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A humpback whale is among the largest animals on this planet, now or ever. It is also a gigantic society made of quadrillions of cooperating cells. Different cell types orchestrate eating, breathing, swimming, reproduction, reacting to other animals, and all the functions that are necessary for a whale to survive and thrive. If you look inside an elephant, a person or even a saguaro cactus, you will see a similarly well-functioning cellular civilization....

Could nuclear power plants last as long as the Hoover Dam? Increasingly dependable and emitting few greenhouse gases, the U.S. fleet of nuclear power plants will likely run for another 50 or even 70 years before it is retired – long past the 40-year life span planned decades ago – according to industry executives, regulators and scientists. With nuclear providing always-on electricity that will become more cost-effective if a price is placed on heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, utilities have found it is now viable to replace turbines or lids that have been worn down by radiation exposure or wear....

Imagine that you are a contestant on the classic television game show Let’s Make a Deal. Behind one of three doors is a brand-new automobile. Behind the other two are goats. You choose door number one. Host Monty Hall, who knows what is behind all three doors, shows you that a goat is behind number two, then inquires: Would you like to keep the door you chose or switch? Our folk numeracy—our natural tendency to think anecdotally and to focus on small-number runs—tells us that it is 50–50, so it doesn’t matter, right?...

The eyes are the window to the soul. That is why we ask people to look us in the eye and tell us the truth. Or why we get worried when someone gives us the evil eye or has a wandering eye. Our language is full of expressions that refer to where people are looking—particularly if they happen to be looking in our direction. As social primates, humans are keenly interested in determining the direction of gaze of other humans....

NEW YORK – As United Nations diplomats gather in New York this week, climate wonks may be feeling like anxious children on a long drive to a beach. “Are we there yet?” A slew of documents filed by national representatives on Wednesday thrust the new UN climate treaty closer to taking effect—a “hairbreadth” away, as Maldives foreign minister Mohamed Asim put it in a statement. But it’s not quite there yet....

ZERO-SUM SPACE? In “Lifting the Venus Curse,” Robin George Andrews writes about discoveries that expand our understanding of our close planetary neighbor Venus. Enormous sums of money are tossed about in that quest as if they were almost insubstantial. But explorations of outer space do more to satisfy our curiosity than advance the human condition on our own planet. One wonders if the gazillions spent on space exploration could instead have, at least in part, been focused on medical research and basic charitable work to help the still struggling human beings afflicted with illness and poverty....

Excitement around connected and autonomous vehicles has been building for years with consumers interested in the convenience of never having to touch the steering wheel and governments anticipating significant improvements in road safety. It’s presumed that these technologies will also have energy efficiency and emissions reductions benefits, but only recently have experts been able to quantify them. A recent report by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America projects that so-called intelligent transportation systems (ITS) could achieve a 2 to 4 percent reduction in oil consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions each year over the next 10 years as these technologies percolate into the market....

The planet Venus sometimes looks less like a planet and more like a comet, scientists say. Scientists with the European Space Agency have discovered that a part of the upper atmosphere of Venus — its ionosphere — acts surprisingly different depending on daily changes in the sun’s weather. The side of Venus’ ionosphere that faces away from the sun can billow outward like the tail of a comet, while the side facing the star remains tightly compacted, researchers said....

Despite a century of sustained research, brain scientists remain ignorant of the workings of the 1.4-kilogram organ that is the seat of all conscious human activity. Many have tried to attack this problem by examining the nervous systems of simpler organisms. In fact, almost 30 years have passed since investigators mapped the connections among each of the 302 nerve cells in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Yet the worm-wiring diagram did not yield an understanding of how these connections give rise to even rudimentary behaviors such as feeding and sex....

Gravitational-wave astronomers have for the first time detected a collision between two black holes of substantially different masses—opening up a new vista on astrophysics and on the physics of gravity. The event offers the first unmistakable evidence from these faint space-time ripples that at least one black hole was spinning before merging, giving astronomers rare insight into a key property of these these dark objects. “It’s an exceptional event,” said Maya Fishbach, an astrophysicist at the University of Chicago in Illinois....

