The sky abounds with aerosols, tiny particles with large sway over Earth’s temperature. A new NASA visualization reveals how these airborne particles swirl through the atmosphere. The agency’s Goddard Earth Observing System tracks major aerosol types — sulfates, black carbon, dust and sea salt. It combines satellite and ground-based observations with advanced computer simulations to…
Volunteers work to extinguish a wildfire near the town of Stamata, Greece, in 2024 Nick Paleologos/Bloomberg via Getty Images In today’s climate, Europe could be hit with a summer of rolling heatwaves and severe drought that would leave much of the continent suffering weeks of deadly temperatures, water shortages and energy price spikes. That is…
Bioengineer Rohan Ingrole needed to floss a mouse’s teeth. The intent wasn’t to help mice get a clean bill of health at the dentist. Each bit of store-bought floss was coated with dead influenza viruses, or lab-made bits and pieces of them. Ingrole, of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, wanted to vaccinate the animals, giving…
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois spent 22 years forecasting the weather on television before winning his congressional seat in 2022. He now finds himself defending scientific agencies from unprecedented attacks at a time when climate change is pushing weather patterns into uncharted territory. Today we’re…
For many neurodivergent people, the outdoors is a more manageable, simpler place to be Westend61/Getty Images Neurodivergent, By NatureJoe Harkness (Bloomsbury) We begin with moth genitalia. Joe Harkness was planning to write a book about “niche nature interests”: ecologists, naturalists and conservationists with obscure passions for woodlice, or taxidermy, or yes, the examination (for ID purposes)…
An illustration of a spaceship sailing close to a black hole liuzishan/Getty Images An interstellar probe sent to a black hole could complete its journey and send data back to Earth in less than a century – if we can find a black hole close enough. Cosimo Bambi at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, has developed…
Why mRNA Vaccines Are So Revolutionary—And What’s at Stake if We Lose Them Speed and flexibility have made mRNA a blockbuster technology By Stephanie Pappas edited by Jeanna Bryner Lipid nanoparticles, like the one shown in this illustration, are used as vehicles to deliver mRNA-based vaccines. Tumeggy/Science Photo Library/Getty Images The U.S. Department of Health…
Scientists have identified an ultramassive black hole billions of light years away IgorZh/Shutterstock A gargantuan black hole hiding in a galaxy 5 billion light years away is the most massive that has been directly measured, more than 10,000 times as massive as the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, and around…
Five years ago electrical engineer Sun Hongbin was given what many would consider an impossible task: build a full-fledged clean-energy system amid some of the coldest temperatures on Earth, screaming winds and half-year darkness. China was then building its fifth Antarctic research station, called Qinling, on Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay. And the nation’s…
Stephanie Eisenbarth and Adam Williams prepping peanuts for allergy research in their lab Northwestern University A common asthma medication has been shown to shield mice from anaphylaxis – a potentially fatal allergic reaction. The drug, called zileuton, has long been used to treat asthma and is now being trialled in humans as a possible treatment…
