Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. How are you doing today, listeners? Would you say you’re flourishing? I’m guessing you probably wouldn’t—unless you have a particularly florid vocabulary. But researchers are increasingly focused on the idea of “human flourishing,” a multifaceted measurement that aims to take a holistic look at our…
“I would have to establish some rules for how time travel worked” … Kaliane Bradley DreamcatcherDiana/Shutterstock The embarrassing truth about the use of time travel in my novel, The Ministry of Time, is that initially it was just a tool to get a Victorian naval officer into the 21st century so that I could torment…
Outside every National Weather Service (NWS) office around the U.S. stands what looks like an enormous white soccer ball, perched atop metal scaffolding several stories high. These somewhat plain spheres look as ho-hum as a town water tower, but tucked inside each is one of modern meteorology’s most revolutionary and lifesaving tools: Doppler radar. The…
Kaliane Bradley’s protagonist is given some unexpected news in The Ministry of Time andrey_l/Shutterstock The interviewer said my name, which made my thoughts clip. I don’t say my name, not even in my head. She’d said it correctly, which people generally don’t. “I’m Adela,” she said. She had an eye-patch and blonde hair the same…
SpaceX’s Starbase Is Officially a City. Some Neighbors Aren’t Thrilled Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site turned company town in South Texas, faces local opposition from residents outside the city limits By Paola Rosa-Aquino edited by Lee Billings SpaceX rockets stand near the end of a neighborhood street in the company’s Starbase launch complex in this photograph…
Firefighter Gerard McGibbon prays after the World Trade Center buildings collapsed on 11 September 2001 Mario Tama/Getty Images For most 9/11 first responders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms didn’t improve until nearly a decade later, and about 10 per cent of those with the condition experienced worsening symptoms 20 years on. The finding underscores just…
Lawmakers Form First Extreme Heat Caucus, Citing ‘Deadly Risk’ The House of Representatives’ first caucus to address extreme heat is being launched by a Democrat from the Southwest and a Republican from the Northeast By Ariel Wittenberg & E&E News A construction worker in Folsom, Calif., during a July 2024 heatwave that brought daytime highs…
AI translation apps can help you connect with other people – but at what cost? Ventz/Getty Images I have long remembered a conversation I had 20 years ago with one of my professors, an expert in what we then called artificial intelligence, which, in many ways, is wildly different to what we now call AI….
What Causes Glaciers to Collapse like the Event That Buried a Swiss Village? Climate change and thawing permafrost play a role in destabilizing glaciers By Jen Schwartz edited by Dean Visser The small village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps was largely destroyed by a landslide that occurred as a result of the partial collapse…
If greenhouse gas emissions aren’t curbed, carbon dioxide removal won’t make a difference YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images The nascent carbon dioxide removal industry expects to hit a milestone this year: 1 million tonnes of planet-warming CO2 removed from the atmosphere. That certainly is progress, but things aren’t moving anywhere near quickly enough to remove…
