Editor’s Note (8/7/23): This story is being republished after unprecedented levels of flooding from Mendenhall Glacier caused major damage in Juneau, Alaska, over the weekend. At least 15 million people worldwide live in the flood paths of dangerous glacial lakes that can abruptly burst their banks and rush down mountainsides. A study published Tuesday in the journal Nature… Continue reading 15 Million People Are at Risk from Bursting Glacial Lakes
Timeline: What Did the Feds Not Do About Alleged Biden Family Corruption and When Did They Not Do It?
A timeline of events focusing on federal authorities’ pursuit of alleged Biden family corruption. This resource will be updated as warranted. Summary (Click links just below to jump to desired section.) Nov. 2018-June 2020: Hunter Biden Probe Begins; President Trump Impeached While Pursuing Biden-Ukraine Information; Alleged Justice Department Undermining of Probe Begins June 2020-Dec. 2021:… Continue reading Timeline: What Did the Feds Not Do About Alleged Biden Family Corruption and When Did They Not Do It?
DeSantis’s Florida Approves Climate-Denial Videos in Schools
CLIMATEWIRE | Climate activists are like Nazis. Wind and solar power pollute the Earth and make life miserable. Recent global and local heat records reflect natural temperature cycles. These are some of the themes of children’s videos produced by an influential conservative advocacy group. Now, the videos could soon be used in Florida’s classrooms. Florida’s Department… Continue reading DeSantis’s Florida Approves Climate-Denial Videos in Schools
Just the Facts on ‘Geofencing,’ the Intrusive, App-Based ‘Dragnet’ That Sgt. Joe Friday Never Dreamed Of
Don’t “geofence” them in, say worshippers in Silicon Valley. This map is from nearby Mountain View-based Google, recently penalized over its location tech. Google Maps “We are in the space between the emergence of this technological practice and courts having ruled on its constitutionality,” said Alex Marthews, national chair for Restore the 4th, a nonprofit… Continue reading Just the Facts on ‘Geofencing,’ the Intrusive, App-Based ‘Dragnet’ That Sgt. Joe Friday Never Dreamed Of
First Pill for Postpartum Depression Approved
Last Friday the Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral pill specifically targeted to treat postpartum depression—the most common complication of childbirth. The new medication, known as zuranolone, works more quickly than existing antidepressant treatments for postpartum depression and is given once a day for just two weeks. One in seven people who have… Continue reading First Pill for Postpartum Depression Approved
Substack Can Redeem Online Journalism
The popular newsletter platform Substack launched its short-form content feature, Notes, in April. Meta rolled out Threads via Instagram in July. Predating these was Mastodon, which had for years already provided the more technically inclined with a decentralized, server-based network for discussion. And there was Bluesky, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s reskinned, “distributed” version of … Continue reading Substack Can Redeem Online Journalism
More than Half of Earth’s Species Live Underground
To many humans, soil is just the dirt under our feet. But new research shows that for more than half of all species on Earth, soil is crucial habitat—and an imperiled one at that. “I think soil’s having a moment,” says Mark Anthony, a fungal ecologist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and… Continue reading More than Half of Earth’s Species Live Underground
The Experimental Cosmologist Hunting for the First Sunrise
Quanta Magazine > 0; if (typeof predicate !== ‘function’) { throw new TypeError(‘predicate must be a function’); } var thisArg = arguments[1]; var k = 0; while (k We care about your data, and we’d like to use cookies to give you a smooth browsing experience. Please agree and read more about our privacy policy.Agree… Continue reading The Experimental Cosmologist Hunting for the First Sunrise
The Meaning of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
On this date in 1862, Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation announcing that if the states of the Confederacy did not return to the Union within 100 days, he would issue a final proclamation freeing the slaves in areas of rebellion. One hundred days later, with the Civil War still raging, Lincoln did just… Continue reading The Meaning of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
Behold Modular Forms, the ‘Fifth Fundamental Operation’ of Math
Two kinds of transformations copy the fundamental domain to the right and left, as well as to a series of ever-shrinking semicircles along the horizontal axis. These copies fill the entire upper half of the complex plane. A modular form relates the copies to each other in a very particular way. That’s where its symmetries… Continue reading Behold Modular Forms, the ‘Fifth Fundamental Operation’ of Math