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This December, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen to add more hot air to efforts to combat climate change. That is so because although the impacts humanity would like to avoid—fire, flood and drought, for starters—are clear, the right numbers to halt global warming are not. Despite decades of effort, scientists do not know precisely what temperatures or greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere constitute a danger. When it comes to defining the climate’s sensitivity to forcings like rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, “we don’t know much more than we did in 1975,” says climatologist Stephen Schneider of Stanford University, who first defined the term climate sensitivity in the 1970s....

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared the outbreak of a novel coronavirus a global health emergency, an acknowledgement of the risk the virus poses to countries beyond its origin in China and of the need for a more coordinated international response to the outbreak. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement following a meeting of the WHO’s emergency committee. Last week, the committee had recommended that a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, not be declared yet because of limited spread of the virus outside of China....

If you were given a free hand to plan how your life will end—your last weeks, days, hours and minutes—what would you choose? Would you, for example, want to remain in great shape right up until the last minute and then go quickly? Many people say they would choose that option, but I see an important catch. If you are feeling fine one moment, the very last thing you would want is to drop dead the next....

At some point in the history of all scientific theories, only a minority of scientists—or even just one—supported them, before evidence accumulated to the point of general acceptance. The Copernican model, germ theory, the vaccination principle, evolutionary theory, plate tectonics and the big bang theory were all once heretical ideas that became consensus science. How did this happen? An answer may be found in what 19th-century philosopher of science William Whewell called a “consilience of inductions....

This story is a supplement to the feature “Why Migraines Strike” which was printed in the August 2008 issue of Scientific American. Treatments for migraine, both for prevention and for alleviation during an attack, have been problematic because they have not been tailored specifically to the disorder. Recent understanding of the neurobiology of migraine and the way the medicines work is leading to the development of more refined compounds with fewer side effects....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Although much of ancient Roman life revolved around negotium (work and business), there was also time available for otium (leisure). Ranging from swimming to playing board games to attending theatre performances, athletics and forms of entertainment enjoyed by Romans in ancient times were not much different from those that exist today....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The Frog Princess is a Slavic folktale focusing on the importance of recognizing someone’s inner beauty, regardless of their outward appearance, as well as the possibility of redemption after failure. The tale has many variants and appears in Czech, Hungarian, Italian, and Russian folk works as well as many others....

EAST CHINA TOWNSHIP, Mich.—America’s greenhouse gas emissions are declining, in large part thanks to the transformations taking place in communities like this one on the Ontario-Michigan border. Coal freighters arriving from the Great Lakes have long plied the St. Clair River, which serves as the boundary between the U.S. and Canada here, feeding a pair of coal plants on the American side. The two plants, separated by 3 miles, help form the backbone of DTE Energy Co....

As cities around the world—including Auckland, Jakarta, Melbourne and Tel Aviv—have entered seemingly endless cycles of lockdowns and viral resurgences, there is a pressing need to reassess this lockdown strategy given the economic, social and psychological damage it wreaks. Blanket lockdowns may be effective, but they are blunt and brutal tools. As this pandemic wears on, possibly for months or even years to come, we need a sustainable alternative that involves more targeted measures that are evidence-based and data-driven....

We can’t always avoid events that upset us, but we may be able to change how we feel about them. Psychologists have long been interested in framing, the mental angle we take when we process our experiences, as a method of moving past unwanted negative feelings. Two recent studies yield real-world tips for feeling better quickly: Distance Yourself from Immediate Frustration If you are cut off in traffic, you are likely to respond by blowing your horn....

The mere thought of being interrogated—by a parent, boss or significant other—is enough to make one’s blood pressure rise and pulse and breathing rates race. But contrary to popular belief, these signs of anxiety are not reliable indicators of a person’s honesty. Instead, researchers are looking into the brain to separate liars from truth tellers. The act of lying or suppressing the truth triggers activities in the brain that send blood to the prefrontal cortex (located just above the eye sockets), which controls several psychological processes, including the one that takes place when a person crafts a new rather than a known response to something....

It may seem heretical to say so in the land of the beautiful game, but science in Brazil beats the World Cup — at least in a financial match-up. Government and businesses there invest some $27 billion annually in science, technology and innovation, dwarfing the price tag for the football tournament, which tops out at about $15 billion. Science in Brazil and many other countries in South America has come a long way since the dark days of the dictatorships just a generation ago....

Aside from a few, fleeting empirical observations in the 1950s, adult mammals appear to be lacking regenerative abilities. Just ask anyone whose hair follicles have died—the result is baldness. But there is a glimmer of hope for the hair-challenged among us. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania report that new hair follicles formed on the backs of mice that had suffered open skin wounds. The finding could pave the way for use in regenerating human hair....

Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York State’s Adirondack Park, offers breathtaking views to hikers on a clear day. But despite being hundreds of miles from the nearest smokestack, summer air pollution levels here can sometimes be worse than in Times Square in New York City. “Often you’re going to feel lung burn in a place where you’re expecting the air to be clean and clear,” says John Sheehan, a spokesperson for the Adirondack Council, an environmental advocacy group....

6.6 million—that’s how many spots on the human genome Sekar Kathiresan looks at to calculate a person’s risk of developing coronary artery disease. Kathiresan has found that combinations of single DNA-letter differences from person to person in these select locations could help to predict whether someone will succumb to one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It’s anyone’s guess what the majority of those As, Cs, Ts and Gs are doing....

Some dreams feel so revelatory—if only returning to sleep would take us back there. It turns out, however, that our ability to shape our dreams is better than mere chance. In the blockbuster movie Inception, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his compatriots use drugs and psychological profiles to trigger specific dreams in people. Although the heavy sedation and level of detail incited are far-fetched, dream control isn’t entirely a Hollywood fantasy....

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. The U.S. government is fighting to contain and slow down the spread of the coronavirus. Testing is central to these efforts. Molecular biologist and viral researcher Maureen Ferran answers some basic questions about how these diagnostic tests work–and if there are enough to go around. Who gets tested for the virus? Currently there are two main reasons someone would be tested for the coronavirus: having symptoms or exposure to an infected person....

Scientific American presents Math Dude by Quick & Dirty Tips. Scientific American and Quick & Dirty Tips are both Macmillan companies. In today’s article, we’re wrapping-up our introductory series on fundamental statistics by talking about how knowledge of statistical quantities like the mean and standard deviation can help you understand the significance of the latest political polling results. Should You Believe the Results of All Political Polls? Should you believe the results of every political poll you see reported in the news?...

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) lost contact with its flagship X-ray astronomical satellite, Hitomi, on March 26. The observatory, launched on February 17, had been going through initial check-outs and calibrations. Hitomi’s status remains unknown as JAXA engineers work to re-establish communication. Ominously, the US Joint Space Operations Center, which tracks space debris, reported spotting five objects in the vicinity of the spacecraft around the time it went silent. The centre characterized the objects as pieces of a “break-up”....

Editor’s note: The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. By Shinnosuke Nakayama, University of Cambridge In our society, not many people are lucky enough to have an ideal boss who they would want to follow faithfully for the rest of their lives. Many might even find their boss selfish and arrogant or complain that they don’t listen to their opinions....