Free Will Is Only an Illusion if You Are, Too

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January 20, 2023

Consciousness Free Will Is Only an Illusion if You Are, Too New research findings, combined with philosophy, suggest free will is real but may not operate in the ways people expect By Alessandra Buccella,Tomáš Dominik

Vaccines An Old TB Vaccine Might Help Stave Off Diabetes, Cancer Alzheimer's, and More  The BCG vaccine might assist in preventing a range of major diseases By Viviane Callier

Artificial Intelligence Research Summaries Written by AI Fool Scientists Scientists cannot always differentiate between research abstracts generated by the AI ChatGPT and those written by humans By Holly Else,Nature magazine

Black Holes Colliding Supermassive Black Holes Discovered in Nearby Galaxy These merging supermassive black holes are among the closest ever observed and could help unlock deeper secrets of cosmic history By Allison Parshall

Climate Change Exxon's Own Models Predicted Global Warming--It Ignored Them Scientists working for the oil giant Exxon in the 1970s and 1980s estimated temperature increases with remarkable accuracy. Those findings could now be used as evidence in climate litigation By Chelsea Harvey,Lesley Clark,Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

Artificial Intelligence What an Endless Conversation with Werner Herzog Can Teach Us about AI An AI-generated conversation between Werner Herzog and Slavoj Žižek is definitely entertaining, but it also illustrates the crisis of misinformation beginning to befall us By Giacomo Miceli

Public Health The Health Risks of Gas Stoves Explained Gas stoves produce emissions that can harm human health and the environment. Experts answer questions about the dangers and how to limit them By Tanya Lewis

Biotech Gene Drives Could Fight Malaria and Other Global Killers but Might Have Unintended Consequences A new technology could wipe out whole species. Is it a magic bullet or a genetic atom bomb? By Matthew Cobb

Genetics Dads Have Been Older than Moms since the Dawn of Humanity, Study Suggests Using modern human DNA to estimate when new generations were born over 250,000 years, scientists suggest that fathers have been having children later in life than mothers throughout human history By Freda Kreier,Nature magazine

Materials Science Ancient Roman Concrete Has 'Self-Healing' Capabilities Mineral deposits called “lime clasts” found in ancient Roman concrete give the material self-healing capabilities that could help engineers develop more resilient modern concrete and reduce its associated emissions By Daniel Cusick,E&E News

Archaeology Lasers Reveal Massive, 650-Square-Mile Maya Site Hidden beneath Guatemalan Rain Forest A sprawling Maya site has been discovered beneath a Guatemalan rain forest By Jennifer Nalewicki,LiveScience

Fossil Fuels Why Capturing Methane Is So Difficult Oil and gas facilities will soon be charged for releasing methane, but technologies to capture the potent greenhouse gas are still relatively new and untested By Camille Bond,E&E News

Energy Scientists Fire Lasers at the Sky to Control Lightning Laser beams could be used to deflect lightning strikes from vulnerable places such as airports and wind farms By Allison Parshall

FROM THE STORE Special Editions Volume 31, Issue 1s

BRING SCIENCE HOME Build a Cardboard Scissor Lift A scissor lift uses an accordionlike motion to contract and stretch out, allowing it to both fold compactly and extend much beyond its original length. Credit: George Retseck  Have you ever wanted to reach something way up high on a shelf? Or have you ever watched construction workers who need to reach up a tall utility pole? A scissor lift is a device that can extend to a great length but also fold up very compactly. In this project you will build your own scissor lift from common household materials!

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