SCIENCE
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The Brain’s Map of the Body Is Surprisingly Stable—Even after a Limb Is Lost
August 23, 2025 3 min read The Brain’s Map of the Body Is Surprisingly Stable—Even after a Limb Is Lost The brain’s body map doesn’t reorganize itself after limb amputation, a study found, challenging a textbook idea in neuroscience By Katie Kavanagh & Nature magazine The brain’s map of the body in the primary somatosensory cortex remains unchanged after amputation.…
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Tiny Probes Can Surf Sunlight to Explore Earth’s Mesosphere and Mars
August 19, 2025 4 min read These Tiny Disks Will Sail on Sunlight into Earth’s Mysterious ‘Ignorosphere’ With no fuel or engines, tiny explorers will surf sun-warmed air alone to explore high in the skies of Earth and Mars By Payal Dhar edited by Lee Billings This artist’s impression shows multiple small devices soaring on sunlight at the edges of…
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Human Embryo Implantation Revealed in First-Ever 3D Images
August 15, 2025 3 min read First 3D Images of Human Embryo Implantation Reveal New Details of the Process Analyzing embryo movements in uteruslike environments could offer clues to improving the success rate of in vitro fertilization By Humberto Basilio edited by Lauren J. Young Confocal microscopy image of a nine-day-old human embryo. Specific proteins and cellular structures have been…
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Why AI ‘Therapy’ Can Be So Dangerous
Artificial intelligence chatbots don’t judge. Tell them the most private, vulnerable details of your life, and most of them will validate you and may even provide advice. This has resulted in many people turning to applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT for life guidance. But AI “therapy” comes with significant risks—in late July OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned ChatGPT users against…
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Deep-Sea Desalination Pulls Drinking Water from the Depths
From Cape Town to Tehran to Lima to Phoenix, dozens of cities across the globe have experienced water shortages recently. And in the next five years the world’s demand for fresh water could significantly outpace supply, according to a United Nations forecast. Now several companies are turning to an unexpected source for a solution: the bottom of the ocean. Called…
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Congressman Eric Sorensen on Defending Climate Science, Depoliticizing Weather and Bringing Scientific Rigor to Capitol Hill
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois spent 22 years forecasting the weather on television before winning his congressional seat in 2022. He now finds himself defending scientific agencies from unprecedented attacks at a time when climate change is pushing weather patterns into uncharted territory. Today we’re talking to Eric about how…
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Terracotta Is a 3,000-Year-Old Solution to Fighting Extreme Heat
Terracotta Is a 3,000-Year-Old Solution to Fighting Extreme Heat Companies are adapting this humble clay-based ceramic to keep people cool—without electricity By Jyoti Thakur edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Cooling facade built from terracotta A little over 20 percent of India’s households own an air conditioner or cooler, and fewer than a third have refrigerators—leaving hundreds of millions of people…
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Wildfire Smoke from Canada Reduces Air Quality in U.S. Midwest
Wildfire Smoke from Canada Blankets the U.S. Midwest in Haze of Bad Air Quality Winds from the northwest are blowing cool, dry air—but also wildfire smoke—into the U.S. Midwest from Canada By Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea Thompson Smoke from wildfires in Canada is drifting across the U.S. Midwest, leading to hazy skies and air quality alerts. Andrew Wevers/Stringer/Getty Images…
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Why the Tsunami from Russia’s Earthquake Wasn’t as Large as Feared
Why the Russian Earthquake Didn’t Cause a Huge Tsunami Russia’s magnitude 8.8 earthquake spawned serious tsunami warnings, but waves have been moderate so far. Here’s the geological reason why By Robin George Andrews edited by Dean Visser An aerial view of the city of Severo-Kurilsk flooded due to a tsunami triggered by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck off Russia’s…
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Organ Proteins Reveal How Aging Accelerates at 50 Years Old
Organs Age in Waves Accelerating at 50 Years Old Aging is a complex process that plays out differently across different organs, according to growing evidence By Heidi Ledford & Nature magazine Color enhanced computed tomography (CT) scan of the human heart, highlighting the cardiac conduction system (yellow). It is a warning that middle-aged people have long offered the young: ageing…
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