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In “The Biomass Bottleneck,” Eric Toensmeier and Dennis Garrity address the strategy of drawing down billions of tons of carbon dioxide by using biomass for energy and carbon capture. Their analysis concludes that the amount of biomass required would leave the world with inadequate arable land to grow food. And they indicate that available biomass waste that currently has no other use is not available in sufficient quantity to make a significant dent in the climate change crisis....

Researchers predict a new type of lithium battery under development could give an electric car enough juice to travel a whopping 800 kilometers before it needs to be plugged in again—about 10 times the energy that today’s lithium ion batteries supply. It is a tantalizing prospect—a lighter, longer-lasting, air-breathing power source for the next generation of vehicles—if only someone could build a working model. Several roadblocks stand between these lithium–air batteries and the open road, however, primarily in finding electrodes and electrolytes that are stable enough for rechargeable battery chemistry....

The study, by anthropologist Alberto Acerbi of the University of Bristol, UK, and his colleagues, takes advantage of Google’s database of more than 5 million digitally scanned books from the past several centuries. This resource has previously been used to examine the evolution of literary styles and trends in literary expressions of individualism. Such mining of the cultural information made available by new technologies has been called ‘culturomics’. Its advocates think that these approaches can unearth trends in social opinions and norms that are otherwise concealed within vast swathes of data....

Black holes have a bad reputation. In many ways, it is deserved. They are the most efficient engines of destruction known to humanity. Their intense gravity is a one-way ticket to oblivion for anything that strays too close; inside them is undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns. We see them only because the victims do not go quietly to their doom. Material spiraling into a black hole can heat up to millions of degrees and glow brightly....

Most people think they know what mass is, but they understand only part of the story. For instance, an elephant is clearly bulkier and weighs more than an ant. Even in the absence of gravity, the elephant would have greater mass–it would be harder to push and set in motion. Obviously the elephant is more massive because it is made of many more atoms than the ant is, but what determines the masses of the individual atoms?...

Before she became a theoretical physicist, Stephanie Wehner was a hacker. Like most people in that arena, she taught herself from an early age. At 15, she spent her savings on her first dial-up modem, to use at her parents’ home in Würzburg, Germany. And by 20, she had gained enough street cred to land a job in Amsterdam, at a Dutch Internet provider started by fellow hackers. A few years later, while working as a network-security specialist, Wehner went to university....

After 39 years representing the great state of California in the U.S House of Representatives, Democratic Representative Henry Waxman is calling it quits. Waxman’s legislative record [pdf] is quite long and quite impressive. The bills that have been enacted from his pen and/or with his sponsorship/co-sponsorship run the gamut from the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments in the ’80s and ’90s to the Drug Quality and Security Act of 2013. And through it all, the environment has been one of Waxman’s major causes....

What processes in the brain allow you to remember dreams? — Emma Poltrack, Virginia Deirdre Barrett, author of The Committee of Sleep, replies: Dreams are notoriously difficult to recall. In fact, if a dream ends before we wake up, we will not remember it. The processes that allow us to create long-term memories largely lie dormant while we sleep, which is why most dreams are forgotten shortly after waking. For instance, an important neurotransmitter for remembering, norepinephrine, exists at very low levels during dreaming, as does electrical activity in areas key to long-term memory, such as the prefrontal cortex....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Ancient Greek clothing developed from the Minoan Civilization of Crete (2000-1450 BCE) through the Mycenean Civilization (1700-1100 BCE), Archaic Period (8th century to c. 480 BCE) and is most recognizable from the Classical Period (c. 480-323 BCE). The simplified fashion of the later periods recommended Greek garments to other cultures who adopted and used them widely....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The clothing worn by the Mongols in the 13th and 14th century CE, like most other aspects of their culture, reflected their nomadic lifestyle in the often harsh climate of the Asian steppe. Typical items included felt hats, long jackets with loose sleeves, and practical baggy trousers. As the Mongol army was based on fast-moving, lightly armed cavalry, recruiters usually had a relaxed ‘come-as-you-are’ approach to uniforms so that clothes in both war and peace were often very similar....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The impressionist exhibitions in Paris through the final quarter of the 19th century were organised by a group of avant-garde artists who struggled to have their innovative works accepted by the art establishment. Although ridiculed by many critics and with only poor sales, the exhibitions gradually established a new means through which the public and collectors could meet new art....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The cutting of huge figures or geoglyphs into the turf of English hillsides has been going on for more than 3000 years. There are 56 hill figures scattered around England, with the vast majority on the chalk downlands of the southern part of the country. The figures include giants, horses, crosses and regimental badges....

