Number 419
Strategically placed garden plants offer a low-cost way to cool homes in summer
After the 2026 heat waves, many people are looking for ways to cope with very hot days that have started to happen more regularly. But that doesn’t have to mean investing in an expensive air conditioner. Anyone with a garden, or even a balcony, could have a much cheaper answer. Plants are nature’s own air conditioners.
Neutrino ‘flavor’ may determine the fate of dying stars
As a star nears the end of its life, it faces two very different fates: It can explode as a supernova, leaving behind a neutron star, or collapse and become a black hole. What determines the outcome remains one of astrophysics’ great unanswered questions.
Earth’s tides are shaped by more than the Moon—and they’re changing as the planet warms
Ocean tides shape coastlines and marine ecosystems, affect coastal communities and even influence the melting of Antarctic ice shelves. But why are tides so large in some places and so small in others? And as our oceans change, will the tides change too?
== yjc
Why your day isn’t quite 24 hours
You might think the length of a day never varies—exactly 24 hours. You’d be wrong, at least if you count days in milliseconds, as physicists do.
In 2022, the eruption and collapse of an underwater volcano in Tonga caused a devastating tsunami that killed four people, disrupted seafloor ecosystems and damaged critical seafloor telecommunications cables. It was one of the most powerful volcanic events this century.
Faint young stars reveal spiral galaxy Messier 74 may be twice as large as thought
Over time, galaxies grow by accumulating gas from their surroundings. Because this newer gas spins faster relative to the center, it cannot collapse all the way to the core. Instead, it settles into the outer disk, where it eventually sparks the formation of new stars.
The Antarctic’s only two flowering plants reveal opposing strategies for surviving long-term warming
The experiment exposed the Antarctic continent’s only two native vascular plant species, Deschampsia antarctica (Antarctic hairgrass) and Colobanthus quitensis (Antarctic pearlwort), to passive warming chambers (Open Top Chambers, OTCs) for seven years.
How diffractive solar sails could stop a killer asteroid at 100 km/s
Deflecting an asteroid using an impactor comes down to one simple factor: energy. The more energy transferred from the impactor to the asteroid, the more the asteroid will move. And the thing about energy is that it increases with the square of velocity. In other words, the faster you hit something, the more energy you impart to it.
New mining map highlights damage caused by extracting metals for your smartphone
The most sustainable smartphone is the one you currently own. An estimated 80% of your phone’s negative impact on the environment happens before the first minute of use—before it is even unboxed.
Chile’s Atacama Desert blossoms with life after El Niño rains
A display of flowers has bloomed across Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, after the El Niño climate phenomenon brought heavy rain to the region. Beneath the normally parched ground, millions of seeds and bulbs from around 200 species lie in wait for water.
Earth’s climate has undergone dramatic changes throughout its history, but new research suggests those changes may not have been as random as previously thought.
Central surface density of dark matter agrees with the prediction of a new theory of gravity
Since the 1970s, the rotation speeds of galaxies have been regarded as important observational evidence for the existence of dark matter. Stars in the outer regions of galaxies move much faster than would be expected if Newtonian gravity were applied to visible matter alone. In mainstream astronomy, this phenomenon is explained by assuming that galaxies are surrounded by invisible dark matter that provides additional gravitational attraction.
Prefer intricate shapes? You may also favor complex melodies
A shape can be considered complex because it has many sides. A complex melody may feature varied pitches and rhythms. Does the mind treat these as separate features, or can it recognize something common beneath their differences?
Where did bats come from? Family tree drawn from huge genetic study
Scientists say they’ve settled the debate about where bats came from and uncovered what early bats were like, thanks to a huge study of genomes from all 21 modern bat families and a comparison to dozens of fossil bats.
== anecdotal, but…
Elephants use medicinal plants to treat themselves, researchers find
African elephants use dozens of different medicinal plants to treat themselves and their families when they are sick.
Jupiter uses a surprisingly complex system to fend off particles from the sun
The bow shock is an invisible boundary between the sun and a planet’s magnetic field. It is the first line of defense against the supersonic burst of energetic particles from the sun known as the solar wind. On Earth, the bow shock is important because it marks the point where the solar wind is slowed, heated and then deflected around Earth.
