What We’ve Learned about Superstrong Shrimp, How Deep Canyons Formed on the Moon, and What Bonobos Know In this week’s roundup, we’re reviewing some animal research, the latest on bird flu and the burden of microplastics on our brain. By Rachel Feltman, Naeem Amarsy & Fonda Mwangi Anaissa Ruiz Tejada/Scientific American [CLIP: Theme music]Rachel Feltman:… Continue reading Moon Canyons, Super-Strong Shrimp and Microplastics in the Brain
Europe Has Come to a Fork in the Road on Trade
President Trump’s strong tariffs on Chinese goods effectively suspends most Sino-American trade. China now faces an enormous glut of telecommunications and network-connected equipment, such as 5G equipment, fiber optic cables, telecom parts and various smart devices. It’s largest trading partner, the U.S., is not buying. This isn’t just a bilateral dustup. China will almost… Continue reading Europe Has Come to a Fork in the Road on Trade
Coffee Boosts Beneficial Gut Bacterium
February 10, 2025 2 min read Coffee Boosts Beneficial Gut Bacterium Researchers found a strong connection between coffee and the gut microbiome By Maggie Chen edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier The thought of a steaming cup of coffee helps to pull many people worldwide out of bed in the morning. Scientists have consistently linked this… Continue reading Coffee Boosts Beneficial Gut Bacterium
Men Are More Prepared for Fatherhood Than We Think
I like to tell my undergraduates that hormones predispose organisms, including people, to shift their energy among different life goals. When we become parents, hormones help redirect energy from mating to parenting. That being said, most male mammals don’t get involved in parenting, but there are some important exceptions. For humans, we know that women… Continue reading Men Are More Prepared for Fatherhood Than We Think
Why the Egg Industry Is Losing the Battle with Bird Flu
Greg Herbruck knew 6.5 million of his birds needed to die, and fast. But the CEO of Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch wasn’t sure how the family egg producer (one of the largest in the U.S., in business for over three generations) was going to get through it, financially or emotionally. One staffer broke down in Herbruck’s… Continue reading Why the Egg Industry Is Losing the Battle with Bird Flu
Naming Jack the Ripper (Ripper Suspects)
Naming Jack the Ripper (Ripper Suspects) < !- end of Google Analytics Code Snippet by GA4WP–> // tabnab protection window.addEventListener(‘load’, function () { // make all links have rel=”noopener noreferrer” document.querySelectorAll(‘a[target=”_blank”]’).forEach(link => { link.setAttribute(‘rel’, ‘noopener noreferrer’); }); }); ]]> Podcast: Download MYS362: Jack the Ripper killed 5 women in 1888 and was never caught and… Continue reading Naming Jack the Ripper (Ripper Suspects)
Parents’ Rights Are Making a Comeback
The right to opt out one’s children from studying a sinister collection of sexually explicit storybooks in suburban Maryland, and the right to opt in to a Catholic Virtual charter school in Oklahoma, will be considered this month at the Supreme Court. That these two cases are under review by the high court is a… Continue reading Parents’ Rights Are Making a Comeback
Can Quantum Gravity Be Created in the Lab?
Quantum gravity is one of the biggest unresolved and challenging problems in physics, as it seeks to reconcile quantum mechanics, which governs the microscopic world, and general relativity, which describes the macroscopic world of gravity and space-time. Efforts to understand quantum gravity have been focused almost entirely at the theoretical level, but Monika Schleier-Smith at… Continue reading Can Quantum Gravity Be Created in the Lab?
Another Thing Folks Like About the South: Public Education’s Revival
By Vince Bielski, RealClearInvestigationsApril 22, 2025 GEO Prep Mid-City Academy, located in one of the poorest sections of Louisiana, did something almost unheard of in public education – it went from dying to thriving in just a few years. Kevin Teasley, GEO Academies: “We don’t chase fads.” geoacademies.org The Baton Rouge K-8 school, which is… Continue reading Another Thing Folks Like About the South: Public Education’s Revival
Trump Team Looks to Drastically Cut Weather and Climate Agency
CLIMATEWIRE | The Trump administration is looking to halve the NOAA workforce, say two former officials of the agency, a member of Congress and a congressional staff member. The draconian cut, they say — which would reduce the number of NOAA employees from about 12,000 to 6,000 — threatens to cripple an agency that provides… Continue reading Trump Team Looks to Drastically Cut Weather and Climate Agency