New clues to why there's so little antimatter in the universe
Imagine a dust particle in a storm cloud, and you can get an idea of a neutron's insignificance compared to the magnitude of the molecule it inhabits. But just as a dust mote might affect a cloud's track, a neutron can influence the energy of its molecule despite being less than one-millionth its size. And now physicists at MIT and elsewhere have successfully measured a neutron's tiny effect in a radioactive molecule. The team has developed a new technique to produce and study short-lived radioactive molecules with neutron numbers they can precisely control. They hand-picked several isotopes of the same molecule, each with one more neutron than the next. When they measured each molecule's energy, they were able to detect small, nearly imperceptible changes of the nuclear size, due to the effect of a single neutron.
To Free a River
FRANKIE JOE MYERS vividly remembers the fall of 2002. Chinook salmon entered the Klamath River estuary in northwest California, as they have done for millennia, but before they could reach their spawning grounds, they began washing up on the banks, dead. Most of the dead fish turned up within the Yurok Indian Reservation, which flanks 44 miles of the Klamath River in Del Norte and Humboldt counties. Amid the stench of rotting carcasses, members of the Hoopa, Karuk, and Yurok tribes worked with state and federal agencies to tally the dead fish.
Why Extreme Heat Is So Deadly
In June a massive “heat dome” smothered the famously temperate Pacific Northwest, subjecting parts of Washington State, Oregon and western Canada to blistering and unprecedented temperatures. Lytton, British Columbia, set an all-time Canadian record with a searing 121.3 degrees Fahrenheit (49.6 degrees Celsius). A day later most of that village was destroyed by a huge wildfire. During another western heat wave in early July, California’s Death Valley reached a scorching 130 degrees F (54 degrees C)—just shy of its record of 134 degrees F (57 degrees C), which was reported in 1913 (and is somewhat disputed now). A third heat wave blanketed the U.S. and Canadian West in recent days. It is virtually impossible that heat waves like the Pacific Northwest’s June scorcher would have occurred without climate change, according to a recent analysis by the World Weather Attribution collaboration.
A Former Alt-Right YouTuber Explains His Methods
Ms. Southern described the situation differently. “We asked the question because we knew it was going to force people to question their own political views and realize the contradiction in being a hard-core feminist but also supporting a religion that, quite frankly, has questionable practices around women,” she said. And, she added, they used video techniques that any media company would use.
A world of hurt: 2021 climate disasters raise alarm over food security
Human-driven climate change is fueling weather extremes — from record drought to massive floods — that are hammering key agricultural regions around the world.From the grain heartland of Argentina to the tomato belt of California to the pork hub of China, extreme weather events have driven down output and driven up global commodity prices.Shortages of water and food have, in turn, prompted political and social strife in 2021, including food protests in Iran and hunger in Madagascar, and threaten to bring escalating misery, civil unrest and war in coming years.Experts warn the problem will only intensify, even in regions currently unaffected by, or thriving from the high prices caused by scarcity. Global transformational change is urgently needed in agricultural production and consumption patterns, say experts. In July, a video went viral on social media in Argentina showing people walking across what looks like a desert.
Tribal Fishing Rights Activist Billy Frank Jr. Statue to Be Placed in U.S. Capitol
OLYMPIA, Wash. — When longtime tribal treaty rights warrior Billy Frank, Jr. died unexpectedly on May 6, 2014 at the age of 83, S’Klallman Tribal Chairman W. Ron Allen said, “He was bigger than life. It’s a very sad day for all of us.” Billy Frank Jr.
IPCC report shows ‘possible loss of entire countries within the century’
Global heating above 1.5C will be “catastrophic” for Pacific island nations and could lead to the loss of entire countries due to sea level rise within the century, experts have warned. The Pacific has long been seen as the “canary in the coalmine” for the climate crisis, as the region has suffered from king tides, catastrophic cyclones, increasing salinity in water tables making growing crops impossible, sustained droughts, and the loss of low-lying islands to sea level rise. These crises are expected to increase in frequency and severity as the world heats. The warnings come as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its landmark report on global heating on Monday, which showed that greenhouse gas emissions needed to be halved to limit heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – a target that was included in the Paris Agreement only after sustained lobbying by Pacific island leaders. Sign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Corn Tastes Better on the Honor System – Robin Wall Kimmerer
Corn production today uses more natural resources than any other crop. Around 90 million acres are planted in corn, and the last remaining remnants of native prairie and grassland are being plowed under for corn every year. Corn is a hungry crop and a thirsty one.
The Colorado River Drought Is A Crisis For The West
Caitlin Ochs for BuzzFeed News A woman sunbathes next to a swimming pool overlooking a golf course and Lake Powell in Arizona. Bob Martin’s floor-to-ceiling office windows overlooking Lake Powell have become a constant source of stress. For the past seven years, the Glen Canyon Dam field division manager has had a front-row seat watching the water levels of the nation’s second-largest reservoir rapidly shrink. “People need to realize that this is not like the national deficit where we can just say, 'Well, we’re going to print more money,'” Martin said. “You’re talking about a tangible, finite commodity.
50 'Cool Guides' People Shared On This Group That Contain Information They Don't Teach At School
One of my secret pleasures (and feel free to chime in if you’re a geek like me) is looking through various colorful guides and infographics, from what plants are edible in forests to hypothetical explanations on how best to survive the zombie Apocalypse that 2020 promised but never delivered. The multi-million-member ‘Cool Guides’ community on Reddit is the prime place to go to for (yup, you guessed it!) cool guides. From aesthetically pleasing and very informative ones to quirky and funny ones, you’ll find a bit of everything to keep those noggins of yours learning and yearning for more, dear Pandas. Bored Panda had a lovely chat with redditor Dadschool, who founded the r/coolguides subreddit way back in 2014 and is still its head moderator to this very day.
A NASA scientist explains why the weather is becoming more extreme
AcrossAcross China and Western Europe in July, the amount of rain that might typically fall over several months to a year came down within a matter of days, triggering floods that swept entire homes off their foundations. In June, the usually mild regions of Southwest Canada and the US’s Pacific Northwest saw temperatures that rivaled highs in California’s Death Valley desert. The severe heat was enough to buckle roads and melt power cables. Yesterday, a landmark United Nations report helped put those kinds of extreme events into context.
The great boat lift of 9/11
It was midmorning, but the air was black as midnight. Sirens and alarms wailed, echoing down ghostly streets, and dazed, ash-covered people screamed as they scrambled in all directions. Karen Lacey was among them, stumbling through throngs along the lower Manhattan waterfront, edging her way toward the cold, choppy waters of the Hudson River. Fleeing from the dense dust in the aftermath of the collapse of the south tower of the World Trade Center and fearing she would be crushed by the debris, Lacey believed she had only one chance to save her life. She climbed over the steel railing alongside the river. “Lady, don’t jump!”
Why Earth's History Appears So Miraculous
It was hard times for the bomber pilots that floated over Europe, their planes incinerating cities below, like birds of prey. Even as they turned the once-bustling streets beneath to howling firestorms, death had become a close companion to the crews of the Allied bombers as well. In fact, surviving a tour with the Bomber Command had become a virtual coin flip. While their munitions fell mutely from bomb bays, an upward sleet of fire from smoldering city grids and darkened farmland shot the planes out of the sky like clay pigeons. For recruits encountering the freshly empty bunk beds of dead airmen, morale was sapped before they could even get in the cockpit.