September 1913 Disaster and Safety “In the recent wreck on the New Haven Railroad, the heavy colliding engine and train split entirely apart the two rear wooden sleeping cars of the train ahead, scattering the wreckage and the helpless passengers to right and left as it crushed its way through. Over a score of people were killed outright. There is abundance of evidence, drawn from the behavior of steel cars under conditions practically as severe as these, to show that steel construction would have saved the lives of many, if not the greater part, of the occupants of these two rear cars....

As a science teacher, I am always curious about people’s attitudes toward what I teach. Since more than 40 percent of U.S. adults believe literally what is written in the Book of Genesis—that Earth and the universe were created in six days about 6,000 years ago—and since I was in the neighborhood recently, I decided to visit the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., run by the Answers in Genesis (AiG) Ministry....

Berkeley, Calif.—Astronomers say they may have detected a second planet around Proxima Centauri, our solar system’s nearest neighboring star. Announced at Breakthrough Discuss, an annual invitation-only interdisciplinary meeting held by the Breakthrough Initiatives (a scientific research organization primarily bankrolled by the Silicon Valley billionaire Yuri Milner), the planet’s existence remains unconfirmed—for now. Dubbed Proxima c, it would be a so-called super-Earth, with a minimum mass roughly six times that of our planet’s....

Since physical abilities decline as people age, many people think the elderly are also less able to perform mental jumping jacks as they age. New research indicates this might not be true with all brain-powered tasks: In some ways the elderly are fit to compete with their younger counterparts. Both young and old brains take longer to reach decisions in some settings, the researchers say, because they make the conscious choice to choose accuracy over speed....

If our civilization should someday collapse, then—with apologies to McDonald’s—let this be its epitaph: “Billions and billions served.” Humanity has come a long way from its hunter-gatherer roots. Thanks to industrial-age agricultural production, global commerce and the 20th century’s green revolution in farming, the world can support billions of people who once would not have found enough to eat. But goodness, look what we’re feeding them. Modern culinary extravagances include high caloric fantasies lacking even a twig’s worth of nutrients, and poor nations are among their most avid consumers....

The Arctic Ocean may be reaching its limit as a carbon sink, suggests a new study. Some scientists had projected that, as sea ice cover receded and the ocean warmed, its waters could sop up increasing amounts of carbon dioxide. Removing the barrier between ocean and air, the reasoning went, would help provide a steady stream of CO2 to feed microbes in the surface waters. But the study, published yesterday in Science, says that water sampled in the Arctic Ocean’s Canada Basin in 2008 showed higher levels of CO2 than scientists expected to find, except in areas still covered by sea ice....

Anyone in the eastern portion of the U.S. this week who was forced to evacuate an office, home or school following Tuesday’s magnitude 5.8 earthquake soon noticed that cell phone service was spotty or, in many cases, nonexistent. For New Yorkers herded outside of their skyscrapers and into the streets, it was a communication blackout reminiscent of (although of course not the same as) the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In both situations, mobile phone users were unable to connect to the cell network to communicate with loved ones....

People with diabetes need to control the abnormally high levels of glucose in their blood because over time that extra sugar can be profoundly harmful to tissues throughout the body. Many patients find that they eventually must treat one or more of the resulting complications, in addition to the underlying diabetes. According to the CDC, some of the most common complications include: Heart disease, stroke and hypertension. Death rates from heart disease are two to four times higher among adults with diabetes than among their peers without it....