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The sun is zipping through interstellar space more slowly than once thought, suggesting the giant shock wave long suspected of existing in front of the sun is not actually there, researchers say. These new findings may influence what scientists know about high-energy cosmic rays that can endanger astronauts, they added. The sun and its planets are cocooned within a bubble of charged particles and magnetic fields known as the heliosphere. The edge of the heliosphere, where it collides with interstellar gas and dust, is called the heliopause, and marks the outer limit of the solar system....

STATES OF DISEASE “States vs. Health,” by the Editors [Science Agenda], explains how politicians in several states are trying to prevent the lifesaving work that public health officials are executing to protect the population by requiring masking and physical distancing. I agree with the presentation of the article and the position that the Editors take on the importance of letting science and good medical practice lead the way to deal with the devastating effects that the COVID pandemic is having in the U....

Computer scientists have endowed a six-legged robot with the ability to rapidly modify its motion to cope with damage, such as the loss of a foot. They say the algorithm that enables this recovery, which they liken to an instinct, could add resilience to other machines, from robots that work in disaster areas such as the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant to self-driving cars. Although robots can be pre-programmed with contingency plans, there will always be problems that engineers had not foreseen or that they cannot diagnose from a distance....

Survivors of sexual assault who come forward often confront doubt on the part of others. Did you fight back? they are asked. Did you scream? Just as painful for them, if not more so, can be a sense of guilt and shame. Why did I not resist? they may ask themselves. Is it my fault? And to make matters worse, although the laws are in flux in various jurisdictions, active resistance can be seen as necessary for a legal or even “common sense” definition of rape....

Guppies and water fleas live only days or weeks, but their mortality increases sharply with age, as is the case in longer-lived animals such as humans. But other animals—such as the hermit crab, the red abalone and the hydra, a microscopic freshwater animal that can live centuries—buck that trend, enjoying near constant levels of fertility and mortality. A comparison of standardized demographic patterns across 46 species, published Dec. 8 in Nature, suggests that the vast diversity of “aging strategies” among them challenges the notion that evolution inevitably leads to senescence, or deterioration of mortality and fertility, with age, says Owen Jones, a biologist at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, who led the study....

As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations hit record highs in the United States, and the threat of a double-dip economic recession looms, many are calling for continued and enhanced government stimulus. While it is paramount that policy makers do all they can to address these urgent national interests, they must also take a long-term view. How they decide to allocate economic recovery funds will have lasting consequences, with the potential to either amplify or eradicate another deadly agent that has been freely proliferating for centuries: fossil fuels....

WILLINGNESS is a core concept of addiction recovery programs—and a paradoxical one. Twelve-step programs emphasize that addicts cannot will themselves into healthy sobriety—indeed, that ego and self-reliance are often a root cause of their problem. Yet recovering addicts must be willing. That is, they must be open to the possibility that the group and its principles are powerful enough to trump a compulsive disease. It’s a tricky concept for many and must be taken on faith....

Millions of people travel to California’s redwood forests every year to marvel at the few remaining stands of old-growth trees. Sequoia sempervirens, or the coast redwood, thrives in the damp climate along the Pacific Ocean. Some are more than 2,000 years old, and the tallest can reach 380 feet. The state is also home to a second type of giant redwood, Sequoiadendron giganteum, or giant sequoia. The world’s most massive tree, it grows in the inland Sierra Nevada mountains, sustained by melting snowpack....

Skin concerns are one of the top questions at the doctor’s office. But the most dreaded type of skin condition is melanoma; among the three main types of skin cancers, it is the only potentially life-threatening one. But with so many moles, rashes, and skin lumps and bumps, how can you tell when something is concerning? How can you tell if it’s something that potentially can wait, and when it’s something to address with your doctor right away?...

