October 3, 20245 min readIn Floods like Hurricane Helene’s, Toxic Chemicals Are a Silent and Growing ThreatPeople living near industrial facilities often have few details about the chemicals inside, which poses major risks when floods occurBy James R. Elliott, Dominic...
Holes in the retina can make vision patchy or blurredCHRISTOPH BURGSTEDT/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY A transplant of human stem cells sealed a hole in a monkey’s retina, which seems to have improved its vision, offering hope for a new approach to...
An artist’s impression of the Qianfan satellite mega constellationCCTV China has begun construction of a mega constellation that will eventually consist of nearly 14,000 satellites, but the launch of the first 18 is already sparking concerns from astronomers about their...
Many of us entered this so-called super-election year with a sense of foreboding. So far, not much has happened to allay those fears. Russia’s war on Ukraine is exacerbating a perception that democracy is threatened in Europe and beyond. In...
Blade Runner: The Final CutEntertainment Pictures/Alamy We have all come across dystopian visions of a bad future, like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Less familiar is the practice of bad futurism, often hidden inside seemingly compelling stories, which promises an...
Blushing chickens People — humans — blush. Chickens aren’t entirely inhuman in that they, too, show emotions on their facial skin. Delphine Soulet at the University of Tours, France, and colleagues have explored how skin redness might be a reliable...
According to Jonathan Haidt’s bestselling book The Anxious Generation, the proliferation of smartphones and subsequent exposure to social media among children and young people has harmed mental well-being, resulting in an “anxious generation”. Hence Haidt’s title. However, a closer look...
The River Wye in the UKLuza Studios/Getty Images The tradition of the English nature writer is long, proud and distinctly genteel. Its origins lie with the pioneering 18th-century curate Gilbert White, writing from his inherited family home in Selborne, Hampshire....
Sodium valproate is an effective epilepsy drug, but it isn’t recommended to take during pregnancyMiljan Zivkovic/Shutterstock The drug rapamycin could prevent the epilepsy medication sodium valproate from causing developmental problems during pregnancy. Sodium valproate is used to treat epilepsy, bipolar...
Ants produce formic acid to defend themselves, and this acid can cause milk to coagulateWILDLIFE GmbH / Alamy Simply placing as few as four live ants into a container of milk provides enough microbes, enzymes and acids to kickstart the...
