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It seems like every day atmospheric scientists unload a new set of scary predictions about gases swirling about the planet. There are brown clouds, volatile organic compounds, methane, ozone, sulfur and, of course, big daddy carbon dioxide. All of them seem very big and all of them are getting worse. Many of these news stories, however, are based on computer modeling, which, nifty as it may be, can only display a small slice of our best guess of what atmospheric chemistry has in store for us....

Cosmic dust found in Antarctic snow was likely birthed in a distant supernova millions of years ago. The dust’s interstellar journey eventually brought the material to Earth, where scientists discovered the ancient grains. This dust stood out because it contains an iron isotope called iron-60, which is commonly released by supernovas but very rare on Earth. (Isotopes are versions of elements that differ in the numbers of neutrons in their atoms....

The House of Representatives passed the American Climate and Energy Security Act in June and sent it to the Senate. The House bill, running to 1,428 pages, aspires in one breathtaking stroke to take on renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), nuclear power, electric vehicles, carbon cap-and-trade, power transmission, energy efficiency and climate adaptation. It ranges from grand vision to minuscule details such as technical specifications on lighting fixtures. What’s missing in this sprawling draft is prioritization....

Jan van Deursen was baffled by the decrepit-looking transgenic mice he created in 2000. Instead of developing tumours as expected, the mice experienced a stranger malady. By the time they were three months old, their fur had grown thin and their eyes were glazed with cataracts. It took him years to work out why: the mice were ageing rapidly, their bodies clogged with a strange type of cell that did not divide, but that wouldn’t die....

President George W. Bush punted on the issue. President Obama’s team tried but failed. President Trump might be the first chief executive to regulate power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions. The Trump administration is expected to soon release its much-anticipated plans for tearing down the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. That rule would have set nationwide limits for greenhouse gases from utilities—the largest U.S. source of heat-trapping gases. But it was halted by the Supreme Court last year—well before states would have been required to write plans to comply and years before actual reductions were mandated....

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in a federal climate lawsuit yesterday named President Trump as a defendant in the case. In 2015, a group of kids, young adults and environmentalists sued the U.S. government and top officials — including President Obama — for failing to protect them from the dangers of climate change, despite detailed warnings and research of its risks. Julia Olson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said other Cabinet members will soon be named as defendants, replacing leaders from the Obama era with Trump administration officials....

In the last few months the Western black rhino and the South Florida Rainbow Snake have gone extinct, as far as official recordkeepers are concerned. Less than 3,200 tigers remain as human development, pollution and climate change impinge on ever narrowing habitats. Tracking these events is not easy. The worldwide arbiter—The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) —maintains a Red List of endangered species that has become the accepted standard....

Hold onto your remote control: 3-D television is on the way. By the end of the year, most of the major TV manufacturers, including LG Electronics, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony, will be selling displays capable of showing 3-D movies and other programming. Unfortunately, none of the models going on sale this year will eliminate the least pleasant aspect of the 3-D viewing experience—those often uncomfortable and frequently silly-looking spectacles. 3-D TV for the naked eye does not exist—at least not yet....

Lora A. Sporny, adjunct associate professor of nutrition education at Columbia University, answers. In order to understand the disappearance of body fat, we must enter the world of biochemistry. All fats, whether solid or liquid, exist in chemical form as triglycerides, which consist of a glycerol molecule and three fatty acid chains. Each triglyceride macromolecule’s appearance is similar to the letter “E”–with the glycerol being the vertical line and the fatty acids as the three horizontal lines....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Corinthian Alabastron VaseMary Harrsch (Photographed at the Getty Villa, Malibu) (CC BY-NC-SA) Alabastron (pl. alabastra) - a small jar for storing perfumes, named after the material (alabaster) the first examples were made from. They were often carried by a string looped around the neck of the vessel....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Last fall, Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE) received a grant from the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies to complete a grant project that would entail the writing and publishing of content on topics related to ancient and early medieval Armenian history and culture....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The Inca civilization of Peru, as with many other ancient Andean cultures, mummified many of their dead and buried them with valuable materials such as precious metal jewellery, fine pottery, and sumptuous textiles. Important mummies could also be periodically removed from their tombs to participate in ceremonies where they were also offered food as if they were still living persons....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Lullaby for a Son of Shulgi is a Sumerian cradlesong from the reign of Shulgi of Ur (2029-1982 BCE) written for one of his sons. The lullaby follows a standard form of encouraging sleep through repetition coupled with the speaker’s wishes for the infant’s bright future, just like lullabies composed and sung to children today....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. Although both the Byzantines and the Armenians were Christian, the types of Christianity they professed had important differences that led to a lack of recognition and tensions between the two groups and a considerable part of their relationship, both internally and in foreign relations, was tied to religion....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. The ‘horse-rider theory’ is a controversial proposal that Japan was conquered around the 4th or 5th century CE by a culture from northern Asia to whom the horse was especially important. Although archaeological evidence and genetics point to a close relationship between Japan and East Asia, especially Korea, during that period, the idea that a full military takeover ever occurred is deemed unlikely by most historians....

Did you like this article? Editorial Review This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication. There are many fascinating and forlorn ruins throughout New York’s Hudson Valley, and, among them, the tottering remains of what was once considered the grandest home in the area and among the most famous in the country: Wyndclyffe. Between its construction in 1853 and its decline after 1876, it was a symbol of wealth and power....

A little more than 100 years ago most people–and most scientists–thought of matter as continuous. Although since ancient times some philosophers and scientists had speculated that if matter were broken up into small enough bits, it might turn out to be made up of very tiny atoms, few thought the existence of atoms could ever be proved. Today we have imaged individual atoms and have studied the particles that compose them....

Beijing has announced plans to build a brain-science centre that will rival in size some of the world’s largest neuroscience organizations. It will also serve as a core facility for the country’s long-awaited brain project—China’s version of the high-profile brain-science initiativesunder way elsewhere in the world. The Chinese Institute for Brain Research was officially established in Beijing on 22 March, with an agreement signed by representatives of the Beijing municipality and seven research organizations based in the capital....

In the mission to define the kilogram more sensibly, only two of the instruments known as ‘watt balances’ have proven good enough to tackle the job. And one of them is currently in pieces, having been sold and shipped from the United Kingdom – the birthplace of this type of device – to Canada.The move has some UK scientists saddened by their loss, and Canadians excited by their gain. It also has metrologists around the world holding their breath....

Climate change and expanding seas could cause the waters beneath the Golden Gate Bridge to rise 3 to 4 feet by century’s end, a new study finds. Warmer temperatures also would transform the environment of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a system that provides water for 25 million people and irrigates $36 billion in annual crops. Changed conditions would affect native species, including the endangered delta smelt and winter-run chinook salmon, the U....