Science

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Public Health

The US Just Recorded Its First 2 Measles Deaths This Year

The fatalities come amid declining vaccination rates and calls from President Donald Trump to split up the MMR vaccine.

Emily Mullin

Unmaking History

Border Wall Construction Threatens 6,000 Years of History on Private Lands

Gabrielle Saulsbery

Fired Up

Data Centers Are Driving an Alarming Gas Power Expansion in the US

Molly Taft

Health

Is Expensive Bottled Water Actually Better for You?

Luxury water can contain different minerals and taste noticeably different. But a remote source, alkaline pH, and high price do not necessarily mean better hydration.

Megan Tomos

Salmonella Is Everywhere

From granola to guacamole, a wide variety of foods have been recalled lately over salmonella risks. Experts say common-sense precautions go a long way.

Emily Mullin

There’s a New Link Between Gut Health and Alzheimer’s Disease

Researchers found that a metabolite produced by gut bacteria can weaken the barrier that protects the brain and promote changes associated with the cognitive disease.

Jorge Garay

There’s a Fatty Liver Epidemic. AI Could Help Get Ahead of It

Over a billion people worldwide have livers with excess fat, which can lead to a host of medical problems. Researchers think AI tools can spot the condition—and help stop it—early enough to save lives.

David Cox

Environment

A One-Two Punch Has Atlantic Hurricane Season on the Ropes

El Niño coupled with Saharan dust is making this year’s hurricane season a dud. But there’s still potential for dangerous storms.

Dennis Mersereau

Puerto Rico Is Rationing Water. It Could’ve Avoided It by Harvesting Rainwater

The island could capture billions of gallons of water a year if it implemented systems to catch it as it falls from the sky.

Yessenia Funes

The Best Photos of the Big Solar Eclipse

It’s been a century since the Iberian Peninsula has been in the full shadow of the moon. Here’s what it looked like in the path of totality.

Fernanda González

Two Fossil Fuel Companies Are Betting Big on Data Centers

Chevron and Williams are big winners in the race to power artificial intelligence as they build out gas-fired power plants and pipelines.

Molly Taft

Climate

The Super El Niño Won’t Fix the West’s Water Crisis

“People have talked about the Colorado River crisis for decades—we’re now in it,” says one expert. “Everyone you talk to is like, ‘Shit, man.’”

Molly Taft

What Is El Niño, and What Does It Mean for Weather, Water, and the Global Economy?

This year’s El Niño is shaping up to be the strongest on record. Here’s what to expect.

Ritsuko Kawai

Spokane Shows What the New Era of Wildfires Looks Like

With rising temperatures and drier conditions, fires are more likely to explode. And with more people living next to forests, the results can be catastrophic.

Sachi Kitajima Mulkey

DeepMind Says Its AI Can Predict Hurricanes Earlier Than Everyone Else

Its WeatherNext model, which will be open-sourced, can accurately predict a storm’s track and intensity using lower-resolution weather data. Researchers don’t yet fully understand how it does this.

Victoria Turk

Energy

Transistors Changed Everything. Here’s How They Work

How a tiny little electronic switch sparked the computer revolution.

Rhett Allain

Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Dead Batteries—Using Physics

How the joule thief circuit “steals” energy from seemingly depleted power cells.

Rhett Allain

The Real Reason Data Center Gas Power Plants Are So Dirty

A massive new gas plant in Texas will be built with much less efficient technology than regular gas plants. It’s far from the only data center power project to rely on dirty turbines.

Molly Taft

AI Could Help Fossil Fuel Companies Create More Emissions

New research finds that by making the fossil fuel industry more productive, AI could help increase carbon emissions by up to nearly 5 percent—vastly outpacing the impact of data centers.

Molly Taft

Space

NASA’s New Space Telescope Is Poised to Discover Hidden Facets of the Universe

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is expected to discover as many as 200,000 new planets and reveal details about the elusive nature of dark matter and dark energy.

Jay Bennett

NASA Cancels Its Rescue Mission for the Aging Swift Telescope

The LINK probe was supposed to use robotic arms to capture Swift and lift it into a safe orbit. Problems with its control system forced NASA to call off the attempt.

Jorge Garay

The Galaxy’s Fastest Star Could Reveal the Secrets of a Supermassive Black Hole

S301 passes close to Sagittarius A*—so close that its orbit could reveal how the black hole’s rotation warps the spacetime around it.

Jorge Garay

Astronomers Discover the Existence of a Black Hole Star

An object observed by the James Webb Space Telescope lends credence to a strange explanation for the mysterious red spots in the early universe.

Jorge Garay

Physics and Math

Microsoft’s Quantum Chief Doesn’t Care That Scientists Don’t Believe His Results

Zulfi Alam thinks his team doesn’t need to “prove” they engineered a new state of matter in their bid to reinvent computing. Science would disagree.

Isabella Ward

What Is Entropy, Really?

Never mind the “heat death of the universe.” Entropy is just a bridge between two levels of reality.

Rhett Allain

Drive Slower, Save Money on Gas. Thanks, Physics!

Planning a Fourth of July getaway? Use less gas—and cut your emissions—by easing up on the pedal.

Rhett Allain

Venezuela’s Powerful Earthquakes Were a Rare ‘Seismic Doublet’

The country was hit hard by a pair of quakes that happened in quick succession and were likely driven by stress being transferred from one part of the fault that runs through the country to another.

Fernanda González

Biotech

Seedless Blackberries and Cherries That Grow on Bushes Vie to Be the Future of Food

Startups and Big Ag are using Crispr gene editing to create crops that taste better and grow on a hotter planet. But will they find a market?

Mike Grunwald

AI Is Dead. Organoids Are Alive

Mini human brains are being grown in labs all over the world. Soon, they could outthink neural networks.

Claire L. Evans

Scientists Used AI to Create 16 New Viruses

The use of AI systems to create viruses opens up new possibilities for combating bacterial resistance. It also raises concerns about the pace at which technology is outstripping regulation.

Fernanda González

Gene-Edited Puppies Will Melt Your Heart—but Won’t Trigger Your Allergies

A startup has created beagles without the gene that causes runny noses and watery eyes for allergy sufferers.

Emily Mullin

Psychology and Neuroscience

Big Tech Wants to Harvest Your Thoughts

Silicon Valley companies are already working on neurotechnology products that track your brain activity. The next privacy frontier might be the things you only think.

James Crawford

Study of Buddhist Monks Finds Meditation Alters Brain Activity

Meditation isn’t thinking about nothing. New research reinforces that it’s a mind-altering, dynamic state that promotes focus, learning, and well-being.

Javier Carbajal