More Whites Die Than Are Born in One-Third of States

More white people are dying than being born in about one-third of the states, a new peak in a trend that is reshaping the social, political and economic landscape of the U.S. Research released Tuesday by the University of New Hampshire found that the number of states where white deaths outpace births has climbed rapidly over the last decade, rising to 17 in 2014 from just four in 2004.

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Losses of soil carbon under global warming might equal US emissions

For decades scientists have speculated that rising global temperatures might alter the ability of soils to store carbon, potentially releasing huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and triggering runaway climate change. Yet thousands of studies worldwide have produced mixed signals on whether this storage capacity will actually decrease—or even increase—as the planet warms.

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AT&T just declared war on an open internet (and us)

Last year we won the open internet back, but the new regulations had one big weakness: they didn’t explicitly ban a scheme called “zero rating.” Zero rating is a poison pill wrapped in a piece of cheese; it looks like a good thing for consumers (free video!), but ultimately has the capability to rot competition and the open internet. The FCC decided it would look at zero rating schemes on a case-by-case basis, which left the door open for wireless companies to play their usual games. AT&T just broke that door off its hinges.

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You will love the future economy, thanks to robots and AI

Next time you stop for gas at a self-serve pump, say hello to the robot in front of you. Its life story can tell you a lot about the robot economy roaring toward us like an EF5 tornado on the prairie.Yeah, your automated gas pump killed a lot of jobs over the years, but its biography might give you hope that the coming wave of automation driven by artificial intelligence (AI) will turn out better for almost all of us than a lot of people seem to think.

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At Least Five Dead after Tornadoes Rip through South

At least five people were killed and dozens more were injured after tornadoes tore through Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi overnight and into Wednesday morning, forecasters and local media reported.

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How Science Is Rewiring The Dyslexic Brain

Scientists are exploring how human brains learn to read — and discovering new ways that brains with dyslexia can learn to cope.

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The Plot to Kill Martin Luther King: Survived Shooting, Was Murdered in Hospital

MLK was murdered in a conspiracy instigated by then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and that also involved the U.S. military, the Memphis Police and “Dixie Mafia” crime figures in Memphis, Tennessee… By Craig McKee.

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Slang — language at its most human

We’re in a golden age of slang studies.

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Elizabeth Warren blasts medical research bill as ‘extortion’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren delivered a ferocious attack Monday on congressional Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over a medical research bill, and put fellow Democrats on the spot by pushing them to oppose a measure she said “is corrupt, and it is very, very dangerous.”

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How an Award-Winning Economist’s Weird Discovery May Challenge General Relativity

In 2004, The Economist reported on a study by Chris Duif with the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, who was convinced after further research of his own that the phenomenon known as the Allais effect is not only real, but that it could still qualify as being unexplained… By Micah Hanks.

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Why you can’t afford to ignore nature in the workplace

Love your job, but hate your office? For many of us, our physical workplace can be dark, depressing, bland and even dysfunctional. Windowless cubicle farms and airless open-plan floors can kill motivation and take a toll on worker performance, possibly even their health.

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Neuroscientists Wirelessly Control the Brain of a Scampering Lab Mouse

Scientists typically control the behavior of a lab mouse by enticing it with food or repelling it with puffs of air. When I gathered with my colleagues in a Stanford University lab, however, we had a more direct way: We took command of its brain with a shining light. Implanted in that mouse’s brain was a device about the size of a peppercorn. When we used our wireless power system to switch it on, the device glowed with a blue light that activated genetically engineered brain cells in the premotor cortex...

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Asteroids are not the only threat to life from space

We think of outer space as distant and unreachable, but in fact events out in the cosmos may have helped and hindered the evolution of life on Earth. By Philip Ball.

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This Military Base Is Where China Blasts Humans Into Space

Take a look inside.

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India Unveils the World's Largest Solar Power Plant

The country is on schedule to be the world’s third biggest solar market next year.

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Lacking Funding and Data, Gun Policy Researchers Soldier On

Researchers are unable to recommend the best course of action for public health officials to take, because they lack critical resources.

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NASA study confirms rift in Antarctic ice shelf

Ice loss could be happening much faster than previously thought. By Laurel Kornfeld.

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Scientists record biggest ever coral die-off on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Warm seas around Australia's Great Barrier Reef have killed two-thirds of a 700-km (435 miles) stretch of coral in the past nine months, the worst die-off ever recorded on the World Heritage site, scientists who surveyed the reef said on Tuesday.

