February 15, 2024: A glimpse into the future of our solar system, gun violence has long-lasting impacts on kids and their families, and we need to design better cities and rein in sprawl. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | The James Webb Space Telescope recently captured data from two white dwarf stars within 75 light years of Earth that appear to have planetary bodies in orbit around them. The orbiting bodies have an infrared brightness consistent with that of large gas-giant planets of approximately the same age as their host star. Astronomers inferred their masses by examining their brightness across multiple wavelengths, and they fall well within the "planet" mass range. Why this is cool: In six billion or seven billion years from now, our sun will blow off its outer layers leaving behind a hot and superdense core called a white dwarf. The planets in close orbit of the sun, including Earth, will be engulfed during this process. That two large planetary bodies are orbiting white dwarf stars suggests that some planets may survive violent solar transitions.
What the experts say: "Hopefully JWST will be monitoring more white dwarfs soon to see if other potential planetary survivors can be found and, with them, more insight into the fate of our own solar system," writes astronomer Phil Plait. | | | Since 2020, firearm related death has been the leading injury-related killer of children in the U.S., ranking above motor vehicle accidents. For kids who survive being shot, the following year can be harrowing, taking a heavy mental toll: the prevalence of substance use disorders and pain disorders more than doubled among a group of young survivors of gun violence in a recent study. Psychiatric disorders increased by 68 percent, according to the new analysis. | | | Line charts compare rates of psychiatric disorders among children who survive firearm injuries in the months before and after the injury with such rates among similar children without firearm injuries during that time period. | Families of survivors are also impacted by the injury, the researchers found. Parents experienced a 30 percent increase in psychiatric disorders, and the effect worsens with the severity of the injury. | | | Line charts compare rates of psychiatric disorders among family members of children killed by firearms in the months before and after the death with such rates among similar unaffected individuals during that time period. |
Health care spending on survivors increased by an average of about $35,000 per person annually, which accounted for mental health services, imaging, lab tests and home care, among other costs. "Society, at the end of the day, foots a rather large bill for the survivors and family members of youth gun violence," says Zirui Song, who studies health care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. "Ultimately, health care spending in this population comes out of workers' wages."
What the experts say: "The cruel reality is that survivors face a challenging, daunting, painful [and] often lonely road to recovery that receives very little attention," says Song. "The journey of surviving is years, if not decades, long," says Lauren Magee, an expert on gun violence and its impact at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. | Credit for above graphics: Amanda Montañez; Source: "Firearm Injuries in Children and Adolescents: Health and Economic Consequences among Survivors and Family Members," by Zirui Song et al., in Health Affairs, Vol. 42, No. 11; November 2023 | | | • Even if you're not in the path of the total solar eclipse on April 8, nearly everyone across North and Central America will get a solar show. Check out this map of what you'll see wherever you are.| 2 min read | | | • The Department of Energy announced up to $100 million to be awarded to pilot projects that suck CO2 directly out of the atmosphere. | 3 min read | | | • Surreal numbers are made by adding numbers between two preexisting numbers. And new surreal numbers can emerge that are new infinities and new infinitesimals (make sure you've had your coffee for this one). | 8 min read | | | • The engineered "firefly petunia" emits a continuous green glow thanks to genes from a light-up mushroom. And it could be yours for $29. | 5 min read | | | Fast-growing parts of the plant, such as budding flowers and leaves, glow the brightest. Credit: Light Bio | | | • City planning has become an engineering equation, and one focused on separating people and spreading the city out to the maximum extent possible, writes Tim Keane, former lead city planner Davidson, N.C., Charleston, S.C., Atlanta and, most recently, Boise, Idaho. We need to focus on city design, where a city can grow to house more people, in diverse housing types, without expanding its current footprint, he says. | 5 min read | | | We'll all be long gone by the time our sun engulfs Earth and the other planets in close orbit. Even so, I'm not worried for Saturn and Jupiter and the planets beyond. Astronomers long thought that our solar system was formed in a quiet, civilized progression over perhaps 500 million years. But based on new mathematical calculations and data from meteorites, scientists now suspect that our solar system was formed from fast, violent collisions of materials whirling around the sun--young planetary bodies were smashed and reformed frequently and often, until the planets grew and settled down. An intense beginning calls for an intense end. | You can email me with your ideas, feedback and suggestions at: newsletters@sciam.com. I read them all and reply to as many as I can! See you tomorrow. | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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