The Week in Science: Get ready, the cicadas are coming

April 12–This week, what were those red dots around the sun during the total eclipse? Plus, how to avoid the Dunning-Kruger effect and climate change is making allergies worse. -Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

Top Stories

What Were the Red Dots around the Total Solar Eclipse? During the total solar eclipse, skywatchers saw ruby-colored prominences sticking out of the moon's shadow. Here's the science of those red dots Meghan Bartels

The Dunning-Kruger Effect Shows that People Don't Know What They Don't Know David Dunning explains how people can avoid overestimating their own knowledge, a psychological bias called the Dunning-Kruger effect Corey S. Powell; OpenMind Magazine

Periodical Cicadas Emerge Every 13 or 17 Years. How Do They Keep Track of Time? Periodical cicadas have a clever hack to help them figure out when to emerge after more than a decade underground Meghan Bartels

Renewable Energy Shatters Records in the U.S. The U.S. has never had as much wind, solar and hydropower. But experts say it's not enough to meet future electricity demand Benjamin Storrow; E&E News

How Likely Is a Major Earthquake in New York City—And Is the City Prepared for It? After an unexpected magnitude 4.8 earthquake rattled the New York City area, questions abound regarding how likely it is that a major earthquake could occur there and whether the city is prepared Robin George Andrews

Donate Your Eclipse Glasses to Help Others Safely Enjoy the Awe The nonprofit Astronomers Without Borders is collecting gently used eclipse glasses through Warby Parker and other sites to enable people to see future eclipses Samantha Mathewson; SPACE.com

The Milky Way Illuminated Ancient Egypt's Goddess of the Sky Astronomical simulations and ancient Egyptian texts show the Milky Way was linked to the ancient Egyptian sky goddess Nut. This fits within multicultural myths about our home galaxy Or Graur , expert writer

AI Chatbots Will Never Stop Hallucinating Some amount of chatbot hallucination is inevitable. But there are ways to minimize it Lauren Leffer

Rural Americans Are Dying at Increasingly Higher Rates Than City Dwellers The urban-rural mortality rate gap in the U.S. is increasing, especially among young women and Native Americans. Limited access to health care could help explain why Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez; KFF Health News

It's Not Just You—Seasonal Allergies May Be Getting Worse for Everyone Because of Climate Change Longer growing seasons and increased pollen production driven by climate change could be aggravating your seasonal allergy symptoms Riis Williams, intern writer

Could Gravitational-Wave 'Memories' Prove Einstein Wrong? According to Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, the universe remembers every gravitational wave—and scientists could soon test these cosmic recollections Paul M. Sutter

Forensic Genealogy Offers Families the Gift of Closure The forensic scientist's toolbox is growing thanks to creative methods that generate reliable leads, analyze evidence, identify suspects and solve cold cases Nancy La Vigne , expert writer

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