There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Animal and plant life is declining across the globe at rates never seen before in human history. And alongside this decline, extinction rates are speeding up — as many as one million plant and animal species are at risk of being lost forever, according to a landmark United Nations report in 2019.What’s more, humans may be uniquely responsible for fueling these losses. Activities like agriculture and aquaculture are changing the habitats of animals at an “u ...read more
The weekends just don’t feel long enough. On Fridays, you’re exhausted from a long work week. Saturdays are for running around doing errands that you weren’t able to get done on the weekdays. And then, come Sunday, you’re left dreading the work week ahead. But while the Sunday Scaries aren’t a new phenomenon, in recent years, they seem to have gotten worse, which may have a lot to do with how we view work/life balance in this country. Here’s why you’re getting the Sunday Scaries an ...read more
The realization that our universe is expanding is one of the most transformative discoveries in cosmology. While once hotly debated, this observational reality now forms the bedrock for our modern conceptions of the cosmos.The first evidence for an expanding universe came through Albert Einstein’s discovery of the general theory of relativity in 1917. Other scientists have since gathered more evidence, and expanded his ideas into more tangible models.Einstein's Expanding UniverseEinstein’s t ...read more
These days, we're accustomed to seeing very high resolution satellite images revealing the horrifying impact of extreme weather. Below, I offer a particularly dramatic example: before and after images of the destruction wrought by a tornado — one of at least 20 in an outbreak across the South — that ravaged Rolling Fork, Mississippi on March 24, 2023.But I was struck even more by the broader perspective seen in the image above, published by NASA. Instead of a relatively close up view of home ...read more
Did a tiny amino acid, a cluster of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur atoms, kill Beethoven, and not syphilis or lead poisoning, as previously proposed?A new genetic analysis of his hair, borrowed from collectors, suggests that the acid, called methionine, may have greatly accelerated his death from liver disease. Genetics of BeethovenPerhaps the greatest composer of all time, Beethoven had a simple but serious genetic mutation that affected the PNPLA3 protein – found in fat and li ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
