Dec 09 Freshwater is getting saltier, threatening people and wildlife By Tim Vernimmen, Scientific American Road de-icing, industrial activity and other culprits are pushing salt levels in rivers and streams to alarming levels. Continue reading
Dec 06 Why coastal Carolina may never recover from its intensifying hurricanes By Nsikan Akpan Coastal hurricanes are leaving behind toxic algal blooms, a new silent threat to water quality. It is one of three ways that these storms are changing North Carolina for good. Continue reading
Dec 05 Watch 7:51 The robots are coming. Will they work with us? In the latest installment of our Future of Work series, Miles O’Brien visits MIT’s Interactive Robotics Laboratory to understand the “new species” of robots scientists are designing to work alongside humans safely. Though the devices often excel at repetitive tasks,… Continue watching
Dec 05 Opinion: WhatsApp skewed Brazilian election, showing social media's danger to democracy By Luca Belli, The Conversation Brazil’s WhatsApp election scandal should be a wake-up call particularly for other developing world democracies. Continue reading
Dec 05 Greenland's ice sheet is melting at its fastest rate in 350 years By Yale Environment 360 “From a historical perspective, today’s melt rates are off the charts.”… Continue reading
Dec 04 Watch 8:09 Automation threatens jobs. Can education create new ones? As automation spreads through the American economy, experts say its impacts will be uneven. Key factors in determining that effect include geography and race, but likely even more important is education. With the rapid pace of technological evolution, will job… Continue watching
Dec 04 Years after his death, Lonesome George's genome offers clues to long life By Vicky Stein Lonesome George, a wizened Galapagos giant tortoise, was the last of his kind. Now, researchers are using the iconic tortoise’s genetic material to better understand what it takes to live a long life. Continue reading
Dec 03 WATCH: NASA's Osiris-Rex reaches Bennu, in mission to bring home asteroid dust By Nsikan Akpan Part pioneer and part dirt collector, Osiris-Rex will spend the next year or so looking for a spot to capture pieces of the asteroid before heading back to Earth. Continue reading
Dec 02 How tear gas works: A rundown of the chemicals used on crowds By Angus Chen, Scientific American There are two broad types of tear gas—and they’re both engineered to cause pain. Continue reading
Dec 01 NIH director says there's work to do on regulating genome editing globally By Lev Facher, STAT The apparent birth this month of the first genetically modified babies is “a lesson in the potential for human hubris to overtake us,” Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health. Continue reading