Scientist Discover How to Convert CO2 into Powder That Can Be Stored for Decades

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December 22, 2023

I hope you've enjoyed The Week in Science this year! We'll be taking a break for the holidays, so this newsletter will resume on January 5th. In the meantime, visit ScientificAmerican.com for your science news. Email me at newsletters@sciam.com to let me know how you like this newsletter. Happy New Year!

Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor @AGawrylewski

Climate Change Scientist Discover How to Convert CO2 into Powder That Can Be Stored for Decades A team of scientists has figured out how to convert planet-warming carbon dioxide into a harmless powdery fuel that could be converted into clean electricity By John Fialka,E&E News

Conservation Kākāpō Parrots Are Flightless, Adorable and Making a Comeback DNA sequencing, GPS tracking and tailored diets are slowly restoring New Zealand's endangered kākāpō By Rina Diane Caballar,Knowable Magazine

Pharmaceuticals How Two Pharmacists Figured Out That Decongestants Don't Work A loophole in FDA processes means older drugs like the ones in oral decongestants weren't properly tested. Here's how we learned the most popular one doesn't work By Randy Hatton

Geology How Dangerous Is Iceland's New Volcanic Eruption? Lava spewed from volcanic fissures in Iceland as a long-awaited eruption finally began, potentially threatening a power plant and the nearby town of Grindavík By Robin George Andrews

Epidemiology The Real Story Behind 'White Lung Pneumonia' Separate outbreaks of pneumonia in children have cropped up in the U.S., China and Europe. Public health experts say the uptick in cases is not caused by a novel pathogen By Tara Haelle

Behavior I Worked in Antarctica for Three Years. My Sexual Harasser Was Never Caught Hundreds of support staff keep Antarctic research stations running. For decades, workers including me have had little to no protection from sexual harassers and stalkers By Elizabeth Endicott

Artificial Intelligence New Class of Antibiotics Discovered Using AI A deep-learning algorithm helped identify new compounds that are effective against antibiotic-resistant infections in mice, opening the door to AI-guided drug discovery By Tanya Lewis

Automobiles Sorry, It's $15 to Drive into Midtown Manhattan The first U.S. congestion pricing program, starting in New York City as soon as May, aims to slash emissions and traffic By Minho Kim,E&E News

Health Care Do Fainter Lines on Home COVID Tests Mean You're Getting Better? The colors of lines on COVID tests can show whether you're getting healthy or staying sick—if they're interpreted the right way By Sam Jones

Astronomy Sun Unleashes Most Powerful Solar Flare Since 2017 The flare may have been accompanied by a plasma eruption now headed toward Earth By Mike Wall,SPACE.com

Planetary Science The Rings of Uranus Glow in Epic JWST Photo The James Webb Space Telescope caught its second glimpse of the year of Uranus and its bright-shining rings By Keith Cooper,SPACE.com

Artificial Intelligence Tech Billionaires Need to Stop Trying to Make the Science Fiction They Grew Up on Real Today's Silicon Valley billionaires grew up reading classic American science fiction. Now they're trying to make it come true, embodying a dangerous political outlook By Charles Stross

BRING SCIENCE HOME Food Sleuthing: Find the Missing Ingredient Can you find the missing ingredient? Learn about nutrition labeling and see if you deduce what might be left off.  Credit: George Retseck Food advertisements and labels bombard us with enticing slogans and attractive images, luring us into consuming a certain food. But have you ever wondered how nutritious an advertised food is? Have you ever examined a nutrition facts label and wondered what the columns of words and numbers really meant? This activity will shed some light on the label. You will explore serving sizes and nutrients—and might find a discrepancy. Why would the sum of the nutrients not always add up to the total? Like a detective, you will gather the facts, brainstorm ideas and find evidence to support your proposed explanation. Can you crack the case?

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