Hot spring amoeba breaks record for heat tolerance of complex life
The record for the hottest-growing organism belongs to Methanopyrus kandleri, an archaeon and relatively simple microorganism that lives at 122°C (252°F) around hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean. For decades, researchers have considered 60°C (140°F) to be the upper limit for eukaryotes, which are organisms with complex cells, such as animals, plants, fungi and some microbes. Only a handful of eukaryotes can grow at temperatures approaching that limit.
What billiard balls reveal about computers and the limits of prediction
For years, mathematicians have wondered whether billiards are capable of universal computation—in other words, whether a simple two-dimensional billiard system can run any computer program imaginable.
Astronomers detect radio signals coming from an exoplanet for the first time
Previous radio detections from exoplanetary systems couldn’t be traced directly to the planet itself because astronomers couldn’t tell whether the signal came from the star or the planet. And no, this isn’t evidence of alien life communicating with each other. The radio waves come from auroras linked to the planet’s powerful magnetic field.
Engineered probiotic bacteria produce cancer drugs inside tumors
E. coli in uncooked meat can cause diarrhea and food poisoning. Scientists, however, have found a way to turn the bacterium into a delivery agent that takes drugs straight to a tumor and transforms it into a tiny cancer drug dispensary.
== yjc, lengthy
End of humanity? Blow-by-blow account of what would happen if the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted now
Around 631,000 years ago—a geological blink of an eye—catastrophe unfolded in what is now northwestern Wyoming, U.S. During what is thought to have been a series of immense volcanic eruptions, life within hundreds of kilometers of the blasts was shattered. Ash was dispersed across much of North America, and the effects were felt worldwide. This was a super-eruption of the massive volcanic system located in what is now Yellowstone National Park.
Antarctica’s lost mountains may have helped early life flourish
Beneath the vast frozen wastes of Antarctica lie the remains of ancient mountains that have long since eroded. Even though they’re no longer standing, they can still reveal a few lost secrets.
== yjc
Jill Lepore on history, dangers of ‘the artificial state’
Pulitzer Prize -winning professor’s new book shows how a digital communications infrastructure increasingly came to control public life.
Does Tutankhamen’s tomb hold his stepmother Queen Nefertiti’s remains?
When Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered over a century ago, it became an immediate worldwide sensation, revealing a wealth of treasures from ancient Egypt. In the decades that followed, the tomb was meticulously cleared, cataloged and studied, leading many to believe that KV 62, as it is officially known, had given up all its secrets.
Joby Aviation completed a fully autonomous flight from California to North Carolina
Joby said it integrated its autonomy tech into a converted Cessna Caravan, which was able to do everything from taxiing, takeoff, cruising and landing on its own without any control inputs from an onboard safety pilot.
Rust prevention coating uses nanotech to self-repair and conquer corrosion
A single application of a “smart” self-repairing coating is being developed to dramatically extend rust protection for buildings, bridges, cars and other steel components.
Discovery of CRISPR’s long lost ancestor may expand gene-editing toolkit
While scientists can manipulate these mechanisms to make precise changes to DNA to treat disease and improve crops, they still aren’t sure exactly how the first CRISPR-like immune systems evolved. CRISPR systems use RNA guides to find matching DNA sequences and can be programmed by changing the sequence of the guide RNA. The origins of CRISPR’s core RNA-binding proteins have been especially unclear.
Human brain has a split origin, new research suggests
For decades, researchers have subscribed to the theory that a single progenitor cell early in development gives rise to the entire brain. This model suggested all parts of the brain shared a common developmental origin.
Japanese supercomputer simulations may explain Webb’s Little Red Dots
A long-standing mystery in astronomy has been how the supermassive black holes, with masses millions or even billions of times that of the sun, observed in the early universe appeared so quickly, less than 600 million years after the Big Bang.
== yjc, couldn’t resist including this one
When a beloved tree began withering away, locals suspected a killer in their midst
Every summer, Seoul turns a deep green, growing dense and lush under humid skies. But this year, one tree was visibly suffering.
“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”
- Oscar Wilde