State of the World’s Science
The pursuit of knowledge is now a global enterprise. Scientific American and Nature have teamed up on this special report on how this trend is changing the way science is done, and how it informs the world.
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UN Leak Shows More Evidence Humans Cause Global Warming
A leaked draft of the UN’s most comprehensive study ever on climate change shows increasing evidence that links human activity to global warming. It is “extremely likely” mankind is responsible for more than half of the observed temperature rises since the 1950s, a United Nations agency said in a draft report. In the UN’s last…
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NASA Crashes Twin Probes Into the Moon
NASA concluded its Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) moon mission by crashing two probes into the lunar surface — on purpose. The goal of the mission is to map the moon’s gravitational field. To do this, NASA launched two washing-machine-size probes to orbit the moon in September 2011. After both craft achieved orbit, they…
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Exploding Star Missing From Formation of Solar System
A new study challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star forced the formation of the solar system. University of Chicago researchers Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material. As cosmochemists, they…
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New Form of Cell Division Found
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center have discovered a new form of cell division in human cells. They believe it serves as a natural back-up mechanism during faulty cell division, preventing some cells from going down a path that can lead to cancer. “If we could promote this new form of cell…
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Sandy and Sewage: Why We Underestimate the Costs of Climate Change
The New York Times recently printed a story describing how the sewage systems of New York and New Jersey were badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy: Hundreds of millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage from crippled treatment plants have flowed into waterways in New York and New Jersey, exposing flaws in the region’s…
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The False Promise of the Education Revolution
For Whom Is College Being Reinvented?
‘Disruptions’ have the buzz but may put higher education out of reach for those students likely to benefit the most -
We Know How to Promote Physics for Development
A successful model for making more out of physics for development is ready to roll out to others, writes Dipali Bhatt-Chauhan. In October, delegates gathered for the European Physical Society’s (EPS) first conference on physics for development to swap experiences and theories on how developing nations can make the most of their physics research.
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First Road Map of Human Sex-Cell Development
The causes of infertility, which affects around 10% of couples, are often unknown, but may in some cases result from the body’s inability to produce viable gametes — also known as sperm and egg cells. The first study of the development of such ‘germ cells’ from humans could help scientists to learn how to create…
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Multidimensional Black Holes Get Electric When Flexed
Bending a black hole can juice it up. In extra dimensions, a black hole behaves like a fluid and a solid at the same time, and flexing the solid form may generate an electric field. Although these effects exist only in the theoretical realm, the underlying equations could help us puzzle out some of the…