Today in Science: The SAT question no one can solve

Daily science inspo June 20, 2023: The dangers of extreme heat, supercold quantum materials and we go into the eye of a hurricane. Read more below! —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor TOP STORIES Hot World Mexico is enduring a particularly severe heat wave, scorching most states in the nation. Low income individuals in urban areas are particularly vulnerable, where they lack access to parks, green spaces and more efficient cooling systems (very few homes in Mexico City have AC). Climate researchers are developing new, free tools that alert people in higher-risk areas when the heat is a threat. Why this matters: In the U.S. extreme heat kills more people than hurricanes, flash floods and tornadoes combined. People in all age ranges are vulnerable to excessive heat exposure–and they may not realize it. Rates of domestic violence and crime also increase as the temps rise. Economic costs of extreme heat could reach some $100 billion in the U.S., according to the Atlantic Council.  What the experts say: Both climate change and urban development that swaps green space for pavement are warming metropolitan areas, which influences the chemistry of the atmosphere, intensifies urban air pollution and cranks up regional temperatures. A heat wave struck Chicago during a week in July 1995. It caused hundreds of excess deaths (coinciding with a peak in temp). Credit: Jen Christiansen Bizarre Quantum Supersolids Let's cool off! (Well, sort of.) Physicists recently showed that heating a supercold quantum fluid–in this case, a very cold gas of magnetic atoms–can actually "freeze" it into an orderly state called a supersolid. Heating the material increases the movement of the magnetic particles, nudging them out of a quantum state and into uniform stacks. Why this is so cool (hot?): Researchers had observed this counterintuitive phenomenon before, but this is the first description of the physics behind it–that is, the bizarre interaction between a material's heat and its quantum nature. What the experts say: "We had to convince ourselves with the theory that this is actually something that makes sense," says the new study's co-author Thomas Pohl of Denmark's Aarhus University.  LISTEN NOW The Heart of the Beast Meteorologists are keeping an eye on multiple spots in the Atlantic Ocean this week for the development of hurricanes, with at least one tropical storm now officially classified as "Bret." But what are the ingredients needed for a storm to progress into a hurricane? Earth and environment editor Andrea Thompson sat down with Kim Wood, an assistant professor of meteorology at Mississippi State University, to talk about the ingredients that make a hurricane. Listen to the latest episode of Science, Quickly. SUBSCRIBE: Apple | Spotify TODAY'S NEWS • New simulations suggest the James Webb Space Telescope might be able to distinguish between competing hypotheses of dark matter by studying primordial dwarf galaxies. | 7 min read • The 1982 SAT infamously held a math question called the coin rotation paradox. It was so tricky that even the test creators didn't include a correct answer. | 7 min read • A growing body of research shows that skin-on-skin contact between dads (and other nonbirthing parents) and newborns brings benefits for both baby and parent. | 3 min read • A proposed EPA rule to curtail tailpipe pollution, which would bolster electric car adoption, could help prevent 89,000 deaths in the U.S. | 2 min read More News EXPERT PERSPECTIVES • Space-based satellites capture images of smoke and take measurements of pollution in the Earth's atmosphere with much greater coverage than monitors on the ground can manage, but they are not guaranteed to operate forever. New satellites are a large investment, yes, but their benefits to health and mortality reductions are larger, write Susan Anenberg and Kate O'Dell, both at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. | 4 min read More Opinion A couple of today's articles remind me of a recent game of team trivia played by the editors of Scientific American. We were (some of us) stumped by the definition of the Rankine Scale. Without looking it up, can you guess what it measures? I'll give you a hint: It's an absolute scale of thermodynamic WHAT? First one to reply with the correct answer I'll give a shout-out to in tomorrow's newsletter.  If you have any other feedback or ideas for how to improve this newsletter, email me at newsletters@sciam.com. Until tomorrow! —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters here. Scientific American One New York Plaza, New York, NY, 10004   Support our mission, subscribe to Scientific American here   Unsubscribe Email Preferences