The Art of Pondering Earth's Distant Future

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August 20, 2021

Behavior The Art of Pondering Earth's Distant Future Stretching the mind across time can help us become more responsible planetary stewards and foster empathy across generations By Vincent Ialenti

Behavior What God, Quantum Mechanics and Consciousness Have in Common Theories that try to explain these big metaphysical mysteries fall short, making agnosticism the only sensible stance By John Horgan

Ecology Suspect List Narrows in Mysterious Bird Die-Off Here’s how researchers are zeroing in on the culprit By Maddie Bender

Astronomy Astronomer Vera Rubin Taught Me about Dark Matter--and about How to Live Life The groundbreaking scientist ushered in a revolution in how we think about the universe. She also lived by a set of principles that made her an exceptional human being By Ashley Jean Yeager

Climate Change A Key Step for Limiting the Global Temperature Rise to 1.5 Degrees Celsius The International Energy Agency needs to make that goal the centerpiece of its World Energy Outlook By Rebecca M. Peters

Mathematics A Deep Math Dive into Why Some Infinities Are Bigger Than Others The size of certain infinite sets has been a mystery. Now, it turns out, each one is different than the next, and they can all be ordered by size By Martin Goldstern,Jakob Kellner

Natural Disasters The True Haiti Earthquake Death Toll Is Much Worse than Early Official Counts A tool built by the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the number of fatalities may range from 10,000 to 100,000 or more By Sara Reardon

Astronomy This Report Could Make or Break the Next 30 Years of U.S. Astronomy A battle for the future of American stargazing is about to begin—and the stakes are sky high By Lee Billings

Public Health England's Rush to Reopen Is a Cautionary Tale for the U.S. Stripping back nearly all public health restrictions comes as the virus still poses a threat By Luke Taylor

Extraterrestrial Life When Will We Hear from Extraterrestrials? Project Galileo could make that happen sooner rather than later By Avi Loeb

Epidemiology Masks Are a Must-Have to Go Back to School during the Delta Variant Surge Face coverings are essential to protecting children, keeping schools open and slowing the highly contagious coronavirus variant, experts say By Emily Willingham

Ethics Science Must Be for Everyone Racism and sexism are obstacles to making the scientific enterprise worthy of its public funding By Maureen Kearney,Gilda Barabino,Joseph Graves,Shirley M. Malcom

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 30, Issue 2s

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BRING SCIENCE HOME The Magnifying Effect of a Water Drop Can a droplet of water change what you can spy with your little eye? Learn about optics and lenses in this larger-than-life science activity! Credit: George Retseck Have you ever studied an everyday object through a magnifying glass—and been amazed at what you could see? Or have you ever noticed, for example in a swimming pool, that an object that is sticking out of the water looks different just above and just below the surface? In this activity you will learn a little bit more about both of these observations. Get ready to bend light, magnify letters and have fun with water drops—all while getting a glimpse into how lenses work! Lenses are the key components in eyeglasses, contact lenses, binoculars and telescopes—just to name a few devices. With this activity a homemade magnifying glass is only a drop away!

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