An entomologist’s take on a once-in-200-years event

An entomologist’s take on a once-in-200-years event

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Get ready. Billions of trillions of singing, winged insects with big red eyes are about to emerge from more than a decade of sleep underground. For the first time since 1803, these two broods, or generations, of cicadas—Brood XIX and Brood XIII—will rise up from the earth simultaneously in 15 states … Read more

Persistent socioeconomic gaps for Black Californians would take more than 248 years to close unless more is done: Report

Persistent socioeconomic gaps for Black Californians would take more than 248 years to close unless more is done: Report

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Almost two decades ago, the inaugural State of Black California report was the first to provide a comprehensive look at how the material conditions and socioeconomic outcomes for Black Californians fared compared to other racial and ethnic groups. The latest report, published by the Black Policy Project, an initiative of the … Read more

Study lists world’s ‘forever chemical’ hotspots

Study lists world’s ‘forever chemical’ hotspots

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Dangerous concentrations of long-lingering “forever chemicals” have been found in surface and groundwater worldwide, according to a study released Tuesday that showed Australia, the United States and Europe as hotspots. A paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience analyzed data from 45,000 water samples globally and found a “substantial fraction” had … Read more

Chemists devise easier new method for making a common type of building block for drugs

Chemists devise easier new method for making a common type of building block for drugs

Credit: Nature Synthesis (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s44160-024-00517-5 Ring-shaped chemical structures called saturated heterocycles are found in most FDA-approved drugs but are often difficult to create. Scripps Research chemists have just developed a surprisingly easy method for making many of these sought-after compounds from inexpensive starting chemicals. The new method, described in a paper that appears April … Read more

Americans more willing to pay for climate action after extreme weather

Americans more willing to pay for climate action after extreme weather

Credit: CC0 Public Domain People who personally experience extreme climate events, especially wildfires and hurricanes, are willing to pay significantly more for climate action, even if they report skepticism about human-caused climate change, finds new research from the University of Vermont. Trump voters who reported experiencing an extreme weather event were more likely to vote … Read more

Researchers study effects of solvation and ion valency on metallopolymers

Researchers study effects of solvation and ion valency on metallopolymers

“Neutron” the cat is spying on his monovalent perrhenate mice which are stuck behind the positively charged couch. Through neutron reflectometry and ab initio molecular dynamics, insights are provided into the selectivity of oxyanions at redox–polymer interfaces and the effect of solvation and ion charge on electrosorption behavior is elucidated. JACS Au journal cover. Credit: … Read more

Physicists solve puzzle about ancient galaxy found by Webb telescope

Physicists solve puzzle about ancient galaxy found by Webb telescope

Photo shows from L to R: Hai-Bo Yu, Demao Kong, and Daneng Yang. Credit: Hai-Bo Yu, UC Riverside. Last September, the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, discovered JWST-ER1g, a massive ancient galaxy that formed when the universe was just a quarter of its current age. Surprisingly, an Einstein ring is associated with this galaxy. … Read more

Taiwan urban beekeeping gets positive buzz

Taiwan urban beekeeping gets positive buzz

Urban beekeeper Sherry Liu took a beekeeping class seven years ago and is now an avid apiarist. Under mulberry trees at a bee farm in Taipei’s suburbs, students watched intently as instructor Tsai Ming-hsien wafted smoke over a hive box, explaining to aspiring apiarists how to keep the insects happy in an urban setting. His … Read more

What did Roman wine taste like? Much better than previously thought, according to new research

What did Roman wine taste like? Much better than previously thought, according to new research

The dolia defossa wine cellar of Villa Regina (Boscoreale). Emlyn Dodd. Credit: Ministero della Cultura – Parco Archaeologico di Pompei From a modern, scientific perspective, the wine Romans drank is often seen as an inconsistent, poorly made and thoroughly unpleasant beverage. It is alleged that Roman winemakers had to mask their products’ flaws by adding … Read more

Listening to bird dreams, securing qubits, imagining impossible billiards

Listening to bird dreams, securing qubits, imagining impossible billiards

Vocal muscle activity of birds during sleep can be translated into synthetic songs. Credit: Romina Kuppe and Ana Amador It’s Saturday, which means that in a universe where the arrow of time moves backward, people have to go to work tomorrow. In such a hypothetical universe, Garfield hates Fridays—tough to imagine. This week, we looked … Read more