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GENERAL INTEREST
How Science Has Fared in the First Two Weeks of the New Trump Administration
Union of Concerned Scientists, January 30, 2025
Censoring federal scientists. Prioritizing corporate interest. Pausing grant review and study sections indefinitely. Ignoring the best available science. In the first two weeks since Inauguration Day, the new Trump administration has done all of these.
What Is the Paradox of Time Travel?
The Collector, January 26, 2025
Time travel paradoxes challenge our understanding of causality and free will, raising questions about history’s mutability and how existence unfolds.
Why Regulating AI Is So Hard — And Necessary
Knowable, January 27, 2025
Misinformation, market volatility and more: Faced with the need to mitigate risks that artificial intelligence presents, countries and regions are charting different paths.
Archaeologists Discover What May Be World’s Oldest Three-Dimensional Map
Sci-News, January 14, 2025
The Paleolithic rock shelter of Ségognole 3 in the Paris Basin contains a miniature representation of the surrounding landscape, says a team of archaeologists from the University of Adelaide and the MINES Paris.
'Doomsday Clock' Moves Closer to Midnight Amid Threats of Climate Change, Nuclear War, Pandemics, AI
Phys.org, January 28, 0225
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists made the annual announcement—which rates how close humanity is from ending—citing threats that include climate change, proliferation of nuclear weapons, instability in the Middle East, the threat of pandemics and incorporation of artificial intelligence in military operations.
COSMOS
Do Astronauts Do Laundry in Space?
Mental Floss, January 28, 2025
One of life's simple chores becomes a very delicate matter on the International Space Station.
Exoplanets Seen Falling Apart
Universe Today, January 27, 2025
Astronomers have found two planets around two separate stars that are succumbing to their stars’ intense heat. Both are disintegrating before our telescopic eyes, leaving trails of debris similar to a comet’s. Both are ultra-short-period planets (USPs) that orbit their stars rapidly.
'Heavy' Dark Matter Would Rip Our Understanding of the Universe Apart, New Research Suggests
Live Science, January 26, 2025
Because we haven't found anything yet, we've started to wonder if dark matter might be lighter or heavier than we thought.
Cosmologists Try a New Way to Measure the Shape of the Universe
Quanta, January 27, 2025
Is the universe flat and infinite, or something more complex? We can’t say for sure, but a new search strategy is map
Could the Carrington Event Happen Again?
Popular Science, January 25, 2025
It happened in 1859. Today, it would be catastrophic.
INNOVATION
China’s Cheap, Open AI Model DeepSeek Thrills Scientists
Nature, January 23, 2025
DeepSeek-R1 performs reasoning tasks at the same level as OpenAI’s o1 — and is open for researchers to examine.
You Can Finally Press ‘Reset’ on Your Instagram Feed. Here’s Why You Should.
Washington Post, January 25, 2025
Algorithms that just don’t get you are ruining your Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Now you can do something about it.
While Trump Pursues More Fossil Fuels, Europe Posts a Record Year for Renewable Energy Use
PBS News, January 23, 2025
A record 47 percent of the European Union’s electricity now comes from solar and other renewables, a report Thursday said, in yet another sign of the growing gap between the bloc’s push for clean energy and the new U.S. administration’s pursuit of more fossil fuels.
Meta’s Yann LeCun Predicts ‘New Paradigm of AI Architectures’ Within 5 Years and ‘Decade of Robotics’
Tech Crunch, January 23, 2025
LeCunn also predicted that the coming years could be the “decade of robotics,” where advances in AI and robotics combine to unlock a new class of intelligent applications.
Researchers Strike the “Achilles Heel” of Desalination
Anthropocene, January 23, 2025 (scroll down to article)
New technology cuts chemical and energy use of removing salt from seawater. It could save millions of dollars, making desalination far more accessible.
HEALTH
Vacations Are Good for Employee Well-Being, And the Effects Are Long-Lasting
Science Daily, January 27, 2025
If you're like many Americans, you probably didn't take all your vacation time this year. Even if you did, it's highly likely you didn't fully unplug while off the clock. But you might want to change that if you want to improve your health and well-being, according to a new review article.
Vitamin Deficiency May Be Why You’re So Tired – A Nutritional Neuroscientist Explains How to Kickstart Your Energy
The Conversation, January 07, 2025
Feeling drained and lethargic is common: A 2022 national survey found that 13.5% of U.S. adults said they felt “very tired” or “exhausted” most days or every day over a three-month period.
