Smells hover just below our conscious awareness, conjuring up emotions and memories that shape how we perceive and navigate the world. An unexpected whiff of a long-forgotten snack or a dusty book can transport a person to years past — enabling a kind of time travel that makes hazy memories more vivid. It’s puzzling then that… Read More The smell of history
Dr Ginni Mansberg Brain health can be a heavy subject. By midlife many of us are caring for parents or in-laws affected by dementia. It’s a stark reminder of our own brains’ vulnerability. That’s not to mention the ocean of information that exists on the subject, so deep that sifting through it all can be… Read More Brain health
Adam Tooze As far as we are currently able to judge, our best chance to halt the further escalation of the climate crisis through decarbonization of the economy depends on electricity and electrification. Given the current horizon of technological expectations, electric power and electric technology offer us the best chance of reconciling the insatiable desire… Read More Repowering the world: the challenge of electrification
How atomic doomsday experiments, fuelled by Cold War fears, shaped, then shook ecologists’ faith in self-healing nature Laura J Martin When Hurricane Fiona flooded regions of Puerto Rico with up to 30 inches of rain in September last year, the island was still recovering from hurricanes Irma and Maria, two catastrophic storms in 2017 during which nearly 3,000… Read More Disturbance
Chelsea Lee, CNN In the north Indian desert town of Jaisalmer, also known as “The Golden City” for its array of yellow sandstone architecture, temperatures can reach approximately 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius) at the height of summer. Here, buildings have long been designed to adapt to the heat, a tradition that New York… Read More How this school in the Indian desert stays cool even in extreme heat
Scientists have pinpointed pieces of DNA which, they say, act like Bond villains in the way they help cancers spread. These microscopic agents have also been shown to be responsible for helping tumours gain resistance to anti-cancer drugs. The discovery of these bits of genetic material – known as extrachromosomal DNA or ecDNA – could revolutionise the treatments of… Read More ‘Bond villain’ DNA could transform cancer treatment, scientists say
No place on Earth is colder than East Antarctica. Due to its higher elevation, not even West Antarctica can touch its hostile temperatures. Princess Elisabeth, a polar research station in the Queen Maud Land region, faces wind speeds of up to 155 mph (249 kph) and temperatures as low as -58°F (-50°C). A flair for… Read More How scientists are kept fed and happy in one of the most remote places on Earth
Katie Hunt, CNN On the Galapagos Islands, a ground finch that usually munched on small, soft seeds was forced, during a drought, to eat harder, larger ones. Within the space of a few generations, the bird evolved a larger but shorter beak better suited to cracking large seeds. The Galapagos medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis).… Read More The man who has transformed our understanding of evolution
A United Nations-backed scientific panel has concluded that actions taken under the Montreal Protocol have successfully strengthened the Earth’s ozone layer, helping avoid global warming from 0.5 to 1 degrees Celsius by mid-century. The Montreal Protocol is an 1989 international treaty aimed at regulating the production and use of chemicals that contribute to the depletion… Read More Earth’s ozone layer on way to recovery, finds UN report, should mend by 2040
Sonali Kolhatkar There is a common feeling that many of us have experienced in professional or academic environments, especially when we struggle against gender or racial bias. It’s called “imposter syndrome”—the feeling that one doesn’t deserve one’s position and that others will discover this lack of competence at any moment. I felt this way as… Read More Nepotism babies and the myth of American meritocracy
After the truth-shower 