Betelgeuse 'Great Dimming' Mystery Solved by Satellite Photobomb

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June 24, 2022

Astronomy Betelgeuse 'Great Dimming' Mystery Solved by Satellite Photobomb Images from Japan's Himawari-8 spacecraft shed light on the red supergiant star's remarkable fading By Allison Gasparini

Politics Research on Gun Violence Has Been Thwarted: It's Now More Urgent Than Ever We need to make firearms safer, and to do that, we need more robust research funding By Asheley Van Ness,Evan Mintz

Endangered Species Secret Polar Bear Population Is Found Living in a Seemingly Impossible Habitat The discovery provides a glimmer of hope for the iconic white bears By Harry Baker,LiveScience

Mental Health Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy--And Simple Ways to Fix It Research suggests platform designs make us lose track of time spent on them and can heighten conflicts, and then we feel upset with ourselves By Daisy Yuhas

Pharmaceuticals Birth Control Pills Are Safe and Simple: Why Do They Require a Prescription? The risks associated with hormonal contraception are lower than the risk of pregnancy itself and comparable to those of other over-the-counter drugs By Mariana Lenharo

Inequality Amber Heard and Britney Spears Highlight the Stigma of Women's Mental Illness High-profile celebrities have to meet the impossible expectations of being compassionate and competitive while seamlessly projecting a sexual persona By June Gruber,Jessica L. Borelli,Stephen P. Hinshaw

Planetary Science Controversy Grows Over whether Mars Samples Endanger Earth Planetary scientists are eager to bring Red Planet rocks, soil and even air to Earth, but critics fear the risk of contaminating our world's biosphere  By Leonard David

Fossil Fuels If Electric Vehicles Don't Cut CO2 Fast Enough, These Fuels Might Help Department of Energy researchers say gasoline might have to be substituted with biofuels to ensure that climate targets are achieved By John Fialka,E&E News

Epidemiology We Can't Let Monkeypox Turn into a Repeat of COVID Will governments apply lessons learned from COVID to this latest viral outbreak? By Muhammad Jawad Noon

Space Exploration New Maps of Milky Way Are Biggest and Best Yet The latest data release from the European Space Agency's Gaia mission is sparking a frenzy of exciting new astrophysics research By Sasha Warren

Pollution Racism Drives Environmental Inequality--But Most Americans Don't Realize Survey finds that most people think poverty is why pollution disproportionately affects Black people, despite evidence that racism is the major cause By Brittney J. Miller,Nature magazine

Ecology How Culturally Significant Mammals Tell the Story of Social Ascension for Black Americans Juneteenth offers an opportunity to reflect on the wildlife linked to a people's transformation By Nyeema C. Harris

FROM THE STORE The Math of Everything Galileo said that mathematics is the language of nature. This eBook examines math across disciplines, exploring how math is the backbone connecting the physical, social and economic worlds. From practical questions about the significance of p values and using math to fight gerrymandering to the top theoretical problems in the field, this collection looks at what math reveals about our universe.

BRING SCIENCE HOME How Sour or How Sweet Is Your Lemonade? What makes lemonade delicious? Learn how molecules in our foods and drinks interact to make just the right taste with this activity you can try--and sip--at home! Credit: George Retseck Cooking is a fun and rewarding activity. It allows you to be a cook and scientist at the same time, experimenting with endless taste combinations! The five tastes humans can experience are: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami (savory). But have you ever experienced some combinations that were delicious and others that were downright yucky? How do cooks come up with delicious recipes? And even more amazingly, how can they replicate the same exact flavors over and over again? Does science have anything to do with it? This activity will show how cooking and science can yield a delicious partnership.

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