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Among the many contributions to world culture credited to Mesopotamia is an object so familiar to people in the modern world that few pause to consider its origin: the dog collar. Throughout the ancient world, from China to Rome, dogs are depicted in works of art on a leash attached to a collar....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The lives of women in ancient Mesopotamia were regulated by a patriarchal hierarchy, but within this social structure, there were many who distinguished themselves and some who were able to assume positions traditionally held by men. Women served as generals, scribes, and even ruled in their own right....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. As the Reformation developed in France in the first half of the 16th century, there were several episodes of severe repression which preceded the Wars of Religion (1562-1598). These were times of great hardship and oppression against those who embraced Protestant teachings. One notable chapter of persecution took place in the Luberon region of France against the Waldensians (Vaudois), the spiritual descendants of Pierre Waldo, which led to the Mérindol massacre in 1545....

Each year hundreds of the best and brightest researchers gather in Lindau, Germany, for the Nobel Laureate Meeting. There, the newest generation of scientists mingles with Nobel Prize winners and discusses their work and ideas. The 2013 meeting is dedicated to chemistry and will involve young researchers from 78 different countries. In anticipation of the event, which will take place from June 30 through July 5, we are highlighting a group of attendees under 30 who represent the future of chemistry....

Everyone knows that we as humans literally owe the air we breathe to the greenery around us. As school children we learned that plants (as well as algae and cyanobacteria) perform the all-important biological “magic trick” known as photosynthesis, which helps generate the atmospheric oxygen we take in with every breath. Plants, algae and cyanobacteria alter our planet in a way that only life can: they use photosynthesis to completely change the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere....

Scientists have identified another Antarctic glacier that could be more vulnerable to climate change than previously suspected. Denman Glacier in East Antarctica has largely flown under the radar until now. Much of the focus at the South Pole has centered on rapidly melting glaciers in West Antarctica, where the rate of ice loss is the highest. The enormous Thwaites Glacier, for instance—which is currently pouring around 50 billion tons of ice into the ocean each year—is the subject of an ongoing, multiyear international research project spearheaded by U....

LONDON – It is not easy to put a value on an intact forest, a clean river, or unpolluted air, but that is what a group of the world’s biggest banks is attempting to do. They have agreed that the present economic system uses and often destroys the environment without paying to do so. And that, they say, is not sustainable. The banks are also concerned that some companies are using up natural resources so fast, with no thought for their own future, let alone that of the planet, that they will collapse....

Many streams, rivers and lakes already bear warning signs that the fish caught within them may contain dangerously high levels of mercury, which can cause brain damage. But, according to a new study, these fish may also be carrying enough chemicals that mimic the female hormone estrogen to cause breast cancer cells to grow. “Fish are really a sentinel, just like canaries in the coal mine 100 years ago,” says Conrad Volz, co-director of exposure assessment at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’s Center for Environmental Ecology....

California unveiled a proposal on Friday that would transform its controversial fire safety standards by dropping a requirement that has led to widespread use of flame retardants in U.S. couches and other furniture. The current standard, adopted in the 1970s, mandates that foam used in furniture cushions must withstand a 12-second exposure to a small, open flame. As a result, manufacturers throughout the nation have been adding brominated or chlorinated chemicals to the foam to slow the spread of flames....

BEIJING—It was first criticized by environmentalists. Then it was reined in by government officials. Now, China’s coal-fueled synthetic natural gas industry faces another blow as a group of energy experts raise doubt over its economic viability. In a meeting recently hosted in Beijing, researchers from Chinese and Western think tanks opened fire on a long list of business risks in China’s synthetic natural gas industry, including reliance on immature technologies and their rising environmental costs and dim market prospects....

The new kind of suburb wasn’t supposed to be so suburban. Packed into 180 hectares, King Farm in Rockville, Md., filled in a patch of lingering farmland just outside Washington, D.C. The village planners left a broad swath of green down the main road, dubbed King Farm Boulevard, that sported along its sides a mix of different types of housing and amenities, such as shops, within walking distance. Down the middle of the boulevard would be the forthcoming train system that would efficiently shuttle new residents to the Washington Metro’s Red Line, thereby linking them with the regional public transit system....