Today in Science: Saturn's rings seem to be vanishing

Science is for everyone, and this free, daily newsletter is for science lovers January 24, 2025: Online sports gambling sites exploit dark psychology, the vanishing rings of Saturn, and we examine the safety of ZYN nicotine pouches.    —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor TODAY'S NEWS Animation of Hubble Space Telescope images between 2018 and 2024.NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael H. Wong (University of California), Joseph DePasquale (STScI) • This year, from Earth's perspective, Saturns rings will disappear. But they'll be back. | 5 min read • The FDA recently "authorized" ZYN to sell nicotine pouches. But are they safe? | 6 min read • Two neuroscientists break down the science of the series "Severance." | 5 min read • President Trump placed an indefinite suspension on research grant reviews and travel at the National Institutes of Health, the world's largest public funder of biomedical research. | 4 min read More News TOP STORIES Sports Betting Boom Since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a law in 2018 that prohibited most states from legalizing sports betting, 30 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized online sports betting. According to a 2024 survey, one in five people have an online sports betting account, many on their mobile devices.  How they work: Many sites, researchers say, exploit the addictive psychology of gambling to keep players hooked. Design tactics include:  Easy account sign-up processes, often without effective age verification Deposit or bets with a default amount that is higher than the actual minimum amount, which leads people to choose the higher amount because of a principle called "anchoring" One-click deposits and betting Minimum account balance that is required to withdraw money (keeping people playing longer) Why this matters: In a recent preliminary study, researchers found that four years after a state legalizes online sports betting, consumers' average credit score drops by an average of 1 percent, and the likelihood of a person filing for bankruptcy increases by 25 to 30 percent. "The harms are much wider and much more broadly distributed than previously assumed," says Heather Wardle, a policy researcher studying gambling at the University of Glasgow. Gambling problems increase the risk of suicide and domestic violence, and more often affect people who don't have money to lose. The data: In a survey of 3,500 New Jersey adults, a larger proportion of those between ages 18-24 reported high-risk gambling behavior than any other age group (top graph). A growing proportion of people in that same group gamble exclusively online as opposed to "land-based" machines like slot machines (bottom graph). Ripley Cleghorn; Source:  The Prevalence of Online and Land-Based Gambling in New Jersey. Report to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Lia Nower et al. Center for Gambling Studies, Rutgers University, 2023 If you're enjoying all the science we cover in this newsletter, dive deeper with a subscription to Scientific American. You'll have access to all our articles and will be supporting crucial science journalism.  EXPERT PERSPECTIVES • One hundred years ago, a Tennessee court found young teacher John T. Scopes guilty of violating a state law that forbade the instruction of evolution. Scopes's conviction was eventually overturned, but in the decades after, religiously motivated attempts to suppress evolution education continued. However, the teaching of evolution in American public schools is now improving, writes Glenn Branch, deputy director of the National Center for Science Education. As of 2019, 67 percent of educators reported that they emphasized the scientific credibility of evolution (up from 51 percent in 2007). "A century after Scopes's eight-day trial ended, there's now reason to hope that someday every student in the U.S.'s public schools will be in a position to appreciate that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution," he says. | 4 min read More Opinion PLAY NOW If you read Today in Science this week you'll have a leg up on today's science quiz. Next, give our hard Sudoku a shot. Or search for words in today's Spellements puzzle. Remember to send any science words that are missing from the puzzle to games@sciam.com. This week, John R. found aureate, which means being composed of, or colored, gold. Great find, John! More Games MOST POPULAR STORIES OF THE WEEK • How Neandertal DNA May Affect the Way We Think | 12 min read • Here's What Caused the Rare, Record Florida Snow | 2 min read • These Prime Numbers Are So Memorable That People Hunt for Them | 5 min read Thanks to readers who wrote to me about their science idols. Several familiar names popped up: Albert Einstein, physicist Roger Penrose, psychologist James Gibson, naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Whenever readers send in recommendations (whether it be favorite songs, apple varieties, or trees) I find myself heading down rabbit holes of Internet research, which is a fun way to spend the day. If you'd like to discover some new scientists worth idolizing, I recommend our partner podcast series Lost Women of Science. Some names to send you down the rabbit hole: Radio astronomer Ruby Payne-Scott, physicist Lise Meitner, and addiction researcher Marie Nyswander. Thank you for joining me on this journey of discovery. Email me anytime: newsletters@sciam.com. And have a lovely weekend. —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 View in browser