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Some parts of the planet are approaching the limits of their ability to adapt to climate change, scientists warned yesterday ahead of a major U.N. report being released later this month. Extreme drought and heat could prevent trees from absorbing carbon dioxide, thrusting some ecosystems past the point from which they can recover, the researchers said. Some systems, like tropical coral reefs, have already surpassed those limits and are headed toward decline....

The next generation of space probes is being powered by highly efficient electric plasma rockets. These rockets—powered by ionized xenon gas—produce very low thrust compared with their solid- or liquid-fueled cousins, but use so little propellant that they last much longer. Their constant acceleration results in speeds that ultimately surpass those of chemical rockets. This makes them ideal for deep-space missions. The Dawn spacecraft is on just such a mission: a journey first to the giant asteroid Vesta and then on to the dwarf planet Ceres....

The European Space Agency has secured a massive boost to its budget. At a pow-wow of European ministers in Seville, Spain, on 27–28 November, the agency’s member states pledged €12.5 billion (US$13.8 billion) for 2020–22, compared with the €8.6 billion approved at the last meeting in 2016. The hike means that the European Space Agency (ESA) can accelerate the schedule of its flagship gravitational-wave mission LISA, and boost the capabilities of its next-generation array of climate-observing Copernicus satellites....

Radar experts are casting doubt on claims that King Tutankhamun’s tomb contains hidden, undiscovered chambers — and they’re calling for more data to be released. At a March 17 newsconference, officials at Egypt’s antiquities ministry released radar data that they said showed the presence of hidden cavities inside the tomb of King Tut. The scans, carried out by Japanese radar technologist Hirokatsu Watanabe, “suggest the presence of two empty spaces or cavities beyond the decorated North and West walls of the burial chamber,” they said in a statement....

The quality of gene sequencing has improved so much and its price has fallen so far that a start-up now says it can offer the service for free. Nebula Genomics aims to sequence a customer’s entire genome, according to the company’s chief scientific officer Dennis Grishin. In contrast, current commercial services offer genotyping, which focuses on the differences between the person’s genome and a reference one. The new service, which was officially made available Thursday, will provide 2,000 times more data than existing services, but will still not be accurate enough to serve as a basis for medical advice, he says....

When the World Wide Web launched in 1993, it seemed to catch on and spread overnight, unlike most new technologies, which typically take at least a decade to move from first “proof of concept” to broad acceptance. But the Web did not really emerge in a single year. It built on infrastructure, including the construction of the Internet between 1965 and 1993, as well as a sudden recognition that resources, such as personal computers, had passed a critical threshold....

The developing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has raised concerns over the health effects of radiation exposure: What is a “dangerous” level of radiation? How does radiation damage health? What are the consequences of acute and long-term low-dose radiation? Though radioactive steam has been released to reduce pressure within the wrecked complex’s reactors and there has been additional radiation leakage from the three explosions there, the resulting spikes in radiation levels have not been sustained....

Editor’s Note (12/21/21): This article is being showcased in a special collection about equity in health care that was made possible by the support of Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The article was published independently and without sponsorship. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately hurt members of minority communities in the U.S. As of April 2022, 339 Black people out of every 100,000 had died of the coronavirus, compared with 322 of every 100,000 white people....

Now, a new study finds that lightning strikes could flash through the sky even more often than that as the planet warms, at least over the continental U.S. For years scientists have been exploring how the steady warming of the planet might be impacting severe weather, though most of the attention has been placed on hazards like hurricanes and heavy downpours. And while those events are major killers, lightning is also a significant hazard....

Mindfulness involves a conscious focus on and awareness of your present state of mind and surroundings, without judgment or reaction. Mindfulness is rooted in Buddhism and was developed in the 1970’s as a therapeutic intervention for stress in adults by Jon Kabat-Zinn, who founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Over the past several decades, the practice of mindfulness has evolved into a booming billion dollar industry, with growing claims that mindfulness is a panacea for host of maladies including stress, depression, failures of attention, eating disorders, substance abuse, weight gain, and pain....

