Inside Science's Weekly Newsletter

What Happened in Science this Week

The Earth is a little bit squished, making it wider around the middle than it is from pole to pole. It's not a huge difference, but it's enough to make airplanes, oceans and the weather all move in ways that vary from how they would if the Earth were truly spherical. Here's an example: If you cover the planet in ice and shoot a hockey puck North from Portugal, it might end up in Argentina. Really. It's explained in the story.    Chris Gorski, Senior Editor The Earth's Equatorial Bulge Shapes the Planet's Physics Meteorologists, oceanographers and snipers have to account for this deformation. By Will Sullivan, Staff Writer How Rat Poison Helps Chemists Win Nobel Prizes Strychnine is so difficult to make in a lab that chemists, including Nobel winners, have long competed to synthesize it more efficiently.                                       By Joshua Learn, Contributor Tiny Robot Hand Uses Electrified Wires as Sensors and to Help Grip Tiny Objects The new technology may one day be able to grasp microscopic objects such as human eggs.                                                              Charles Q. Choi, Contributor A Lobster's Age Doesn't Show, But DNA Could Give Hints Examining small molecules that attach to DNA strands can help build a sense of a lobster's age.                                               By Haley Weiss, Staff Writer Stone Cold: How Rocks Become Glacial Tables Katharine Gammon, Contributor                                                                                                                                                [Video] How Much Does Earth Weigh? Inside Science Contributor How a Physicist Would Make the Recorder Easier to Play Katharine Gammon, Contributor The earliest evidence of tobacco use dates to over 12,000 years ago By Bruce Bower, Science News Archaeologists recently found four burned tobacco seeds in an ancient fireplace in Utah. Carbon-dating shows that this represents the oldest evidence of use of the plant, pushing back the known timeline by nearly 10,000 years. Though researchers didn't uncover much objective evidence about how people used the tobacco, they have a few interesting theories.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Math is Personal By Jessica Nordell, The Atlantic This article is adapted from a new book called "The End of Bias," and tells the story of a math professor at San Francisco State University who recognized the field's weaknesses and developed new ways to build toward true inclusion. It's a great illustration of how change can happen in a field, full of lessons for -- well, I was going to say everyone, but as the article explains, that's not necessarily true. Spectacular Footage Records Seven Moths as They Take Flight in Stunningly Slow Motion By Grace Ebert, Colossal As the headline says, the video shows moths flying at an absolutely spectacular 6,000 frames per second. Some look cuddly, some clumsy, but they're all pretty amazing to see close-up and slowed down. Enjoy scientist Adrian Smith's descriptions of these insects and the way they fly. Read More from Inside Science Copyright 2021 American Institute of Physics. Inside Science syndicates its articles, columns, blogs and videos to news organizations. To initiate syndication, or request permission to republish our content (on a one-time or continuing basis), please contact Inside Science at insidescience@aip.org. News organizations seeking permission to republish Inside Science content must fully credit Inside Science as the original source of the content, include the author byline, and republish the original, unaltered form (excluding content titles, headlines, or sub-headlines). The reprint format can be seen here. Copyright conditions and usage terms are subject to change at any time without consent or any type of prior notice. To unsubscribe from all future mailings from Inside Science please click here. To manage your email subscriptions please click here.

Inside Science is an editorially independent news service of the American Institute of Physics © 2021 American Institute of Physics 1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740 About Inside Science | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Reprint Rights  | Email alerts  |  Underwriters