The World Meteorological Organization confirmed that 2023 was by far the hottest year ever recorded. Global temperatures “smashed” heat records last year, as heat waves stalked oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss, the United Nations said Tuesday—warning 2024 was likely to be even hotter. The annual State of the Climate report by the UN … Read more
Flaco, an escaped Eurasian eagle-owl, in Central Park. Credit: Rhododendrites, Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 The recent death of Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl who escaped from New York City’s famed Central Park Zoo last year, brought new attention to the issue of bird strikes: Experts estimate that roughly a billion birds die in the U.S. … Read more
Record-breaking temperatures during the heatwave on 6 February 2020. Credit: González-Herrero et al. (2022) In recent years, Antarctica has experienced a series of unprecedented heat waves. On 6 February 2020, temperatures of 18.3°C were recorded, the highest ever seen on the continent, beating the previous record of 17.5°C which had only been set a few … Read more
Clownfish is an example of a species that can change sex from male to female during their lifecycle. A new model predicts that male-beneficial genetic variants will tend to dominate in them. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A model developed by RIKEN researchers incorporates species that change sex during their life cycles for the first time, … Read more
3D Illustration of a human liver organ. magicmine | iStock | Getty Images Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up. Good morning! Millions of Americans with a common and potentially life-threatening form of liver disease will soon have access to the first-ever treatment for … Read more
The TP molecule electrons were precisely observed using two-photon (2PPE) photoemission spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and low-energy electron diffraction. Credit: Masahiro Shibuta, Osaka Metropolitan University Organic electronics is a field that has garnered significant interest in academic and industrial circles due to its potential applications in OLEDs and organic solar cells, offering advantages such as … Read more
A wind change increased flames during a planned ignition on the Ross Moore Lake wildfire in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, on July 28, 2023. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images A series of climate records last year gave new meaning to the phrase “off the charts,” the U.N.’s weather agency said on Tuesday, warning that … Read more
Time evolution of a quark-antiquark pair produced by a high-energy particle collision. The pair separates in space, producing additional quark-antiquark pairs, but these secondary particles still maintain quantum entanglement. Credit: Adrien Florio et. al. Physical Review Letters Today, the word “quantum” is everywhere—in company names, movie titles, even theaters. But at its core, the concept … Read more
This biobased foam forms the absorbent core of prototype biodegradable sanitary pads and diapers. Credit: Athanasios Latras Once thrown away, disposable items such as diapers and sanitary pads can take hundreds of years to decompose, because their absorbent parts and waterproof layers contain plastics and other synthetic polymers. But now, researchers are replacing these materials … Read more
It looks like a spider and scurries like a spider, but it’s actually a tiny motor made from crystallized molecules that move when exposed to light. Credit: Rabih O. Al-Kaysi At first glance, Rabih O. Al-Kaysi’s molecular motors look like the microscopic worms you’d see in a drop of pond water. But these wriggling ribbons … Read more
