As Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Although some of us are clearly better than others at dodging the inevitable, in the end Mother Nature at least will always win. But along the path of life, people vary greatly in how often they get injured, incur illness or coast along in a comfortable state of health. Considered at a distance, genetics and luck seem to explain a lot....
Schools of tiny animals and fish might be a huge and previously unnoticed contributor to the churning of ocean water, on a par with the wind and tides. Researchers have observed a dramatic increase in water turbulence in a coastal inlet as a dense layer of shrimplike krill ascended for their evening meal, hinting at similar mixing off coasts around the globe. Rough estimates of the water-stirring potential of underwater organisms suggest they could be responsible for one third of all ocean mixing....
More than half a century ago, conservationist Rachel Carson sounded an alarm about human impacts on the natural world with her book Silent Spring. Its title alluded to the loss of twittering birds from natural habitats because of indiscriminate pesticide use, and the treatise spawned the modern conservation movement. But new research published Thursday in Science shows bird populations have continued to plummet in the past five decades, dropping by nearly three billion across North America—an overall decline of 29 percent from 1970....
In November 2019, Lewis the koala instantly became a symbol of the tragic plight his species faces in Australia. Local residents found him limping along the hot pavement near Port Macquarie, desperate to escape flames of the Long Flat bushfire that were lining the road and turning his forest home to ash. The burned marsupial appeared disoriented, struggling to survive. Good Samaritans quickly nabbed the animal, poured bottled water over his singed fur and paws, and bundled him up....
Mary Lyn Koval did not want to go to the dentist. A marketing communications consultant in upstate New York, Koval works from home and felt she was staying safe during the coronavirus pandemic. One of her childhood fillings had broken, however. “I put off going for two weeks. But I was afraid that if I’d exposed a cavity, it would devolve into a series of root canals” instead of a simple filling replacement, she says....
A distant supernova previously imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope will be visible again from Earth in 2037, astronomers predict. The supernova, dubbed Requiem, is a result of a stellar explosion some 10 billion light-years away. It was visible to the legendary space observatory three times in 2016, thanks to a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing occurs in the vicinity of super-massive celestial bodies that have the ability to bend and split light, magnifying and distorting the images of objects behind them....
Editors note: This story is part of a Feature “The Color of Plants on Other Worlds” from the April 2008 issue of Scientific American. Photosynthesis evolved early in Earth’s history. The rapidity of its emergence suggests it was no fluke and could arise on other worlds, too. As organisms released gases that changed the very lighting conditions on which they depended, they had to evolve new colors. 4.6 billion years ago – Formation of Earth 3....
The Senate confirmed Gina McCarthy as U.S. EPA’s top air official today after her nomination was held up for a month by Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso over concerns about the Obama administration’s climate policies. McCarthy, President Obama’s pick to serve as assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, was approved this morning by a voice vote. Barrasso released his procedural “hold” on McCarthy late last month, but he voiced his lingering concerns today as the Senate prepared to vote on her nomination....
Ever since fossils of the behemoth, long-necked dinosaurs known as sauropods surfaced in England nearly 170 years ago, they have awed and confused scientists. Even when the great English anatomist Sir Richard Owen recognized in 1842 that dinosaurs constituted a group of their own, apart from reptiles, he excluded the gigantic bones later classified as sauropods. Instead he interpreted them as belonging to a type of aquatic crocodile, which he had named Cetiosaurus, or “whale lizard,” for the enormous size of its bones....
By Shyamantha Asokan LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - On a cold and rainy Friday afternoon, Steven Dring is tending his baby carrots in a somewhat unusual setting. The green shoots are in a try of volcanic glass crystals under LED lights - and the tray is in a tunnel 33 meters underneath a busy London street. Dring is the co-founder of Zero Carbon Food, one of a clutch of projects trying to help feed the world’s booming cities by farming in local spots - and often unexpected ones....
Traces of 18 unregulated chemicals were found in drinking water from more than one-third of U.S. water utilities in a nationwide sampling, according to new, unpublished research by federal scientists. Included are 11 perfluorinated compounds, an herbicide, two solvents, caffeine, an antibacterial compound, a metal and an antidepressant. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency analyzed single samples of untreated and treated water from 25 U.S. utilities that voluntarily participated in the project....
On Colombia’s La Guajira Peninsula, an arid stretch of land that forms the northernmost tip of South America jutting into the Caribbean Sea, life for the indigenous Wayúu people in many ways remains as it has for centuries. The Wayúu men fish each morning, returning home to their settlements (known as “rancherías”) shortly after sunrise, before the sun heats the surrounding desert to 40 degrees Celsius. The Wayúu women weave woolen shoulder bags called “mochilas,” which they sell in neighboring towns....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The poem Lokasenna belongs to the Poetic Edda, a bulk of Old Norse poetry written down in Iceland in the 1200s but based on linguistic features dating back as far as the 900s. In this invaluable resource for Norse mythology, Lokasenna stands out as one of the most vigorous poems of the collection, consisting of Loki’s taunts to the assembly of gods and their unsuccessful attempts to get back at him....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Pliny the Younger’s (61-112 CE) letter (Epistulae X.96) to Roman Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 CE) is one of our earliest sources on Christianity from an outsider’s point of view. It highlights the Christian movement’s impact on the old Roman religion and provides the earliest historical evidence for Christian trials....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The theatre of Dionysos Eleuthereus on the south slope of the acropolis of Athens was first built in the 6th century BCE. Modified and expanded over the centuries, it is the oldest Greek theatre and is the site where some of the most famous Greek plays from antiquity were first performed....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Dublin has much to offer in cultural and historical experiences. It is a vibrant and colorful city, with a history dating back many centuries. Dublin has it all - from castles and a Viking harbor to ancient pubs, medieval libraries, and more. There is always something new to explore, so be sure to plan your visit well....
Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Printed Christmas cards became popular in the Victorian period (1837-1901) thanks to a combination of cheaper printing techniques and even cheaper post, with the arrival of the Penny Black postage stamp. Coming in all shapes, sizes, and materials, Christmas cards were sent in their millions to all corners of the British Empire....
By Christopher D’AngeloLIHUE, Hawaii (Reuters) - Three of the world’s largest agrochemical companies have filed a lawsuit in Hawaii to block a law enacted on the island of Kauai in November to limit the planting of biotech crops and the use of pesticides.DuPont, Syngenta and Agrigenetics Inc, a company affiliated with the Dow AgroSciences unit of Dow Chemical Co, filed suit Friday in U.S. district court in Honolulu. The suit claims the action in Kauai is unconstitutional and seeks an injunction permanently barring enforcement of provisions of the law....
MANCELONA, Mich. – When state and federal environmental officials visited this tucked-away town 15 years ago, their presence surprised local residents. “My heart and most of my life has been spent here in Antrim County,” said Gary Knapp, a long-time resident. “And I knew nothing of its environmental problems.” While removing metal contamination from local groundwater, officials had stumbled upon one of the nation’s largest plumes of an industrial solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE....
If you thought whooping cough went the way of beriberi and other 19th-century diseases with fanciful names, think again. Whooping cough is back with a vengeance with the worse outbreak in the United States in 50 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As of this month, 46 states have reported increases in cases compared with 2011. The state of Washington has declared an epidemic with more than 3,000 reported cases....
