Credit: Alfred Wegener Institute The bottom of the Baltic Sea is home to large quantities of sunken munitions, a legacy of the Second World War—and often very close to shore. Should we simply leave them where they are and accept the risk of their slowly releasing toxic substances, or should […]
In this Sept. 21, 2017, file photo, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Building is shown in Washington. There’s growing evidence that long-term exposure to the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, can be dangerous, even in tiny amounts. The Environmental Protection Agency is looking at how to respond to a […]
Pumpjacks dot the Kern River oil field outside Bakersfield, Calif. Credit: James William Smith/Shutterstock.com Many Democratic lawmakers aim to pass a Green New Deal, a package of policies that would mobilize vast amounts of money to create new jobs and address inequality while fighting climate change. Led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, they are calling […]
What would Artificial General Intelligence make of the human world? Shutterstock/Nathapol Kongseang Artificial intelligence can play chess, drive a car and diagnose medical issues. Examples include Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo, Tesla’s self-driving vehicles, and IBM’s Watson. This type of artificial intelligence is referred to as Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) – non-human systems that can […]
A new study shows that doctors wrote more prescriptions, and more people overdosed on opioids, in counties where drug companies spent more money. BILL DIODATO/GETTY IMAGES IT’S NO SECRET that the pharmaceutical industry wields big influence over doctors who prescribe painkillers. But the data is mounting on the extent of that relationship […]
Say goodbye to burgers, or at least get ready to eat fewer of them. Credit: Shutterstock There’s a new diet in town, and it offers a two-for-one special: People can help the planet and even live longer … so long as they stop devouring so many burgers, a new report […]
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Miami-Dade has tens of thousands of septic tanks, and a new report reveals most are already malfunctioning—the smelly and unhealthy evidence of which often ends up in people’s yards and homes. It’s a billion-dollar problem that climate change is making worse. As sea level rise encroaches […]
For years, scientists have been conducting studies aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to determine the effects of living in space on humans and micro-organisms. In addition to the high levels of radiation, there are also worries that long-term exposure to microgravity could cause genetic mutations. Understanding these, and coming up with […]
SHAWN PATRICK OUELLETTE/PORTLAND PRESS HERALD/GETTY IMAGES NESTLED IN THE foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains is the quaint Gold Rush town of Nevada City. Surrounded by unkempt brush, the old, highly flammable city is in danger: with California’s wildfires raging with unprecedented ferocity in recent years, one spark could doom Nevada […]
Arrows show dermal condensate (in red), a subpopulation of cells essential for embryonic hair follicle growth. An outstanding question in dermatology that researchers have studied for decades is: How do hair follicles emerge from a sea of seemingly uniform skin cells during embryonic development? New research findings from a Yale-led […]