The Biden administration has said it is activating all the levers of government to advance environmental justice for people of color. However, one of President Joe Biden’s own policies for climate action might challenge his commitment to racial equity. Earlier this month, Biden invoked a wartime law to free up federal funds for domestic mining activities for five metals sought by manufacturers of zero-carbon energy products: lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite and manganese....

In the late spring of 2000 one of us (McGaugh) received an e-mail message from a woman named Jill Price who was trying to cope with the burdens inflicted by her own memory. It read, in part: I sit here trying to figure out where to begin explaining why I am writing you … I just hope somehow you can help me. I am 34 years old, and since I was 11 I have had this unbelievable ability to recall my past … I can take a date, between 1974 and today, and tell you what day it falls on, what I was doing that day, and if anything of great importance … occurred on that day I can describe that to you as well....

By Janice Neumann (Reuters Health) - A study of mouth microbes finds that antibacterial toothpaste and mouthwash with essential oils work much better in combination than separately to banish bacteria that cause gum disease. Researchers looked at bacteria clinging to wires used in dental retainers that are bonded to the backs of teeth. These retainers are known to host bacterial colonies that promote bleeding and receding gums as well as cavities....

Dozens of the top clockmakers in the world convened in New Orleans one muggy week in May 2002 to present their latest inventions. There was not a mechanic among them; these were scientists, and their conversations buzzed with talk of spectrums and quantum levels, not gears and escapements. Today those who would build a more accurate clock must advance into the frontiers of physics and engineering in several directions at once....

Calling customer service is a situation we all know and dread. We navigate a maze of automated voice commands, hoping to speak with a real live person. For some that live connection is a relief—but not for everyone. Within seconds the customer service agent uses cues from someone’s voice—pitch, for instance—to decide to describe the caller as “sir” or “ma’am.” For many who are transgender, that language is distressing when they are identified by the wrong gender pronoun or title....

Wireless networking is expanding beyond the next room—or from downstairs to upstairs. Standards developers have set their sights on unused television bands to create regional-area networks. Makers of fractal-shaped antennas, for their part, hope to integrate suites of wireless services unobtrusively into cars, cell phones and other devices. The most common networks, based on Wi-Fi technology, radiate only about 100 meters from their source. Compare that with a range of kilometers for the frequencies between 54 and 862 megahertz, home to VHF and UHF television....

Scientifically speaking, “metabolism” is a term that describes all the chemical reactions involved in being a living organism. And while it is true that metabolism is linked to body weight, a slow metabolism is rarely the root cause of excess weight gain. While there are health conditions that slow the metabolism such as Cushing’s Syndrome or an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism), those cases are quite rare. So while it may be tempting to blame your metabolism for weight gain, it is a natural process and your body has many mechanisms that regulate it to meet your individual needs....

In my Scientific American column this month I noted that it’s typically older people who seem to disapprove of the younger ones’ immersion in electronics. Of course that’s a typical generational reaction; it used to be the radio that would rot young people’s brains…then TV…and now phones and tablets. But what does science say about the effect of touch-screen devices on children? Not much; the touch-screen era is still very young....

We all do things we know we shouldn’t. Eat that party size bag of M&Ms when we’re stressed. Have just one more drink. Sleep with our ex. Get a tattoo of the KFC Double Down sandwich (this actually happened). There’s even an entire city is built on the knowledge that we will do stupid things: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Today we’ll talk about three reasons why—even as our conscience or our common sense screams, “Nooooooooo!...

A relocatable lander could explore the hazy skies of Saturn’s intriguing moon Titan, according a new mission proposal. As the eight-bladed whirlybird travels across the moon, it could investigate some of the most promising potentially habitable sites on the Saturn satellite, where methane and ethane fall from the sky and flow as rivers and lakes. The lander-size instrument, known as Dragonfly, would take advantage of Titan’s low gravity and thick atmosphere to visit multiple sites over several years, moving from one promising site to the next and recharging between the brief flights....