Donald Trump’s presidency begins today, giving him the ability to act on numerous pledges he has made related to global warming. They include “canceling” American involvement in the Paris climate accord, reviving the coal industry and rolling back federal environmental regulations. If Trump follows through, scientists say it could have a profound long-term effect on the planet. The public may assume the U.S. and the rest of the world can delay climate action for a presidential term or two, and catch up later....

As recounted by author and journalist Daniel P. Mannix, during the European witch craze the Duke of Brunswick in Germany invited two Jesuit scholars to oversee the Inquisition’s use of torture to extract information from accused witches. “The Inquisitors are doing their duty. They are arresting only people who have been implicated by the confession of other witches,” the Jesuits reported. The duke was skeptical. Suspecting that people will say anything to stop the pain, he invited the Jesuits to join him at the local dungeon to witness a woman being stretched on a rack....

In an age when technologies typically grow obsolete in a few years, it is ironic that almost all the world’s measurements of mass (and related phenomena such as energy) depend on a 117-year-old object stored in the vaults of a small laboratory outside Paris, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. According to the International System of Units (SI), often referred to as the metric system, the kilogram is equal to the mass of this “international prototype of the kilogram” (or IPK)–a precision-fabricated cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy that stands 39 millimeters high and is the same in diameter....

The proposed “soda ban” that would limit the sale of large, sugar-sweetened beverages in New York City could reduce calorie consumption, but only if at least 40 percent of people make changes in their drink consumption, a new study suggests. If the large-drink ban is implemented, people would not be able to buy sugar-sweetened drinks larger than 16 ounces at fast-food restaurants, as well as at some other establishments, such as convenience stores and movie theaters....

1972 Faster Photography “Edwin H. Land, founder of the Polaroid Corporation, gave the first extensive account of his firm’s newest system of photography at a recent meeting. Under the title ‘Absolute One-Step Photography,’ Land demonstrated the new camera and color film that Polaroid expects to place on the market later this year. The new system, Land said, is a compact, automatic camera capable of making a succession of color photographs virtually as fast as the photographer can push the button....

Key Concepts Physics Forces Friction Engineering Introduction Is that a sailboat or a sail … car? Design and build a toy car powered by the wind in this fun engineering project! Background You’ve probably seen a sailboat at some point—but maybe not a “sailcar.” Why don’t we have more wind-powered cars? Sailboats must zig-zag back and forth if they want to sail directly into the wind. It probably wouldn’t be very safe if we had cars zig-zagging all over the road on a windy day!...

China’s Zhurong rover has peered deep under the surface of Mars, finding evidence of two major floods that probably shaped the region the robot has been exploring since it landed in May 2021. An analysis published in Nature today is the first result from Zhurong’s radar imager, which can probe up to 100 metres below the surface. “It is a very interesting paper, and I was particularly impressed by how deep they can see with this radar,” says Svein-Erik Hamran, a planetary scientist at the University of Oslo, who analysed the only previous data from ground-penetrating radar used on the planet, collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover....

Autonomous lawnmowers have been around for several years, but after improving through hard knocks (some of them into trees), the newest generation is gaining popularity. Of course, a human must set the stage, by outlining a yard with a dirt-level guide wire and by programming the robot with dates and times for cutting. After that, though, the electric mowers will start themselves, cut and return to base for recharging as needed, all on their own....

By Declan Butler"Drug firms ’encouraged world health body to exaggerate swine flu threat’," screamed Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper on June 4. “2 European reports criticize WHO’s H1N1 pandemic guidelines as tainted,” headlined The Washington Post the next day. To judge from media coverage last week, a major scandal had been exposed in the handling of the H1N1 flu pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). But nothing could be further from the truth....

Editor’s Note (10/18/21): This story from January is being republished to provide background on a new plan from the Biden administration to help prevent perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from being released into the air, drinking water systems and food supply. A roadmap launched by the Environmental Protection Agency outlines a series of actions over the next three years, “including steps to … hold polluters accountable [and] address the impacts on disadvantaged communities,” according to a White House fact sheet....