SCIENCE
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Scientists Scramble to Save Climate Data from Trump—Again
CLIMATEWIRE | Eight years ago, as the Trump administration was getting ready to take office for the first time, mathematician John Baez was making his own preparations. Together with a small group of friends and colleagues, he was arranging to download large quantities of public climate data from federal websites in order to safely store them away. Then-President-elect Donald Trump…
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Grumpy Voters Want Better Stories. Not Statistics
In the aftermath of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, polling has once again come under fire. In a small surprise after 2020’s drawn-out ending, results came quickly on November 6, returning former president Donald Trump to the White House. In the final count, Trump collected 312 electoral votes to 226 for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. While some votes are still…
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The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50
A half-century ago humanity sent its first postcard to the stars, carried by a narrow beam of radio waves. It was November 16, 1974—a turbulent time on planet Earth. The cold war was reaching its crescendo, and the world economy was still sputtering from a Middle East oil embargo that was imposed the previous year. The U.S. had retreated from…
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AI Analysis of Police Body Camera Videos Reveals What Typically Happens during Traffic Stops
A decade ago then president Barack Obama proposed spending $75 million over three years to help states buy police body cameras to expand their use. The move came in the wake of the killing of teenager Michael Brown, for which no body camera footage existed, and was designed to increase transparency and build trust between police and the people they…
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What Trump Can—And Probably Can’t—Do to Reverse U.S. Climate Policy
November 8, 2024 5 min read What Trump Can—And Probably Can’t—Do to Reverse U.S. Climate Policy The new president-elect can go beyond just pulling out of the Paris Agreement. But it may be more difficult to roll back clean energy policies By Gautam Jain & The Conversation US In 2019, then-President Donald Trump visited a liquid natural gas facility in…
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Rainwater Could Help Satisfy AI’s Water Demands
November 7, 2024 5 min read Rainwater Could Help Satisfy AI’s Water Demands A few dozen ChatGPT queries cost a bottle’s worth of water. Tech firms should consider simpler solutions, like harvesting rainwater, to meet AI’s needs By Justin Talbot Zorn & Bettina Warburg In late September Microsoft announced that it had reached a deal to reopen the Three Mile…
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These Bird Nests Show Signs of an Architectural ‘Culture’
November 5, 2024 2 min read These Bird Nests Show Signs of an Architectural ‘Culture’ Culture may play a role in how birds build collectively in the Kalahari Desert By Gennaro Tomma White-browed Sparrow-Weaver nests and roosts. Wolfgang Kaehler/Alamy Stock Photo From long and winding migration flights to intricate songs and clever tool use, many bird behaviors are known to…
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Voting Has Never Been More Secure Than It Is Right Now
Now is the best time in the history of the U.S. to cast a vote. Yes, American elections have flaws. They’re marred by voter disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, the inherent weirdness of the electoral college and recent cases of ballot box arson. But the act of voting itself has been unfairly tarnished, most notably by former president Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that…
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Fastest Known Planetary System May Have Been Pushed by Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole
October 30, 2024 2 min read Fastest Known Planetary System May Have Been Pushed by Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole This blazingly-fast star is shooting through the Milky Way with a planet in tow By Jonathan O’Callaghan Hubble Space Telescope’s view of the dense region of stars near the Milky Way’s center, called the galactic bulge. Our solar system orbits…
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Shaken Baby Syndrome Has Been Discredited. Why Is Robert Roberson Still on Death Row?
October 26, 2024 5 min read Shaken Baby Syndrome Has Been Discredited. Why Is Robert Roberson Still on Death Row? Convicted of a crime that never happened, Roberson’s case is a prime example of how the U.S. legal system often fails to recognize advances in scientific knowledge By Jeff Kukucka & David Faigman Protesters from the Innocence Project in the…
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