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Fake Science News Is Just As Bad As Fake News

A Canadian journalist set out to get a fake article published in a scientific journal. By Bryson Masse.

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NASA X-Ray Tech Could Enable Superfast Communication in Deep Space

NASA’s NavCube project could power an X-ray communication demonstration in space. By Charles Q. Choi.

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Irish father and daughter survive plane crash after 'complete engine failure'

Pilots John and Isabella Ordway suffered complete engine failure 80 miles from Nairobi. Writing on Facebook Mr Ordway, from Co Cork, described their terrifying ordeal. "We had a complete engine failure 80 miles from Nairobi (the end part for our vintage air rally) and Had to crash land. Both bella and I are thankfully fine. The plane was destroyed but we walked away without a scratch.

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Which Insecticide Spray Should You Use For Bed Bug Eggs?

Well, it depends. The efficacy of different insecticide sprays depends on a few different factors, such as which strain of bed bug is being treated, how resistant the strain is to the insecticide being used, and the permeability of the chemicals in relation to the egg shell composition.

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Millions Have Dyslexia, Few Understand It

It's the most common learning disability, yet it's still hard to answer the question: What is it? An NPR reporter who has dyslexia talks with other people — young and old — in search of answers.

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Remarkable New Theory Says There’s No Gravity, No Dark Matter, and Einstein Was Wrong

A theoretical physicist proposes a new way to think about gravity and dark matter. By Paul Ratner,

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This 'bank for the poor' could hold the key to ending poverty and inequality

In 2016, Oxfam estimated that the total wealth of 99 per cent of the global population was barely equivalent to the wealth of the top one per cent - and it would get worse each year. Over the past few months, Bernie Sanders has made the point that, in the US, the top ten per cent owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 per cent.

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Think your job is safe from the robo-uprising? Think again

Digital systems are only getting smarter to the point where a modern AI could fight a traffic ticket in court or invest your money.

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His brother’s keeper, Robert F. Kennedy saw conspiracy in JFK’s assassination

More than the president’s brother and attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy was his lead hand on the hardest matters, the ones that made them some dangerous foes. After the assassination, he was left to wonder if one among them had done it. By Bryan Bender and Neil Swidey. (Nov. 24, 2013)

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Fukushima nuclear decommission, compensation costs to almost double: media

Japan’s trade ministry has almost doubled the estimated cost of compensation for the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and decommissioning of the damaged Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant to more than 20 trillion yen ($177.51 billion), the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday. By Osamu Tsukimori.

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Nazi influence on Germany’s post-war government to be investigated

The German government has announced an investigation into the influence of the Nazis on the country’s post-war government. A four-year inquiry will follow 20 other investigations made over the past 70 years to determine how far networks attached to Hitler’s regime reached into the new administration after the fall of the Third Reich. By Caroline Mortimer.

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Skype Co-Founder Says Our Biggest Existential Threat Is Artificial Intelligence

Skype is the reasons why I can get so many guests on the show. It’s because it’s done all virtually. Let me introduce Jaan Tallinn, one of the original co-founders of Skype. We’re going to be talking about what he’s doing at the moment. It’s related to promoting the study of existential risk. Specifically relating to AI. Imagine! The possibility of the human race not existing in the future. It’s clearly a really important topic. Jaan, welcome to The App Guy Podcast!

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Ant species cultivates coffee for accommodation

Scientists on the island of Fiji have discovered a type of ant that plants, fertilizes and guards its own coffee crops. The industrious creatures have been perfecting their agricultural know-how for millions of years.

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How Cassini Will Begin Its Date With Death on Saturn

On Wednesday, the spacecraft that has studied Saturn for a dozen years will commence a series of maneuvers that will graze the planet’s rings. By Dennis Overbye.

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Let’s Colonize Titan

Saturn’s largest moon might be the only place beyond Earth where humans could live. By Charles Wohlforth, Amanda R. Hendrix.

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A New Threat to Oceans: Deep-Sea Mining for Precious Metals

“Whether mining these nodules will help end cycles of war and peace still remains to be seen, but Mero was right about one thing: They are now the precious targets, worth millions of dollars, of an emerging deep-sea mining industry, and that’s making many researchers like Craig Smith, a professor of oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, cautious.” By Sarah Fahmy.

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Fire up the atom forge

Rethink electron microscopy to build quantum materials from scratch, urge Sergei V. Kalinin, Albina Borisevich and Stephen Jesse.

