Category: Science
Who gets to keep burning fossil fuels as the planet heats up?
The COP27 climate change negotiations that wrapped in Egypt this month broke a critical impasse on paying for the consequences of climate change. But language in the concluding agreement around the cause — burning fossil fuels — was once again vague and weak. It calls for a “phasedown of unabated coal power and phase-out of…
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There’s no such thing as a good cold
This fall, America’s pediatric hospitals have been overwhelmed by a “tri-demic” of RSV, flu, and Covid-19. And while it’s not a surprise to see respiratory viral infections hit hard at this time of year, what is surprising is to see so many of these viruses hit so many parts of the country so hard at…
The White House’s plan to colonize the moon, briefly explained
The first mission in NASA’s Artemis program finally took the Orion spacecraft on a trip around the moon, a huge step forward for the ambitious plan to bring humans to the lunar surface as soon as 2025. It’s also the beginning of the White House’s far-reaching ambitions for a permanent outpost on the moon. The…
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The good and bad news for the planet after the latest UN climate talks
The latest round of United Nations climate talks closed in the early morning hours on Sunday, November 20 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, overshooting their Friday deadline but finally reaching an agreement on the thorniest outstanding issue: paying for climate change damages. The meeting, known as COP27, ended with an agreement to create a fund to…
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Syphilis rates are soaring in South Dakota’s American Indian communities. What’s going on?
Over the last five years, syphilis transmission has increased explosively all over the US. The spread of this infection, which starts as a rash but can progress to severe disease in adults, is particularly alarming because syphilis infections during pregnancy can lead to death or disability in newborns. Although syphilis trends are bad on a…
Space is deadly. NASA’s Artemis mission will help us learn how to survive it.
Today at 1:47 am Eastern time, NASA finally launched its much-delayed Artemis I mission around the moon, lighting up the night sky over Cape Canaveral, Florida and marking the dawn of a new space age. It’s the first step in NASA’s grand ambitions for human spaceflight: Future Artemis missions will put humans back on the…
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NASA’s rules for astronaut posting: No TikTok, don’t embarrass us
This flu season is looking really scary, in one chart
Flu season is here — and early red flags suggest it’s on track to be very, very bad. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Flu View report show extraordinarily high numbers of positive flu tests reported to the agency from labs around the US. As of November 5, nearly…
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Biden says America is doing its part to prevent “climate hell.” Is it?
President Joe Biden on Friday told international climate negotiators in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, that the US is backing its promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions with action and, crucially, with money. “We’re racing forward to do our part to prevent climate hell,” Biden said. “We’re not ignoring harbingers that are already here.” At the…
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