Massive Machines Are Bringing Giant Exoplanets Down to Earth

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July 21, 2021

Space Massive Machines Are Bringing Giant Exoplanets Down to Earth Scientists are using football-field-sized lasers, warehouse-sized electromagnets and other immense facilities to reveal the deep secrets of planetary interiors By Adam Frank

Space Hardy Microbes Hint at Possibilities for Extraterrestrial Life Studies of extreme ecosystems on Earth can guide the search for Martian life and may reveal the fundamental limits of biology By Brianne Palmer

Weather Western Drought Has Lasted Longer than the Dust Bowl Dry conditions have drawn down reservoirs, fueled massive wildfires and stunted crops By Thomas Frank,E&E News

Mental Health At Least Two Million Children Have Lost a Parent or Grandparent Caregiver to COVID That's at a minimum. The real number could be significantly higher By Juliette Unwin,Seth Flaxman

Evolution These Dinosaurs Had a Complicated Air Conditioner in Their Skull Cooling 5,000-pound, armor-plated giants was no small feat. By Aaron Martin

Policy & Ethics Trans and Queer People in India Should Demand Better Health Care The country's gender and sexual minorities are in urgent need of a supportive public health system By Sayantan Datta

Climate China Launches World's Largest Carbon Market: But Is It Ambitious Enough? Experts welcome the trading scheme, but question whether it is up to the task of helping China achieve its climate goals By Bianca Nogrady,Nature magazine

Evolution Moths Have an Acoustic Invisibility Cloak to Stay under Bats' Radar New research finds they fly around on noise-cancelling wings By Karen Hopkin | 02:45

Climate Australia's Criticisms of Proposal to List Great Barrier Reef as 'in Danger' Don't Stack Up The UNESCO World Heritage Site is under pressure from pollution and climate change By Terry Hughes,Jon C. Day,Ove Hoegh-Guldberg

Wellness My Stupid Elbow and the Crisis in Health Care A lingering hockey injury forces a science writer to reconsider his criticism of American medicine By John Horgan

Public Health Flu Has Disappeared for More Than a Year Mask wearing, social distancing and other steps to stop COVID-19 have also curtailed influenza By Katie Peek

Biology Play Is Serious Business for Elephants Young dogs, apes and other animals develop skills needed to survive and reproduce By Caitlin O'Connell

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 29, Issue 4s

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FROM THE ARCHIVE The Labs That Forge Distant Planets Here on Earth High-pressure experiments explore what it might take to make exoplanets habitable By Shannon Hall,Nature magazine | December 2017

QUOTE OF THE DAY "These days, super-Earths are the twinkle in every astronomer's eye." Raymond Jeanloz, planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley

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