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November 26, 2025—A 4.0 magnitude earthquake shakes California. Plus, petrochemical companies see their future profits in plastics, and scientists confirm lightning on Mars. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona | | Supporting our work means amplifying science. Consider a subscription to Scientific American and back independent science journalism! We have special offers for Today in Science readers. | | Education Images/Contributor/Getty Images | | Turkeys are the foundation of Thanksgiving. Even if you opt out of the bird for the feast for the holiday, it would still be hard to imagine the celebration without turkey entirely. Though native to North America, these animals were on the brink of extinction neraly 100 years ago. Listen to this wild turkey conservation success story. Ok, so maybe you don't love turkey (blasphemy!) but surely you don't skip pie. Scientific American spoke to experts to learn more about the nutrition of each pie type. If you're thinking about your blood sugar on Thanksgiving Day, we tell you which one will give you the lowest spike. Most people will probably get a little stuffed tomorrow, but the efficiency of the digestive system isn't all about food. Stress and booze affect gut health. And the two often come hand-in-hand with holiday dinners, parties and events. | | Ross Woodhall/Getty Images/Image Source | | | | |
Oil and gas companies can see what's coming. Widespread adoption of electric vehicles will soon reduce the need for oil, and in response to looming dangers of climate change, many companies are ramping up their reliance on renewable energy. To protect its profitability, the fossil fuel industry is shifting its focus to something the world still can't get enough of: plastics. In a recent market forecast, ExxonMobil assured investors that it planned to boost production of petrochemicals (the chemicals that make up plastics) by 80 percent by 2050.
Plastic landscape: The annual output of plastic climbed from two million metric tons in 1950 to more than 500 million today. As Beth Gardiner reports in the December issue of Scientific American, about three quarters of all that plastic has become waste: 9 percent was recycled, 12 percent was incinerated, and 79 percent ended up in landfills or the environment. If current trends continue, 1.1 billion metric tons of plastic will be made annually by 2050—and the cumulative total will be enough to cover the U.S. in an ankle-deep layer. | | Jen Christiansen; Source: "100 Years of Plastic: Using the Past to Guide the Future," by Chao Liu, Roland Geyer and Shanying Hu; arxiv.org/abs/2411.13618, November 20, 2024 (data) | | Why it matters: Many chemicals contained in plastic have been found to be toxic to the environment; microplastic pieces shed from larger pieces or polyester clothing or detergent pods have been found in nearly every place on Earth—in soil, air, water and even in human blood and brain tissue (potentially up to 10 grams! Yuck). Scientists don't know the effects of such materials on the body.
What can be done: The fossil fuel industry is trying to rebrand recycled plastics as part of a sustainable future. At a plastics conference last year in Dubai, one petrochemical company VP acknowledged that the public is starting to see plastic recycling as a problem, and encouraged colleagues to produce studies to show why recycled plastics are "part of the solution." But recycled plastic ultimately contains about 2 percent recycled material, an investigation by ProPublica found. To biologists and other experts, the only way to limit plastic in the environment is to limit how much is produced. "The only way to change the trajectory is with strong laws," says Judith Enck, a former U.S. EPA official and president of Beyond Plastics, an advocacy group. | | - AI will be a part of many Thanksgivings this year, helping people to plan recipes, or offering family conversation topics or searching out Black Friday shopping deals. Our senior technology writer Deni Ellis Béchard asks: "Is this our first AI Thanskgiving?" Perhaps that's the wrong question, he decides. If AI is already a part of our lives, then it is certainly collecting data about how humans celebrate this holiday. The real question is, what do we want AI to learn about us? | 3 min read
| | - Tutankhamun was excavated 100 years ago. But the achievement came with pure destruction. | The Conversation
- Hundreds of Joshua trees were scorched during the government shutdown. Restoring the burned habitat could be limited due to staff cuts. | L.A. Times
- A deep dive into inconsistencies surrounding the story of the discovery of penicillin. | Asimov Press
| | Connecting with you curious people five days a week is one thing I'm grateful for; it's a privilege to be part of a community of such curious and interested humans! Isn't science just the best? | | Thanks for reading and send any thoughts or ideas to: newsletters@sciam.com. Enjoy the holiday and see you back here on Monday. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor
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