Jeff Cassman

The Summer Olympics will soon begin in Paris against the backdrop of heat waves and drought throughout much of Southern Europe. The organizers of the games say that in light of climate change, they’ve made sustainability a centerpiece of their enterprise. Channeling their inner Greta Thunberg, they promise that the event will be “historic for… Continue reading The Paris Olympics Are a Lesson in Greenwashing

China-U.S. Science Collaborations Are Declining, Slowing Key Research The U.S. and China are collaborating less on projects across scientific disciplines amid a culture of fear in both countries By Gemma Conroy & Nature magazine Manuel Augusto Moreno/Getty Images China’s scientific collaboration with other countries has declined since the pandemic, driven by falling partnerships with the… Continue reading China-U.S. Science Collaborations Are Declining, Slowing Key Research

New Superheavy Element Synthesis Points to Long-Sought ‘Island of Stability’ A novel way of making superheavy elements could soon add a new row to the periodic table, allowing scientists to explore uncharted atomic realms By Max Springer Jacklyn Gates, head of the Heavy Element Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, is leading an… Continue reading Major Breakthrough Puts Element 120—the Heaviest Ever—within Reach

Observations of the cosmos suggest that unseen sources of gravity — dark matter — tug at the stars in galaxies, while another mysterious force — dark energy — drives the universe to expand at an ever-increasing rate. The evidence for both of them, however, hinges on assumptions that gravity works the same way at all… Continue reading Do We Need a New Theory of Gravity?