A daily read for the science-curious ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
September 3, 2025—A cosmic void, decoding hurricane maps and the math of your Powerball ticket strategy. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA (CC BY 4.0) | | - A cosmic void may be skewing our understanding of the universe. Cosmology hinges on knowledge of our own local universe, which remains poorly mapped and poorly understood. | 5 min read
- A giant map of DNA methylation changes in human organs—from the stomach to the retinas—shows how DNA changes as we age and could pinpoint targets for antiaging therapies. | 4 min read
- Should you spend $2 to win $1.3 billion? Keeping a cool math mind can help you decide whether that Powerball opportunity is worth the bet. | 3 min read
- Games: Today's Hard Sudoku and Spellements
| | Hurricane forecasts and maps, generated by the National Hurricane Center, feature a "cone of uncertainty" graphic that many people misinterpret, as Scientific American editor Andrea Thompson discusses in this recent Science Quickly podcast interview with host Rachel Feltman. It is meant to depict the predicted path of the hurricane's center, that is, where the hurricane is most likely to go and how strong it is likely to be based on windspeed, as Thompson explains here. It doesn't indicate every place that will feel threats from the hurricane and doesn't reference threats due to rain and storm surge at all. And the cone captures only a range of the most likely paths of the hurricane, where it actually goes two thirds of the time. So it does not indicate that you are safe if you are located outside the region covered by the cone. | | How they do it: The "cone of uncertainty" is based on "an average of the overall forecast error," that is, the average error that forecasters have had in their track forecast in the past five years, Thompson says. It is not based on a range of output from the forecast models for a specific storm.
What the experts say: The cone is a way of depicting "quantified uncertainty" in a forecast, akin to error bars and confidence envelopes. Both concepts and types of graphics are misunderstood by lay people and scientists alike, computer scientist Jessica Hullman writes here. Researchers are always working on better ways to depict statistical error. "The least effective way to present uncertainty is not to show it at all," Hullman adds. | | | RNA, Not DNA, Is the Key to Life | In recent years, researchers have learned that RNA, DNA's chemical cousin, does far more than carry instructions to the cell's ribosomes and aid these tiny biological machines in making proteins. "Textbooks 25 years ago confidently stated that RNA consisted of messenger RNA, transfer RNA and ribosomal RNA. Now there are hundreds, likely many thousands, of other types," says Thomas Cech, who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering a new type of so-called noncoding RNA (ncRNA), called ribozymes. Many human ncRNA molecules actually perform a range of biochemical functions, such as regulating DNA, silencing genes and possibly controlling how cells use their DNA, reports science writer Philip Ball. Why this matters: Mutations that hinder the gene-regulating work of noncoding RNA molecules have been linked to cancer and other diseases. Such insights could lead to diagnostic tools and targeted therapies for medical conditions. What the experts say: "DNA is old stuff, 20th-century stuff. It's a one-trick pony. All it does is store biological information, which it does exquisitely well. But it's inert—it can't do anything without its children, RNA and proteins," Cech says. | | | | |
SPONSORED CONTENT BY NANOBIOSYM RESEARCH INSTITUTE | | Nanobiosym Global Summit 2.0: Quantum Convergence at MIT | | Scientific American is a proud media partner of Nanobiosym's next big summit, which will be held on October 11- 12, 2025 at MIT's Kresge Auditorium. This landmark event will bring together some of the world's brightest minds and boldest leaders to reimagine the future of science, technology, longevity, AI, consciousness and the 5th Industrial Revolution. Help shape the New Renaissance! | | | | |
- Identical twin convicted based on DNA differences in first U.S. case of its kind. | The Guardian
- The less you know about AI, the more likely you are to use it. | The Wall Street Journal
- Jackie Gleason's UFO house lands on the market for $5.5M. | 6sqft
| | Barbecue, beach walks and berries marked my Labor Day weekend. Hope yours was relaxing and pleasant too. At some point, with many of us involved in caregiving, an after-dinner conversation turned to dementia, its complexities and challenges. Today, I read a bit of tantalizing science news in this arena: "Shrews Shrink and Regrow Brains, Offering Clues for Human Diseases." It's intriguing because the non-rodents' brain regrowth follows shrinkage due to water loss, and, according to the shrews news, water-driven brain volume declines are also found in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and other conditions. Of course, this piece is a write-up of a single study in non-humans. We shall see if the finding is replicated and later found to be relevant for humans. | | Please send any comments, questions or neuroscience news and insights to: newsletters@sciam.com. See you tomorrow! —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor
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