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Bug's Life

The Earth Will Feast on Dead Cicadas

Two cicada broods, XIX and XIII, are emerging in sync for the first time in 221 years. Birds, trees, and dirt are about to get the banquet of a lifetime.

The Real Reason Some Abortion Pill Patients Go to the ER

The abortion pill mifepristone went in front of the US Supreme Court on Tuesday. Antiabortionists say an increase in emergency room visits shows it’s unsafe. Medical experts disagree.

Are You Noise Sensitive? Here's How to Tell

Every person has a different idea of what makes noise “loud,” but there are some things we all can do to turn the volume down a little.

A Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Was Just Transplanted Into a Person for the First Time

A 62-year-old Massachusetts man with failing kidneys is the first living patient to receive a genetically altered kidney from a pig.

There Are Already More Measles Cases in the US This Year Than All of 2023

The CDC is begging Americans to get vaccinated against measles as cases continue to rise.

A Startup Will Try to Mine Helium-3 on the Moon

The Earth is in short supply of helium-3. The lunar surface may hold the answer.

The 4 Big Questions the Pentagon’s New UFO Report Fails to Answer

The Pentagon says it’s not hiding aliens, but it stops notably short of saying what it is hiding. Here are the key questions that remain unanswered—some answers could be weirder than UFOs.

Odysseus Marks the First US Moon Landing in More Than 50 Years

A Houston-based company called Intuitive Machines made lunar history this week.

NASA’s New PACE Observatory Searches for Clues to Humanity’s Future

They may be tiny, but phytoplankton and aerosols power pivotal Earth systems. Scientists are about to learn a whole lot more about them at a critical time.

Europe Is Struggling to Coexist With Wild Bears

A fatal bear attack in Slovakia reignited accusations that conservationists are protecting the animals at the expense of human safety. Experts argue it's a people problem, not a bear problem.

The US Buried Nuclear Waste Abroad. Climate Change Could Unearth It

A new report says melting ice sheets and rising seas could disturb waste from US nuclear projects in Greenland and the Marshall Islands.

Humanity Is Dangerously Pushing Its Ability to Tolerate Heat

Extreme heat waves are already here, and they are killing tens of thousands of people. Blasting through 2 degrees Celsius of warming means they’ll happen many times more frequently.

A Discarded Plan to Build Underwater Cities Will Give Coral Reefs New Life

A 1970s plan to grow underwater limestone objects has been repurposed as a way of regenerating the seabed, reestablishing corals, and stopping coastal erosion.

Enjoy Your Favorite Wine Before Climate Change Destroys It

Extreme heat and droughts are making it harder to grow grapes in many traditional regions. Here’s how scientists are helping the industry adapt.

The US Is About to Drown in a Sea of Kittens

Cats are most fertile during the summer months, but in recent years “kitten season” has been starting earlier and lasting longer. The trend is bad news for shelters and wildlife alike.

The World’s E-Waste Has Reached a Crisis Point

A new UN report finds that humanity is generating 137 billion pounds of TVs, smartphones, and other e-waste a year—and recycling less than a quarter of it.

The Feds Are Trying to Get Plants to Mine Metal Through Their Roots

Some species can absorb extreme amounts of nickel from soils. Such “phytomining” could help provide batteries essential for the renewable revolution.

Stumped by Heat Pumps?

Our in-house physics whiz explains how a heat pump can warm your home without burning fossil fuels.

For Bitcoin Mines in Texas, the Honeymoon Is Over

The energy demands of bitcoin mining have sparked controversy in a state that once welcomed those companies with open arms.

What Would Happen if Every American Got a Heat Pump

Getting these climate superheroes into more US homes would massively cut emissions, and it would be cost-effective. Here’s how the revolution would play out.

Large Language Models’ Emergent Abilities Are a Mirage

A new study suggests that sudden jumps in LLMs’ abilities are neither surprising nor unpredictable, but are actually the consequence of how we measure ability in AI.

Never-Repeating Patterns of Tiles Can Safeguard Quantum Information

Two researchers have proved that Penrose tilings, famous patterns that never repeat, are mathematically equivalent to a kind of quantum error correction.

You Can Count on Pi

On Pi Day we answer the burning question: Is there any world in which pi does not go on forever?

There’s a New Theory About Where Dark Matter Is Hiding

An idea derived from string theory suggests that dark matter is hidden in an as-yet-unseen extra dimension. Scientists are racing to test the theory to see if it holds up.

Watch Neuralink’s First Human Subject Demonstrate His Brain-Computer Interface

In a livestream on X, the paralyzed 29-year-old man used his Neuralink brain implant to control a computer.

A Pill That Kills Ticks Is a Promising New Weapon Against Lyme Disease

Your pets can already eat a chewable tablet for tick prevention. Now, a pill that paralyzes and kills ticks has shown positive results in a small human trial.

A New Headset Aims to Treat Alzheimer’s With Light and Sound

An experimental device developed by Cognito Therapeutics seeks to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients using light and sound.

Scientists Are Inching Closer to Bringing Back the Woolly Mammoth

De-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences claims it has found a way to reprogram elephant cells, a technical breakthrough that could lead to the return of the long-lost mammals.

Meet the Next Generation of Doctors—and Their Surgical Robots

Don't worry, your next surgeon will definitely be a human. But just as medical students are training to use a scalpel, they're also training to use robots designed to make surgeries easier.

AI Is Building Highly Effective Antibodies That Humans Can’t Even Imagine

Robots, computers, and algorithms are hunting for potential new therapies in ways humans can’t—by processing huge volumes of data and building previously unimagined molecules.

This Artificial Muscle Moves Stuff on Its Own

Actuators inspired by cucumber plants could make robots move more naturally in response to their environments, or be used for devices in inhospitable places.

Get Ready for 3D-Printed Organs and a Knife That ‘Smells’ Tumors

Hospitals are evolving at warp speed, and autonomous surgical robots are just the beginning.

Why You Hear Voices in Your White Noise Machine

If you've ever heard music, voices, or other sounds while trying to sleep with a white noise machine running, you're not losing your mind. Here's what's going on.

So You Want to Rewire Brains

When everyone's hooking their brains up to computers, we'll need surgeons to install the hardware.

They Had PTSD. A Psychedelic Called Ibogaine Helped Them Get Better

Ibogaine, a plant-based psychoactive drug, drastically reduced symptoms of depression and PTSD in veterans with traumatic brain injuries.

It's Time to Log Off

There’s a devastating amount of heavy news these days. Psychology experts say you need to know your limits—and when to put down the phone.

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