Microplastics Block Blood-Flow in the Brain, Mouse Study Reveals
Nature, January 23, 2025
The tiny plastic particles are gobbled up by immune cells, travel through the bloodstream and eventually become lodged in blood vessels in the brain. It’s not clear whether such obstructions occur in people, say researchers, but they did seem to affect mice movement.
The Health Benefits of Tea
EatRight, August 15, 2024
Both caffeinated and herbal teas may provide very small amounts of minerals such as potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, sodium, copper and zinc. The actual amount varies depending upon the age and growing conditions of the tea plant.
12 Exercises That Burn the Most Calories
Healthline, August 27, 2024
Some exercises, including running, bicycling, and HIIT workouts, can burn more calories per hour compared to others. You have other options, too, if you don’t like running.
NATURE
How Some Trees Evolved to Birth Live Young
bioGraphic, January 22, 2025
For mangroves, dropping babies in the dirt can be a big advantage.
Mysterious Blobs Found inside Cells Are Rewriting the Story of How Life Works
Scientific American, January 21, 2025
Tiny specks called biomolecular condensates are leading to a new understanding of the cell
Geologists Start to Understand Strange ‘Islands’ in the Earth’s Mantle
Cosmos, January 23, 2025
Deep inside Earth there are mysterious and fascinating regions the size of continents at the boundary between the core and mantle, and earth scientists have just cracked the mystery of what they’re made of.
Paleo-Anthropology’s Superstar
American Scientist, Nov-Dec, 2024 issue
Fifty years after the discovery of the fossilized skeleton nicknamed “Lucy,” the hominin continues to inspire research into human origins.
What Is Fire Made Of?
Thought Co., July 18, 2024
What is fire made of? You know that it generates heat and light, but have you ever wondered about its chemical composition or state of matter?
ENVIRONMENT
Dozens of Coastal Skyscrapers in Miami Are Sinking
Earth, January 28, 2025
On the barrier islands of Miami, a troubling phenomenon is unfolding. Since 2016, construction has contributed to subsidence, causing 35 high-rise buildings, including Trump Tower III, to sink as much as eight centimeters into the ground.
Farm-Workers and Allies Stage Die-in at California Pesticide Hearing
Inside Climate News, January 24, 2025
Frustrated by regulators ignoring their pleas for protection from a cancer-causing fumigant, farm-workers and their supporters gave a dramatic display of the lethal consequences of inaction.
Fire at the Field Site: What We Can Learn from Disturbances at NSF National Ecological Observatory Network Sites
National Science Foundation, January 25, 2025
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, from December 2023 to December 2024, there were over 52,000 separate wildfires in the United States.
Climate Triple Whammy Boosted Risk of LA Fires, Study Shows
The Guardian, January 29, 2025
Hot, dry conditions, a lack of rain and a longer fire-risk season are all more likely in today’s hotter climate
Trump Environment Order Will Leave ‘Vulnerable Communities in the Shadows’
Scientific American, January 23, 2025
President Trump has revoked a 1994 directive that required agencies to protect minority or low-income areas from pollution and health hazards
CLIMATE
State of the Climate: 2024 Sets a New Record as the First Year above 1.5C
Carbon Brief, January 10, 2025
Last year was the hottest the Earth has experienced since the start of global temperature records in the mid-1800s – and likely for many thousands of years before.
Is a Key Ocean Current System Slowing Down? A New Study Adds to the Debate
Washington Post, January 27, 2025
A team of researchers reconstructed a critical ocean current system — called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC — in computer models and found no evidence of long-term weakening over the past 60 years.
Big Oil Spent $445 Million in Last Election Cycle to Influence Trump and Congress, Report Says
The Guardian, January 23, 2025
Investments ‘likely to pay dividends’, analysis says, as Trump unleashes dozens of pro-fossil fuel executive actions
Extreme Heat Will Kill Millions of People in Europe Without Rapid Action
Nature, January 27, 2025
Climate models predict that the number of heat-related deaths could soar in cities over the coming century, even when efforts are made to keep people safe.
Are Mega-Droughts Upon Us?
Cosmos, January 28, 2025
International researchers who are monitoring climate change say persistent multiyear drought events – sometimes called mega-droughts – pose a growing threat to nature and humans.
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