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Why Industry 4.0 is going to take all our jobs and why that’s okay

Whether it’s the FitBit on your arm, a bathroom mirror with a heads-up-display, or the orchestra of smart light bulbs that you have in your home, the Internet of Things, despite its ridiculous name, is feature-creeping on the life of the average consumer. Cheaper than ever before can high-functioning internet connected devices be manufactured, thus offering entrepreneurs the proverbial “Gold Mine” of opportunity for innovation and automation. And, as is often the case with tech, the reception has been cautiously optimistic.

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Solving a Mystery Behind the Deadly ‘Tsunami of Molasses’ of 1919

It was January. The place was Boston. And when 2.3 million gallons of molasses burst from a gigantic holding tank in the city’s North End, 21 people were killed and about 150 more were left injured. The wave of syrup — some reports said it was up to 40 feet tall — rushed through the waterfront, destroying buildings, overturning vehicles and pushing a firehouse off its foundation. For the past 100 years, no one really knew why the spill was so deadly.

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Which Language Uses the Most Sounds? Click 5 Times for the Answer

With five distinct kinds of clicks, multiple tones and strident vowels — vocalized with a quick choking sound — the Taa language, spoken by a few thousand people in Botswana and Namibia, is believed by most linguists to have the largest sound inventory of any tongue in the world. This sentence in !Xoon, translated as “I eat porridge,” includes a strident vowel at the end. The exact count differs among scholars. Studies commonly cite more than 100 consonants, and some say there are as many as 164 consonants and 44 vowels. English, by comparison, has about 45 sounds at its disposal, total.

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Patient tissue to be 3D-printed at Herston

A Biofabrication Institute that will image, model and manufacture 3D patient-specific tissues under one roof was announced at the Herston Health Precinct on Monday and will be the first of its kind in Australia.

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What Happened When a Prison Brought in a Brain Injury Specialist

We got an early peak at the numbers from a new study of brain injuries in an American prison, and they aren’t pretty. By Nick Keppler.

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Capitalism in One Family

The vote for Donald Trump may well have been what Michael Moore called the ‘biggest fuck-you ever recorded in human history’, delivered by the white working class to spite ‘the establishment’. But it isn’t just the size of the fuck-you that matters; it’s also who delivers it… By Jan-Werner Müller.

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After six months in orbit, that space inflatable habitat is holding up well

The module’s developer, Robert Bigelow, sees a bright future for NASA under Trump. By Eric Berger.

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3D embryo atlas reveals human development in unprecedented detail

The beautiful and otherworldly development of the human embryo has been revealed in unprecedented detail in an interactive three-dimensional atlas. The digital models, built by a team of scientists in the Netherlands, took around 45,000 hours to produce and offer researchers an unparalleled glimpse into the first eight weeks of human development.

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Born to Move

Are we fighting thousands of years of evolutionary history and the best interests of our bodies when we sit all day?

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Against Leaf Blowers

The scourge of autumn, annoyer of millions. Can anyone stop the seasonal siege of gas-powered landscaping equipment? By David Dudley.

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What it's like inside the doomsday vault that stores every known crop on the planet

If climate change or nuclear war wipes out most of life on the planet, there's still a place where we've got genetic copies of hundreds of thousands of crops.

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Capgras Syndrome in the Digital Age

This mental disorder gives us a unique insight into the digital age.

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Depression in Young People Affects the Stomach, Anxiety the Skin

Mental disorders and physical diseases frequently go hand in hand. For the first time, psychologists at the University of Basel and Ruhr University Bochum have identified temporal patterns in young people: arthritis and diseases of the digestive system are more common after depression, while anxiety disorders tend to be followed by skin diseases.

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Sperm Whales Found Dead In Germany, Stomachs FULL Of Plastic And Car Parts

In January, 29 sperm whales were found stranded on shores around the North Sea, an area that is too shallow for the marine wildlife. Only recently were details of the animals’ necropsy released. However, scientists were deeply disturbed by what they found in the animals’ stomachs. According to a press release from Wadden Sea National Park in Schleswig-Holstein, many of the whales had stomachs FULL of plastic debris, including a 13-meter-long fishing net, a 70 cm piece of plastic from a car and other pieces of plastic litter.

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Are humans evolving beyond the need to tell stories?

Neuroscientists who insist technology is changing our brains may have it wrong. What if we are switching from books to digital entertainment because of a change in our need to communicate? By Will Self.

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