the pressure in other ways–from animal activists who have attempted to publicly shame them or have sent threatening e-mails, and from legislation that increasingly restricts the use of animals in basic research....

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a new, carbon-neutral way to convert vegetable-based fuels to syngas, a breakthrough that could allow producers to power hydrogen fuel cells or create a replacement for America’s dwindling supplies of natural gas, all without relying on fossil fuels. We’ve all had the experience of watching cooking oil smoke once a pan reaches a certain temperature, and suffered the indignity of having to scrub off the caked-on, carbonized gunk that results....